Can Social Contact Reduce Economic Conflict between Farmers and Herders? Evidence from Nigeria

Last registered on July 25, 2023

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Can Social Contact Reduce Economic Conflict between Farmers and Herders? Evidence from Nigeria
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0005457
Initial registration date
February 13, 2020

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
February 19, 2020, 3:30 PM EST

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

Last updated
July 25, 2023, 8:19 AM EDT

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

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Newcastle University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Affiliation
University of Chicago
PI Affiliation
University of Chicago

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-11-01
End date
2023-12-31
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
In this study we will investigate whether “contact” can help resolve the endemic farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria. The Contact Hypothesis postulates that contact between groups can resolve conflicts, yet causal evidence of its effect on active conflicts is limited. Our study will provide the first field experimental micro evidence on whether, and how, contact influences conflict. In collaboration with an NGO, we will conduct a RCT that convenes inter-dialogues with farmers and herders in 63 communities. Our analysis will test whether contact can reduce conflict even when the underlying conflict is economic in nature. In addition, we will provide the first evidence on potential mechanisms through which contact influences conflict. Specifically, we will examine whether this works via the more traditional economic channels of information revelation and commitment, or whether behavioral channels such as de-humanization and the creation of new social links serve as the key mechanisms.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Dube, Oeindrila, Soeren Henn and James Robinson. 2023. "Can Social Contact Reduce Economic Conflict between Farmers and Herders? Evidence from Nigeria." AEA RCT Registry. July 25. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.5457-2.2
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Our design involves two interventions, farmer-herder inter-dialogues which constitute our primary intervention (henceforth SFCG workshops) of interest and health workshops which we consider a benchmark case of neutral contact without a target focus on sources of conflict.

The main intervention consists of farmer-herder inter-dialogue workshops organized by Search for Common Ground (SFCG). The SFCG workshops unfold through three steps. First, preparatory meetings are held with farmers and herders separately; then both parties are brought together in two to three-day long fora. These fora include key local leaders, such as the chairmen of the farmer and herder associations, chiefs and local councilors, as well as women and youth leaders. However, there may be as many as 50 individuals from each of the communities, including rank and file herders and farmers. During the fora, farmers and herders collectively discuss key challenges and sources of tension within their community. At the end of the session, they produce a collective record of this discussion, which requires them to reach basic agreement on how these challenges are represented.
Third, SFCG organizes follow-up visits to the communities, 6 weeks after the fora to discuss progress in implementing the action plans. 32 SFCG workshops were implemented involving 96 farmer-herder community pairs. The first workshop took place on July 15, 2020 and the final workshop on November 3, 2021 with the last follow up visit on December 10, 2021.

Additionally, we designed a neutral treatment arm which consists of health workshops. We partnered with a Nigerian health consulting firm, Dan Meshak Consulting, to provide health workshops to farmer and herder communities following the same structure and setup as the SFCG workshops (first farmers and herders meet separately, then together, and a follow-up visit six weeks later). In contrast to the SFCG workshops, issues surrounding the conflict between farmers and herders are not discussed at the health workshops. Only health care problems are addressed, such as child and maternal health, sanitation practices, and COVID-19 prevention. 32 health workshops were implemented involving 96 farmer-herder community pairs. The first health workshop took place on November 24, 2020 and the final health workshop on June 13, 2022 with the last follow up visit on September 30, 2022.
Intervention Start Date
2020-08-03
Intervention End Date
2022-07-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Farmer-Herder Disputes; Farmer-Herder Violence
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Please refer to the Pre-Analysis Plan for details on the variables.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes: Long Run Disputes; Long Run Farmer-Herder Violence; Other Violence; (Subjective) Security Situation; Economic Indicators; Economic Exchange; Migration & Displacement
Mechanisms: Cooperation; Behavior; Asymmetric Information; Trust; Stereotypes & Discrimination; Religious Views; Social Networks; Empathy; Perception of Justice; Dispute Resolution; Institution Building; Intervention Knowledge and Attendance; Health Outcomes
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Please refer to the Pre-Analysis Plan for details on the variables.

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our sample included farmer-herder community pairs in three states of the Middle-Belt of Nigeria: Benue, Nassarawa, and Plateau states. We excluded communities that SFCG has previously worked in and coordinated with other NGO's working on farmer-herder relations to avoid contamination.

We stratified the randomization by Local Government Areas (LGA), the Nigerian administrative division below states, this created 15 strata. Within each LGA stratum, we selected a random third of farmer-herder community pairs to the SFCG workshop treatment and another third to the health workshop treatment. Since both SFCG and health workshops involve three communities in one workshop, we sampled 9, 18, 27, or 36 communities per LGA. The randomized sample included 288 farmer-herder community pairs; 96 were assigned to SFCG workshop treatment, 96 to health workshop treatment and 96 to the control group. We refer to farmer-herder community pairs as communities, for brevity.
Experimental Design Details
The intervention consists of inter-dialogue workshops between farmer and herder communities in the Middle Belt of Nigeria. These bring together farmers and herders in two to three-day sessions over which they collectively discuss key challenges and sources of tension within their community. We intend to have a 3 arm study, whereby one arm is assigned to the inter-dialogue intervention, one to control and one to a health workshop. This third health workshop arm will serve as a "neutral" arm, to separate the effect of contact with explicit discussion around conflict from mere contact.
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Community
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
288 communities
Sample size: planned number of observations
4,608
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
96 inter-dialogue treatment, 96 health workshop and 96 control communities.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
University of Chicago
IRB Approval Date
2019-09-13
IRB Approval Number
IRB19-1163
Analysis Plan

Analysis Plan Documents

Pre-Analysis Plan

MD5: 4aa34af0aedb6c5bedb28269cd4daff6

SHA1: bfce23fddf91a5df93a90793658165d957f33a2b

Uploaded At: July 25, 2023

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