ICAR Research Data Repository for Knowledge Management

Rajiv Gandhi Mahila Vikas Pariyojana (RGMVP), an Indian nongovernmental organization, has been mobilizing poor and marginalized women into self-help groups (SHGs) for more than a decade in Uttar Pradesh. RGMVP also mobilizes adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) by leveraging their existing network of SHGs. Initially, daughters of SHG members and gradually other AGYW ages 13 to 21 years from the community were organized into Young Women SHGs (YWSHGs). RGMVP provided trainings to AGYW in YWSHGs in basic financial literacy, menstrual health and hygiene, and life skills.

A cross-sectional study was conducted in 2016 among AGYW ages 15 to 21 years who were members of YWSHGs along with a group of AGYW who were not members. The study assessed the socio-demographic profiles, individual agency, financial independence, collective action, decision making, mobility, self-efficacy, knowledge of reproductive health issues and treatment seeking behaviors, and attitudes towards gender roles and norms among YWSHG members and non-members. The study covered 10 administrative blocks of Sultanpur and Amethi districts of Uttar Pradesh; 872 AGYW (401 YWSHG members and 471 non-members) were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire.