(Digital) cash transfer, privacy, and women’s empowerment: implications for intimate partner violence

Last registered on April 13, 2022
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
(Digital) cash transfer, privacy, and women’s empowerment: implications for intimate partner violence
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0008678
Initial registration date
December 15, 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
December 19, 2021, 12:23 PM EST

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

Last updated
April 13, 2022, 5:06 PM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country
Uganda
Region
Kyegegwa and Kiryandongo districts

Primary Investigator

Name
Munshi Sulaiman
Affiliation
BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), BRAC University
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Selim Gulesci
PI Affiliation
Trinity College Dublin
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PI Name
Giulia Greco
PI Affiliation
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
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PI Name
Pallavi Prabhakar
PI Affiliation
Norwegian School of Economics
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2021-10-10
End date
2023-01-31
Keywords
Behavior, Gender
Additional Keywords
Women's economic empowerment, Digital Financing services, Mobile Money, Cash Transfers
JEL code(s)
Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse, Economics of Gender, Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design; Household Behavior and Family Economics; Field Experiments
Secondary IDs
LSHTM Ethics: 25587; Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST): SS907ES
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
This study aims to assess the role of delivery mechanisms (cash or mobile money) and of privacy of information for improving women’s economic empowerment and reducing Intimate Partner Violence. Evidence suggests that transfers given out as mobile money can generate greater impact on women’s economic empowerment and reduced Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) compared to cash. Moreover, privacy is often mentioned as a potential mechanism through which digital finance may lead to better outcomes for women. However, sparse evidence exists to experimentally test the differential impact of mobile money over cash transfers while assessing the role of privacy of information as a causal mechanism leading to women’s economic empowerment and reduced incidences of IPV.

This study is amongst the first RCTs to experimentally test this hypothesis, targeting 2000 refugee and host couples in Kiryandongo and Kyegegwa districts (5 experimental groups) of Uganda. Women in all treatment groups will receive an unconditional transfer of UGX 200,000 as cash or mobile money. The study aims to explore the differences among the treatment groups in terms of women’s control over her personal and household finances, household decision making, marital trust, women’s agency, IPV and other economic outcomes including engagement in income earning activities. Findings of this study will contribute in shaping policies concerning delivery of social assistance and messaging surrounding the delivery, to achieve desired impacts on women's economic empowerment and IPV.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Greco, Giulia et al. 2022. "(Digital) cash transfer, privacy, and women’s empowerment: implications for intimate partner violence." AEA RCT Registry. April 13. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.8678-1.2
Sponsors & Partners

Sponsors

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The study will have 5 experimental groups including 4 treatment and 1 control group. The couples will be randomised to receive the intervention as below:

1- Cash transfer with privacy of information: Women will receive a cash transfer; their partner will not be informed.
2- Cash transfer without privacy of information: Women will receive a cash transfer; their partner will be informed.
3- Mobile money transfers with privacy of information: Women will receive a mobile money transfer; their partner will not be informed.
4- Mobile money transfers without privacy of information: Women will receive a mobile money transfer; their partner will be informed.
5- Control group: Women will not receive any transfer.
Intervention Start Date
2022-01-20
Intervention End Date
2022-03-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Women's agency and enactment of their preferences, Intimate Partner Violence (Physical, emotional and sexual), Relative levels of household decision making and Use of transfer
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
The study targets 250 village clusters (50 clusters in each experimental group) and 2000 couples in the refugee and host communities in Kyegegwa and Kiryandongo districts in Uganda. The target population includes married women, between 20-45 years old, who are currently living with their spouse, own a mobile phone and have a mobile money account registered under their name. Spouses of the women are also interviewed in the study. They are randomly divided into four treatment arms and a control group. Women in all treatment groups will receive an unconditional transfer of UGX 200,000 as cash or mobile money. In two of these groups, (each receiving cash or mobile money transfer), the information of the transfer will be jointly revealed to the respondent and their spouse through a field visit before the intervention. In the other two groups, women will be privately informed about the day they will receive the transfer through a field visit.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization will be undertaken using Stata.
Randomization Unit
Cluster (Village)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
250
Sample size: planned number of observations
2000 women and 2000 men
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
50 clusters in each experimental arm
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
Observational/Interventions Research Ethics Committee, LSHTM
IRB Approval Date
2021-10-11
IRB Approval Number
25587
IRB Name
Uganda National Council for Science and Technology
IRB Approval Date
2021-08-17
IRB Approval Number
SS907ES
IRB Name
Mildmay Uganda research and Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2021-08-12
IRB Approval Number
0702-2021
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials