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Burkina Faso - BRIGHT II

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Reference ID DDI-MCC-BFA-IE-EDU-2012-v1
Year 2012
Country Burkina Faso
Producer(s) Mathematica Policy Research
Sponsor(s) Millennium Challenge Corporation - MCC -
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Created on May 13, 2014
Last modified Oct 01, 2018
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Overview
Identification
Country
Burkina Faso
Evaluation Title
BRIGHT II

Evaluation Type
Independent Impact Evaluation
ID Number
DDI-MCC-BFA-IE-EDU-2012-v1
Version
Version Description
Anonymized dataset for public distribution

Overview
Abstract
Millennium Challenge Corporation hired Mathematica Policy Research to conduct an independent evaluation of the BRIGHT II program. The three main research questions of interest are:

• What was the impact of the program on school enrollment, attendance, and retention?

• What was the impact of the program on test scores?

• Are the impacts different for girls than for boys?

Mathematica will compare data collected from the 132 communities served by BRIGHT II (the "treatment group") with that collected from the 161 communities that applied but were not selected for the program (the "comparison group"). Using a statistical technique called regression discontinuity, Mathematica will compare the outcomes of the treatment villages just above the cutoff point to the outcomes of the comparison villages just below the cutoff point. If the intervention had an impact, we will observe a "jump" in outcomes at the point of discontinuity.

Mathematica will perform additional analyses to estimate the overall merit of the BRIGHT investment. By conducting a cost-benefit analysis and a cost-effectiveness analysis and calculating the economic rate of return, Mathematica will be able to answer questions related to the sustainability of the program, and compare the program to interventions and social investments in other sectors. The household survey is designed to capture household-level data rather than community-level data; however, questions have been included to measure head-of-household expectations of educational attainment. These questions ask the head of household what grade level he hopes each child will attain; and what grade level he thinks the child will be capable of achieving in reality.

Evaluation Methodology
Regression Discontinuity Design
Units of Analysis
Households

Kind of Data
Sample survey data [ssd]

Questionnaires
Mathematica has developed two surveys, a household survey and a school survey, to collect relevant data from villages in both the treatment and comparison groups. The household survey was administered to a new cross-section of households compared to the BRIGHT I evaluation. Data will be collected on the attendance and educational attainment of school-age children in the household, attitudes towards girls' education, and parental assessment of the extent to which the complementary interventions influenced school enrollment decisions. It will also assess the performance of all household children on basic tests of French and math. The school survey, to be administered to all local schools in the 293 villages, gathers data on school characteristics, personnel, and physical structure, and collects enrollment and attendance records. Data will be gathered by a local data collection firm selected by MCA-Burkina Faso, with Mathematica providing technical assistance and oversight.

Geographic Coverage
132 rural villages throughout the 10 provinces of Burkina Faso in which girls' enrollment rates were lowest

Topics
TopicVocabularyURI
Education MCC Sector
Gender MCC Sector
Keywords
Primary school, Education, BRIGHT, Regression discontinuity, Impact evaluation, Burkina Faso
Producers and Sponsors
Primary Investigator(s)
NameAffiliation
Mathematica Policy Research
Funding
NameAbbreviationRole
Millennium Challenge Corporation MCC
Metadata Production
Metadata Produced By
NameAbbreviationRole
Millennium Challenge CorporationMCCReview of Metadata
Date Produced
2014-04
Metadata Version
Version 1 (April 2014)

Metadata ID Number
DDI-MCC-BFA-IE-EDU-2012-v1
MCC Compact and Program
Compact or Threshold
Burkina Faso Compact
Program
The Burkinabe Response to Improve Girls' Chances to Succeed program (BRIGHT I), was implemented from 2005 to 2008 in 132 rural villages throughout the 10 provinces of Burkina Faso in which girls' enrollment rates were lowest. The program involved constructing primary schools with three classrooms and implementing a set of complementary interventions. The program was found to have positive impacts on both enrollment and test scores. However, throughout the course of the program, policymakers in Burkina Faso voiced concern about whether children would continue to go to school after completing the three grades served by BRIGHT I schools. Given this concern and the demonstrated impacts of the BRIGHT I program, the government of Burkina Faso decided to extend the program, using funding from a compact signed with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). Under the compact, the BRIGHT II program will provide funding for three additional classrooms in the original 132 villages and for continuation of the complementary interventions provided during BRIGHT I. In this memo, we discuss Mathematica's plan to conduct a rigorous impact evaluation of the BRIGHT II program, including a discussion of the evaluation design, cost analyses, and data collection strategies.
MCC Sector
Education (Edu)