Community-based Governance and Monitoring: A Randomized Field Experiment in Ethiopia

Last registered on October 16, 2020

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Community-based Governance and Monitoring: A Randomized Field Experiment in Ethiopia

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0006582

Initial registration date

October 15, 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

October 16, 2020, 8:40 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Ethiopia

Region

Oromia

Primary Investigator

Name

Goytom Abraha Kahsay

Affiliation

University of Copenhagen

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

Completed

Start date

2017-03-04

End date

2018-12-31

Keywords

Behavior, Environment & Energy, Governance

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

D02, D31, D78, Q57

Secondary IDs

Abstract

The evidence on the effectiveness of participatory development approaches in low-income countries is ambiguous. We randomly vary three governance modalities (internal monitoring, external or top-down monitoring, and rewards for good leadership) to study elite capture in Ethiopian forest user groups. We compare the livelihood, leadership quality and environmental outcomes of these governance modalities with the control group (the current governance system).

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Kahsay, Goytom Abraha. 2020. "Community-based Governance and Monitoring: A Randomized Field Experiment in Ethiopia." AEA RCT Registry. October 16. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6582-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The interventions are the following:
(i) Internal monitoring in which forest user groups set up an internal monitoring committee which is responsible for monitoring their forest use and management. Group members decide on punishment of group leaders upon hearing and discussing the committee's report during the group's general assembly meeting.
(ii) External monitoring in which Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise, a government office with a mandate of managing natural resources in Oromia regional state, monitors forest and use management of forest user groups. The office decides on punishment of group leaders accordingly.
(iii) Rewards for good leadership in which Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise monitors forest and use management of forest user groups. The office decides on in-kind reward to top performing group leaders.

Intervention Start Date

2017-05-01

Intervention End Date

2018-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

(i) Welfare outcomes and their with-in group distribution: forest benefits, income, consumption, and Gini coefficient of these variables
(ii) Environmental outcomes: counts of potential crop trees and mature trees; number of charcoal burning sites, trees planted and regenerated

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

leadership quality: leader effort, education and business experience.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

132 forest user groups in Adaba and Dodola districts of Oromia regional state are randomly assigned to (i) control, (ii) internal monitoring, (iii) external or top-down monitoring, and (iv) rewards to good leadership. Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise, the implementer of the interventions, asked the consent of all the 132 forest user groups.

We collected baseline data in March and April 2017, right before the interventions, and endline data in September-December 2018. Oromia Forest and Wildlife Enterprise conducted forest inventory in the period June 2019-January 2020. The inventory data is currently being cleaned and processed by the office.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

Randomization at forest user group level

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

132 forest user groups

Sample size: planned number of observations

1222 members

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

34 forest user groups (Control)
33 Forest user groups (internal monitoring)
33 forest user groups (External monitoring)
32 forest user groups (Leader incentives)

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB