Siyakha Nentsha: An experiment to build
Social, Health and Financial capabilities of vulnerable
girls and boys in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
K Hallman, M Calderon, K Govender, E Roca, E Mbatha, M Rogan, H Taboada, S Siema, J Fauls, R Brown
Making Cents Conf. – 12 Sept. 2012
Evolution to project
Multivariate work with “Transitions to Adulthood” panel study in KZN (2003/now) Gendered factors on adolescent sexual behaviors:
• Residing in relative poverty• Having thin social networks• Being an orphan• Feeling unsafe/disconnected from community
Program inventory in Durban metro area (2005/6) Most single-dimension, imported, little M or E
Pilot study in a test community (2006/7)
Siyakha Nentsha (SN) study
Funding from ESRC/Hewlett joint scheme (Nov 2007-Nov 2009) and ABBA RPC (2010-11)
Target outcomes: (80 hrs max exposure Jun08-May09)
• Social support: • peers and mentors• social grants• ID documents
Knowledge of effective HIV prevention and treatment options
Saving behavior
Critical given local burden of HIV and AIDS
Siyakha Nentsha features
Nationally accredited certification• Skills and a nationally-endorsed documentation of these skills
Maximum use of existing infrastructure• Local secondary grads (M&F) trained to deliver
Role models, mentors, confidants
• Worked in pairs within classroom• Auxiliary social worker salary
Eye toward scale-up• DOE participation from inception
Siyakha Nentsha program design Incorporated into school day
• Least selective sample Included all learners in each study school
• Sessions occur 2-3 times/week• Each session is one hour in length
Grade 10 and 11 learners• 7 secondary schools• Randomization at the classroom level
Females and males included• Male attitudes, behaviors and future prospects
Photo: Eva Roca
Siyakha Nentsha timeline
J an Apr MayJ une Dec J an May NovDecJ an J uneJ uly Dec
2008 2009 2010
Evaluation survey
Grade 11Grade 10
focus groups
Baseline survey SN intervention
Grade 12Grade 11
Siyakha Nentsha study design
Arm 1
Control group• standard life skills• delayed SN modules Arm 2
HIV/SRH education Social support Stress reduction
Arm 3
HIV/SRH education Social support Financial education
Siyakha Nentsha study armsSN social/health/financial SN social/health/stress
Nutrition, healthy and balanced diets
Communication
Knowing yourself
STIs, HIV and AIDS
Rights and responsibilities
Numeracy and data collectionStress (definition, causes, ways
of dealing with stress)Personal finance, budgeting, savings and investments
Business skills
Design HIV prevention campaign
Reduction of violence against women and children
Photo: Eva Roca
Siyakha Nentsha survey
Interviews conducted in learner HHs• Fielded by private independent company
945 participants interviewed at baseline• Only 9 learners refused original survey
716 found at follow-up (76%)
715 complete interviews at follow-up
GIS coordinates on participant households
Siyakha Nentsha sample
Girls Boys Total
Control 100 69 169
SN social/health/stress 145 136 281
SN social/health/financial 85 126 211
Irregular school attenders (<10 sessions) 29 25 54
Total 359 356 715
Number of learners by intervention arm and gender
SN baseline characteristics Girls (N=359)
Boys (N=356) Mean
difference boys -
girlsMean
Learner’s age (y) 17.05 17.66 0.61***
% orphaned 38.8 44.4 5.60
% ever pregnant 5.79
% not enough money for basic necessities 63.9 58.4 -5.50
% with electricity connection 95.5 96.5 1.00
% did not eat morning of survey 15.7 8.47 -7.23**
% walk to school 75.4 86.5 11.10***
% worked for pay past 12 months 3.98 10.3 6.32**
# members in household 8.01 7.47 -0.54+
% female-headed households 41.6 41.4 -0.20
# assets owned by household, out of 22 9.52 9.65 0.13
+ p<0.10; * p<0.05; ** p<0.01; *** p<0.001
Photo: Eva Roca
SN evaluation results
Controls included: age, age squared, gender, socioeconomic status
SEs corrected for clustering at classroom level
Impact estimates corrected for panel attrition • 229 learners lost between rounds
SN impact on social and economic - Girls
+ p<0.10; * p<0.05; ** p<0.01
# Social grants knowledge Attempted to open bank account in past year
Is saving
-0.5
-0.3
-0.1
0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.3
SN social/health (v. control) SN social/health/financial (v. control) SN combined (v. control)
SN social/ health/financial (v. SN social/ health)
+ + *
**
**
(Yt2
- Y
t1)
- (Y
c2 -
Yc1
)
SN impact on cognitive skills (Raven test) - Girls
+ p<0.10; * p<0.05; ** p<0.01
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
SN social/health (v. control) SN social/health/financial (v. control) SN combined (v. control)
SN social/ health/financial (v. SN social/ health)
+
*
Yt2
-
Yc2
SN impact on self-reported sexual behaviors - Girls
Had sex past year # of sexual partners in past year
-0.8
-0.7
-0.6
-0.5
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0
SN social/health (v. control) SN social/health/financial (v. control) SN combined (v. control)
SN social/ health/financial (v. SN social/ health)
(Yt2
- Y
t1)
- (Y
c2 -
Yc1
)
Other results
No significant SN impact on condom use at last sex or consistent use for either boys or girls
SN girls who received financial education reported feeling greater levels of social inclusion in their communities when the SEs were not clustered at the classroom level
Conclusions Program with actionable skills appears to have
potential to:• increase girls’ skills to access benefits, interact w banks &
save money• improve girls’ cognitive abilities
Impacts differed by gender:• girls’ cognitive & economic skills improved• boys reported safer sexual behaviors & more knowledge
about social grants
No detectable statistical impact 6 mos post on:• girls’ reported sexual behaviors• boys’ access to financial services or savings• condom use (last sex or consistent) for either females or
males
Thank you!
Our funders: ESRC/Hewlett Joint Scheme, DFID through the ABBA RPC, Hewlett support to the Population Council
Photo: Eva Roca
Siyakha Nentsha randomization
Control SN social/health/stressSN
social/health/financialTotal
Sikhwama 2
Inwabi 2 2
Fundinduku 2 4
Khulabebuka 2 2
Mhawu 4 5
Nomavimbela 2 2
Sobonakhona 6
Total 6 12 17 35
Number of classrooms by school and intervention arm
Survey attrition
All Girls Boys
Total 75.8 76.5 76.2
Control 69.5 75.2 62.7
SN social/health/stress 83.1 81.7 84.6
SN social/health/financial 82.0 83.8 81.4
% of learners found at second round
Survey attrition (cont)(1) Attriters
(n=229)
(2) Non-attriters (n=716) (2) -
(1) mean diffmean SD mean SD
Learner's age (y) 17.81 1.85 17.36 1.69 -0.45***
1 if girl 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.004
1 if lives with mother 0.63 0.48 0.70 0.46 0.07*
1 if lives with father 0.42 0.49 0.42 0.49 0.005
1 if orphan (any parent) 0.46 0.50 0.42 0.49 -0.046
SES 0.005 1.78 0.014 1.63 0.010
1 if missing SES 0.13 0.33 0.11 0.31 -0.018
Learner's grade 10.52 0.51 10.54 0.50 0.020+ p<0.10; * p<0.05; ** p<0.01; *** p<0.001
SN evaluation
Identification strategy: difference in difference framework • pre and post intervention periods• treatment w financial literacy (FL), treatment w stress
reduction (LS), and control groups
• β0 = financial literacy group specific effect
• β1 = stress reduction group specific effect
• β2 = time trend
• β3 = SN impact on financial literacy group
• β4 = SN impact on stress reduction group
SN evaluation (cont)
β3 (and β4) coefficient of interest • the estimate one would get from an OLS
regression (for continuous outcomes)
We can interpret this coefficient as a double difference:
SN impact on social and economic - Boys
+ p<0.10; * p<0.05; ** p<0.01
# Social grants knowledge Attempted to open bank account in past year
Is saving
-0.5
-0.3
-0.1
0.1
0.3
0.5
0.7
0.9
1.1
1.3
SN social/health (v. control) SN social/health/financial (v. control) SN combined (v. control)
SN social/ health/financial (v. SN social/ health)
+
*
(Yt2
- Y
t1)
- (Y
c2 -
Yc1
)
SN impact on cognitive skills (Raven test) - Boys
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
SN social/health (v. control) SN social/health/financial (v. control) SN combined (v. control)
SN social/ health/financial (v. SN social/ health)
Yt2
-
Yc2
SN impact on self-reported sexual behaviors - Boys
+ p<0.10; * p<0.05; ** p<0.01
Had sex past year # of sexual partners in past year
-0.8
-0.7
-0.6
-0.5
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0
SN social/health (v. control) SN social/health/financial (v. control) SN combined (v. control)
SN social/ health/financial (v. SN social/ health)
+**
+
*(Yt2
- Y
t1)
- (Y
c2 -
Yc1
)