Download Study

General

Study Overview

Title:

Impact Evaluation of the ADN Dignidad Program

Study is 3ie funded:

No

Study ID:

RIDIE-STUDY-ID-6375e9e625e5f

Initial Registration Date:

11/17/2022

Last Update Date:

09/09/2022

Study Status:

Ongoing

Location(s):

Colombia

Abstract:

In this evaluation, we ask whether unconditional multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA) to immigrants from Venezuela, Colombian returnees, host communities, and internal migrants in Colombia that live in conditions of social vulnerability help to overcome short-term financial stress, food insecurity, emotional well-being, and outcomes related to health, nutrition, and economic self-sustainability (e.g., entrepreneurship). Our main identification strategy is a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD). To obtain a causal estimate of the effect of the cash assistance, we exploit the eligibility rule of the program that assigns a set of scores to each individual based on the characteristics of the families at the moment of application of a targeting survey. Once each family’s vulnerability is assessed through a sociodemographic and economic characteristics survey, two scores are assigned to each applicant's family. A threshold is defined for both assignment scores and families that are above a threshold of vulnerability are eligible to receive the assistance. This design compares outcomes of individuals who are just above and below an eligibility threshold of both scores to estimate the causal impact of the MPCA.

Registration Citation:

Categories:

Health, Nutrition, and Population
Social Protection

Additional Keywords:

Secondary ID Number(s):

Principal Investigator(s)

Name of First PI:

Pablo Celhay

Affiliation:

Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Name of Second PI:

Sebastián Martinez

Affiliation:

Director of Evaluation at the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie)

Study Sponsor

Name:

Action Against Hunger

Study Sponsor Location:

Colombia

Research Partner

Name of Partner Institution:

ISegoría

Type of Organization:

Private firm

Location:

Colombia

Intervention

Intervention Overview

Intervention:

The Cash for Urban Assistance (CUA) Consortium was created with the leadership of Action Against Hunger, in association with the Danish and Norwegian Refugee Councils (DRC and NRC) with the main goal of saving lives, alleviating human suffering, and reducing the social and economic impacts of the Venezuelan crisis. The program implemented by the CUA Consortium is called ADN Dignidad and proposes to meet the Consortiums mentioned goal by increasing household access to basic food, Non-Food Items (NFIs), and shelter through the provision of up to six months of unconditional Multipurpose Cash Assistance (MPCA). To leverage the impact of the MPCA, the program is integrating targeted messaging to MCPA recipients aimed at maximizing the nutritional and health impacts of the MPCA transfers, particularly for children under five and pregnant and lactating women (PLWs). The program is also promoting an improved protection environment among these crisis-affected populations by increasing their awareness of locally available and legally accessible social protection (education, health, protection, etc.) and legal services. ADN’s protection activities will be mainstreamed within the MPCA technical sector, while the nutrition messaging is presented as a separate technical sector, following the donor’s guidelines. The target populations are vulnerable Venezuelan migrants, Colombian returnees, Colombian IDPs, and mixed migrant host community members residing in urban and peri-urban zones of five metropolitan areas. CUA is one of two consortiums delivering MPCA to the same target populations. The Venesperanza Consortium operates in different geographic areas in the country, implementing an exact intervention to that of ADN Dignidad in terms of design parameters and operational cycle processes and utilizing similar tools and systems.

Theory of Change:

If vulnerable populations participating in the project have access to the knowledge and financial resources required to purchase sufficient nutritious and diverse foods and to act on meeting labor and service market demands, all within social protection and legal schemes, and the assumptions at these levels are valid, then their food consumption will be adequate to meet their caloric and nutritional needs; they will be able to secure decent, safe, equitable employment; they will generate income through their own businesses, and overall they will reduce their reliance on harmful coping mechanisms and improve their nutritional status and practices. If these sub-purposes are achieved, and the assumptions at these levels are valid, then the following purposes will be met within the implementation period: Households participating in the project are better able to meet their basic needs; Household economy is improved for project participants. Within the food assistance sector, Unconditional Food Assistance (UFA) and Nutrition interventions will address people’s needs to access sufficient quality food and address food insecurity. Beneficiaries receiving UFA—provided as unconditional cash transfers —will be supported for up to six months. UFA will be complemented by nutrition and protection information sharing and referral (to humanitarian agencies working in the area or to local government services, as appropriate/available) to maximize the impact of cash transfers. Within the sector of Economic Recovery and Market Systems, Livelihoods Restoration and Financial Services interventions will strengthen skills and increase access to resources to improve households economy. Training sessions, employment referral, provision of seed capital for business start-ups, and beneficiary follow-up over the course of six months will all help to improve access to market employment or prospects for self-employment.

Multiple Treatment Arms Evaluated?

No

Implementing Agency

Name of Organization:

Action Against Hunger, the Danish Refugee Council, and the Norwegian Refugee Council

Type of Organization:

NGO (International)

Program Funder

Name of Organization:

USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance

Type of Organization:

Foreign or Multilateral Aid Agency

Intervention Timing

Intervention or Program Started at time of Registration?

Yes

Start Date:

09/16/2019

End Date:

09/30/2022

Evaluation Method

Evaluation Method Overview

Primary (or First) Evaluation Method:

Regression discontinuity

Other (not Listed) Method:

Additional Evaluation Method (If Any):

Other (not Listed) Method:

Method Details

Details of Evaluation Approach:

Our main identification strategy is a Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD). To obtain a causal estimate of the effect of the cash assistance, we exploit the eligibility rule of the program that assigns scores to each individual based on the characteristics of the families at the moment of application. Once each family’s vulnerability is assessed through a sociodemographic and economic characteristics survey, two scores are assigned to each applicant family. A threshold is defined and families above a threshold of vulnerability are eligible to receive the assistance. This design compares outcomes of individuals who are just above and below an eligibility threshold of both scores. Families do not know how the scores are computed and so are not able to manipulate variables in order to change it. Based on budget constraints, the program gives cash assistance to every family with a vulnerability score of 90 or above for one of the scores (Scorecard Model score) and estimated household expenses below 53,168 calculated using a Proxy Means Test. We restrict the analysis sample to individuals surveyed for their eligibility assessment between November 2021 and April 2022. This is because the program delivers the first cash transfer within the first month of defining the eligibility status of each individual. Given that the program lasts approximately 6 months since the first cash transfer, we can evaluate the outcomes of a cohort of participants between 1 and 3 months of graduation from the program.

Outcomes (Endpoints):

In this evaluation, we ask whether unconditional multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA) to immigrants from Venezuela, Colombian returnees, host communities, and internal migrants in Colombia that live in conditions of social vulnerability help to overcome short-term financial stress, food insecurity, emotional well-being, and outcomes related to health, nutrition and economic self-sustainability (e.g., entrepreneurship).

The main outcome variables in the evaluation are categorized in i) food consumption (strategies used by the household to deal with the lack of food), ii) savings (use and methods of formal and informal savings), iii) credit (need of a loan and types of loan providers), iv) income and expenses (diversified sources of income and expenses in basic services and products), v) food security (survival activities carried out due to not enough food or money to buy food), and vi) insecurity and discrimination (types of violence and discrimination events experienced by household members)..

Unit of Analysis:

Household

Hypotheses:

The main hypothesis that we will test is that the unconditional multipurpose cash assistance (MPCA) to immigrants from Venezuela, Colombian returnees, host communities, and internal migrants in Colombia that live in conditions of social vulnerability help to overcome short-term financial stress, food insecurity, emotional well-being , and outcomes related to health, nutrition and economic self-sustainability (e.g., entrepreneurship).

Unit of Intervention or Assignment:

Household

Number of Clusters in Sample:

NA

Number of Individuals in Sample:

The dataset of targeted households of the program, located in the Colombian departments of analysis, includes 13,132 observations distributed at both sides of the eligibility cutoff. A total of 3,366

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

A total of 10,700 households were elected to receive the treatment, and 2,432 households did not receive the program, as defined by the eligibility criteria. Among those households, we expect to condu

Supplementary Files

Analysis Plan:

5. 20220524-ACH-Impact Evaluation - RDD.docx

Other Documents:

IRB Approval documents: 1.2 IRB approval.pdf
ADN Dignidad Evaluation - Inception Report: 1. Inception Report.docx

Data

Outcomes Data

Description:

household survey that will be implemented with a sample of observations around the eligibility cutoff. Households in the evaluation sample will be contacted by telephone and, if the contact is successful, interviewed through a telephone survey. The sample will consist of households that applied to ADN Dignidad in the geographic regions of Bogotá DC, Atlántico and Nariño.

Data Already Collected?

No

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Treatment Assignment Data

Participation or Assignment Information:

Yes

Description:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Previously Used?

Data Access:

Data Obtained by the Study Researchers?

Data Approval Process:

Approval Status:

Data Analysis

Data Analysis Status:

Study Materials

Upload Study Materials:

Registration Category

Registration Category:

Prospective, Category 1: Data for measuring impacts have not been collected

Completion

Completion Overview

Intervention Completion Date:

Data Collection Completion Date:

Unit of Analysis:

Clusters in Final Sample:

Total Observations in Final Sample:

Size of Treatment, Control, or Comparison Subsamples:

Findings

Preliminary Report:

Preliminary Report URL:

Summary of Findings:

Paper:

Paper Summary:

Paper Citation:

Data Availability

Data Availability (Primary Data):

Date of Data Availability:

Data URL or Contact:

Access procedure:

Other Materials

Survey:

Survey Instrument Links or Contact:

Program Files:

Program Files Links or Contact:

External Link:

External Link Description:

Description of Changes:

Study Stopped

Date:

Reason: