Experimental Design
Intervention(s): The Business Games (BG) are simulation-based learning formats focusing on business and financial knowledge that were developed by the German Sparkassenstiftung for International Cooperation (DSIK) and are implemented with different target groups around the world. DSIK generally works with local implementing organizations and uses a train-the-trainer approach to qualify trainers for their task. This rigorous impact evaluation analyses the effects of the Farmer Business Game (FBG) and the Micro Business Game (MBG) in Zambia, where they are implemented in cooperation with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The interventions that are part of this study will be implemented in four provinces of Zambia (Northwestern, Copperbelt, Eastern, Muchinga) by five NGOs.
Both the MBG and the FBG have a duration of three days and consist of so-called Know-How Sessions, where participants learn key management and financial education concepts, and multiple simulation rounds. During the simulation rounds, the participants work in teams to manage a (farm or non-farm) business and compete with the other teams. At the end of each round, the participants receive feedback and discuss the outcome of the round based on their management decisions, such as opting for a certain crop, investing in business assets, or deciding to purchase or forego insurance.
Outcomes: Our evaluation considers program effects on the following outcomes: (i) knowledge acquisition; (ii) access to finance and financial behavior; (iii) business and farm management practices; (iv) economic well-being and employment.
Explanations: the objective of the BG is to help micro-entrepreneurs and farmers improve their livelihoods through responsible financial behaviors as well as improved business and farm management practices. We choose outcomes covering the entire results chain from knowledge acquisition (measured for financial literacy and knowledge of basic accounting principles etc.), over access to finance and financial behavior (for example, loan applications and access to loans, loan sustainability, bank account ownership, saving patterns, use of insurance), business and farm management (for example, separating business and household finances, planning and forecasting, sound agricultural decision-making), to economic well-being and employment (for example household income and assets, own employment status, employment of others and employment conditions).
Experimental Design: DSIK work with several NGOs as implementing partners of the BG across Zambia. This evaluation covers 35 BG and 35 control locations implemented by five NGOs in four provinces of Zambia (Northwestern, Copperbelt, Eastern, Muchinga). The NGOs collaborate with local groups, such as cooperatives or farmer groups, saving groups, women’s and youth groups etc., to recruit a maximum of 25 participants for each planned BG (for a given date and approximate location). To ensure a comparable control group, the NGOs were asked to suggest one pair of groups as potential participants for each planned BG. The groups were supposed to have similar economic conditions but be located at least 5 kilometers apart. For each pair, one group was then selected randomly for participation in 2024 (treatment), with the other group being earmarked for participation in 2025 (control). Individual participants were invited accordingly by the NGOs and their partners to participate in the BG (treatment), or an information session and an interview (control). The baseline survey was then conducted on the morning of the first training day for the treatment group. The control group were assembled on a separate day where they received a short introduction to the BG from an NGO representative, were informed that they could participate in the BG in one year’s time, and were then asked to participate in the baseline survey. A brief financial decisions questionnaire was conducted on day 3, at the end of the BG, for the treatment group, and directly after the baseline survey for the control group.
The BG are conducted by a minimum of two trainers from the respective NGO who are certified regularly by DSIK. Both the Micro Business Game (MBG) and the Farmer Business Game (FBG) have a duration of three days and consist of so-called Know-How Sessions, where participants learn key management and financial education concepts, and multiple simulation rounds. During the simulation rounds, the participants work in teams to manage a (farm or non-farm) business and compete with the other teams. At the end of each round, the participants receive feedback and discuss the outcome of the round based on their management decisions, such as opting for a certain crop, investing in business assets, or deciding to purchase or forego insurance. The contents of both games are similar to a large extent, but also contain applications that are specific to farm and business management, respectively.
To assess the effects of the treatment on immediate knowledge acquisition, we will use data from the financial decisions questionnaire conducted at the end of the BG. To assess longer-term effects on knowledge acquisition as well as treatment effects on all other outcomes, we will rely on the endline survey, which is scheduled approximately for July 2025, 10-11 months after the intervention.