Field Projects

How do the Current Demand for Education and the History of a Community Affect Learning Outcomes in Nigeria? The Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) Program - Nigeria (Research team), 2019-2023

Examining the Impact of Rainfall Insurance and Family Networks in Burkina Faso, (with Zaki Wahhaj). Pilot: 2016-2017; Full scale project: 2018-2023

Abstract: Rainfall index insurance can help small-holder farmers cope with risks to their livelihoods, but take-up of this insurance is often low. Since farmers often depend on urban relatives for financial support when adverse weather affects their livelihoods, and financial institutions can reach urban residents at low cost, marketing insurance products to urban migrants with relatives in rural areas, rather than marketing them directly to farmers, may be an effective way to increase rainfall insurance coverage. A previous pilot study suggested promising results for take-up of rainfall insurance from urban relatives. Researchers are now partnering with IPA and PlaNet Guarantee to conduct a large-scale randomized evaluation that will measure demand for rainfall insurance among both urban migrants and rural households and its impact on the economic outcomes of the latter group.

Empowering Adolescent Girls in the Sahel: Evidence from a Multi-Country RCT of the Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend Project (with Olivia Bertelli, Elise Huillery, Mousson Estelle Jamel Koussoube, Bastien Michel, Markus Olapade and Lea Marie Rouanet), 2017-2022

Abstract: The Sahel Women Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD) is a regional project aiming to accelerate the demographic transition by addressing both supply- and demand-side constraints to family planning and reproductive and sexual health. To achieve its objective, the project targets adolescent girls and young women mainly between the ages of 10-19 vulnerable to early marriage, teenage pregnancy, and early school drop-out, as well as their communities. The impact evaluation focuses on six SWEDD countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, Niger). This multi-country impact evaluation study will generate evidence related to the following research questions: What is the impact of community-based safe spaces on adolescent girls’ sexual and reproductive health knowledge and behaviors? What about the impacts on empowerment indicators such as aspirations and self-esteem? What is the impact of community-based safe spaces on involvement in income generating activities, savings, and earnings? What is the impact of combining safe spaces and livelihood support interventions on health, empowerment, and economic outcomes? (2017-2022)

Impact of productive safety nets on the ultra-poor in the Sahel region of West Africa, (with Thomas Bossuroy, Markus Goldstein, Dean Karlan, William Parienté, Catherine Thomas, Chris Udry, Julia Vaillant, and Kelsey Wright), 2017-2022

Abstract: While regular cash transfer programs can have a range of productive impacts, international evidence suggests that additional interventions, addressing a wider range of constraints, can be combined with cash transfer programs to further improve households’ productivity and resilience. The World Bank, IPA and a team of researchers have partnered with governments implementing large-scale social protection programs in 4 West African countries (Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal) to set-up a multi-country randomized control trial and test the effects of a set of productive accompanying measures layered on top of existing safety net programs. The effort is integrated into large-scale national programs and focuses on identifying the most cost-effective package of interventions to address constraints to productivity and resilience. The productive measures include the creation and coaching of beneficiary groups, the facilitation of savings, community sensitization on aspirations and social norms, life-skills training, micro-entrepreneurship training, a one-time lump sum cash grant, as well as market access facilitation. The research addresses the following main questions: What is the impact of the full package of productive accompanying measures on cash transfer beneficiaries? How to optimize the package?; How to ensure inclusiveness of the package and impacts on the extreme poor?

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper Blog post on Niger's results

Safety Nets and Early Childhood Development, (with Richard Akresh, Damien de Walque), 2017-2022

Abstract: We assess the impact of the different components of an integrated cash transfer safety net combined with home visits reinforcing health-nutrition practices and psycho-social child development on a broad range of ECD outcomes including anthropometric, nutritional status, cognitive ability, and socio-emotional development of children ages 0 to 5 years old as well as on poverty indicators (such as household food and non-food consumption, accumulation of productive assets, and use of health services).