This project used a randomized evaluation to study the effect of a learning program targeting adolescent girls on their education, aspirations, and empowerment.

Researchers evaluated the impact of gender-based discrimination on female teleworkers’ productivity in online sales interactions with customers in Africa. When a customer chat representative had a female-sounding name, it led to significantly fewer purchases, and slower and more reserved reactions from customers.

A researcher evaluated the impact of empowerment training for female citizens and training for male council chairs on women's participation in neighborhood associations, known as rukun tetangga (RT) in Malang, East Java, Indonesia.

In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), approximately twenty percent of women who bear children experience depression during pregnancy or in the year after their child’s birthday, called perinatal depression, but they are rarely diagnosed or treated. Researchers evaluated the impact of a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program on the mental health, financial empowerment, and parenting decisions of 903 women with perinatal depression in Pakistan. They found that the CBT program reduced postpartum depression. The program also had long-term outcomes: seven years later, a different team of researchers found a reduction in depression rates, an improvement in financial empowerment, and an increase in time- and money-related parental investments, particularly for mothers of girls.

In Afghanistan, researchers evaluated the impact of a Targeting the Ultra Poor program on poverty reduction. The cost-effective program generated large positive impacts for women participants across key outcomes: consumption, assets, psychological well-being, total time spent working, financial inclusion, and women’s empowerment.

Researchers analyzed the impact of a new reimbursement model to incentivize end-stage kidney disease providers and facilities to provide home dialysis on home dialysis rates. During the first year of the study, there was no statistically significant difference in home dialysis rates between hospital referral regions randomly assigned to the new reimbursement model and those that used the old model.

To understand the causal impact of poverty reduction on children’s health, nutrition, sleep, and healthcare utilization, among other outcomes, researchers randomly assigned new mothers to receive an unconditional cash transfer of $333 (high-cash group) or $20 per month (low-cash group) in the Baby’s First Years study. Children in the high-cash group had higher produce consumption at age two, but no impacts were found on health, sleep, or healthcare utilization at age three.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of an entertainment-education short film informational campaign (i.e. edutainment campaign) designed to inform adolescent girls and parents of the costs of child marriage on the norms and perceptions about child marriage in Indonesia. The edutainment intervention was effective in changing the perceptions of girls and parents towards child marriage.

Researchers investigated the role of online networking groups (via WhatsApp) and free legal aid on improving business innovation, practices, sales, and profits among growth-oriented women-owned firms in Ghana. They found that online networking groups meaningfully encouraged business innovation, improved participants’ business practices, and boosted firm profits.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of two different performance-based incentives on students’ test scores, motivation, and behavior in Malawi. They find that tournament-style incentives that rewarded the top performers among a large group lowered test scores and student motivation, especially among lower-performing students, while tournaments among small groups based on initial performance did not impact students’ test scores.

Researchers conducted an evaluation to test the impact of offering a high-amenity diagnostic consultation for cataracts at different prices on uptake of an underutilized service—cataract surgery—in Mexico. Lower prices for the high-amenity consultation increased exposure to amenities, which ultimately boosted surgery take-up.

In partnership with an education assessment firm, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to isolate the impact of computer-based individualized instruction in India. After nine months, lower-performing students in grades six to eight learned 22 percent of a standard deviation more in math if offered materials that matched their learning levels. For the average student, individualized instruction did not affect math learning.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Zambia to test the impact of a peer-based information campaign, consisting of SMS messages and small cash incentives, on people’s adherence to Covid-19 health protocols. Participants forwarded public health SMSs when they were encouraged to do so, yet financial incentives did not increase the number of messages sent. Participants and their peers did not change their precautionary health behaviors.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing information about police alternatives on individuals' reported likelihood of calling the police and a follow-up randomized evaluation to understand key public-safety stakeholders’ receptiveness of police alternatives. The first study found that information about police alternatives had a bipartisan decrease on police reliance in nonviolent scenarios. The second study revealed that police are more responsive to evidence on public interest in police alternatives when it is presented using some framing devices compared to others.

In many countries, rural populations access social services through decentralized systems that hire community-based workers with high monitoring needs, leaving little time for supervisors to perform other essential functions. Researchers are evaluating the impact of a phone-based e-monitoring app and organizational structure on frontline worker performance and service delivery in Sierra Leone.