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CHOICES Impact Evaluation: interventions for young adolescents and their parents to transform gender norms in Somalia

Last registered on March 08, 2018

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
CHOICES Impact Evaluation: interventions for young adolescents and their parents to transform gender norms in Somalia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002773
Initial registration date
March 08, 2018

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
March 08, 2018, 5:51 PM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
World Bank

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Save the Children UK
PI Affiliation
Save the Children UK
PI Affiliation
Save the Children Somalia
PI Affiliation
World Bank

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2018-03-07
End date
2020-12-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Somalia has one of the highest levels of gender inequality in the world and most of the gender related social norms get ingrained at a very early age. To change children’s attitudes and practices around gender biases, and thereby influencing social norms, Save the Children have developed the CHOICES training model. The CHOICES training model is one of the components of their multi-component CHANGES (Challenging Harmful Attitudes and Norms for Gender Equality and Empowerment in Somalia) project with the overall goal of empowerment of women and girls leading to greater gender equality and the reduction of harmful practices, especially female genital cutting (FGC) and child marriage.

CHOICES targets changing attitudes and behaviors of very young adolescent (VYA) girls and boys aged 10-14 years towards greater gender equality in the home. The CHOICES approach seeks to encourage the development of positive, mutually respectful gender attitudes and behaviors among very younger adolescents before they become firmly entrenched in the application of gender norms with the opposite sex, therefore enabling men and women to reach their human potential.

This impact evaluation will focus on measuring the impacts of the CHOICES training model in increasing gender equality and shifting the attitudes of the boys and girls who participate in the training. The study also intends to evaluate the marginal effect of sensitizing their parents through the Engaging Men and Boys (EMB) component of the program. The World Bank’s Africa Region Gender Innovation Lab (GIL) in collaboration with Save the Children is conducting a randomized controlled trial (RCT) impact evaluation of the CHOICES and EMB components in seven targeted districts in Somaliland and Puntland in Somalia.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Buehren, Niklas et al. 2018. "CHOICES Impact Evaluation: interventions for young adolescents and their parents to transform gender norms in Somalia." AEA RCT Registry. March 08. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2773-1.0
Former Citation
Buehren, Niklas et al. 2018. "CHOICES Impact Evaluation: interventions for young adolescents and their parents to transform gender norms in Somalia." AEA RCT Registry. March 08. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2773/history/26437
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The CHOICES training model is one of the components of Save the Children's multi-component CHANGES (Challenging Harmful Attitudes and Norms for Gender Equality and Empowerment in Somalia) project with the overall goal of empowerment of women and girls leading to greater gender equality and the reduction of harmful practices, especially female genital cutting (FGC) and child marriage. CHOICES targets very young adolescent (VYA) girls and boys aged 10 to 14 years towards greater gender equality in the home.

This impact evaluation project will focus on measuring the impacts of the CHOICES model on increasing gender equality and assess the marginal effect of this model in conjunction with the Engaging Men and Boys (EMB) model. The EMB model is an approach to promote gender equality through community sensitization that engage men and boys in community discussions with women. To assess the interaction with the CHOICES program specifically, many of the invited participants in the EMB sessions will be parents of the children participating in the CHOICES intervention.
Intervention Start Date
2018-03-12
Intervention End Date
2019-03-12

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The CHOICES program is anticipated to shift the attitudes, behaviors and aspirations of the VYAs across five interlocking domains (education, marriage, aspirations, division of chores and relationships) in which adolescents operate over their life course and are heavily influenced by gender schema.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Impact evaluation design: a clustered randomized controlled trial design.
T1: Children invited to participate in CHOICES training only
T2: Children invited to participate in CHOICES + a household member invited to Engaging Men and Boys (EMB)
C: Control group: the children who are not invited to either intervention
Therefore, the children aged 10-14 years will participate in CHOICES discussions for treatment arms T1 and T2. We expect parents to participate in EMB through two rounds of a community discussion series for T2 treatment arm.
Experimental Design Details
Impact evaluation design: a baseline survey will be conducted on a random sample of 4,200 very young adolescents (approximately 120 children per cluster) selected from eligible households listed in a census. We will randomly divide these children into three groups, with 40 children in each group per cluster:
T1: The children invited to participate in CHOICES training only
T2: The children invited to participate in CHOICES + a household member invited to EMB
C: Control group: the children who are not invited to either intervention
Therefore, we will have 2,800 children (1,400 in each of the treatment groups T1 and T2) who will participate in CHOICES discussions. We expect parents of the VYAs to participate in EMB through two rounds of a community discussion series for T2.
Randomization Method
Randomization done on Stata in an office.
Randomization Unit
Communities defined as clusters as the primary sampling unit. Randomization at the household level within clusters for treatment assignment.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
33 communities (some larger communities were split into 2).
Sample size: planned number of observations
4,200 very young adolescents (boys and girls aged 10-14 years).
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
T1: The children invited to participate in CHOICES training only (1,400 children)
T2: The children invited to participate in CHOICES + a household member invited to EMB (1,400 children)
C: Control group: the children who are not invited to either intervention (1,400 children)
Therefore, we will have 2,800 children (1,400 in each of the treatment groups T1 and T2) who will participate in CHOICES discussions. We expect parents of the VYAs to participate in EMB through two rounds of a community discussion series for T2.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Based on the overall sample of 1,400 children in each arm, and assuming 15% attrition, the MDE is 0.133 SD at 90% power and 0.115 SD at 80% for comparing any two groups. Estimating proportions, as a number of behavior level outcomes are likely to be binary variables, this sample size is able to capture 6.6 percentage point (pp) changes from a 50% level at 90% power. These power calculations are for intention to treat (ITT) effects by assuming 100% take-up. However, based on the ongoing pilot, we anticipate take-up rates of around 80%, and achieving the 6.6pp difference in ITT would require a real change of 8.3pp. However, the study will also look at the impact by sub-group (e.g. sex of the child). If we take half of the sample for this sub-group analysis, the MDEs are 0.188 SD or 9.4 pp at 90% power (compared to 0.133 SD and 6.6 pp for full sample). (These estimates do not account for repeated survey measures. MDE should be a bit smaller if we consider those).
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials