Current Projects
Skills for Effective Entrepreneurial Development (8-year follow-up)
We study the effects of Effective Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) program, an innovative in-residence 3-week mini-MBA program for high school students modeled after western business school curricula and adapted to the Ugandan context. The program featured two treatments arms: hard-skills and soft skills curriculum. Using data on 4,400 youth from a nationally representative sample in a 3-arm field experiment in Uganda, the 3.5 year follow-up showed improvements in both hard and soft skills, but only soft skills were directly linked to improvements in self-efficacy, persuasion, and negotiation. Youth in both experimental groups were more likely to start businesses. The program led to significantly larger profits (about 30%) and larger business capital investments (72.5% and 58.8% for hard and soft skills, respectively). Relative to the control group, SEED entrepreneurs created 550 new businesses and 985 additional jobs. The individual's skill upgrade was rewarded by substantially higher earnings; 38.7% and 21.2% increases in earnings for those who attended hard- and soft-training, respectively, largely generated through self-employment.
CyberRwanda
An impact evaluation is planned for 2022 to determine the impact of the CyberRwanda program on the health and well-being of youth ages 12-19 living in Rwanda. Adolescents in Rwanda lack access to high-quality family planning and reproductive health (FPRH) information and services to prevent unplanned pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and HIV/STIs. CyberRwanda is an intervention designed to change the way reproductive health information and products are delivered to youth. CyberRwanda is a digital education program aimed at improving the health and livelihoods of Rwandan adolescents by providing training in employment skills, FPRH information, and linkage to high-quality, youth-friendly private services. Specifically, the team will assess the relative costs and benefits of CyberRwanda, and will inform implementers about scale-up decisions by measuring the supply-side determinants of uptake with a combination of Standardized Patients and a pharmacy-level survey that will elicit the levels of knowledge, attitudes, and economic incentives to provide high-quality services.
We study the effects of Effective Entrepreneurship Development (SEED) program, an innovative in-residence 3-week mini-MBA program for high school students modeled after western business school curricula and adapted to the Ugandan context. The program featured two treatments arms: hard-skills and soft skills curriculum. Using data on 4,400 youth from a nationally representative sample in a 3-arm field experiment in Uganda, the 3.5 year follow-up showed improvements in both hard and soft skills, but only soft skills were directly linked to improvements in self-efficacy, persuasion, and negotiation. Youth in both experimental groups were more likely to start businesses. The program led to significantly larger profits (about 30%) and larger business capital investments (72.5% and 58.8% for hard and soft skills, respectively). Relative to the control group, SEED entrepreneurs created 550 new businesses and 985 additional jobs. The individual's skill upgrade was rewarded by substantially higher earnings; 38.7% and 21.2% increases in earnings for those who attended hard- and soft-training, respectively, largely generated through self-employment.
CyberRwanda
An impact evaluation is planned for 2022 to determine the impact of the CyberRwanda program on the health and well-being of youth ages 12-19 living in Rwanda. Adolescents in Rwanda lack access to high-quality family planning and reproductive health (FPRH) information and services to prevent unplanned pregnancy, unsafe abortion, and HIV/STIs. CyberRwanda is an intervention designed to change the way reproductive health information and products are delivered to youth. CyberRwanda is a digital education program aimed at improving the health and livelihoods of Rwandan adolescents by providing training in employment skills, FPRH information, and linkage to high-quality, youth-friendly private services. Specifically, the team will assess the relative costs and benefits of CyberRwanda, and will inform implementers about scale-up decisions by measuring the supply-side determinants of uptake with a combination of Standardized Patients and a pharmacy-level survey that will elicit the levels of knowledge, attitudes, and economic incentives to provide high-quality services.
