In Peru, researchers are delivering cash grants and business training to Venezuelan migrant entrepreneurs and assessing the impacts on the short- and long-term success of enterprises as well as migrants’ food security, health, and income.

Researchers partnered with the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights to evaluate the effect of educational social media and TV campaigns on women’s attitudes and behaviors around responding to GBV and IPV. The social media campaign increased women’s knowledge and use of resources, but had no impact on their underlying attitudes towards gender equality or gender-based violence.

The proliferation of mobile money across low- and middle-income countries has led to increased availability of mobile payment systems, which can potentially allow more flexible payment terms for customers. Subsidies increased the use of mechanized desludgings, while pre-paid deposit requirements had no impact on their use. The flexibility of being able to save in advance in an earmarked savings account through the save-at-will treatment increased take-up through the program, but did so at the expense of take-up outside the program.

In the Philippines, researchers tested several interventions designed to ease informational, job search, and documentation barriers to working overseas. They found that some interventions increased the number of participants who searched for work or acquired passports, but none led to increases in international migration.

Researchers evaluated the impact of a large-scale handwashing intervention in Peru that introduced an innovative mix of mass media campaigns along with more intensive community activities, including educational sessions for caregivers and a handwashing curriculum in some schools. The program was effective in reaching its targeted households, improving knowledge related to handwashing, and modifying behaviors; however, these behavioral changes did not translate into better child health.

This study evaluated the impact of subsidies and two different marketing messages on the take-up of insecticide-treated bed nets by rural households. Take-up did not vary with the framing of marketing messages but was highly sensitive to changes in price. Gaining access to a highly subsidized bed net in the first year also increased households’ willingness to pay for an additional net a year later.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation of a video-based financial education course on participants’ financial behaviors in India to study which components of financial education programs are most effective. While the course alone had no impact on participants’ abilities to carry out financial calculations, it influenced their awareness of and attitudes towards financial products. Additionally, personalized supplements to the course increased effects on budgeting and saving.

Researchers compared the impact of two alternative programs, one that trained teachers how to teach the existing, abstinence-focused HIV prevention curriculum and another that subsidized education through the provision of free uniforms, on risky sexual behavior of adolescent students in upper primary school. Training teachers greatly increased teaching of the curriculum but had no effect on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) or teen pregnancy. Girls who received free school uniforms were less likely to get married, become pregnant, or drop out of school, but they were equally likely to contract an STI. The two programs combined did not reduce teen childbearing but led to a significant reduction in the risk of herpes among girls.

Researchers provided payday borrowers in the United States information about the true costs of payday loans in order to find out whether they would respond by changing their demand for the product. Better informed individuals reduced their demand significantly, suggesting that getting consumers to think more broadly about the decision to take up a payday loan may result in a reduction in the amount of payday borrowing.

In 2009, researchers tested the relative effectiveness of different employment services targeted at university dropouts. Overall, intensive counseling increased the number of job interviews youth received and improved their perceptions of their career prospects and their trust in the private sector.

Researchers evaluated the impact of Boston’s Summer Youth Employment Program, which uses a lottery to provide youth with part-time work and skills training during the summer, on students’ educational outcomes. The program significantly increased high school graduation rates among participating students, partly by reducing dropout and absenteeism rates.

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of providing microloans for housing to the underprivileged in the Menia governorate on the improvement of families' well-being.