Financial access in South Africa has expanded rapidly in recent years and policymakers have identified financial education as a means to improve financial literacy and inclusion. To test this, researchers evaluated the impact of a financial literacy workshop on miners’ financial understanding, behavior, and use of financial services.

Can a multi-dimensional program enhance parental involvement and student outcomes? Programa Aprender en Familia (Family Learning or PAF), a program implemented in elementary public schools attended by poor students in Chile, led to improved parental involvement and improved relationships between parents, students, and teachers. Results were largest for younger students (second through fourth grades) and the second cohort of schools to receive the program.

Finding effective strategies to prevent violence and systematic harassment at school can improve student outcomes and wellbeing. Researchers evaluated the effectiveness of two programs aiming to reduce violence and harassment in primary and middle schools in France. Overall, neither program reduced violence or harassment. However, social mediation was effective when the mediator was experienced, and particularly so for students who initially faced higher levels of violence.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to study the impact of elite capture in a conditional cash transfer program in Indonesia. Elite capture existed in some programs, but the welfare losses created were small, suggesting that improving administrative capabilities in targeting methods might be more effective in enhancing social assistance programs than focusing on elite capture.

In Peru, researchers evaluated the impact of a tailored inquiry- and problem-based learning approach on preschoolers’ performance in math. The program improved overall mathematics outcomes, which persisted for some content areas even one year after the program ended.

Researchers in Chile compared the effects of self-help peer groups and text-message feedback on entrepreneurs’ ability to make regular deposits into a savings account. Receiving feedback by text message increased savings by almost as much as being a member of a self-help group, suggesting that the physical aspect of self-help groups may not be as important as previously thought.

Researchers examined the effects of free savings account access on savings account use, indebtedness, consumption, and well-being. Easy access to savings accounts reduced participants’ reliance on borrowing, helped them manage fluctuations in income, and increased their self-reported well-being.

The Value Added Tax (VAT) system, which generates a paper trail on transactions between firms, facilitated tax enforcement by spreading the impact of enforcement measures up the production chain in a study with over 400,000 firms in Chile.

Researchers partnered with the largest public bank in Guatemala to measure the impact of light-touch financial products, such as reminders and suggested ‘default’ savings contribution levels, on the savings behavior of microfinance borrowers. Clients who were prompted to save through default contribution requirements and monthly reminders made more deposits and accumulated greater savings than clients who only had access to a basic savings account.

Researchers ran a large randomized credit information training program that described the existence and workings of the bureau to the clients of this lender. The results indicate that the credit bureau generated large efficiency gains for the lender, and that these gains were augmented when borrowers understood the rules of the game.

In Malawi, researchers tested the relative effects of providing conditional and unconditional cash transfers to teenage girls and their families. Among girls enrolled in school at the start of the program, conditional cash transfers increased school attendance and reduced HIV prevalence while unconditional transfers were more effective in helping girls delay marriage and childbearing in the short-term. Improvements among the unconditional cash transfer group quickly dissipated, while conditional cash transfer beneficiaries who had dropped out of school before the program experienced sustained improvements in educational attainment, marriage, and fertility outcomes two years after transfers ended.

Working in Botswana, researchers rapidly evaluated a phone-based remote learning program aimed at keeping children engaged with math during the Covid-19 pandemic. Students who received weekly SMS messages and phone calls to review math exercises increased their math skills after twelve weeks, while students who received only SMS messages did not.

Town hall meetings in Benin reduced the ability of the most popular presidential candidate in that village to garner political support using clientelist tactics, and still appear to be effective for motivating people to attend the polls.