Clinical trial NCT06631768: Gendered Misallocation of Labor: Evidence From Malawian Farmers
Official title: Gendered Misallocation of Labor: Evidence From Malawian Farmers
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Phase: NA
Conditions: Maternal and Child Health Outcomes
Keywords: Agriculture
Maternal and child health
Social networks
Lead sponsor: Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2024-10-08
Enrollment: 4500
Sex: FEMALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: The investigators will conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial across districts in Malawi to evaluate the effect of providing free casual labor to pregnant farmers and female farmers on agricultural output, maternal and child health outcomes, child development, and social networks.

Detailed description: This will be a cluster randomized control trial (RCT), where 75 of the districts in which One Acre Fund (1AF) currently operates within in Malawi will be randomly selected for inclusion in this study. Of these 75 districts, 38 will be randomly selected to implement the intervention. The intervention constitutes a voucher offered to all female famers who are currently enrolled in the 1AF program who are pregnant and/or have a child ages 1 years and below that entitles the recipient to a set number of days of labor from casual workers employed by local 1AF offices. The remaining 37 districts will serve as the control group.

Data will be collected at baseline during the planting season and endline at the conclusion of the harvest season. Data collected will pertain to agricultural output, individual and household demographics, obstetric history and outcomes, mental health, maternal health, child health and development, and social networks.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Pregnant at time of One Acre Fund program rollout
* Mother to at least one child aged below 1 years of age

Exclusion Criteria:

-None

Primary outcomes:
measure: Agricultural Output
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Labor inputs
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Antenatal care seeking
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Care seeking for child health
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Reach of social networks
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Postnatal care seeking
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Maternal consumption short term recall: number of meals
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Maternal consumption medium term recall: protein intake
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Maternal mental health
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Child birth weight
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Barriers to perinatal care
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Maternal hunger
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
measure: Child consumption
timeFrame: Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
Study officials:
affiliation: Harvard Kennedy School
name: Gabriella Fleischman
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)
name: Nicholas Rahim
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: