Empowering Underprivileged College Students through Leadership Roles in Their Communities: Experimental Evidence from Peru

Abstract

We study the impacts of an intervention in which underprivileged college students were randomly assigned to leadership roles. In these positions, students led information and training sessions on a new financial technology in their communities. Our results indicate that participant female students improved their academic performance, measured by grade point average and credits completed, in the short and long term. These effects persisted even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, their attitudes toward social responsibility and community engagement improved. Removing leadership opportunity constraints for underprivileged female college students can enhance their academic effort, performance, and social responsibility.