Linking mobile money to a formal savings account: Experimental evidence from small-scale women agri-processors in Burkina Faso

Last registered on January 06, 2025
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Linking mobile money to a formal savings account: Experimental evidence from small-scale women agri-processors in Burkina Faso
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0015118
Initial registration date
January 05, 2025

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
January 06, 2025, 12:49 PM 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
SUGRINOMA ARISTIDE OUEDRAOGO
Affiliation
FAO
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Kimseyinga Savadogo
PI Affiliation
Sahel Center
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PI Name
Salamata Loaba
PI Affiliation
Thomas Sankara University
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PI Name
Salimata Traoré
PI Affiliation
Thomas Sankara University
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PI Name
Pam Zahonogo
PI Affiliation
Thomas Sankara University
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2024-05-02
End date
2025-12-31
Keywords
Agriculture, Firms & Productivity, Welfare
Additional Keywords
Digital finance, Saving, Agrifood processing, Women empowerment, Welfare
JEL code(s)
C90, C93, D10, D14, D15, D22
Secondary IDs
RFP3PSAVKIMA
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Small agri-processing activities represents a major source of income for women in rural and urban areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the limited access to formal financing pushes women entrepreneurs to resort to informal financing with the associated risk stemming from asymmetric information issues. Mobile phones very fortunately offer an opportunity to promote inclusive and less risky financial services for women entrepreneurs. The development of mobile phone based digital finance services allows linking to formal banking services, such as savings. Relying on an experimental design, this project will analyze how linking a mobile money account to a saving account affect women saving behavior, credit access and household welfare
External Link(s)
A short description of the project on JPAL website

Registration Citation

Citation
Loaba, Salamata et al. 2025. "Linking mobile money to a formal savings account: Experimental evidence from small-scale women agri-processors in Burkina Faso." AEA RCT Registry. January 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15118-1.0
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2025-01-31
Intervention End Date
2025-02-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Saving and Credit
Enterprise performance: Level of sale and Profit
Women empowerment: Women participation to decision making and intra-household ressource allocation
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Food security
Access to market: change in transaction costs
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This experimental intervention consists of supporting women in the use of digital finance service throught by creating for them mobile money accounts and formal savings accounts to be used in their business activities. We randomly split the sample into three subsamples, two receiving treatment and the third serving as control. In the first, the treatment consists in opening a mobile money account for the women and training them on how to use their account. In the second subsample, in addition to the first treatment, we will link their mobile money account to a formal bank account. With this latter intervention, beneficiary women should be able to transfer money between their formal bank account and their mobile money account. A final survey will be conducted 6-12 months later to measure the impact of the intervention on the outcome variables
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
After the field survey, the selected sample has been randomly assigned to each group using Stata software.
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomisation are the women in the sample processing or saling agrifood food products.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
no clusters
Sample size: planned number of observations
we will collect data over a sample of 700 women entrepreneurs in agri-processing chosen among agri-processors and traders in Ouagadougou and Ouahigouya. To account for city size, Ouagadougou will account for 70 percent of the overall sample size, and Ouahigouya 30 percent.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
the sample is split randomly into three as follows:

- Group1: 230 enterprises in this group receive Mobile money and training on how to use it in their business transaction.
- Group 2: 230 enterprises in this group receive Mobile money and training on how to use it in their business transaction. In addition, they mobile account are linked to saving account.
- Group 3: Control group: 240 enterprises in this group receive no treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
using Saving as outcome variables, the MDE is 84,493 FCFA given a sample size of 700, ratio of units in treatment and control of 1, and power 0.8
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
The Heartland Institutional Review Board (HIRB)
IRB Approval Date
2024-08-13
IRB Approval Number
081524-590
IRB Name
Comité d'hétique pour la Recherche en Santé, Burkina Faso
IRB Approval Date
2024-03-06
IRB Approval Number
2024-03-56
Analysis Plan