Afya Yako: Countering Public Health Misinformation through Local Radio
Funded by the Social Science Research Council through the Mercury Project
This is a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) study that seeks to evaluate the Impact of community radios in addressing misinformation around public health issues including COVID 19 and instilling behavioural changes including acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine. The project involves working with 50 community radios in Tanzania. Conducting capacity building to radios journalists on report key messages for public health issues; designing and broadcasting radio drama called "Sauti ya Tiba" - "Voice of Healing". The project is conducted in collaboration with Dylan Groves and Professor John Marshall from Columbia University; and the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR). Other researchers include Constantine Manda, Noela Ringo and Danford Sango
Impact Evaluation of Land Tenure Improvement Project with Joao Montalvao and Tigist Ketema
Funded by World Bank, Gender Innovation Lab
This is a cluster randomized design which seeks to increase the women inclusion in land registration certificates in rural Tanzania by using community leaders and persuasive information contents.
Play-based learning intervention for Early Childhood Development in rural Tanzania with Tukae Mbegalo and Nneka Esther Osadolor
Funded by J-PAL, Learning for All Initiative (LAI)
This is a Cluster Randomized Control Trials study that seeks to evaluating the impact of play-based learning intervention implemented by the Tanzania Early Childhood Education and Care (TECEC) in under-resourced communities of Mara and Mwanza regions. The evaluation will measure primary outcomes on academic and holistic skills on eligible public primary schools and target preschoolers in the pre-primary level 2.
Overcoming budget, availability, and attention constraints to healthy diets in Tanzania
Funded by IDRC
The overall objective of the study is to understand the influence of food environment on dietary choices in urban areas of Tanzania. Within this broad objective, the research addresses the following specific objectives.
To describe and document the food environment faced by Tanzanians, particularly those living in Dar es Salaam
To understand, describe and incorporate what attributes consumers assign most utility to in deciding what food options to select through Discrete Choice Experiments (DCE)
To test whether and to what extent availability and budget constraints are binding in people’s decisions to consume protective and healthy foods through a randomized experiment
This project is conducted in collaboration with Vivian Hoffmann and Alan De Brauw from International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); Liz Brown from CEGA, UC Berkeley. Other researchers include Constantine Manda, Danford Sango, Noela Ringo, Said Rashid and Dorothy Richard
The Effect of Old Age Pension on Household Nutritional Outcomes: The Case of the Zanzibar Universal Pension Scheme – with Ethan Ligon and Michelle Layvant
Funded by Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) and Center on the Economics and Demography of Aging (CEDA), UC Berkeley
The study utilizes the Structural Estimation Approach to analyze the effect of old age pension on households’ food composition and nutritional outcomes using the Tanzania Living Standard Measurement Survey. The analysis further looks on the policy counterfactuals of reducing the minimum requirement age and pension size as well as the household bargaining power of elder people and how they vary by gender of recipient.
Can Women Self-Help Groups Improve Financial Stability and Quality of Life of Households Receiving Government Cash Transfers? Evidence from Inua Jamii-OVC program in the Slums of Nairobi, Kenya - with Peter Otieno, Flavio Malagutti and Nneka Esther Osadolor
Funded by Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA)
This is a Randomized Control Trials study that seeks to improve the impact of Inua Jamii-OVC program by integrating women self-help groups for the beneficiaries of Inua Jamii-OVC cash transfers in Nairobi Slums.
SMS Campaign to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Take up in Tanzania
Funded by the Partnership for Economic Policy (PEP)
The objective of this research project is to use a RCT methodology in testing the effectiveness of different kinds of text messages in persuading populations to accept COVID 19 vaccine in Tanzania. Other researchers working in this project include Constantine Manda, Danford Sango, Noela Ringo, Said Rashid and Christina Fille
Generating and meeting demand: Using journalists to increase health service uptake in Tanzania.
Funded by New Venture Fund for Global Policy and Advocacy at the Gates Foundation
This is a Randomized Control Trial (RCT) project that focus on local accountability journalism to enhance bureaucratic implementation of health service delivery. After building sustainable journalistic capacity via weeklong capacity-building training sessions, independent radio stations can facilitate improved services via two primary channels. First, journalists can mitigate informational deficiencies by identifying problems in local facilities as well as citizen priorities, before then alerting the district-level bureaucrats who oversee frontline service providers. Second, journalists can incentivize district or regional bureaucrats to exert greater oversight of frontline service providers by using radio to shine a spotlight on the performance of the facilities under their control. The project is conducted in collaboration with Dylan Groves and Professor John Marshall from Columbia University. Other researchers include Constantine Manda, Noela Ringo and Danford Sango