In rural India, researchers are testing whether helping women access public employment and receive wages through direct deposit into individual bank accounts can increase their chances of being employed, their control over earnings, and ultimately their family planning decisions.

In urban India, researchers are testing whether helping women and men start STEM careers through a job training program improves their employment and earnings, and, for women, enhances economic empowerment and shapes family planning choices.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in West Bengal, researchers studied whether citizens heeded messages better from the government or from a trusted figure. When people received a video message from a trusted figure, they stayed home, washed their hands more, and reported symptoms more often, and their neighbors did the same, regardless of the message’s content.

In Northern Ghana, researchers tested whether providing information could encourage mothers to talk more with their infants, thereby improving child development. Six to eight months after the intervention, mothers who received the information reported they were more likely to talk to their infants and that their children showed stronger language and communication skills.