Prize-linked Savings Initiatives for Promoting Better Health and Economic Outcomes in Kenya
HIV/AIDS
About this trial
This is an interventional other trial for HIV/AIDS focused on measuring HIV, transactional sex, prize-linked savings, savings
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Resident in selected shoreline communities and their hinterlands in Siaya County, Kenya
- Male
- Age 21 years and above
- Primary or secondary occupation is fishing or transportation (i.e. motorbike taxi driver)
- Owns mobile phone
- Is willing to open savings account with a local bank and has, or is willing to obtain, the necessary documents (national identification card, Kenya Revenue authority PIN) to do so
Exclusion Criteria:
- Planning to relocate from study communities in the next 6 months
- Does not express willingness to open a savings account
Sites / Locations
- University of Pennsylvania
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
No Intervention
Prize-linked savings intervention
Control
Participants in the intervention group will be assisted with opening bank accounts at the partner bank and will be eligible for monetary rewards linked to the amount they save in these project accounts. During the intervention period, information about participants' savings activities will be shared with the study team at regular intervals by the bank. Winners will learn of their prize via text message and will have their prize money deposited into their accounts. Respondents who did not win the lottery will also receive a text message, which will remind them to save.
Participants will be eligible for prizes based on the amount by which their account balance goes up in each period (e.g. for every 100 Ksh by which savings increases, participants get an entry into a lottery for monetary rewards where they have a small probability of winning a larger amount, or a larger probability of winning a smaller amount of money). This type of prize-linked savings intervention has been shown to promote savings in other settings. Other intervention components may include education materials to explain how the prize-linked savings incentives work and that emphasize the potential benefits of saving money. Participants in the intervention group will be encouraged to have more consideration for their future health and economic status, as this may motivate them to save more money. They will also be encouraged to consider the opportunity and health cost of their expenditures on alcohol and transactional sex and not miss the opportunity to win prizes by saving money.