Schooling, Income, and Health Risk Impact Evaluation Household Survey 2008-2009, Round 2 (Midline) - Malawi

Abstract
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The Schooling Income and Health Risk (SIHR) project is a randomized evaluation of a conditional and unconditional cash transfer intervention targeting young women in Malawi that provided incentives (in the form of school fees and cash transfers) to current schoolgirls and recent dropouts to stay in or return to school. The program, known as the Zomba Cash Transfer Program (ZCTP), took place in Zomba, Malawi during 2008 and 2009. The incentives include average payment of US$10 a month conditional on satisfactory school attendance and direct payment of secondary school fees.

The SIHR project was specifically designed to answer a number of important questions about cash transfer programs for which there is little prior evidence. First, almost all information about the impacts of these programs come from Latin America, where income levels are much higher and institutional capacity is vastly superior compared with many poor countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Second, the evidence base to effectively choose program design parameters (such as conditionality, transfer size, and the specific identity of the program beneficiary within households) is limited. Third, evidence on final outcomes, such as learning, labor market outcomes, and HIV risk is lacking. Finally, long term evaluations of cash transfer programs are rare - mainly because the control groups in these evaluations are treated after a short period of time.

The baseline data collection was administered from September 2007 to January 2008. The research targeted girls and young women, between the ages of 13 and 22, who were never married. Overall, 3,810 girls and young women were surveyed in the first round. Enumeration Areas (EAs) in the study district of Zomba were selected from the universe of EAs produced by the National Statistics Office of Malawi from the 1998 Census. 176 enumeration areas were randomly sampled out of a total of 550 EAs using three strata: urban areas, rural areas near Zomba Town, and rural areas far from Zomba Town. The follow-up survey (Round 2) was carried out from October 2008 to February 2009. The third round was conducted between March and September 2010, after Malawi Conditional Cash Transfer Program was completed. The fourth round took place in 2012-2013. The fifth round is planned for 2017.

The data collection effort includes household surveys, individual quantitative and qualitative interviews, academic assessments, Voluntary Counseling and Testing, school surveys, market surveys, community surveys, and health facility assessments.

The datasets from the second round of the impact evaluation are documented here.

Geographic coverage
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Zomba district.

Zomba district in the Southern region was chosen as the site for this study for several reasons. First, it has a large enough population within a small enough geographic area rendering field work logistics easier and keeping transport costs lower. Zomba is a highly populated district, but distances from the district capital (Zomba Town) are relatively small. Second, characteristic of Southern Malawi, Zomba has a high rate of school dropouts and low educational attainment. Third, unlike many other districts, Zomba has the advantage of having a true urban center as well as rural areas. As the study sample was stratified to get representative samples from urban areas (Zomba town), rural areas near Zomba town, and distant rural areas in the district, researchers can analyze the heterogeneity of the impacts by urban/rural areas. Finally, while Southern Malawi, which includes Zomba, is poorer, has lower levels of education, and higher rates of HIV than Central and Northern Malawi, these differences are relative considering that Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world with one of the highest rates of HIV prevalence.

Analysis unit
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- Households;
- 13-22 year-old never-married females at baseline

Kind of data
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Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure
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First, 176 enumeration areas (EA) were randomly sampled out of a total of 550 EAs using three strata in the study district of Zomba. Each of these 176 EAs were then randomly assigned treatment or control status. The three strata are urban, rural areas near Zomba Town, and rural areas far from Zomba Town. Rural areas were defined as being near if they were within a 16-kilometer radius of Zomba Town. Researchers did not sample any EAs in TA Mbiza due to safety concerns (112 EAs).

Enumeration areas (EAs) in Zomba were selected from the universe of EAs produced by the National Statistics Office of Malawi from the 1998 Census. The sample of EAs was stratified by distance to the nearest township or trading centre. Of the 550 EAs in Zomba, 50 are in Zomba town and an additional 30 are classified as urban (township or trading center), while the remaining 470 are rural (population areas, or PAs). The stratified random sample of 176 EAs consisted of 29 EAs in Zomba town, eight trading centers in Zomba rural, 111 population areas within 16 kilometers of Zomba town, and 28 EAs more than 16 kilometers from Zomba town.

After selecting sample EAs, all households were listed in the 176 sample EAs using a short two-stage listing procedure. The first form, Form A, asked each household the following question: “Are there any never-married girls in this household who are between the ages of 13 and 22?” This form allowed the field teams to quickly identify households with members fitting into the sampling frame, thus significantly reducing the costs of listing. If the answer received on Form A was a “yes”, then Form B was filled to list members of the household to collect data on age, marital status, current schooling status, etc.

From this researchers could categorize the target population into two main groups: those who were out of school at baseline (baseline dropouts) and those who were in school at baseline (baseline schoolgirls). These two groups comprise the basis of our sampling frame. In each EA, enumerators sampled all eligible dropouts and approximately two-thirds of all eligible school girls, where the sampling percentage depended on the age and location of the baseline schoolgirl. This sampling procedure led to a total sample size of 3,796 with an average of 5.1 dropouts and 16.7 schoolgirls per EA.

Mode of data collection
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Face-to-face [f2f]

Research instrument
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The annual household survey consists of a multi-topic questionnaire administered to the households in which the selected sample respondents reside. The survey consists of two parts: one that is administered to the head of the household and another that is administered to a core respondent - a sampled girl from the target population. The former collects information on the household roster, dwelling characteristics, household assets and durables, shocks, deaths and consumption. The core respondent survey provides information about her family background, her education and labor market participation, her health, her dating patterns, sexual behavior, marital expectations, knowledge of HIV/AIDS, her social networks, as well as her own consumption of girl-specific goods (such as soaps, mobile phone airtime, clothing, braids, sodas and alcoholic drinks, etc.).

Response rate
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At the first follow-up in Round 2, 94% of baseline schoolgirls and 90% of baseline dropouts were interviewed. There was no differential attrition between treatment groups.

摘要
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教育收入与健康风险（SIHR）项目是一项针对马拉维年轻女性的随机评估，旨在通过提供激励措施（以学费和现金转移的形式）鼓励在校女生和近期辍学者留在学校或重返校园。该计划被称为宗巴现金转移计划（ZCTP），于2008年和2009年在马拉维的宗巴实施。激励措施包括平均每月10美元的支付，条件是满意的学校出勤，以及直接支付中学学费。

SIHR项目特别设计用于回答关于现金转移计划的一些重要问题，而对于这些问题，现有的证据非常有限。首先，几乎所有关于这些计划影响的信息都来自拉丁美洲，那里的收入水平要高得多，制度能力也远优于撒哈拉以南非洲许多贫穷国家。其次，关于有效选择计划设计参数（如条件性、转移金额以及计划受益者在家庭中的具体身份）的证据基础有限。第三，关于最终结果（如学习、劳动力市场结果和HIV风险）的证据不足。最后，现金转移计划的长远评估很少见——主要是因为这些评估中的对照组在短时间内就被处理了。

基线数据收集于2007年9月至2008年1月进行。研究对象为13至22岁、未婚的少女和年轻女性。总体而言，在第一轮调查中，共调查了3810名少女和年轻女性。研究区域宗巴的枚举区域（EA）是从马拉维国家统计局1998年人口普查产生的枚举区域总体中随机选取的。从550个枚举区域中随机抽取了176个枚举区域，分为三个层次：城市地区、靠近宗巴镇的农村地区以及远离宗巴镇的农村地区。第二轮跟踪调查（第二轮）于2008年10月至2009年2月进行。第三轮于2010年3月至9月进行，马拉维条件现金转移计划完成后。第四轮于2012-2013年进行。第五轮计划于2017年进行。

数据收集工作包括家庭调查、个人定量和定性访谈、学术评估、自愿咨询和检测、学校调查、市场调查、社区调查和卫生设施评估。

以下是第二次影响评估的第二次数据集的记录。

地理覆盖范围
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宗巴地区。

选择宗巴地区作为本研究的地点有以下几个原因。首先，该地区人口众多，但地理面积适中，这使得现场工作物流更加便利，并降低了运输成本。宗巴是一个人口众多的地区，但与地区首府（宗巴镇）的距离相对较小。其次，宗巴具有马拉维南部地区的典型特征，即辍学率高，教育水平低。第三，与许多其他地区不同，宗巴既有真正的城市中心，又有农村地区。由于研究样本被分层，以便从城市地区（宗巴镇）、靠近宗巴镇的农村地区以及该地区的偏远农村地区获取代表性样本，研究人员可以分析城市/农村地区影响的异质性。最后，虽然包括宗巴在内的马拉维南部地区比中部和北部地区更贫穷，教育水平更低，HIV感染率更高，但这些差异相对于马拉维是世界上贫困程度最高的国家之一，HIV感染率最高的国家之一而言是相对的。

分析单位
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- 家庭；
- 基线时13至22岁未婚的女性

数据类型
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样本调查数据 [ssd]

抽样程序
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首先，从研究区域宗巴的550个枚举区域中随机抽取了176个枚举区域，分为三个层次：城市地区、靠近宗巴镇的农村地区以及远离宗巴镇的农村地区。然后，将这些176个枚举区域随机分配给处理组或对照组。这三个层次是城市、靠近宗巴镇的农村地区和远离宗巴镇的农村地区。农村地区被定义为如果它们位于宗巴镇16公里范围内，则被认为是靠近的。由于安全原因，研究人员没有在姆比扎地区抽取任何枚举区域（112个枚举区域）。

宗巴的枚举区域是从马拉维国家统计局1998年人口普查产生的枚举区域总体中随机选取的。样本枚举区域按距离最近的城镇或贸易中心进行分层。在宗巴的550个枚举区域中，有50个位于宗巴镇，另外30个被归类为城市（城镇或贸易中心），其余470个为农村（人口区域，或PA）。176个枚举区域的分层随机样本包括宗巴镇的29个枚举区域、8个宗巴农村贸易中心、16公里范围内的111个人口区域以及28个超过16公里的枚举区域。

在选择样本枚举区域后，使用简短的两阶段列表程序在176个样本枚举区域中列出所有家庭。第一份表格，表格A，询问每个家庭以下问题：“这个家庭中是否有13至22岁未婚的少女？”这份表格使现场团队能够快速识别符合抽样框架的家庭成员，从而显著降低了列表的成本。如果表格A的答案是“是”，则填写表格B以列出家庭成员，收集关于年龄、婚姻状况、当前教育状况等数据。

从这些数据中，研究人员可以将目标人群分为两组：那些在基线时辍学的（基线辍学者）和那些在基线时在校的（基线在校女生）。这两组构成了我们的抽样框架的基础。在每个枚举区域中，调查员对所有合格的辍学者进行了抽样，并对所有合格的在校女生的大约三分之二进行了抽样，抽样百分比取决于基线在校女生的年龄和位置。这种抽样程序导致总样本量为3796人，平均每个枚举区域有5.1名辍学者和16.7名在校女生。

数据收集方式
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面对面 [f2f]

研究工具
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年度家庭调查包括针对所选样本受访者的家庭的多元主题问卷。调查包括两部分：一部分是针对家庭首脑进行的，另一部分是针对核心受访者——来自目标人群的样本少女进行的。前者收集有关家庭人员、居住特征、家庭资产和耐用消费品、冲击、死亡和消费等信息。核心受访者调查提供有关她的家庭背景、她的教育和劳动力市场参与、她的健康、她的约会模式、性行为、婚姻期望、HIV/AIDS知识、她的社会网络以及她自己的特定女孩消费（如肥皂、手机话费、服装、辫子、苏打水和酒精饮料等）的信息。

应答率
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在第二轮跟踪调查的第一轮中，94%的基线在校女生和90%的基线辍学者接受了访谈。处理组之间没有差异性的流失。