Researchers, in partnership with BRAC, are conducting a randomized evaluation with both male and female adolescents in Tanzania to identify the differential impacts of demand side and supply side interventions and to better understand the role males play in affecting sexual and reproductive health outcomes.

Researchers are conducting a randomized evaluation to test the relative impact of assignment to different MCOs on health care utilization and expenditure.

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.

Researchers are working with Innovations for Poverty Action to study the effects of behavioral "nudges" that encourage teachers to enroll in loan forgiveness programs on program enrollment, teacher retention, and household finance.

Researchers examined the impact of access to banking services for the first time on households in rural Kenya. While savings account and credit usage rates were low overall because of poor service quality and low levels of trust in the institutions, access to the accounts helped some households rely less on family members outside the village and support one another more within the village.

Most eligible workers who receive the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a cash transfer program geared toward low-income workers with dependents, receive the credit as an annual lump sum payment, even though they are eligible to receive the credit in the form of monthly disbursements throughout the year (referred to as the Advance EITC). To test whether or not workers might benefit from receiving the EITC in the form of monthly payments rather than a lump sum, researchers reduced potential enrollment barriers to encourage workers to participate in the Advance EITC.