Socio-economic impact of the interest-free community investment fund : a case study of rural Sindh, Pakistan

This study aims to measure the impact of an intervention, the Community Investment Fund (CIF), on the socio-economic life of rural women. CIF is a community-managed fund aimed at improving the living standards of women by empowering them to undertake income-generating projects to become financially more stable and self-governed in the Khairpur, Shikarpur, Kandhkot-Kashmore and Jacobabad districts of Sindh, Pakistan. This study used a quasi-experimental design approach that involved two groups, i.e., the treatment group (beneficiaries) and control group (non-beneficiaries). The sample size of this study was 708 respondents including the treatment and control group. The results of comparison of mean indicate that there is a significant difference between treatment and control group in terms of socio-demographic variables (including monthly income and consumption, saving amount, total asset value, an asset purchased value and household diet) and women empowerment’s indicators, thereby suggesting that CIF has resulted in women empowerment. Concerning the results of the poverty scorecard, the higher graduation of beneficiaries (treatment group) asserts that the intervention of CIF has also a positive impact on targeted beneficiaries. In particular, the findings indicate that 72% of beneficiaries (treatment group) have graduated from one poverty band to another higher band compared to 59.4% of non-beneficiaries (control group) in poverty score. In addition, the findings of the logistic regression analysis confirmed that participation in the CIF program empowers women beneficiaries. This study will support policymakers to further improve CIF so that it can become more effective and sustainable.