Acitvating Informal Labour for Public Service Delivery: ReCycling in Mozambique

Last registered on January 28, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Acitvating Informal Labour for Public Service Delivery: ReCycling in Mozambique
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0017589
Initial registration date
January 22, 2026

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 28, 2026, 7:11 AM 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
Frederica Mendonça
Affiliation
Nova School of Business and Economics
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2025-05-01
End date
2026-08-31
Keywords
Behavior, Environment & Energy, Labor, Other
Additional Keywords
Public service delivery, Urbanization
JEL code(s)
I15, H44, H76, J46, O10
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This paper studies whether jointly activating household behaviour and underutilised informal labour can improve last-mile service provision. I implement a randomised controlled trial in Quelimane, Mozambique, combining household information on recycling with an institutional innovation that repurposes bicycle taxi drivers as waste collectors through a municipal buyback centre. A second treatment arm adds a conspicuous signalling device for households. The paper tests whether low-cost institutional arrangements that activate informal labour networks can help overcome coordination failures and improve public service delivery in low-capacity urban settings.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Mendonça, Frederica. 2026. "Acitvating Informal Labour for Public Service Delivery: ReCycling in Mozambique." AEA RCT Registry. January 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17589-1.0
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Partner

Name
Municipality of Quelimane
Type
municipality
URL
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
I conduct a field experiment (RCT) in which an information-based recycling intervention was delivered to randomly selected households in the city of Quelimane, Mozambique. The project was implemented in partnership with the municipal government under the name “ReCiclar com Quelimane'' (ReCycling with Quelimane). The intervention ran from July to November 2025 and consisted of a household-level information campaign on recycling, delivered through door-to-door visits, combined with free collection of recyclable waste. Recyclable waste collection was carried out by bicycle taxi drivers (“cyclists”), who constitute the city’s main transport network. Cyclists were engaged as waste collectors in a manner that complemented their regular work as bicycle taxis.
Intervention Start Date
2025-06-09
Intervention End Date
2025-11-21

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
We group hypotheses in different families of outcomes depending on the unit of analysis. Detailed hypotheses are provided in the pre-analysis plan.

For households
- Learning;
- Engagement with program;
- Waste management practices;
- Recycling/cleanliness valuation;
- Perceptions towards local government;
- Contact with cyclist.

For cyclists
- Engagement with program;
- Awareness about recycling;
- Task valuation;
- Employment and operation patterns;
- Socio-economic status.

For neighbors
- Program awareness;
- Program engagement;
- Contact with cyclist.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The allocation to treatment was conducted at the level of the cyclist. I sampled up to 3 clients per cyclist. All clients and cyclists allocated to treatment received the intervention; clients and cyclists in the control group received no intervention. No intervention was conduc Cyclists were randomly allocated to one of these groups:
- a group receiving the simple treatment (T1);
- a group receiving the nudge treatment (T2);
- a control group receiving no intervention.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization was carried out in Stata. Randomization was stratified within blocks of three cyclists, constructed by sorting cyclists within stops by their living neighbourhood and the number of days per week they worked as cyclists.
Randomization Unit
The treatment was randomly assigned at the level of the cyclist.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
554 cyclists.
Sample size: planned number of observations
The sample of cyclists includes 554 individuals. The sample of households includes 739 individuals collected during the cyclists' baseline, survey wave, and 259 collected prior to the start of the intervention, totalling 998 households. The sample of closest neighbors comprises 998 individuals, one selected from each household.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
185 in the control group, 184 in the simple treatment and 185 in the nudge 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
Institutional Review Board of Nova School of Business and Economics
IRB Approval Date
2024-09-16
IRB Approval Number
#2024116
Analysis Plan

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