Impact of Community Volunteers in Nigeria National Social Safety Nets Program (NASSP) Livelihood Pilot

Last registered on June 14, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Impact of Community Volunteers in Nigeria National Social Safety Nets Program (NASSP) Livelihood Pilot
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0007725
Initial registration date
June 13, 2022

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
June 14, 2022, 1:29 PM EDT

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

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Primary Investigator

Name
Oyebola Okunogbe
Affiliation
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Kehinde Ajayi
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Naira Kalra
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Ayodele Fashogbon
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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PI Name
Thomas Bossuroy
PI Affiliation
World Bank
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-08-29
End date
2025-12-31
Keywords
Gender, Governance, Welfare
Additional Keywords
cash transfer, livelihoods
JEL code(s)
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study examines the role of community volunteers in providing coaching, mentoring and overall support for beneficiaries of the Nigeria National Social Safety Nets Program Livelihood Pilot. Selected beneficiaries receive a cash grant to commence (or expand existing) productive activities. In addition, they receive training in business skills, life skills as well as coaching and mentoring (which consists of group sessions and individual visits). The training is provided by Cash Transfer Facilitators (CTF), government employees assigned to serve a range of communities. In randomly selected treatment communities, community volunteers (CVs) are selected and trained to provide the individual visits coaching and mentoring component (in place of the CTF). CVs differ from CTFs in that they are members of the community and so have greater proximity to beneficiaries. However, they are usually less educated and less connected to government and other outside networks. The objective is to assess the effectiveness of CVs in serving in this role to understand the best way of delivering a complex program as this.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Ajayi, Kehinde et al. 2022. "Impact of Community Volunteers in Nigeria National Social Safety Nets Program (NASSP) Livelihood Pilot." AEA RCT Registry. June 14. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7725-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The experimental sample will consist of all NASSP livelihood beneficiaries. These are individuals from households that are receiving a monthly cash transfer as well as a human capital top-up (extra funds attached to conditions related to human capital investments). The livelihood component includes a cash grant for business investment as well as training for the beneficiary on how to start and run a successful business. One component of the training received is mentoring and coaching which includes both group sessions and individual visits. The trainings are led by Cash Transfer Facilitators (CTFs). Each CTF covers a number of communities (CTF territory).

The intervention is that in randomly selected half of CTF territories, community volunteers (CVs) will be selected to work alongside the CTF. The CV delivers individual visits component of mentoring and coaching curriculum. But is also expected to serve in other roles e.g. being the focal person for the group, providing information, resources, coordination, access to market, intermediation, conflict resolution, facilitating group projects, planning together around agricultural calendar etc.


Intervention Start Date
2021-06-01
Intervention End Date
2022-12-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
a. Impact of support provided on business planning ( e.g. beneficiary has a clear business plan)
b. Consumption
c. Revenue
d. Diversification of livelihoods
e. Socio-emotional skills (e.g. coping mechanisms/ resilience in face of shocks)
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
a. Intensity of visits provided (frequency of group and individual visits, as well as informal interactions)
b. Connections provided to networks, access to markets
c. CTF workload (time spent on program and other activities)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design

We randomly assign NASSP livelihood beneficiaries into two groups to examine the impact of having a CV work alongside a CTF to conduct individual visits.

There are two experimental arms:
1) CTF only (control group): The Cash Transfer Facilitator is responsible for all aspects of the program delivery: life skills training, microbusiness skills training, mentoring and coaching group sessions, and mentoring and coaching individual visits.

2) CTF and CV (treatment group): CV is responsible for mentoring and coaching individual visits. CTF is responsible for all other aspects of program delivery as above.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by computer
Randomization Unit
CTF territories (group of communities assigned to one CTF)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
115 CTF territories
Sample size: planned number of observations
2621 beneficiaries
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
57 control (CTF only) territories and 58 treatment (CTF+ CV) territories
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
National Health Research Ethics Committee of Nigeria (NHREC)
IRB Approval Date
2019-07-16
IRB Approval Number
NHREC/01/01/2007
Analysis Plan