Assessing the effect of the Samata intervention on factors hypothesised to be on the pathway to child marriage and school drop-out: results from a cluster-randomised trial in rural north Karnataka, India

Abstract

Back Background ground We implemented a comprehensive intervention (Samata) to address school drop-out and child marriage among rural, marginalised adolescent girls in north Karnataka, south India. Here, we investigate (i) the impact of the intervention on factors hypothesised at baseline to be on the pathway to preventing school drop-out and child marriage, and (ii) associations between these factors and secondary school completion and child marriage. Methods Methods Data was collected for a cluster-RCT evaluation. Factors hypothesised to be on the pathway to improving secondary school retention and delaying age at marriage included: (i) uptake of skills and training by adolescent girls; (ii) uptake of government school scholarships by families of adolescent girls; (iii) gender equitable attitudes among girls; (iv) reduced harassment by boys; and (v) an enabling school environment. Analyses used individual-level cluster-RCT survey data, were intention-to-treat and used mixed-effects logisitic regression models. R Results esults 92.6% (2257/2457) of girls participated at baseline (13-14 years) and 72.8% (1788/2457) participated at end-line (15-16 years). At end-line, uptake of skills and training, gender equitable attitudes around marriage, and recent harassment by boys were significantly higher among girls in the intervention arm but there was no difference in uptake of government school scholarships, gender equitable attitudes around education or eve-teasing, or an enabling school environment by trial arm. Out-of-school/married girls were significantly less likely to have accessed skills or training, to have attended

‘I have the confidence to ask’: thickening agency among adolescent girls in Karnataka, South India

“…The overarching trial found no community level impact of the programme on girls' entry or completion of secondary school or on the proportion of girls married under 18. Any effect of the intervention itself was overshadowed by large secular reductions in the background levels of child marriage and school dropout, catalysed by government policies and programmes targeting these same outcomes (Beattie et al 2020). An analysis of the nested qualitative study mid-way through the trial found high parental aspirations for girl's education, consistent with an emerging trend towards secondary school completion.…”