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Field
Trial Title
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Unlocking future minds: The impact of a career exploration program in urban India
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After
Unlocking young women’s minds at scale? - Evidence from urban India
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Abstract
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Before
While transitioning from school to the labor market, students are at the risk of making myopic decisions if they lack information about available career options matching their interests and skills and are influenced by peers as well as parental and societal expectations. In India, while students from affluent backgrounds can access private career counselling services, students from poorer backgrounds typically lack this access. This reinforces the inequality of opportunity between students from poorer and richer backgrounds and is particularly concerning for girls who, due to gender norms, often do not even enter the labor force. In this project, we examine the impact of a career exploration program for students, right after finishing school, on the likelihood to continue education and skill formation, their intention to work in the future as well as confidence and locus of control.
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After
In contexts with rigid gender norms and low female labor force participation, young women tend to lack professional role models, have limited awareness of their strengths and interests, and lack exposure to a variety of career options. While students in expensive schools or from affluent families can easily access career counseling, students from socio-economically weaker groups lack this type of guidance. We examine whether and to what extent a career guidance program that advises disadvantaged young women in groups can influence their career plans, selection of professional objectives, and choices after finishing school (primary), as well as their locus of control and confidence (secondary). Working with 12th graders from 100 classrooms in 22 Delhi girls’ government schools, we will use a clustered randomized controlled trial with treatment assignment at the classroom level to assess the short- and medium-term impact.
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Trial Start Date
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August 02, 2022
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April 01, 2023
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Trial End Date
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December 15, 2023
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December 31, 2023
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Last Published
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January 27, 2023 12:29 PM
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After
February 06, 2023 11:41 AM
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Intervention (Public)
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Before
The career exploration program will take place in-person in 4 schools for 5-7 weeks with 3 sessions of 1.5 hours per week. The program guides and encourages students to identify their strengths, interests and talents; to consider their barriers and constraints; to identify people who can support them; to identify suitable and interesting careers; and to make plans to pursue a career path aligned with their strengths and interests. Facilitators are a few years older than the participating students, typically enrolled in tertiary education, but from a similar community as the participating students. This helps the students to relate with the facilitators. In addition to the in-person meetings, facilitators will also use WhatsApp groups to interact with the students and for the students interact with each other. Further, facilitators will have bilateral conversations with the students. The partner organization conducting the career exploration program provides materials on a wide range of career paths for all participating students.
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After
The career exploration program will take place in randomly selected classrooms of 12th graders in 22 girls' government schools in Delhi. The program guides and encourages students to identify their strengths, interests and talents; to consider their barriers and constraints; to identify people who can support them; to identify suitable and interesting careers; and to make plans to pursue a career path aligned with their strengths and interests. Facilitators are a few years older than the participating students, typically enrolled in tertiary education, but from a similar community as the participating students. This helps the students to relate with the facilitators. In addition to the in-person meetings, facilitators will also use WhatsApp groups to interact with the students and for the students interact with each other. Further, facilitators will have bilateral conversations with the students. The partner organization conducting the career exploration program provides materials on a wide range of career paths for all participating students.
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Intervention Start Date
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April 01, 2023
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After
May 01, 2023
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Primary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Intention to enroll in higher education
Intention to enroll in job-qualifying training
Intention to work in the future
Intention to work after getting married
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After
Making plans for a professional future
Interest-based selection of a career
Intention to enroll in higher education
Intention to enroll in job-qualifying training
Preparing for entrance exams
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Randomization Unit
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Individual
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After
Classroom
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Was the treatment clustered?
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No
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Yes
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Planned Number of Clusters
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241 participants
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100 classrooms in 22 schools
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Planned Number of Observations
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241 participants
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2800-3200 students
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Power calculation: Minimum Detectable Effect Size for Main Outcomes
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Before
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After
0.16 standard deviations
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Secondary Outcomes (End Points)
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Before
Choice of career-path for self-motivated reasons as opposed to parental or societal expectations
Choice of career-path matching with interests
Confidence
Locus of control
Expected age at marriage
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After
Confidence
Locus of control
Expected age at marriage
Intention to work in the future
Intention to work after getting married
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Pi as first author
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No
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Yes
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