The effect of nutrition and gender sensitive agricultural extension: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia

Last registered on April 28, 2021
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The effect of nutrition and gender sensitive agricultural extension: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007547
Initial registration date
April 27, 2021

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
April 28, 2021, 10:29 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Ethiopia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Ketki Sheth
Affiliation
UC Merced
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Estelle Mousson Koussoube
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Niklas Buehren
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2020-12-01
End date
2023-07-01
Keywords
Agriculture, Gender, Health
Additional Keywords
Nutrition, ICT, Agricultural extension, Women's empowerment
JEL code(s)
J16, O13, Q16
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The proposed randomized control trial is designed to study the effect of nutrition and gender sensitive messaging embedded in the work of extension workers across four regions of Ethiopia. All kebeles in our sample are provided video-based agricultural content presented by agricultural extension workers. In randomly selected kebeles, these videos will be presented in a framing that encourages collaboration in the household and promotes women to be active participants in household decision-making. A subset of the kebeles in the collaboration arm will be randomly selected to also be provided with video-based agricultural extension that explicitly focuses on connecting agricultural decisions to improving nutrition outcomes in the household. The evaluation contributes to the literature by identifying whether agricultural extension is an effective method to improve nutrition awareness and outcomes, and whether government extension can be framed in a manner to promote female empowerment in households’ agricultural decision-making.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Buehren, Niklas, Estelle Mousson Koussoube and Ketki Sheth. 2021. "The effect of nutrition and gender sensitive agricultural extension: Experimental evidence from Ethiopia." AEA RCT Registry. April 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7547-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The intervention we evaluate is complementing video-based agricultural extension with 1) messaging and framing that encourages and promotes women to be active decision-makers on agricultural decisions within the household, and 2) messaging that explicitly focuses on the connection between agricultural decisions and nutritional goals and outcomes for the household.
Intervention Start Date
2021-05-01
Intervention End Date
2022-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
● Exposure to agricultural extension services
● Knowledge and adoption of agricultural best practices
● Use of improved agricultural inputs
● Agricultural productivity
● Crop diversity
● Knowledge of nutrition and adoption of nutrition practices
● Women and children dietary diversity
● Gender norms and attitudes
● Women decision-making in the household and in agricultural production
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
● Household sharing of agricultural inputs
● Women’s and men time use
● Household food security
● Children anthropometry (weight, height, arm circumference)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Our study is based on a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT). A total of 200 kebeles (clustered villages) in 16 selected AGP2 woredas will be randomized into three experimental groups, stratifying by district (woreda).

The random assignment of the kebeles into the three experimental groups will be conducted as follows. One third of the kebeles (Control) will be assigned to receive the standard agricultural information, i.e. the videos that are shown in this treatment group do not specifically frame the information in a way that promotes increased participation of women in household decision-making process or encourage collaboration in the household. One third will be assigned to receive collaborative agricultural information (Treatment A), in which the videos promote women as being active participants in the household on agricultural decisions. And a final third will be assigned to receive a combination of the standard the standard agricultural information and nutrition information framed in the collaborative framework (Treatment B) .
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
Kebele (administrative unit in Ethiopia, clustered villages)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
200 kebeles
Sample size: planned number of observations
3,000 households
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Clusters will be equally divided among 3 treatment arms
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Health Media Lab(HML)
IRB Approval Date
2020-11-13
IRB Approval Number
618WBG19
Analysis Plan