The Secret to Getting Ahead Is Getting Started: Early Impacts of a Rural Development Project

Abstract

Abstract:Interventions in rural development projects vary in their likely time to impact. Some offer rapid payoffs after minimal learning and investment, while others offer larger payoffs but entail delays and may require learning or significant investment of labor and capital. Short-term impacts included reductions in stored grain losses due to improved silos and increase in household savings due to increased participation in savings groups. The least poor are most likely to invest labor and capital in slow-to-accrue payoffs like soil erosion abatement from building conservation structures. Our results suggest that targeting project interventions by asset level can enhance impacts.