Finding and Lifting Up the Poor and Vulnerable: A Field Experiment on Targeting Mechanisms and Effects of a Public Works Program in Rural DRC

Last registered on July 06, 2021

Pre-Trial

General Information

Title

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0007874

Initial registration date

July 02, 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

July 06, 2021, 10:44 AM EDT

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

Locations

Country

Congo (Democratic Republic of the)

Region

Eastern

Primary Investigator

Name

Subha Mani

Affiliation

Fordham University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Eric Mvukiyehe

PI Affiliation

The World Bank Group

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2016-06-15

End date

2022-12-31

Keywords

Crime, Violence, & Conflict, Labor, Post-conflict, Welfare

Additional Keywords

Public works projects, Targeting, Poverty, Labor, Field experiment, Democratic Republic of Congo.

JEL code(s)

I3, D14, J24, C93, H41

Secondary IDs

Abstract

Targeting social protection programs, including public works has been a central issue for resource strapped developing countries facing unreliable data on target beneficiaries’ socioeconomic status. Impacts of public works program is further complicated by selective targeting. We design a unique two-stage randomized control trial and use experimental variation in beneficiary selection procedures to examine two primary research questions of interest. First, how effective are the targeting mechanisms (chief selection, community selection, and public lottery) in ensuring poor and vulnerable households’ participation in public works programs? Second, what is the impact of having access to public works program (through public lottery) on individual labor market outcomes and household welfare? We will exploit experimental variation in both program targeting and access to public works programs to produce rigorous impact estimates on both material and non-material outcomes. In the registered pre-analysis plan we provide a detailed summary of the key chosen outcomes and associated variable definitions to be used for computing the intent-to-treat effects, local average treatment effects, and sub-group average treatment effects, accounting for both Type I and Type II error in statistical analysis. We also present our plans for handling missing values, outliers and measurement error in data.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Mani, Subha and Eric Mvukiyehe. 2021. "Finding and Lifting Up the Poor and Vulnerable: A Field Experiment on Targeting Mechanisms and Effects of a Public Works Program in Rural DRC." AEA RCT Registry. July 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.7874-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Between 2017 and 2020, selected rural areas in eastern DRC were targeted to receive public works projects through community selection, public lottery, or chief selection procedures. A total of approximately 10,000 beneficiaries received cash-for-work opportunities through participation in local public works projects. The key public works activities include garbage collection, street cleaning and road maintenance. Beneficiaries received $3 a day (minimum wages in eastern DRC) for working five days a week for four months (75 to 100 working days). Priority was given to women, youth at risk, former combatants, and displaced or returned youth.

Intervention Start Date

2017-12-01

Intervention End Date

2020-05-31

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

(1) individual labor supply, (2) household earnings, (3) consumption expenditure, (4) assets, and (5) poverty.
(1)-(4) are relevant for addressing research questions Q1b and Q2a.
(5) is relevant for addressing research question Q1a.

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

See attached pre-analysis plan for more details on variable definitions.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Employment and earnings for other household members, financial inclusion index, human capital/skills accumulation, job-search behavior, psychosocial wellbeing, community and social capital, civic engagement, political participation and social cohesion Indices, conflicts and violence, victimization, women's empowerment, physical disability, limitations and illness, and migration.
These are relevant for addressing research question Q2b.
See attached pre-analysis plan for variable definitions.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

This paper is built to answer the following primary and secondary research questions of interest :
(1) Primary and secondary research questions related to program targeting:
Primary research question (Q1a):
How effective are the different targeting mechanisms (chief selection, community selection, and public lottery) in ensuring poor and vulnerable households’ participation in public works programs?
Secondary research question (Q1b):
What is the impact of the different targeting mechanisms (chief selection, community selection, and public lottery) on individual (e.g., labor market outcomes and income) and household outcomes (e.g., consumption expenditure, debt, savings)?
(2) Primary and secondary research questions related to access to public works projects:
Primary research question (Q2a): What is the impact of public works projects on individual and household material (e.g., employment, earnings, consumption) outcomes?
Secondary research question (Q2b): What are the non-material impacts (e.g., mental health, social cohesion), distributional impacts and unintended consequences of public works programs?

Experimental Design Details

This study employs a two-stage randomized control trial to separately identify the effects of differential targeting (chief selection, community selection, and public lottery) from the effects of access to public works projects in improving household welfare. From a pool of 385 villages, we randomly assign 122 villages to “chief selection” arm (where program beneficiaries will be chosen by the village chief), 125 villages to “community selection” arm (where program beneficiaries will be chosen by the community members), and 138 villages to the “public lottery” arm (where program beneficiaries will be chosen through a public lottery).

Randomization Method

Cluster level randomization was conducted remotely in office on a computer (by the DIME team at the World Bank) whereas the second stage randomization in the public lottery villages was conducted via public lottery in these villages

Randomization Unit

Two levels and units of randomization - village level randomization for targeting and individual level randomization for roll out of PWPs.

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

endline surveys to take place in 250 villages

Sample size: planned number of observations

cover approx. 4850 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

We plan to target 4,850 respondents for the detailed household survey across the 250 villages. The distribution of target respondents across the three targeting mechanisms is described below:
o 2,400 respondents from the public lottery arm (20 surveys in each of the 120 villages in the public lottery arm)
o 975 respondents from the chief selection arm (about 12-13 surveys in each of the 65 villages assigned to the chief selection arm)
o 975 respondents from the community selection (about 12-13 surveys in each of the 65 villages)

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

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB