Impact of the "Groupement de Créateurs" support program on young people autonomy and social inclusion in France

Last registered on June 16, 2015

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Impact of the "Groupement de Créateurs" support program on young people autonomy and social inclusion in France
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000391
Initial registration date
August 17, 2014

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 17, 2014, 3:10 AM EDT

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

Last updated
June 16, 2015, 10:29 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
CREST

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
Sciences Po
PI Affiliation
Sciences po
PI Affiliation
Sciences Po
PI Affiliation
Université Catholique de Louvain

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2010-11-15
End date
2015-12-18
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The youth living in deprived areas often try to start new ventures, such as launching a new enterprise, creating a new association or organizing events . However, these youth face a number of barriers to the implementation of their project. For instance, it is often complicated to turn an abstract and imprecise idea into a concrete action plan that could guide and facilitate the implementation of their project.

The purpose of the “Groupements de Créateurs” program is to help the youth define and implement their projects. This unique initiative differs from other entrepreneurship programs as its purpose is to develop the autonomy of the youth. The ultimate goal of the “Groupements de Créateurs” goes beyond the implementation of a successful project, as it also aims to teach the youth good practices that could help them in every domain of life. In fact, teaching the youth how to design and implement a viable project can help them become more autonomous, improve their self-confidence and teach them to make informed and independent decisions. The first phase of the program, called the “Emergence phase” is based on the idea that young people should be able to identify the constraints that could arise when launching a new project, and should explore potential solutions that could help them overcome these barriers.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Algan, Yann et al. 2015. "Impact of the "Groupement de Créateurs" support program on young people autonomy and social inclusion in France." AEA RCT Registry. June 16. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.391-2.0
Former Citation
Algan, Yann et al. 2015. "Impact of the "Groupement de Créateurs" support program on young people autonomy and social inclusion in France." AEA RCT Registry. June 16. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/391/history/4483
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The “Groupement de Créateurs” program is proposed to young people aged 18 to 25, who already have the project to create a business, an association or any new activity within an existing firm or association.

The support program has three phases. During the "Emergence phase", lasting between 2 to 8 months, the participants confirm their desire of carrying out their project. They learn to know themselves better: their motivations, strengths and weaknesses. They begin to talk and write about their project and confront it to external opinions. They also work on defining their project more precisely and determine what they need to achieve it. The support consists in regular individual interviews (about every 2 weeks) and collective workshops. The aim of this phase is to stimulate dynamism and autonomy, which are useful even if the project is abandoned in the end.
For the young people who confirm a desire of achieving their project in the short term, they can participate in the second phase, the Training phase which takes place within a University. This 6 months academic program leads to a technical degree in entrepreneurship. The third phase is the creation of the business, the association or any other kind of activity. During the entire program, the main role of the counselor is to pass on a method of making decision, that will be used by the young people for any project they will have to conduct. The counselor doesn’t interfere in the technical dimensions of the project, the technical expertise being provided by other actors who are specialized in entrepreneurial consulting.

A random half of the volunteers to participate in the program have been included in the test group, while the other half have been included in the control group. Both groups have had access to trainings and other programs in favour of entrepreneurship. The Emergence phase and its collective workshops remains specific to the test group. The evaluation concerns 902 young people (recruited during 29 months starting in November 2010): 468 young people are beneficiaries of the program while 434 have been included in the control group (and can benefit from other programs, except the "Groupement de Créateurs").
Intervention (Hidden)
Intervention Start Date
2010-11-15
Intervention End Date
2014-03-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The program is expected to have an impact on many aspects of young people’s lives: employment and job creation at first, but also psychological dimensions such as autonomy, social integration, motivation, or ability to make choices. Two surveys will be conducted 11 and 21 months after the entry in the program to measure these outcomes. An additional wave of tests will be included to measure some psychological specific outcomes such as autonomy, degree of realism, personal motivation and time preferences.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The inclusion of young people in the experiment was carried out by the workers ("youth advisers") within the Missions Locales based on a specific protocol. Field visits have been organized by the evaluation team to check the compliance with the protocol.

The entry of young volunteers in the experiment was performed in two steps. Following an initial contact with the young (through an individual or collective session), the youth adviser presents the detailed content of the program to the young and check their eligibility. After that, the principle of randomization was exposed by the advisers to the young who also gave them the text of the informed consent. Youth advisers have been widely informed about the methodology used in this trial and session pooling practices were organised to train them to face the potential questions about the selection process.

Following this initial contact, the young is given a period of reflection to decide whether or not she wants to participate in the experiment. If this is the case, she goes to a second meeting with her adviser during which she will sign the informed consent and fill in an initial questionnaire on an extranet created for the sake of the evaluation (baseline survey). It is only after the young has fully completed the baseline survey that she is considered as participant of the experiment. Every week, the randomization was performed by the evaluation team after she receives the baseline surveys.

This two-step protocol was defined to maximize full compliance, i. e. to maximise the proportion of young beneficiaries who actually takes the program.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
The randomization has been done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Individual level of randomization.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
Planned number: 1000 people.
Effective number: 902 people.
Sample size: planned number of observations
Planned number: 1000 people, effective number: 902 people
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Plannned sample size: 500 young people assigned to the treatment group ; 500 assigned to the control group.
Effective sample size: 468 young people in the treatment group ; 434 in the control group .
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials

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IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
J-PAL Europe
IRB Approval Date
2013-01-03
IRB Approval Number
CE/2012-003

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