Motivation:
Extensive research demonstrates the influence of cash transfers on women’s economic empowerment (WEE). However, much remains to be understood regarding the impact of digital financial services (DFS) on WEE.[1] Specifically, there is a gap in knowledge about how DFS might provide women with more financial control and privacy than cash transfers.[2] The privacy provided to women by DFS may help prevent intimate partner violence (IPV). Some previous studies suggest that mobile money and the use of DFS can help reduce IPV by offering women economic privacy, access to financial services, and mobility.[3]
Objective:
Using a cluster randomized controlled trial, this study will measure the differential impact of cash versus mobile money transfer programs on WEE and IPV. The research team will also examine how privacy may advance WEE and how WEE outcomes differ based on the type of money transfer used. The primary data collection will target 2,000 married women across 250 villages in refugee and host communities of the Kyegegwa and Kiryandongo regions of Uganda. Each woman will be randomly assigned to one of four treatment groups or the control group. Women in all treatment groups will receive a transfer of Ugandan Shilling (UGX) 175,000 (USD 50). Two treatment arms will transfer cash to women, while two will transfer mobile money directly to their personal DFS accounts. For women in one of the cash transfer groups and one of the mobile money groups, the woman and her spouse will be provided with information about the transfer before the money is transferred. For women in the other two treatment groups, only the woman will be informed about the money transfer. This 2×2 design was created to distinguish between the specific impacts that cash transfers versus mobile money transfers have on WEE and privacy.
Proposed impact:
There is limited evidence exploring the intersection of DFS, privacy, and WEE. This study will expand the evidence base to address the role that DFS plays in offering women financial privacy relative to cash, and how this increased privacy might advance WEE. Evidence from this study can be used by the Ugandan government to improve the efficiency of local social protection initiatives in refugee and host areas in Uganda. With such rich quantitative data, future researchers and implementers will have a better understanding of the most effective tools to enhance WEE.
[1] Gammage, S., Kes, A., Winograd, L., Sultana, N., Hiller, S., & Bourgault, S. (2017). Gender and digital financial inclusion: What do we know and what do we need to know? https://www.icrw.org/publications/gender-digital-financial-inclusion/
[2] Aker, J. C., Boumnijel, R., McClelland, A., & Tierney, N. (2016). Payment mechanisms and antipoverty programs: Evidence from a mobile money cash transfer experiment in Niger. EDCC, 65(1), 1–37; https://doi.org/10.1086/687578
[3] McDougal, L., Klugman, J., Dehingia, N., Trivedi, A., Raj, A. (2019). Financial inclusion and intimate partner violence: What does the evidence suggest? PLoS ONE 14(10): e0223721. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0223721
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