Women's Leadership in Village Savings and Loan Associations

Last registered on March 15, 2024
View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Women's Leadership in Village Savings and Loan Associations
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013128
Initial registration date
March 07, 2024

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 15, 2024, 5:35 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Uganda
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Danila Serra
Affiliation
Texas A&M University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Munshi Sulaiman
PI Affiliation
BIGD, BRAC University
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Kjetil Bjorvatn
PI Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Shyamal Chowdhury
PI Affiliation
The University of Sydney
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Catalina Franco
PI Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2022-02-01
End date
2025-12-31
Keywords
Finance & Microfinance, Gender, Governance
Additional Keywords
Leadership, Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs)
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This project investigates the barriers to women’s leadership roles in VSLAs in Uganda. While VSLAs are prominent for financial inclusion and economic empowerment of women in Uganda, there is a gap in women’s representation in the VSLAs' leadership committees. This poses a challenge in materializing the full potential of women’s empowerment (both social and economic) through VSLAs as well as similar community groups. We investigate the impact of female leadership in VSLAs in Uganda by implementing a field experiment consisting in nudging VSLAs to appoint a new Chairperson. In randomly selected VSLAs, the nudge was to appoint a woman, in other randomly selected VSLAs, the nudge was to appoint a new male leader. In a third randomly selected set of VSLAs, we implement the female leadership nudge together with a mentoring intervention that put new female leaders in contact by phone with successful female leaders of other VSLAs. We assess the impact of the interventions on the gender composition of the VSLAs' leadership, the performance of the VSLAs, and the perceptions and attitudes of leaders and group members.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bjorvatn , Kjetil et al. 2024. "Women's Leadership in Village Savings and Loan Associations." AEA RCT Registry. March 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13128-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The study involves 535 VSLAs in Uganda, all with male Chairperson (or President). We randomly assigned each VSLA to either a control group or one of three treatment groups. The VSLAs in the treatment groups were nudged to appoint a new Chairperson at the end of the current mandate. Specifically, the VSLAs in T1 were nudged to appoint a new male Chairperson. The VSLAs in T2 were nudged to appoint a new female Chairperson. The VSLAs in T3 were also nudged to appoint a new female Chairperson and, conditional on such appointment, were offered mentoring via phone for the new Chairperson by an established female Chairperson of a different VSLA. We observed an average (nudge) compliance rate of 30%. We assess the impact of the treatments on the presence of women in leadership roles in VSLAs, VSLAs performance metrics (e.g., loan amounts, repayment and default rates), leaders’ performance as perceived by leaders and VSLA members, and gender attitudes.
Intervention Start Date
2022-04-01
Intervention End Date
2023-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
- Female representation in VSLAs’ leadership roles
- VSLA performance metrics, e.g., profitability, loan write-off, distribution of loans by gender of VSLA member, and within and outside the VSLA.
- VSLA leaders’ and members’ assessment of the Chaiperson’s skills and performance
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
- Gender attitudes
- Leadership ambition
- Mental health
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study involves 535 VSLAs in Uganda, all with male Chairperson (or President). We randomly assigned each VSLA to either a control group or one of three treatment groups. The VSLAs in the treatment groups were nudged to appoint a new Chairperson at the end of the current cycle (as in February 2022). Specifically, the VSLAs in T1 were nudged to appoint a new male Chairperson at the end of the current cycle. The VSLAs in T2 were nudged to appoint a new female Chairperson. The VSLAs in T3 were also nudged to appoint a new female Chairperson and, conditional on such appointment, were offered mentoring via phone for the new Chairperson by an established female Chairperson of a different VSLA. We observed an average (nudge) compliance rate of 30%. We assess the impact of the treatments on the presence of women in leadership roles in VSLAs, VSLAs performance metrics (e.g., loan amounts, repayment and default rates), leaders’ performance as perceived by leaders and VSLA members, and gender attitudes. The endline data collection is scheduled for March-May 2024.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization was done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization was the VSLA.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
We designed the study and the randomization to include 616 VSLAs.
A total of 535 VSLAs ended up participating in the study.
Sample size: planned number of observations
VSLA performance metrics will be measured at the VSLA level. We aim to survey 9 VSLAs' members at endline, for each VSLA. The surveys will generate the individual-level outcomes of interest. We anticipate collecting survey data for about 5,000 VSLA members, in total.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The initial randomization assigned the 616 VSLAs to one of four groups:
- Control: 154
- T1: Nudge to appoint a new MALE president: 154
- T2: Nudge to appoint a new FEMALE president: 153
- T3 Nudge to appoint new FEMALE president plus Mentoring: 155

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Uganda National Council for Science and Technology
IRB Approval Date
2021-01-25
IRB Approval Number
SS685ES
Analysis Plan