Comparing cash assistance and multifaceted programs in urban Madagascar

Last registered on July 04, 2024

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Comparing cash assistance and multifaceted programs in urban Madagascar

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0013762

Initial registration date

June 04, 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

June 24, 2024, 9:37 AM EDT

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

Last updated

July 04, 2024, 4:30 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

Madagascar

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Quentin Stoeffler

Affiliation

University of Bordeaux

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Nicolas Hérault

PI Affiliation

University of Bordeaux

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Robin Audy

PI Affiliation

The World Bank

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Inès Touré

PI Affiliation

University of Poitiers

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2023-09-01

End date

2025-12-31

Keywords

Finance & Microfinance, Firms & Productivity, Welfare

Additional Keywords

Multifaceted programs; CSLAs

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

This research studies a government multifaceted program implemented in urban Madagascar. It compares a simple cash transfer program (Transferts monétaires urbains, TMU) to the multifaceted version of the program. The multifaceted TMU adds a productive cash grant component to the regular cash transfers provided by the classic TMU program. The multifaceted TMU also provides additional support to Community Saving and Loan Associations (CSLA) aimed at promoting beneficiary income-generating activities. The multifaceted version of the program was randomly provided to a subset of the TMU neighborhoods (fokontany) by the government. This selection process generates a randomized control trial (RCT) design. We will measure the short term impact of the productive package provided by the multifaceted TMU program (compared to the classic TMU program) on household productive activities and wellbeing.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Audy, Robin et al. 2024. "Comparing cash assistance and multifaceted programs in urban Madagascar." AEA RCT Registry. July 04. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13762-1.1

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The study compares two version of the Urban Cash Transfer (Tranferts monétaires urbains or TMU) program. The classic TMU intervention is a regular cash transfer program, with monthly training sessions on topics related to health, education and other topics. The multifaced TMU intervention adds a productive cash grant, and encourages the creation of CSLA (Community Savings and Loans Association). The main objective of the multifaceted TMU program is to encourage beneficiaries to create new income-generating activities (or invest in existing activities).

Intervention (Hidden)

The Urban Cash Transfer (Tranferts monétaires urbains or TMU) program supports nearly 26,000 households with an unconditional cash transfer (classic TMU) targeting households with children under 5 years old, and households with additional specific characteristics (disability, over 65 years old ), with an amount of 60,000 to 70,000 Ariary (about 16 USD) every two months. In addition to the monetary transfer, beneficiaries are invited to group training sessions on subjects such as health, food, hygiene, encouragement of schooling, etc. The program is implemented by the government of Madagascar, and more specifically the FID unit (Fonds d’intervention pour le développement).

The Multifaceted TMU cash transfer program (TMU Multifacette) is a pilot program targeting 2,000 households who otherwise would receive the classic TMU program in 23 Fokontany (urban neighborhoods) chosen randomly. It builds on the classic program by adding greater intensity of CSLA (Community Savings and Loans Association) and micro-enterprise training, and all the beneficiary households will receive a productive grant of 360,000 Ariary (approximately 80 USD). The grant and the other additional components are aimed at stimulating the creation of income-generating activities among beneficiaries. Note that the Multifaceted TMU beneficiaries were randomly selected from the Classic TMU beneficiaries (randomization at the community level) by the program managers (FID unit).

Intervention Start Date

2023-09-01

Intervention End Date

2024-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

- number, type and profits of income-generating activities
- saving and credit amounts (in CSLAs and outside of CLSAs)
- household assets (productive and household assets)
- household per capita consumption
- food security (food consumption score)

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

- children schooling
- migrations
- livestock owning
- housing conditions

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The design is a clustered randomized control trial. Among neighborhoods (fokontany) selected for the classic TMU program, the government has randomly selected 23 neighborhoods that received the multifaceted TMU program.

Experimental Design Details

The research design builds on the randomization that was conducted by the FID to select Fokontany selected to receive the multifaceted TMU intervention. Thus, it constitutes a randomized evaluation of the multifaceted TMU program (compared to the classic TMU). Indeed, the government decided in August 2023 to select beneficiaries for a pilot program among all beneficiaries receiving the usual cash transfer program (TMU classic). Because these beneficiaries were included in randomly selected Fokontany, this generates a clustered randomized control trial (clustered RCT).
The researchers will take advantage of this administrative decision to randomly select the Fokontany receiving the "enhanced" multifaceted program to assess its impact. The level of the intervention is the Fokontany, which is an urban neighborhood in the context of Madagascar. Among the 220 fokontany that received the class TMU program, 23 communes were selected to receive the multifaceted TMU program.

Randomization Method

Randomization was conducted on computer by the government team (FID) with technical assistance from the World Bank.

Randomization Unit

The randomization unit is the Fokontany, which is a traditional, small urban neighborhood in Madagascar. All individuals in a given Fokontany received the same version of the program (classic TMU or multifaceted TMU). Since our unit of analysis is the household, this generates a clustered RCT.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes