Strengthening Rural Youth Development through Enterprise (STRYDE 2.0)- Randomized Control Trial

Last registered on September 19, 2017

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Strengthening Rural Youth Development through Enterprise (STRYDE 2.0)- Randomized Control Trial
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002008
Initial registration date
April 03, 2017

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 22, 2017, 10:30 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated
September 19, 2017, 8:30 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Innovations for Poverty Action

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Innovations for Poverty Action

Additional Trial Information

Status
Withdrawn
Start date
2017-04-23
End date
2019-07-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This evaluation is of the STRYDE 2.0 program implemented by TechnoServe in Mbeya, Tanzania, which seeks to promote youth self-employment and microbusinesses through a 12 month course. Youth (aged 18-30) who participate receive 3 months of in classroom training followed by 9 months of aftercare activities. The goal of this intervention is to train rural youth on personal efficacy and career skills and later link the trained youth with potential employers or help them develop business plans for self-employment. STRYDE 2.0 is delivered through two different arms: direct and indirect. Participants in the direct arm receive training directly from STRYDE 2.0 employees. In the indirect arm participants receive training on the same STRYDE 2.0 modules, but their instruction is received through partner organizations, typically vocational schools where they are already enrolled.
This study will evaluate the impact of the direct and indirect arms. The direct arm will primarily be evaluated quantitatively through a randomized control trial. The study will utilize a cluster randomization method to select villages for treatment and control, and the sample size will be approximately 144 areas. In each area, 20-30 youth will be surveyed before and after the administration of the survey. In addition to this quantitative evaluation, there will be a qualitative evaluation of the direct arm. This will be composed of focus group discussions with participants, and classroom observations throughout the treatment.
This proposed study will seek to qualitatively describe the impact of the STRYDE 2.0 program on the indirect participants’ socio-economic statuses, entrepreneurial knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, employment, and psycho-social adjustment. Differential impacts will also be studied, such as those between male and female participants. All results will be qualitative, providing an understanding of the mechanisms behind the impacts observed, which will allow TechnoServe to scale the STRYDE indirect program in the future. Further, this qualitative work will inform the development of a quantitative arm of the study.
Through this evaluation two important knowledge gaps will be addressed in the study of what strategies can effectively reduce high rates of unemployment, particularly among youth. First it will contribute to the understanding of whether skills that promote successful employment and entrepreneurship can be taught through training programs. The current evidence on this issue is scarce and shows mixed results, leaving policy makers unsure of whether investing in these program is an effective strategy to reduce unemployment. Second, this study will explore the question of how variation in implementation modalities influence the outcomes of development programs. This is of particular importance as governments and development organizations explore ways to make interventions more cost-effective and sustainable without compromising on the quality of the programming and, consequently, reducing the effects.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Fiala, Nathan and Rachel Steinacher. 2017. "Strengthening Rural Youth Development through Enterprise (STRYDE 2.0)- Randomized Control Trial." AEA RCT Registry. September 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2008-2.0
Former Citation
Fiala, Nathan and Rachel Steinacher. 2017. "Strengthening Rural Youth Development through Enterprise (STRYDE 2.0)- Randomized Control Trial." AEA RCT Registry. September 19. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2008/history/21541
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This evaluation is of the STRYDE 2.0 program implemented in Mbeya, Tanzania, which seeks to promote youth self-employment and microbusinesses through a 12 month course. Youth (aged 18-30) who participate receive 3 months of in classroom training followed by 9 months of aftercare activities. The goal of this intervention is to train rural youth on personal efficacy and career skills and later link the trained youth with potential employers or help them develop business plans for self-employment. STRYDE 2.0 is delivered through two different arms: direct and indirect. Participants in the direct arm receive training directly from STRYDE 2.0 employees. In the indirect arm participants receive training on the same STRYDE 2.0 modules, but their instruction is received through partner organizations, typically vocational schools where they are already enrolled.
Intervention Start Date
2017-07-01
Intervention End Date
2018-07-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The STRYDE 2.0 study will seek to answer a number of questions that are key for TechnoServe and their partners, as well as questions that are of broader interest to researchers. Specifically, we wish to explore the following:

1. The impact of the STRYDE 2.0 program on participant’s socio-economic statuses, entrepreneurial knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours, employment, and psycho-social adjustment.

2. The differential impacts of the STRYDE 2.0 program considering a number of potential influences, including:
a. Gender of the participants
b. Different aspects of Aftercare (see ‘Evaluation Questions and Design’ for further discussion)

3. From the perspective of STRYDE 2.0 participants, what are the major challenges to and successes of the STRYDE 2.0 program. Areas of exploration will include the value of business plan competitions, business advisory services, job fairs, special skills trainings, and STRYDE 2.0 components and modules.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The STRYDE 2.0 program will be evaluated through a mixed-methods study, comprised of a cluster randomized controlled trial, ethnographic work, and a series of focus group discussions. The proposed evaluation takes advantage of the large scale of the STRYDE 2.0 program to create a robust evaluation sample. TechnoServe and Innovations for Poverty Action will work to mobilize twice as many villages than TechnoServe plans to train in a single cohort of classes. These villages will then be randomly assigned to either receive a place in the training group they were recruited for or be in a control group. The value of this design is that it creates a high quality, robust comparison group. Additionally, the information collected through the ethnographic work and focus group discussions will be used to compliment and strengthen the interpretation of the quantitative data being collected. This component of the study will explore several themes, including the participant’s beliefs about / perceptions of the STRYDE 2.0 program and its impact on them.

The evaluation will therefore be able to determine the impact of the STRYDE 2.0 program on a range of outcomes, including the impact of the STRYDE 2.0 program on participant’s socio-economic statuses, entrepreneurial knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours, employment, and psycho-social adjustment, and the difference in impact between the indirect versus direct approach to administration.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done at the village level by STATA
Randomization Unit
Classroom catchment area (typically village)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
144 classroom catchment areas (this often translates into 'village')
Sample size: planned number of observations
2,880 (20 per cluster)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
72 control classroom catchment areas, 72 treatment classroom catchment areas
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Innovations for Poverty Action
IRB Approval Date
2016-10-06
IRB Approval Number
7524

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials