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Community Monitoring and Public Service Provision at Scale: An RCT of an Early Childhood Development Program in Nicaragua

Last registered on September 14, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Community Monitoring and Public Service Provision at Scale: An RCT of an Early Childhood Development Program in Nicaragua
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006434
Initial registration date
September 11, 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
September 14, 2020, 7:40 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Nicaragua
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Florencia Lopez Boo
Affiliation
Inter-American Development Bank
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Jane Leer
PI Affiliation
Duke University
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PI Name
Akito Kamei
PI Affiliation
The university of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2013-07-15
End date
2018-05-15
Keywords
Education
Additional Keywords
Early childhood development policy; Community monitoring; large-scale RCT; Latin America; Nicaragua
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Expanding small-scale interventions without lowering quality and attenuating impact is a critical policy challenge. Community monitoring offers a low-cost mechanism to ensure quality by making service providers accountable to local citizens, rather than distant administrators. This paper evaluates the impact of a large-scale home visit parenting intervention implemented by the Nicaraguan government, with two types of monitoring: (a) institutional monitoring; and (b) community monitoring.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kamei, Akito, Jane Leer and Florencia Lopez Boo. 2020. "Community Monitoring and Public Service Provision at Scale: An RCT of an Early Childhood Development Program in Nicaragua." AEA RCT Registry. September 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6434-1.1
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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The experimental evaluation of the Home Visit program consists of a sub-sample of 210 communities from 33 municipalities. The 210 communities in the evaluation sample were randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions, with randomization stratified by municipality. Assignment to the control condition implied no home visits until after the study period. Treatment Arms 1 and 2 received home visits, and in Treatment Arm 2, communities were also supported to implement a community-based monitoring strategy in addition to the standard institutional monitoring that both treatment arms received.
Intervention Start Date
2013-07-15
Intervention End Date
2018-05-15

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Child development outcomes (Denver Language, Denver Fine Motor, and receptive vocabulary as measured by the PPVT)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
Child development outcomes are constructed age specific z-score.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Child behavior and parenting measure
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)
Child behavior was measured via caregiver-report using an adapted version of Behavior Problem Index. Data on parenting were collected via caregiver self-report and direct observation of the primary caregiver and child during the baseline and follow-up interview, using the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The experimental evaluation of the Home Visit program consists of a sub-sample of 210 communities from 33 municipalities. The 210 communities in the evaluation sample were randomly assigned to intervention and control conditions, with randomization stratified by municipality. Assignment to the control condition implied no home visits until after the study period. Treatment Arms 1 and 2 received home visits, and in Treatment Arm 2, communities were also supported to implement a community-based monitoring strategy in addition to the standard institutional monitoring that both treatment arms received.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer.
Randomization Unit
Community level. Communities in our sample include 150 households on average, of which between 30-50% have children younger than three.
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
215 communities.
Sample size: planned number of observations
1325 children
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
420 children from control communities
442 children from home visit
420 children from home visit + community monitoring
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Duke University Campus Institutional Review Board
IRB Approval Date
2020-04-06
IRB Approval Number
2020-0413
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
Yes
Intervention Completion Date
May 15, 2018, 12:00 +00:00
Data Collection Complete
Yes
Data Collection Completion Date
May 15, 2018, 12:00 +00:00
Final Sample Size: Number of Clusters (Unit of Randomization)
210 communities
Was attrition correlated with treatment status?
No
Final Sample Size: Total Number of Observations
1325 children
Final Sample Size (or Number of Clusters) by Treatment Arms
420 children from control communities 442 children from home visit 420 children from home visit + community monitoring
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)

Reports & Other Materials