ArticleCommunity development journal2019
Sustainability of community-based women's groups: reflections from a participatory intervention for newborn and maternal health in Nepal.
Article in Community development journal, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- How and why do women's groups (WGs) improve the quality of maternal and child health (MCH) care? A systematic review of the literature.BMJ open · 2022Pooled it
- Effectiveness of a peer-delivered, psychosocial intervention on maternal depression and child development at 3 years postnatal: a cluster randomised trial in Pakistan.The lancet. Psychiatry · 2020Trial
- How sustainable are self-help interventions in the post-funding period? Qualitative findings from integrated leprosy communities in Nigeria.International health · 2026Article
- Article
- Feasibility of implementing a community-based participatory group programme to improve access to healthcare for people with disabilities in Luuka district, Uganda: a mixed-methods pilot study.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Engagement of coMmunity through Participatory learning and action for cOntrol and preVEntion of type II Diabetes and its Risk factors (EMPOWER-D) - A Protocol for a Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Engaging community groups to enhance healthcare access for persons with disabilities in rural Uganda: A qualitative exploration.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- Equity and empowerment effects: Multiple styles of 'voluntarism' in community-based health projects.World development · 2024Article
- Article
- Article
- The effects of community-based interventions on the uptake of selected maternal and child health services: experiences of the IMCHA project in Iringa Tanzania, 2015-2020.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2023Article
- Intermediate hyperglycaemia, diabetes and blood pressure in rural Bangladesh: five-year post-randomisation follow-up of the DMagic cluster-randomised controlled trial.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2023Article
- Overlooked and unaddressed: A narrative review of mental health consequences of child marriages.PLOS global public health · 2022Review
- 'Voice needs teeth to have bite'! Expanding community-led multisectoral action-learning to address alcohol and drug abuse in rural South Africa.PLOS global public health · 2022Article
- The influence of community factors in the implementation of community-based interventions to improve antenatal care: a qualitative study based on the IMCHA programme in Tanzania.Reproductive health · 2021Article
- Collective reflections on the first cycle of a collaborative learning platform to strengthen rural primary healthcare in Mpumalanga, South Africa.Health research policy and systems · 2021Article
- The feasibility of establishing parent support groups for children with congenital Zika syndrome and their families: a mixed-methods study.Wellcome open research · 2021Article
- Classroom, club or collective? Three types of community-based group intervention and why they matter for health.BMJ global health · 2020Review
- Measuring the psychological drivers of participation in collective action to address violence against women in Mumbai, India.Wellcome open research · 2020Article
- Long-term impact of community-based participatory women's groups on child and maternal mortality and child disability: follow-up of a cluster randomised trial in rural Nepal.BMJ global health · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Participatory community-based women's group interventions have been successful in improving maternal and newborn survival. In rural Makwanpur, Nepal, exposure to these Participatory Learning and Action groups resulted in a thirty-percent reduction in neonatal mortality rate and significantly fewer maternal deaths. It is often theorised that participatory approaches are more likely to be sustained than top-down approaches, but this is rarely evaluated after the withdrawal of external support. We sought to understand how participatory learning and action (PLA) groups in Makwanpur fared after the supporting non-governmental organisation withdrew their support as well as factors affecting their sustainability. We used mixed methods, conducting a cross-sectional survey of 239 groups, thirty focus group discussions with group members and thirty key informant interviews within twelve-seventeen months after support was withdrawn. Eighty percent of groups were still active which suggests that PLA groups have a high chance of being sustained over time. Groups were more likely to be sustained if the group had local importance and members continued to acquire new knowledge. However, the participatory nature of the group and local embeddedness were not enough to sustain all groups. They also needed leadership capacity, a unifying activity such as a fund, and a strong belief in the value of their meeting to sustain. These key factors should be considered when seeking to enable sustainability of participatory interventions.
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