Intervention(s)
We invited female domestic workers working at HelloTask to attend a two-day training4 on digital financial services starting from September 2022. The modules were adapted from the HerFinance Digital Wages Curriculum developed by the HERfinance Digital Wages
Program5. There are 6 training modules: Introduction to Mobile Financial Services, Using Mobile Financial Services, Financial Planning and Managing Money, Budgeting, Savings, and Talking About Finances With Family. The original versions of these modules were prepared to facilitate training sessions among garment factory workers. We worked with our implementation partner, HelloTask, to adapt the modules to the context of female domestic workers in Bangladesh. The modules were further adapted via discussions with the HelloTask field force and from the researchers’ experience with female domestic workers during focus group discussions (FGDs).
Furthermore, the original modules were updated to include the various other MFS providers, presently, operating in Bangladesh. We updated the transaction charges/fees and interest rates on savings6. We provided information on the universe of services available from different mobile money providers - essentially, differentiating between the existing mode of payment and he new mode of wage payment we offer to domestic workers in T1.
A training of trainers (TOT) session was conducted by the experienced trainer at HelloTask. The TOT sessions were also joined by local brand promoters (BP) of HelloTask7 so as to assist the trainees during the training sessions. The two-day training sessions were conducted in HelloTask hubs (venue training). These hubs are privately owned/rented by HelloTask to use for their day-to-day business and
training activities. The hubs are located inside the slum regions across Dhaka city and so served our purpose of ensuring familiarity and accessibility when we invited our study participants. Additionally, we offered support (via the BPs) for women who brought their
child/children so that they could concentrate during the training sessions. We developed a DFS training calling protocol, where we called and informed, a week before, each domestic worker in T1 and T2 about the invitation to attend the training. A dedicated team at HT continued to make reminder calls 24 hours before the training and then finally on the day of the training as another gentle reminder.
We closely monitored the rate of attendance for the training at the hubs over the next two to three months and by December 2022 we had provided training to 156 domestic workers.
To reach more participants, we worked with HelloTask to initiate door-to-door training. These door-to-door training were conducted by the BPs8(who attended all the venue sessions, and training and had experience working with these women in the past). By January 2023, we provided training to another 116 domestic workers via door-to-door training, reaching 272 of the 337 domestic workers in treatment arms 1 and 2. The DFS training was provided in homogeneous group sessions, ensuring that all women attending a specific training session (i.e. at the same time, day, and hub) belong to the same treatment arm(s). This homogeneity was also ensured among women who were given the door-to-door training (i.e. at the same time, day and location).