Millions of children die from preventable diseases every year, primarily in low-income countries. In rural Uganda, researchers are working with Innovations for Poverty Action to evaluate the impact on child mortality of an at-scale community health worker program based on a micro-franchise business model. An initial impact evaluation of this program in Uganda found a significant reduction in infant and child mortality, as well as improved health knowledge among clients and an increased number of household visits by health workers. Results from this evaluation of the scaled-up program are forthcoming.

Researchers in Zambia introduced different kinds of awards and information on performance rankings into a year-long training for community health workers to evaluate their impact on how much trainees learned. They found that awards focused on offering recognition and improving trainees’ status and visibility in their home communities improved performance, while those that highlighted comparisons with other trainees actually harmed performance. Both these effects were greatest among low-ability trainees.

Early childhood is an important time for both physical and neurological growth and development, but many children fail to reach their development potential. Researchers introduced an early childhood development program in Colombia to test the effects of psychosocial stimulation and micronutrient supplementation on cognitive, behavioral, and physical growth and development. Psychosocial stimulation initially showed positive effects on cognitive growth, although the micronutrient supplementation had no effect. However, a follow-up study showed that the results on cognitive growth disappeared two years later.

The researcher conducted a pilot randomized evaluation to test the feasibility of a regular community accountability meeting program and a politician health leadership program, as well as the feasibility of associated data collection activities. Both interventions realized considerable stakeholder participation and engagement, providing a foundation on which to conduct a larger randomized evaluation in the future around the impact of these interventions on health service delivery and health outcomes.

A key challenge to achieving universal health coverage is that non-poor informal workers are difficult to enroll and retain in government health insurance programs. Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to test the impact of various programs, including subsidies, registration assistance and information campaigns on the enrollment and retention of non-poor informal workers in Indonesia’s national health insurance program. Registration assistance and subsidies both increased household enrollment, but overall enrollment rates remained low.

In Bangladesh, researchers evaluated how temporary exposure to a community driven development program altered citizens’ preferences for inclusive, participatory approaches to decision-making. In this context, exposure to participatory decision-making increased the value that communities assigned to such participatory processes but did not translate into increased adoption of inclusive institutions.

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the impact of text message reminders of key recertification processes and deadlines as well as access to paperwork assistance on enrollment in the SNAP program.

In Nigeria, researchers worked with a financial service provider to evaluate the impact of digital loans on welfare. Being approved for the loans increased subjective well-being after three months, for applicants who normally would have been denied.

Researchers have partnered with a non-profit debt management provider and IPA to evaluate whether reframing difficult, long-lasting tasks, such as paying off large debts, into more easily-attainable “sub-goals” can help borrowers accomplish their goals of debt repayment and increase client retention in a debt management program.

Researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to gauge whether enhanced financial stability impacted worker productivity in India. They found that giving small-scale manufacturing workers financial relief in the form of early wage payments increased their productivity and attention to detail on the job.