Bridging the Digital Divide: Data Access and Integration of Venezuelan Migrants in Colombia

Last registered on August 24, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Bridging the Digital Divide: Data Access and Integration of Venezuelan Migrants in Colombia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0011945
Initial registration date
August 18, 2023

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
August 24, 2023, 4:59 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Colombia
Region
Medellin, Cali, Cucuta, Berranquilla, Bogota

Primary Investigator

Name
Mateo Vasquez-Cortes
Affiliation
UCSD
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Nejla Asimovic
PI Affiliation
University of Pennsylvania
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PI Name
Kevin Munger
PI Affiliation
Penn State
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2023-08-28
End date
2023-09-29
Keywords
Governance, Welfare
Additional Keywords
Migration, connectivity, digital literacy
JEL code(s)
F22; C93; D83
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Violence and the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has led nearly two million Venezuelans to flee to Colombia (USAID 2020). Despite the growing efforts of the Colombian government to provide support, forcibly displaced and migrant populations continue to face various legal, economic, and social barriers. One of the many barriers relates to limited internet access which reduces the amount of information that the financially constrained migrants can obtain about government programs or economic opportunities, as well as limits their ability to expand or sustain their social ties. We assess the effects of enhanced data access (by providing mobile data credits) on migrants’ knowledge and interest about the existing migrant assistance programs, on the expansion and sustainment of their social networks, and on their levels of psychological wellbeing. Our design also allows us to test whether complementing enhanced data access with access to moderated WhatsApp groups which provide both legitimate information leads to better socio-economic outcomes for this community. Finally, we provide evidence of how levels of digital literacy within this community – captured through a novel set of literacy measures – shapes the effects of this intervention and the challenges related to migrant integration and wellbeing.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Asimovic, Nejla, Kevin Munger and Mateo Vasquez-Cortes. 2023. "Bridging the Digital Divide: Data Access and Integration of Venezuelan Migrants in Colombia." AEA RCT Registry. August 24. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.11945-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The main intervention is the provision of a one-time monthly phone plan that also includes unlimited access to social media (e.g. WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter). Participants will of course be informed of the possibilities offered by the data package and the pages they can access for free.

In addition to data access, one treatment arm (subgroup of the sample) will also receive Whatsapp messages from IPA on behalf of the Colombian government with the aim of providing truthful information about Sisben, the database used for targeting social programs. Since the messages will be coming from an office of the Colombian government, we can ensure that the information circulated is accurate, fact-checked and useful for the community (e.g. request a Sisben survey or update their profile in the dataset).

A third treatment arm consists of participants which in addition to enhanced data access and messages received, will also be invited to participate in a Whatsapp group managed by IPA on behalf of the DNP, to provide them with more interaction with the information received about Sisben.
Intervention Start Date
2023-08-28
Intervention End Date
2023-09-29

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Venezuelan migrants’ in Colombia wellbeing and digital literacy.
Knowledge of government programs.
Trust in institutions.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Wellbeing: Employment status, psychological well being and social capital.
Digital literacy: Ability to detect misinformation, use of the internet to access information about social programs, education or search for paid jobs.
Knowledge of government programs:
Trust in institutions: battery of questions about trust in the host government.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The mobile phone credit recharges given to all the treatment groups will be delivered using a service that allows for massive mobile phone top-ups of different phone providers. These recharges will be of around $30.000 COP (7 USD), and will give the participants’ unlimited access to social media, and additional GB for navigation. The specific amount of GB for navigation varies by provider.

For treatment #2 (access to internet + information via Whatsapp), IPA will use Twilio to send weekly messages with information approved by the National Planning Department. We will send 1-5 different messages weekly, which may include multimedia content. At any point, participants may express their desire to stop receiving these messages.

Treatment #3 (access to internet + information and interaction via Whatsapp groups): Participants in this treatment arm will be invited to participate in a Whatsapp group managed by IPA on behalf of the DNP, to provide them with more interaction with the information received about Sisben. These interactions will be as organic as possible, the group aims to be a space for users to communicate with one another if they choose so. These groups will have around 30 participants each. While the selection of the participants that fall into treatment #3 will be random, participants of each group will be created to have some characteristics in common according to Sisbén or the screening survey (for example, city of residence in Colombia, or state of origin in Venezuela).

A member of the research team will be in the group to ensure there is no discriminatory, hateful or toxic speech. The research team will not share participants’ name or phone number in connection with any of the messages. In case participants’ deviates too much from the desired topics of discussion (Sisbén, social programs, Venezuelans economic integration), a reminder will be sent to emphasize the objective of the group.

These messages and groups will be sent by IPA in collaboration with the National Planning Department and will provide information related to government services, with links to websites that data-capped users might otherwise not be able to visit. In particular, these messages will provide information about Portal Ciudadano Sisben, an online office through which citizens are able to perform several procedures about Sisben, the database of potential beneficiaries of social and economic programs in Colombia. These messages are approved by the National Planning Department, and have already been used in other communication campaigns by the government.

After the endline, the control group will receive the mobile phone credit recharge, and the control group and treatment 1 will receive all the information sent to the treatment 2 and 3 groups.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Given the pre-treatment information available from Sisen, we conduct a block randomization by age, gender, education level, and city. In the Sisben sample shared with us, there are 67,439 individuals from five municipalities, all of whom have temporary stay permits. Of the total sample, 64.22% are female, while 35.78% are male. The mean age is 36.82, with a median age of 34.35. Furthermore, 25.68% of the sample has an elementary school education level or no formal schooling, 61.18% has a high school education, and 13.14% holds a university degree or higher.
Randomization Unit
Individual (Venezuelan migrant registered in Sisben)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
2000 individuals
Sample size: planned number of observations
2000 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
500 observations for each of the four groups (three treatment arms and one pure control group).
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Innovations for Poverty Action IRB
IRB Approval Date
2023-08-03
IRB Approval Number
16198
Analysis Plan

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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