Empowering adolescent girls: evidence from host and refugee communities in Uganda

Last registered on February 15, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Empowering adolescent girls: evidence from host and refugee communities in Uganda
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0004972
Initial registration date
November 07, 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
November 08, 2019, 10:12 AM EST

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

Last updated
February 15, 2021, 1:40 AM EST

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

Locations

Country
Uganda
Region
Kiryandongo

Primary Investigator

Name
PALLAVI PRABHAKAR
Affiliation
BRAC
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Giulia Greco
PI Affiliation
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Munshi Sulaiman
PI Affiliation
BRAC
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-08-25
End date
2021-04-30
Keywords
Gender, Health, Other
Additional Keywords
empowerment, adolescents, sexual and reproductive health
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
There is compelling evidence that investments in adolescent girl’s education, labor force participation, fertility choices, employment opportunities, health-seeking behavior have positive impacts on the girl’s lives. Girls with higher levels of education, make better sexual and reproductive health decisions, they are also more likely to earn a better income and less likely to marry early. Adolescent girls in the refugee and host populations in Uganda face a multiple issues regarding Sexual and reproductive health, teenage pregnancy, early school drop-out and lack of economic empowerment. The aim of this study is to assess if an intervention, targeted towards increasing awareness about improved sexual and reproductive healthcare practices coupled with life skills training among adolescent girls and young mothers, helps in enhancing their knowledge about the sexual and reproductive health, value of education, business and finance, reduction in teenage pregnancy and improving life expectations. The study aims to employ the method of randomized encouragement design, encouraging girls in the treatment group to participate in the intervention while the girls in the control group will not be receiving the encouragement.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Greco, Giulia, PALLAVI PRABHAKAR and Munshi Sulaiman. 2021. "Empowering adolescent girls: evidence from host and refugee communities in Uganda." AEA RCT Registry. February 15. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.4972-1.1
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Our intervention is to encourage young girls to attend BRAC's Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescent (ELA) Program. As part of this program, adolescent girls visit BRAC ELA clubs. The ELA clubs serve as a safe space for adolescent girls, with a particular focus on girls who have dropped out of school or might otherwise be at risk of early pregnancy. In each club, BRAC trains a lead club mentor to facilitate sessions on health, nutrition, financial literacy, and life skills. The life skills curriculum includes sexual and reproductive health education on topics related to family planning and contraception, HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Infections, menstrual hygiene, early and forced marriage, and gender-based violence. BRAC also provides business training and microloans to girls above 18 years of age to start their own enterprises. This results in a unique approach combining sexual and reproductive health education with livelihood and financial literacy training, as both are necessary for girls to realize their full potential and disrupt the cycle of poverty.
Intervention Start Date
2019-08-28
Intervention End Date
2020-01-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Enrollment and attendance in Empowerment and Livelihood Programme
Sexual and reproductive health knowledge of adolescent girls
Teenage pregnancy
Age of Marriage
Empowerment
Lesser engagement in risky sexual behaviours.
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Empowerment of girls will be measured through increased control over their earnings, likelihood to engage in income generating activities, improved life expectations and improved control over one's body.
Sexual and reproductive health knowledge will be denoted by use of contraception, ability to say no for sex, pregnancy related knowledge, HIV and Sexually Transmitted Disease related knowledge etc.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The ELA Impact Evaluation will follow a Randomized Encouragement Design for evaluating the impact of encouraging the girls on program take up, life skills and sexual and reproductive health knowledge in the treatment groups as compared to the control groups
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done using Stata.
Randomization Unit
Randomization at household level
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
0
Sample size: planned number of observations
2000
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
600 households to receive the treatment
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
0.15
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
IRB Approval Date
2019-05-16
IRB Approval Number
16440
IRB Name
Makerere University, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences
IRB Approval Date
2019-03-27
IRB Approval Number
680
Analysis Plan

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