CAF funds impact assessment of First Months Network Program in Argentina

The assessment sought to improve the management of the RPM program, by identifying innovative activities outside the program, to increase its effectiveness, based on the assumption that many potential beneficiaries did not know about the program or its benefits.

The RPM is a program implemented by the government of Buenos Aires as part of the Buenos Aires Citizenship Program, which seeks to increase the number of pre- and post-natal checkups of pregnant women and their babies. Women receive financial aid every three months provided they give proof that they have attended monthly checkups during pregnancy and until the baby is one year old.

To increase enrollment in the program, the DEIAP and the Evaluation Unit team of the Secretariat of Management Planning, Evaluation and Coordination of Buenos Aires, initially planned several informative campaigns to raise awareness about the program and its benefits.

Finally, given the characteristics of the target population and the contact information available, two campaigns for customized WhatsApp messages were designed. The messages were designed based on notions of behavioral economics: short, simple, informative messages about the program, including its appeal, highlighting the affective portion and signed by an authority.

Activities and findings

The impact assessment consisted of establishing a cause-effect relationship between sending different types of messages to potential beneficiaries and enrollment in the RPM.

To this end, 7,834 vulnerable families were first targeted to identify women of childbearing age who were not yet members of the RPM and with a registered cell phone number. The targeted families were divided into three groups: those who received the message explaining the economic benefits of the program, those who received the message about non-economic benefits and those who received no message. Each treatment group received a total of ten messages for a period of 5 weeks in June of 2018.

The main finding was an increase in the post-intervention RPM enrollments, mainly of those who received the messages about economic benefits, and especially immediately after sending the messages. However, this impact rapidly faded over time.

On the other hand, the evaluation did not find a significant difference in the number of enrollments between the group that received the messages emphasizing the non-economic benefits of the RPM and the group that did not receive any message.

Although the effective sample was very small, the experiment produced relevant lessons about the usefulness of communicating with the target population (and potential beneficiaries) and of constant, timely and appropriate communication. Similarly, the evaluation effort was useful to reflect with the program managers on the importance of understanding the motivation of families to participate or not in social assistance programs, and how this knowledge can help improve the design and delivery of these programs.