Impact Evaluation of the Malawi Social Cash Transfer Program

Last registered on January 15, 2019

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Impact Evaluation of the Malawi Social Cash Transfer Program

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0003784

Initial registration date

January 11, 2019

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 15, 2019, 2:16 AM EST

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

Locations

Country

Malawi

Region

Southern Africa

Primary Investigator

Name

Sudhanshu Handa

Affiliation

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2013-06-01

End date

2016-01-01

Keywords

Agriculture, Education, Gender, Health, Labor, Welfare

Additional Keywords

cash transfer, poverty

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Abstract

This is a longitudinal cluster randomized impact evaluation of the Government of Malawi's Social Cash Transfer Program (SCTP). The study was conducted in Salima and Mangochi Districts. Two Traditional Authorities (TAs) in each district were randomly selected to enter the study. A total of 29 village clusters (VCs) in these two TAs were included in the study. Half (15) were randomized to a delayed-entry control arm via public lottery; randomization was stratified by district. Approximately 3500 households were interviewed in 2013 (baseline), 2014 (17 months after the intervention began), and 2015 (34 months after the intervention began). The delayed-entry group entered the program in February 2016.

External Link(s)

Publically available evaluation reports and survey instruments

Registration Citation

Citation

Handa, Sudhanshu. 2019. "Impact Evaluation of the Malawi Social Cash Transfer Program." AEA RCT Registry. January 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.3784-1.0

Former Citation

Handa, Sudhanshu. 2019. "Impact Evaluation of the Malawi Social Cash Transfer Program." AEA RCT Registry. January 15. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/3784/history/40185

Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Unconditional cash transfer paid bimonthly in cash by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare, Government of Malawi

Intervention Start Date

2014-01-01

Intervention End Date

2016-01-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

Consumption, food security, child nutrition (height-for-age z-score), children's school enrollment, livestock ownership (chickens, goats, cows), adolescent sexual debut, adolescent mental health, adolescent work

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Adolescent mental health is measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD).

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Subjective well-being of main respondent, savings, debt, agricultural activity, expenditure on agricultural and other productive activity, labor supply of adults, health of adults

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Subjective well-being is measured using the WHO's Quality of Life Scale.

Experimental Design

Longitudinal cluster randomized design in two Traditional Authorities in each of two districts (Salima, Mangochi) in Malawi. Randomization was done at the cluster level, and stratified by district. Fifteen clusters were randomly assigned to the delayed-entry control status via public lottery, while 14 clusters entered the cash transfer program immediately. Traditional authorities were randomly selected in each district to participate in the study. A total of 3531 households were surveyed.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Public lottery at the District Commissioners Office.

Randomization Unit

Village clusters--a total of 29 village clusters across the two Traditional Authorities (representing all the village clusters).

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

Sample size: planned number of observations

3531 households

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

15 control clusters (N=1853 households) and 14 treatment clusters (N=1678 households).

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Sample size was determined by the ability to detect at least a 0.2 SD effect on the primary indicators listed. The indicator requiring the largest sample size was height-for-age z-score so the sample size was built to detect a 0.20 SD change in this indicator, accounting for an intra-cluster correlation for this indicator as reported in the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) for Malawi.

Supporting Documents and Materials

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