Promoting community and labor force engagement through service grants and non-cognitive skills training: A randomized control trial in Kazakhstan

Last registered on October 25, 2023
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Promoting community and labor force engagement through service grants and non-cognitive skills training: A randomized control trial in Kazakhstan
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004708
Initial registration date
September 16, 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
September 16, 2019, 1:53 PM EDT

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

Last updated
October 25, 2023, 3:50 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Kazakhstan
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Jessica Leight
Affiliation
IFPRI
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Benjamin Crost
PI Affiliation
UIUC
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PI Name
Eric Mvuhiyehe
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Syon Bhanot
PI Affiliation
Swarthmore College
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2017-06-01
End date
2019-06-30
Keywords
Labor
Additional Keywords
Non-cognitive skills
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Kazakhstan, the largest economy in central Asia, has benefited from relatively strong growth in recent years, and thanks to this growth, the unemployment rate among young people (age 15-28) has been falling steadily. Nonetheless, there remain significant disparities across regions and income levels in youth employment opportunities, and there are also significant barriers to employment for young women. In addition, youth in Kazakhstan face significant challenges beyond obtaining employment, demonstrating high rates of disconnectedness from social institutions and high prevalence of risky behaviors.

Males between 25 and 34 are at highest risk for suicide, and Kazakhstan ranks fifth in the world for its rates of deaths in this category. Primarily qualitative evidence suggests other types of risk-taking (alcoholism, sexual violence and crime) are rising in frequency, and disaffection around social and political institutions is also common. Less than a tenth of young people report they are engaged in solving a community problem, and corruption and abuse are commonly cited as significant challenges (as enumerated in the national report on Youth in Kazakhstan 2011).

Against this backdrop, the Government of Kazakhstan (GoK), with financing from the World Bank, has carried out the Youth Corps Project (YCP), which aims to promote civic and community engagement and labor force engagement of targeted young people through grants for community-based learning and non-cognitive skills training. The project is being implemented by the Coordinating Agency (CA), under the oversight of the Ministry of Education and Sciences. The pilot phase of the project was carried out in 2017 and targeted about 4000 youth across 4 regions/oblast (Almaty, Pavlodar, South Kazakhstan and Karaganda).

This pilot was rolled out as a randomized control trial (RCT) in a two-by-two factorial design, allowing the evaluation to capture both independent effects and joint effects of the YCP’s two main components: (i) grants for community-based service learning; and (ii) training and mentorship activities designed to enhance life/non-cognitive skills of participating youth. This study will investigate impacts of these interventions on key outcomes of interest, including non-cognitive skills and mental well-being; civic and social participation and labor force engagement, among others. The relevant treatment effects will be ascertained in the short-run (9 to 12 months after completion of the interventions) as well as in the long-run (18 to 24 months after completion of the interventions).
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Bhanot, Syon et al. 2023. "Promoting community and labor force engagement through service grants and non-cognitive skills training: A randomized control trial in Kazakhstan ." AEA RCT Registry. October 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4708-2.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
This evaluation analyzes two primary interventions: (i) grants for community-based service learning; and (ii) training and mentorship activities designed to enhance non-cognitive skills of participating youth.
Intervention Start Date
2017-06-01
Intervention End Date
2017-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Non-cognitive skills; social capital and social engagement; labor market outcomes
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
This impact evaluation analyzes a sample of 3,784 eligible individuals, constituted into 1113 proposal groups. All young people between ages of 18 and 29 in pilot regions were eligible to apply in a group of three to five people as long as they officially resided in the region where the project activities were proposed over the preceding 6 months. As a result of a two-month long information campaign conducted through mass media, social media, billboards, posters, public meetings at universities and local youth centers in both urban and rural areas, 1320 eligible social project proposals were submitted. Following additional evaluation of social importance of the proposals by a committee of local activists, 1113 proposals were deemed as eligible to enter the randomization stage.

Randomization was conducted at the proposal group level using STATA, assigning groups and their individual members to one of three treatment arms (grant only, training only and grant plus training) or the control arm. Project required at least 2,000 grant and stipend recipients, therefore, the sample size is slightly imbalanced across arms.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization was conducted in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
The randomization unit is a proposal group (consisting of 3-5 youth applying to participate in the program as a group.)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
1113 groups
Sample size: planned number of observations
3784 individuals
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Grant only: 295 groups, 999 individuals
Training only: 263 groups, 894 Individuals
Grant and training: 294 groups, 1,002 Individuals
No program: 294 groups, 1,002 Individuals



Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Swarthmore College
IRB Approval Date
2019-03-20
IRB Approval Number
IRB Protocol #17-18-068
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
December 31, 2017, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
May 31, 2019, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
1104 groups (clusters)
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
Yes
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
1583 youth
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

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Program Files

Program Files
No
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Abstract
Integrating youth into communities and labor markets is a major challenge for developing countries, and incentives for community service are an increasingly popular tool to achieve this goal. We use a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the Kazakhstan Youth Corps (KYC), a program comprising cash grants for community service projects and life skills training, on social capital for a sample of youth aged 18–29. We find little evidence that engaging youth in civic service and training has any positive effects one year post-intervention; there is no shift in attitudinal indices of social capital and no reported increase in volunteering or donations. Moreover, there is no effect of the intervention on secondary outcomes (life skills and human capital), and some evidence of a negative effect of the training-only intervention on the probability of reporting any income-earning activity.
Citation
Syon P. Bhanot, Benjamin Crost, Jessica Leight, Eric Mvukiyehe, Bauyrzhan Yedgenov, Can community service grants foster social and economic integration for youth? A randomized trial in Kazakhstan, Journal of Development Economics, Volume 153, 2021
URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdeveco.2021.102718

Reports & Other Materials