Cash Transfers and Graduation Approach among Refugees in Uganda

Last registered on December 21, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Cash Transfers and Graduation Approach among Refugees in Uganda
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0012719
Initial registration date
December 20, 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
December 21, 2023, 8:05 AM EST

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

Locations

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Primary Investigator

Name
Till Wicker
Affiliation
Tilburg University
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2023-11-06
End date
2026-11-30
Keywords
Behavior, Post-conflict
Additional Keywords
Cash transfers, graduation approach, refugees
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Humanitarian organizations are facing a challenge: the number of refugees is constantly increasing, however funds are not growing as quickly. Hence they need to focus on proven and effective interventions to help refugees regain their self-reliance. There are two main interventions that help refugees regain self-reliance: (1) the Graduation Approach, and (2) Limited-duration unconditional cash transfers. The Graduation Approach is a 2-year program which consists of trainings, savings groups, and a cash transfer (some programs have additional components). While other studies have documented high effectiveness - including several years later (Banerjee et al., 2015; 2022) - the Graduation Approach is very costly, logistically challenging, and time-intensive. Hence it is less scalable compared with unconditional cash transfers, which are becoming more widely adopted among humanitarian organizations. Nevertheless, there are no studies comparing the (cost-)effectiveness of the two interventions in a humanitarian context. Hence the evidence base for NGOs to allocate their funding, is very limited.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Wicker, Till. 2023. "Cash Transfers and Graduation Approach among Refugees in Uganda." AEA RCT Registry. December 21. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.12719-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
No Cash - Control Group: Refugee households that do not receive an intervention
Cash: households receive a 6-month-long unconditional cash transfer of $8 per household member per month, paid via mobile money.
Graduation: households receive a 24-month-long unconditional cash transfer of $8 per household member per month, paid via mobile money. Additionally, household heads have weekly meetings/trainings, and form a savings group.
Intervention Start Date
2023-11-13
Intervention End Date
2025-12-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Standard of Living; Health; Income and Assets; Psychological Well-being; Savings and Debt
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Migration; Social Capital; Food Security; Nutrition; Financial Digital Literacy
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
A Randomized Controlled Trial will be conducted among 250 highly vulnerable refugee households in Kyangwali refugee settlement, Uganda. These 250 households were referred to the partner NGO as being particularly vulnerable households, who the NGO has enrolled on a first-come-first-serve basis to their 6-month unconditional cash transfer program. These 250 households will be randomized into 2 groups: ‘Cash’, and ‘Graduation’.

Due to NGO's “first-come-first-serve” enrollment of households into the cash transfer program, there exist many more households that are equally vulnerable as those eligible for the cash transfer, that were not selected for the cash transfer. A subsample of 125 of those households will be chosen to form the ‘No Cash’ comparison group. These are similarly vulnerable households that do not receive a cash transfer. Note, I do not randomize between who receives a cash transfer, and who does not. The NGO determines which households receive cash or not. However, the “first-come-first-serve” enrollment is quasi-random, and hence the ‘No Cash’ comparison group is the best comparison group that can be achieved in a fair and ethical manner. To compare the ‘No Cash’ group to the other two groups, a Regression Discontinuity Design will be deployed based on the household’s Vulnerability Score.

Households from the ‘No Cash’, ‘Cash’, and ‘Graduation’ groups will undergo seven rounds of surveys: 1 baseline, 3 phone surveys after 6, 12, and 18 months, an endline survey after 2 years, and two post-program phone surveys after 2.5 and 3 years (compared to the start date of the program).
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization was done using Stata. Households that could not be located were replaced by a 'reserve list'.
Randomization Unit
Household (surveys are with head of household)
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
375
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
125 per treatment arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Tilburg University TiSEM Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2023-12-15
IRB Approval Number
IRB FUL 2023-011
Analysis Plan