The Effect of Integrated Basic Education Programs on Women's Social and Economic Well-Being in Bolivia.

A large-scale longitudinal study in Bolivia examined the relationship between adult women's basic education and their social and economic well-being and development. A random sample of 1,600 participants and 600 nonparticipants, aged 1545, was tracked for 3 years (the final sample included 717 participants and 224 controls). The four adult education programs studied were provided by nongovernmental organizations and did not deliver traditional literacy training, but rather socially and economically-focused training, targeted at such areas as health, technical skills, and microenterprise development. Women's social and economic well-being was measured comprehensively, including women's knowledge, attitudes, and behavior with respect to income-earning activities, their own literacy and education, their children's education, health, legal rights, decision making, community participation, and indicators of home socioeconomic status (SES). A key finding was that the integrated basic education programs had a significant effect on women's lives, even after controlling for individual characteristics, initial SES, education level, rural-urban location, and unknown factors. The largest improvements were made by rural women and women with the lowest initial levels of education and SES. Program factors affecting outcomes included program length and content and use of female facilitators. The programs were judged to be cost effective, with an estimated average cost of $17 per hour to train 20 women (the typical village class size) . (SV) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Cr) The Effect of Integrated Basic Education Programs on Women's Social and Economic Well-Being in Bolivia' Haiyan Hua and Shirley Burchfield Harvard University U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement I EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) O This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. O Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality, Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY