Post Training Assistance in Skills Development Programs: Applicant Selection and Impact Evaluation

Last registered on July 29, 2021

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Post Training Assistance in Skills Development Programs: Applicant Selection and Impact Evaluation
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004794
Initial registration date
September 30, 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 30, 2019, 2:42 PM EDT

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

Last updated
July 29, 2021, 3:59 PM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
University of Virginia

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of California, Berkeley

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-09-01
End date
2021-12-31
Secondary IDs
GR 0937
Abstract
Lack of skill development has been a core policy issue in India over the last decade and ambitious skill training programs have been initialized by the government to skill the youth. However, policy reports and prior studies suggest that these programs have had little impact on the livelihood of the youth. In this context, for both wage and self-employment training programs, this study project proposes to partner with Yuva Parivartan to examine two broad research questions: (i) how does the provision of post-training assistance (access to information and resources) impact the labor market outcomes of trainees? (ii) does the mode of information dissemination (either through general announcements, access to experts either on public forums or private sessions have a differential impact? Put together, these questions could shed light on the importance of providing comprehensive support to trainees along with the forum through which this is provided.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chiplunkar, Gaurav and Jeremy Magruder. 2021. "Post Training Assistance in Skills Development Programs: Applicant Selection and Impact Evaluation." AEA RCT Registry. July 29. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4794-2.1
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Treatment A: Trainees will receive online training content such as entrepreneurship development and work-readiness videos along with engagement activities
Treatment B: Trainees will get access to wage employment/self-employment assistance from a livelihood coordinator, who is a placement officer from our implementation partner through the (public) forum of their Whatsapp group
Treatment C: Trainees will have a one-to-one (private) access to assistance from the livelihood coordinator
Control group: no post-training assistance is received
Intervention Start Date
2019-10-01
Intervention End Date
2021-04-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
The primary outcomes will examine the engagement on the whatsapp group, both public and private. They include the number of times a student participates on the group, the set of questions asked, when they are asked and who asks them. We will also examine other information shared on the whatsapp group by the trainees. Moreover, we are interested in how the above vary across gender, composition of the whatsapp groups and interactions from others on the group.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
For the post-training assistance, our primary outcomes of interest are: for entrepreneurs, the probability of applying for and getting a loan, success in finding buyers and suppliers and overall, starting a successful business in a trade. For job-seekers, the primary outcomes are with regard to probability of being employed, job tenure and job satisfaction.
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
A successful business would be measured with regard to the sales, inputs, profits and satisfaction of the business.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Among young jobseekers who expressed an interest in the program, researchers selected 1100 eligible candidates and randomly assigned them into one of the four intervention groups mentioned above.

The sample for this study covers 96 training batches containing 10-15 students each. Each batch will have its own WhatsApp group created, with an opt-out strategy for students who are not interested. Out of these 96 batches, (A) 24 groups are control groups. These WhatsApp groups will not receive any training content or (B) 24 groups are content-only groups. These WhatsApp groups will have training content posted on the group. However, they will not have access to assistance from the livelihood coordinator. (C) 24 groups are public forum groups. These WhatsApp groups will receive online training content as well as access to assistance to the livelihood coordinator. Interactions with the livelihood coordinator will be over group chats/ calls. (D) 24 groups are private forum groups. These WhatsApp groups will receive online training content as well as access to assistance to the livelihood coordinator. Interactions with the livelihood coordinator will be over personal chats/ calls.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization will be done in office by a computer code.
Randomization Unit
The unit of randomization will be a batch
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
96 training batches
Sample size: planned number of observations
Approximately 1100 trainees.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Randomization will be done at the training batch level. 96 will be allocated equally among the three treatment arms and control.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IFMR Human Subjects Committee
IRB Approval Date
2020-08-11
IRB Approval Number
IRB00007107

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