Comprehensive Evaluation of Reliance Foundation’s Bharat India Jodo Programme
The Reliance Foundation (RF), guided by a comprehensive development approach, initiated the Bharat India Jodo (BIJ) program in 2011. With a vision of making ‘farming-as-the-first-choice- profession,’ this flagship program by RF aims at bridging the developmental gap between the rural and urban populace. BIJ works on five key themes– institution building, food security, nutrition security, water security, and ecological security.
Sambodhi conducted a study to identify this initiative’s impact and execute a comprehensive evaluation. The evaluation has been working towards the following objectives:
- assessing the impact of RFBIJ,
- understanding causal pathways leading to impact, and
- analyzing the effectiveness of key strategies.
The evaluation necessarily focuses on identifying and delineating the impact attributable to the BIJ. An appropriate mix of primary and secondary components has been engaged in the research design to identify the attributable impacts accurately.
The steps involved are —
- Primary Research: The primary research component employs a mixed-method post-test evaluation study design with Propensity Score Matching (PSM). This involves selecting a representative sample to assess and compare changes in the outcome and impact indicators highlighted in the log frame.
- Secondary Research: The secondary research includes a literature review (inception phase) and data analysis (analysis phase).
3024 villages have been sampled, with 1440 villages in the project arm and 1584 in the comparison arm. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and In-Depth Interviews (IDIs) were used as qualitative tools. The monitoring of the key output-outcome indicators is an ongoing exercise that helps to provide support for implementation and fine-tune the interventions. Spatial report cards have also been developed as a summative performance measure.