May 10, 2024
Welcome to my summer blog — my name is Katie, and I am a graduate student in the MPA/ID program at the Harvard Kennedy School. From June to August 2024, I will be joining the team at the Center for Social and Behavior Change (CSBC) in India as a Graduate Research Fellow. My experience is made possible by the generous support of the Cultural Bridge program at the Women and Public Policy Program at HKS.
This summer, I will be collaborating with CSBC researchers on research across three gender-related field trials; two in Uttar Pradesh and one in Jharkhand. The research topics are as follows:
- Phones for women's empowerment: We are investigating the causal effects of providing internet-enabled smartphones to rural women in Uttar Pradesh using a large-scale randomized control trial. The outcomes we will focus on include various dimensions of empowerment and well-being, including mental health.
- Workverse smart skills training: We are designing a randomized control trial to evaluate a smart skills training program in Uttar Pradesh with 1000 female final year graduate students and young professionals.
- Graduation approach digital training: CSBC and the University of Michigan are designing and evaluating coaching interventions within a women’s livelihoods program in Jharkhand. The interventions aim to strengthen participants’ psychosocial capabilities and agency.
Watch this space for updates on my professional growth and personal adventures this summer!