Abstract: Using a cluster-randomized controlled trial, this study evaluates the impact of group-based interpersonal therapy (IPT-G) on mental health and human capital accumulation among adolescent girls in Uganda who were at risk of moderate to severe depression at baseline. The study was designed to test whether lay provider–led IPT-G for adolescents could be effectively implemented using modest resources in a low-income country. It also tested whether a lump-sum cash transfer offered at the end of therapy provided any additional benefit. The therapy intervention alone increased the share of individuals with no depression by 5.4 percentage points (from 18.4% in the control group) 12 months after therapy, but these effects dissipated by the 30-month follow-up. Similarly, small positive effects on human capital accumulation at 12 months were not sustained at 30 months. Surprisingly, the marginal effect of offering cash transfers to IPT-G beneficiaries was large and negative on their mental health, persisting two years after baseline. The paper provides suggestive evidence that the adolescents were frustrated by their inability to use the cash toward their own goals because of the need to divert funds toward the essential needs of their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Abstract: This paper analyzes a randomized controlled trial of a personalized digital counseling intervention addressing informational constraints and choice architecture, cross-randomized with discounts for long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), such as intrauterine devices (IUDs). The counseling intervention encourages shared decision-making (SDM) using a tablet-based app, which provides a tailored ranking of modern methods to each client according to their elicited needs and preferences. Take-up of LARCs in the status quo regime at full price was 11%, which increased to 28% with discounts. SDM roughly tripled the share of clients adopting a LARC at full price to 35%, and discounts had no incremental impact in this group. Neither intervention affected the take-up of short-acting methods, such as the pill. Consistent with theoretical models of consumer search, SDM clients discussed more methods in depth, which led to higher adoption rates for second- or lower-ranked LARCs. Our findings suggest that low-cost individualized recommendations can potentially be as effective in increasing unfamiliar technology adoption as providing large subsidies. 

Abstract: This paper provides a narrative review of social protection policies for youth (ages 15–24) in low- and middle-income countries; assesses the state of the evidence on their impacts; and provides recommendations for policy and future research. It summarizes the findings by three groups of policies: transfers and scholarships, active labour market policies, and life skills programs. While social protection policies serve their primary purpose as safety nets, they do not have transformative effects for youth, overall. The paper highlights the tradeoffs that arise from using social protection programs to address particular market failures: many beneficiaries of popular programs are inframarginal. The impacts of social protection programs targeted to youth are likely to improve if there is higher human capital accumulation earlier in life and the programs account for age and gender, are of sufficient length and intensity, and are intentionally designed to address the underlying constraints and goals, including an understanding of important social norms in the settings in which they operate. 

Abstract: As access to family planning continues to expand globally, it is essential to assess its broader social and economic impact, particularly concerning female economic empowerment. This paper develops a framework for conceptualizing family planning and economic empowerment over the life course with the ultimate goal of estimating the causal impact of family planning on female economic empowerment. We apply the framework to propose age- and life-stage appropriate measures of economic empowerment and family planning. We discuss the application of this framework in the context of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and longitudinal data collection involving adolescents and women of reproductive age at different points across the life course living in rural and urban areas in three countries in Sub-Saharan Africa: adolescents aged 14-18 in Ethiopia who have yet to experience pregnancy and marriage; first-time mothers aged 15-25 in Tanzania; and women aged 15-49 in Cameroon who were seeking family planning counselling at a women’s hospital. We first propose a strategy to construct valid and reliable measures of both family planning and economic empowerment using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. We then propose a two-stage least squares approach to estimate the causal link between family planning and economic empowerment, leveraging the exogenous variation in family planning generated by the three RCTs. This framework and methodological approach provide a template for future empirical research on this topic to ensure a robust evidence base that will inform future research and policy design. 

Abstract: The High Frequency South Sudan Survey, implemented by the South Sudan National Bureau of Statistics in collaboration with the World Bank, conducted several waves of representative surveys across seven of the ten former states between 2015 and 2017. These surveys provided a long overdue update to poverty numbers in South Sudan, with the previous national poverty estimates dating as far back as 2009. The escalation and expansion of the civil conflict posed severe challenges to the planning and implementation of fieldwork. The surveys therefore capitalized on several technological and methodological innovations to establish a reliable system of data collection and obtain valid poverty estimates. Focusing on the 2016 urban-rural wave, this paper describes the design and analysis of the survey to arrive at reliable poverty estimates for South Sudan, utilizing the Rapid Consumption Methodology combined with geo-spatial data for inaccessible survey areas.

Preliminary abstract: Youth in conflict-affected settings face the double challenge of high unemployment and poor mental health. This could lead to a self-reinforcing cycle by which unemployment worsens well-being, which in turn reduces the effectiveness of job search – akin to a psychological poverty trap. Our project evaluates whether integrating a psychosocial support program into job search assistance services can improve employment outcomes for unemployed youth, both displaced and non-displaced, in Ethiopia. We designed a randomized controlled trial with 800 participants aged 18 to 30, all of whom receive light-touch job search assistance, and half are additionally invited to a five-week group psychological intervention – stratified by gender and displacement status. Our intervention is adapted from the WHO’s Problem Management Plus (PM+), which focuses on stress management, problem-solving, behavioural activation, and strengthening social support, and is delivered by trained graduate psychology students in partnership with local institutions. We will measure outcomes through repeated phone surveys and administrative data from an online job search platform. Our study provides novel causal evidence on the link between mental health and job search in fragile, low-income contexts, offering scalable policy insights to promote youth employment.

Preliminary abstract: This study seeks to provide evidence on whether and how improving access to modern contraceptive methods might affect mental health and psychological well-being. It does so within the context of an experiment aiming to reduce unintended pregnancies at a gynecological and obstetric hospital in Yaoundé, Cameroon, which offered randomly assigned discounts for Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs, i.e. the IUD and Implant). There is no evidence that discounts for LARCs reduced the incidence of depression or anxiety within the treated sample, even within groups that would have been hypothesized to respond more strongly to treatment and who might benefit most from their protection against unintended pregnancies. 

Preliminary abstract: In this study we will carry out an adaptive experiment to test an integrated behavioral science approach to increasing the uptake of modern contraceptives, in particular long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) among reproductive-age females in Cameroon. It aims to do so with the aid of a tablet-based ``app,'' or a job-support tool, designed for use by health providers counseling women on family planning. The adaptive experiment employs machine learning techniques, multi-armed bandit algorithms, to find the optimal combination of subsidies for contraceptive methods and counseling approaches for different sub-groups of clients.