Gendered Misallocation of Labor: Evidence From Malawian Farmers

NCT06631768 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: IRB24-1234
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 989
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

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.

Conditions

Maternal and Child Health Outcomes

Keywords

Agriculture; Maternal and child health; Social networks

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (6)

• Agricultural Output

  A continuous measure of the value of the participant's agricultural yield, measured in Malawian Kwacha

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

• Labor inputs

  A pair of recall questions repeated for each household member aged 10 years or older (including the respondent) that ask about the average number of days a week and the average number of hours per day the individual works on the respondent's farm, both measured continuously.

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

• Antenatal care seeking

  A continuous variable of number of antenatal care visits for those pregnancies that overlap with the index agricultural season

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

• Care seeking for child health

  Two continuous variables measuring number of routine postnatal care and sick child visits

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

• Reach of social networks

  A social networks module that collects data on the extent and characteristics of the participant's social networks. Measured by the number of people reported in the participant's network, with a higher number indicating a larger network.

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

• Postnatal care seeking

  A continuous variable of number of postnatal care visits for those pregnancies that overlap with the index agricultural season

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

Secondary Outcomes (8)

• Maternal consumption short term recall: number of meals

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

• Maternal consumption medium term recall: protein intake

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

• Maternal mental health

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

• Child birth weight

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

• Barriers to perinatal care

  Assessed after harvest season (6 - 8 months after intervention initiation)

Study Arms (2)

Treatment arm with casual labor voucher program

EXPERIMENTAL

Eligible members (pregnant and/or mother of at least one child aged 1 years or younger) of 1AF in the randomly selected treatment districts receive vouchers for a set number of days of free work from casual laborers employed by local 1AF offices. This is in addition to standard 1AF programming.

Other: Casual labor subsidy

Control arm

NO INTERVENTION

Eligible members will only receive standard 1AF programming in randomly selected control districts. They will not receive the labor subsidy during the study period.

Interventions

Casual labor subsidy OTHER

Eligible participants will be offered a voucher that can be redeemed for a set number of days of agricultural labor from casual laborers hired by local One Acre Fund offices. Casual laborers receive standard training in line with the trainings currently offered by the organization to participating farmers.

Treatment arm with casual labor voucher program

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: female
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

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

You may not qualify if:

• None

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Nicholas Rahim: lead

Study Sites (1)

One Acre Fund

Zomba, Zomba, Malawi

Location

Study Officials

• Gabriella Fleischman

  Harvard Kennedy School

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

• Nicholas Rahim

  Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: PhD student in the Department of Global Health and Population

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 1, 2024
• First Posted: October 8, 2024
• Study Start: August 16, 2025
• Primary Completion: September 7, 2025
• Study Completion: September 7, 2025
• Last Updated: September 16, 2025

Record last verified: 2025-09

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will share

Locations

MA (1)