Community Surveillance Support to Reduce Child Marriage in Bangladesh

Last registered on November 12, 2021

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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Community Surveillance Support to Reduce Child Marriage in Bangladesh

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0008545

Initial registration date

November 10, 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

November 12, 2021, 6:08 PM EST

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

Locations

Country

Bangladesh

Region

Gaibandha District

Primary Investigator

Name

Zaki Wahhaj

Affiliation

University of Kent

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Abu Shonchoy

PI Affiliation

Florida International University

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

On going

Start date

2019-10-22

End date

2021-11-30

Keywords

Behavior, Education, Gender, Governance

Additional Keywords

early marriage, female schooling, minimum marriage age, helplines, birth registration

JEL code(s)

J12; J16

Secondary IDs

K36; O15

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

The project will test the hypothesis that birth registration of unmarried adolescent girls, coupled with a phone-based system for reporting of potential child marriage cases, can lower the incidence of female early marriage in rural Bangladesh.

To test this hypothesis, the project will introduce a randomized controlled trial in 240 communities in northern Bangladesh with the following treatment arms: (i) 60 communities where the project offers, to households with unmarried adolescent girls, covering the cost of birth registration at local government digital centres; (ii) 60 communities where the project provides households with information on the Bangladesh government’s national helpline for reporting potential child marriage cases; (iii) 60 communities where the project offers to cover the cost of birth registration and provides information on the national helpline; (iv) 60 communities that serve as a control group.

The project will evaluate the effects of the intervention on the incidence of female early marriage (marriage below the age of 18), as well as school enrolment among adolescent girls, will be assessed via an endline survey conducted 9 months after the intervention has been completed.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Shonchoy, Abu and Zaki Wahhaj. 2021. "Community Surveillance Support to Reduce Child Marriage in Bangladesh ." AEA RCT Registry. November 12. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8545-1.0

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The study involved a two-pronged intervention targeted at rural households in Bangladesh with unmarried adolescent girls: (i) providing information, logistical support, and covering expenses, for creating or rectifying birth registration records for adolescent girls; (ii) providing information on a national government helplines for reporting child marriages.

Intervention Start Date

2020-08-29

Intervention End Date

2021-02-08

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

1. Birth registration of adolescent girls.
2. Awareness of a national helpline for reporting child marriage cases.
3. Incidence of child marriage (specifical marriage below the age of 18).

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

1. School enrollment and attendance of adolescent girls.
2. Female Autonomy and decision making.
3. Spillover effects.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

The intervention will be conducted in 240 communities in northern Bangladesh with the following treatment arms. Prior to the intervention, a listing of all unmarried adolescent girls was created for each community. Each community will be randomly assigned to one of four experimental arms as follows: (i) 60 communities where the project offers, to households with unmarried adolescent girls, covering the cost of birth registration at local government digital centres; (ii) 60 communities where the project provides households with information on the Bangladesh government’s national helpline for reporting potential child marriage cases; (iii) 60 communities where the project offers to cover the cost of birth registration and provides information on the national helpline; (iv) 60 communities that serve as a control group.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Randomisation done in office by a computer.

Randomization Unit

The unit of randomization is a community (sub-unit of a rural village).

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

240

Sample size: planned number of observations

2400 households

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

600 households

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

We have done our statistical power calculations based on the most recent DHS data available for Bangladesh (BDHS 2014). The BDHS 2014 shows that more than 78% of children under the age of five do not have birth registration records. Using BDHS, we calculated the average cluster size (girls within the age range of 13-17 who are unmarried) is 10 children per cluster. From BDHS we calculated an Intra-cluster correlation of 0.3 and a standard deviation of 0.43. With a 95% confidence interval (alpha = -0.05), a simple power calculation with one treatment-control assignment with 80% power shows that the minimum detectable value in the treatment arm is 22.09 (compared to a mean of 22 in the control arm), which corresponds to an effect size of about 0.11 .

Supporting Documents and Materials

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