Estimating the Impacts of Microfranchising on Young Women in Nairobi

Last registered on June 17, 2015

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Estimating the Impacts of Microfranchising on Young Women in Nairobi
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0000459
Initial registration date
August 21, 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 21, 2014, 4:09 PM EDT

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

Last updated
June 17, 2015, 9:17 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Maryland

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of Maryland
PI Affiliation
The World Bank
PI Affiliation
The World Bank

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2013-05-31
End date
2015-12-31
Secondary IDs
Abstract
This research will evaluate the impact of an intervention to provide microfranchising opportunities to young women in Nairobi, Kenya. The research aims to measure the direct impact of a microfranchising intervention on program participants and the indirect impacts of the program on pre-existing businesses in the area of the intervention.

To measure the direct impact on program participants, the research conducts two surveys of participants in the second wave of a micofranchising program being implemented by in six Nairobi neighborhoods. The two surveys comprise: a baseline survey of applicants who will subsequently be randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or a control (non-treated comparison) group and an endline impact evaluation survey of up to 2000 women who complete the baseline survey. The two treatment groups are designed to compare the relative impact of access to the microfranchising opportunity and access to a cash grant of comparable value. The research will focus on the impact of the treatment opportunities on young women’s labor supply, income and expenditures, savings, empowerment and self-actualization, and overall well-being.

To measure the indirect impact on pre-existing businesses, the research project also includes an enterprise census and a monthly enterprise survey. The census will identify businesses operating in the sectors and neighborhoods of interest, a subset of whom will then be invited to join the enterprise survey. The enterprise survey will be conducted on a monthly basis surrounding the start of the microfranchising program and will focus on the employment, labor supply, revenues and profits of the firm.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Brudevold-Newman, Andrew et al. 2015. "Estimating the Impacts of Microfranchising on Young Women in Nairobi." AEA RCT Registry. June 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.459-2.0
Former Citation
Brudevold-Newman, Andrew et al. 2015. "Estimating the Impacts of Microfranchising on Young Women in Nairobi." AEA RCT Registry. June 17. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/459/history/4520
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Intervention Start Date
2013-06-03
Intervention End Date
2014-02-28

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Our key outcome variables include the following:

Measures of involvement in income-generating activities including self-employment and wage labor (binary indicators, hours worked, etc.)

Measures of individual expenditures and income from all sources and from labor market activities.

Measures of marital status, household composition, fertility, living conditions, and household assets.

Measures of empowerment and self-confidence, including both survey and lab experimental measures.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Randomized controlled trial where applicants to the program are randomized into a microfranchising treatment group, unconditional cash grant treatment group, or control group.
Experimental Design Details
In this randomized controlled trial, GEM program applicants were randomly assigned to either the GEM treatment, a pure control group, or a cash grant treatment. Given the randomized design, we will use a simple regression framework to estimate the impacts of microfranchising on young women’s labor supply, income, empowerment, and overall wellbeing, and to determine whether the microfranchising intervention has a larger impact than providing young women with comparably sized cash grants.

To explore potential spillovers, our baseline survey includes detailed questions on local friendships which will allow us to map each girl’s social network, and determine the number of friends in the program who were randomly assigned to the treatment group(s). Stratification on age and ethnicity will allow us to explore treatment effect heterogeneity.

Our design also allows us to estimate spillover effects on pre-existing businesses. This novel aspect of our design addresses a major concern in evaluations of entrepreneurship and credit interventions: estimates of direct effects may overstate overall social impacts if new enterprises adversely affect the profits of existing firms. To explore this question, we collect panel data on pre-existing businesses in sectors and neighborhoods in which the new microfranchises will operate, and in comparison sectors and neighborhoods which will not be in direct competition with the microfranchisees.
Randomization Method
Randomization took place in the office using Stata 13.
Randomization Unit
Randomization is at the individual level, stratified by age and neighborhood.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
NA
Sample size: planned number of observations
1341 individuals.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
For the Microfranchising treatment vs. control comparison:
Treatment: 564 young women
Control: 564 young women

For the Microfranchising treatment vs. Cash Grant treatment vs. control comparison (women 18 years of age and above):
Cash grant treatment: 182 young women
Microfranchising Treatment: 362 young women
Control: 364 young women
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Maseno University Ethics Review Committee
IRB Approval Date
2013-08-28
IRB Approval Number
MSU/DRPC/MUERC/000024/13
IRB Name
University of Maryland Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2013-05-31
IRB Approval Number
423472-1

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