Abstract
With this trial, we study the influence of men’s involvement on the uptake of modern contraceptives in 30 rural villages in the region of Hauts-Bassins, Burkina Faso. Women who do not use modern contraceptives yet will receive a voucher that gives them access to free modern contraceptives at the nearest local health centre. We will compare two treatments that vary in men’s involvement: either the voucher is given in private (no involvement of men), or it is given to her husband, with her being present. We will stratify by the type of households (monogamous and polygamous households), to test whether the effect of men’s involvement differs between both types of households. Monogamous couples where the woman already uses modern contraceptives will be asked to transfer the voucher to someone else in their village who does not use modern contraceptives yet. Here, we compare two treatments that differ in who receives the voucher from us (either the woman in private, or the husband in private). A comparison between both treatments allows us to compare peer effects between men and women. The main outcome variables for all treatment comparisons are the use of the voucher and whether any modern contraceptives are used immediately after the visit (short-term effects) and a few months later (long-term effects). Additional outcome variables are fertility, women’s well-being and intra-household cooperation/tensions. For couples who are asked to transfer the voucher, we are also interested in whether that is actually done, as well as the characteristics of the persons they transfer it to.