What are the effects of women's economic self-help group programs on women's empowerment? a systematic review

The concept of women's empowerment as an essential component of international development has gained attention over the past two decades. There has been a shift from thinking of women as targets for fertility control to acknowledging women as autonomous agents who make strategic life choices. There has been an explosion of work that attempts to gain an deeper understanding of empowerment. Along with empowerment as a concept came grassroots movements aimed at disenfranchised women. These movements led to the birth of economic self-help groups that have the unexpected consequence of empowering women by enabling them to take more active roles in decision-making. The objective of this systematic review is to determine the impact of women's participation in economic self-help groups on their empowerment in low and middle-income countries. We base our methodology on the understanding that evidence has been generated from both quantitative and qualitative research, much of which can be useful in informing policy and practice. We intend to conduct an integrated mixed-methods review in order to benefit from data generated through both qualitative and quantitative methodologies and to enhance the review's utility and impact for policymakers. Our search strategy includes searching relevant electronic databases, searching the grey literature, hand searching journals and websites, conducting bibliographic back referencing and program-specific searches, and obtaining key contact recommendations. Our integrated analysis has three stages: a summary of quantitative effects, a summary of relevant qualitative pieces, a synthesis of both summaries that goes beyond the primary studies and generates a new interpretation.