Crossing the Finish Line: Intervening in a Critical Period for Zambian Women's Educational Investment

Last registered on August 14, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Crossing the Finish Line: Intervening in a Critical Period for Zambian Women's Educational Investment
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0014078
Initial registration date
August 12, 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
August 14, 2024, 2:48 PM EDT

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
Natalie Bau
Affiliation
UCLA
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Corinne Low
PI Affiliation
UPenn
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PI Name
Bryce Steinberg
PI Affiliation
Brown
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Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2024-08-19
End date
2025-05-14
Keywords
Education, Gender, Health, Labor
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
In Sub-Saharan Africa, university enrollment has grown rapidly, but female students are financially vulnerable and face substantial barriers to completion. Preliminary work with female college students in Zambia shows high rates of unintended pregnancies, as well as significant financial vulnerability, leading to risky sexual behavior and other risky coping strategies. This RCT will examine the effect of a unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) to female college students in Zambia during this critical period of college attendance.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bau, Natalie, Corinne Low and Bryce Steinberg. 2024. "Crossing the Finish Line: Intervening in a Critical Period for Zambian Women's Educational Investment." AEA RCT Registry. August 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.14078-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention is cash assistance for university students.
Intervention Start Date
2024-09-16
Intervention End Date
2024-12-16

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Risky sexual behaviors/transactional sex; educational outcomes
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Risky sexual behaviors: engaging in condomless sex (measured every two weeks), reporting not using a condom because a partner did not want to (measured every two weeks), age gap with sexual partners (measured every two weeks), sex with partners with whom women do not feel safe.
Transactional sex: Large gifts (e.g., paying tuition or housing) by sexual partners, amount of transfers from sexual partners
Educational outcomes: self reported enrollment information, grade point average (if possible), administrative data on enrollment/dropout, grades, and on-time completion (if possible)
For dimensions of sexual behavior and education, average effect sizes can be used to create aggregate measures across all specific outcomes.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Mental health, cognitive load, amount of debt, time use
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Mental health: Questions from the PHQ-4
Cognitive load: Assessed using Raven's matrices
Time Use: time spent studying/attending classes, in income generating activities, etc.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Approximately 50% of participants will be randomly assigned to receive cash assistance after 1 to 2 baseline surveys.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Stratified randomization will be done in office by a computer. Randomization will be stratified on sexual activity (has never had sex, sexually active but not in last two weeks, and sex in the last two weeks) and whether a student is on financial aid ("bursary").
Randomization Unit
Individual
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
1,000 students
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
500 students per treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Zambia Biomedical Research Ethics Commiittee
IRB Approval Date
2024-07-03
IRB Approval Number
5472-2024
IRB Name
National Bureau of Economic Research
IRB Approval Date
2024-01-26
IRB Approval Number
24_009
Analysis Plan