Luskin School of Public Affairs and the California Center for Population Research Presents:Lunch Seminar with CEGA-EASST Fellows. Please RSVP here.
March 14, 2019 12:30-1:30pm, Public Affairs Building Room 4240
Muthoni Ng’ang’a, PhD Candidate University of Nairobi
“The Impact of Matching Female Lead Farmers to Female Small-holder Farmers on Agricultural Technology Adoption: Evidence from Kenya”
In Kenya, about 75% of the population live in the rural areas, with agriculture being their main source of livelihood. Agricultural production is however, low due to low adoption of agricultural technology. We hypothesize that in the case of improved cassava varieties, farmers are unaware of their existence as well as their benefits. This study will use Randomized Control Trial to assess the impact of training farmers on high yielding improved cassava varieties on adoption of the technology. Further, evidence has shown that people learn better from each other when they are grouped with people of similar characteristics. The study will therefore, assess the impact of matching female lead farmers with female farmers on adoption of the improved cassava varieties and consequently on the welfare of households where farming decisions are mostly made by female members.
Tewodros Tesemma, Associate Researcher at Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI)
“The Effect of Labeling and Modern Saving Tools in Increasing Savings: Experimental Evidence from Ethiopia”
Digital government-to-beneficiary payments are rapidly becoming popular in many developing countries. Salary-linked accounts are of one of such innovations getting widespread acceptance. In this study, I propose a randomized control trial to test whether labeling of saving accounts affect savings among government employees in urban Ethiopia, who all have access to a salary-linked bank account. Employees in our treatment groups receive one or multiple accounts labeled for different purposes, while those in a control group receive nothing. Moreover, I also investigate whether type of deposit vehicles play significant role in dictating saving behavior.
Grace Mhalu, Research Scientist at Ifakara Health Institute
“Impact of an instructional video on production of diagnostic sputum for tuberculosis case detection in presumptive TB patients in Tanzania.”
Diagnosis and the performance of laboratory testing for the detection of tuberculosis (TB) depends on obtaining adequate sputum samples and the quality of sputum sample collected. For TB diagnosis, presumptive TB cases with coughing for more than two weeks are asked to spontaneously produce sputum from the lungs. However, presumptive TB cases usually have inadequate biological samples or samples with low concentration of TB bacilli because patients often give saliva from the mouth, which decreases sensitivity of the test and results in missed diagnosis. Women in particular are less likely to test smear positive than men possibly because they are less comfortable with sputum expectoration. We aim to evaluate whether showing patients an instructional video on sputum collection increases the quality of sputum samples and TB detection, and to assess whether gender difference in the video and the subject affects sputum quality in a randomized control trial in Tanzania.
