Managing Democracies for Development

The intervention consists of a training program for newly elected municipal mayors in Peru, implemented in partnership with two local expert NGOs: one specializing in public management and the other in democratic practices. The program follows a hybrid format, combining three to four days of in-person training with additional online sessions between November 2026 and January 2027. All costs associated with participation are covered for mayors, including travel and accommodation for the in-person sessions and costs associated with participation in the online components.

The intervention includes two treatment arms:
T1 – Managerial Skills: Mayors receive training in public management, covering topics such as leadership, mayoral transitions, human resource management, civil service recruitment, and financial reporting and control.
T2 – Managerial Skills + Democratic Practices: Mayors receive the same managerial training as those assigned to T1, along with additional training in democratic practices. Topics include decentralization, democratic principles, lawmaking, deliberation, and constructive dialogue with the political opposition and civil society.

Mayors assigned to the control group receive no training during the study period. After the study concludes, control-group mayors will have access to recorded training modules, after any information identifying other participants has been anonymized.

2026-11-11

2027-03-31

• Public service delivery (sanitation, water, solid waste, roads and public lighting)
• Social program performance
• Municipal spending and revenue
• Public procurement and contracting transparency
• Municipal bureaucratic quality
• Executive-legislative relations
• Citizen satisfaction with democracy
• Mayor-citizen communication
• Anti-corruption initiatives
• Political trust and efficacy
• Depolarization and disinformation

Measured using household surveys, administrative registries, public finance data and procurement records. Measured using household surveys and public municipal records (official websites, social media accounts and ordinances), complemented by an original citizen survey fielded for this study.

To be updated.

This study is a three-arm randomized controlled trial with treatment assignment at the mayor/municipality level. Newly elected mayors apply to participate through an online application, which also provides baseline and screening information. Applicants who satisfy the eligibility criteria are eligible for random assignment.

Eligible mayors are assigned to one of two treatment groups or to a control group. Approximately 200 mayors will receive training, divided approximately equally between the Managerial Skills treatment (T1) and the Managerial Skills + Democratic Practices treatment (T2). Mayors assigned to the control group will receive no training during the study period.

Not available

Randomization will be conducted by the research team using computer-generated random assignment after the implementing partner has completed eligibility screening. Eligibility screening will use information collected through the program application and will include the implementing partner's standard eligibility requirements. In particular, applicants must have no prior criminal record, which will be verified using criminal and judicial background checks.

Treatment assignment will be blocked by three geographic regions (Lima, northern Peru, and southern Peru) and by pre-treatment measures of the study's main outcomes of interest. Additional baseline characteristics may also be used for blocking depending on the composition of the final pool of eligible applicants and the availability and distribution of pre-treatment measures. The final set of blocking variables will be determined and documented before treatment assignment takes place.

Within the resulting blocks, eligible mayors will be randomly assigned to T1, T2, or remain in the broader control group (which receives no trainings). From this broader control group, approximately 100 municipalities will subsequently be randomly selected to form a control subsample for additional primary data collection, including the citizen survey that forms part of our evaluation strategy.

The unit of randomization is the municipality, corresponding to its newly elected mayor who applies and is eligible to participate in the training program. Each municipality receives a single treatment assignment.

No

300 mayors/municipalities

300 mayors/municipalities

100

The minimum detectable effect is 0.23 standard deviations for a one-sided test and 0.26 standard deviations for a two-sided test, on a residualized public service access index, assuming 80% power and 5% significance level.