News from the lab

GML is helping run a randomized evaluation of Family Empowerment Media’s radio campaign on family planning in Nigeria. Household listing began on September 26 in Abia, Katsina, Nasarawa, Ogun, and Ondo states, with data collection by Hanovia.

GML is helping run a randomized evaluation of Twubakane, NOVAH’s radio drama on intimate partner violence in Rwanda. The endline survey of 2,400 women across 96 villages is now underway.

Isabella Tang defended her honors thesis, “Stigma as a Barrier to the Reintegration of Human Trafficking Survivors: Evidence from Tanzania.” The thesis uses a vignette experiment embedded in a survey of 1,082 villagers in coastal Tanzania, collected as part of the lab’s first community survey. Sexual servitude and returning with wealth triggered the most stigma.

Alexander Brown defended his honors thesis, “International Responses to Starvation as a Weapon of War.” The thesis examines whether publicly shaming perpetrators of intentional starvation changes their behavior.

Three GML student researchers presented at the Midwest Political Science Association conference in Chicago.

• Savannah Nivin: “The long-term and spillover effects of a radio drama on HIV knowledge, expressed stigma, willingness to disclose, and political priorities,” with Alphoncina Kagaigai and co-authors
• Kate SantaMaria: “The authority gap: differential effects of judicial and religious elite messaging on social and policy attitudes in Tanzania,” with Benjamin Risley, Zakayo Zakaria, and co-authors
• Isabella Tang: her honors thesis on stigma against human trafficking survivors

Athena Wagner presented at the Pennsylvania Political Science Association conference. Her paper with Salma Emmanuel studies what drives household solar uptake in Tanzania.

Salma Emmanuel was featured by the Centre for the Study of African Economies at the University of Oxford for her research, with Alexander Brown, on how climate change news affects attitudes toward environmental conservation.

Kate SantaMaria won the popular vote award for best presentation at Lafayette’s Global Research Lounge Symposium. Her paper with Noela Ringo and Brenda Nyambo was recently published in Frontiers in Communication.

Marco Kitundu began a PhD in political science at Northern Illinois University, where he will study comparative politics. He co-authored a chapter on media capture in Tanzania and continues to work with GML and the Economic and Social Research Foundation on a national-scale randomized controlled trial of public health service delivery.

Nneka Osadolor completed her PhD at the University of Ibadan on informality and poverty dynamics in Nigeria (working paper). She is working with GML on a national-scale randomized controlled trial with Family Empowerment Media.

Salma Emmanuel presented the GML working paper on climate change news and public opinion at the Centre for the Study of African Economies conference on Economic Development in Africa, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The paper is co-authored with student researcher Alexander Brown.

Five GML summer fellows worked with Tanzania’s Economic and Social Research Foundation this summer: Athena Wagner, Bode Brewer, Savannah Nivin, Kwegya Awotwi, and Aiden O’Connell. Their projects covered disability rights, youth political participation, coastal cleanup, charter cities, and artisanal mining. Read their reflections on the student blog.

Salma Emmanuel presented “The Effect of Environment and Health News on Residential Solar Adoption: Evidence from Rural Tanzania” at the European Economic Association meeting in Bordeaux. The paper is co-authored with student researcher Athena Wagner.

Benjamin Risley, Kate SantaMaria, and Isabella Tang presented at the Pennsylvania Political Science Association. Ben presented research on watchdog journalism (with Francis Nyonzo and Zakayo Zakaria). Kate presented research on media messages and intimate partner violence (with Noela Ringo and Kasim Abdallah). Isabella presented her honors thesis research on human trafficking.

Kate SantaMaria presented her research on media messages and intimate partner violence, conducted with Noela Ringo and Kasim Abdallah.

Isabella Tang presented her research on barriers to reintegration for human trafficking survivors in rural Tanzania at the Pennsylvania Capitol, as part of the Undergraduate Research at the Capitol program. She was one of two Lafayette students selected.

GML completed its first community survey in Mkinga District, in coastal Tanzania. The survey supports six research projects:

• Media messages and intimate partner violence reporting (Kasim Abdallah, Noela Ringo, Kate SantaMaria)
• The effect of climate change news (Salma Emmanuel, Alexander Brown)
• How watchdog journalism focuses responsibility (Francis Nyonzo, Benjamin Risley, Zakayo Zakaria)
• Drivers of solar demand (Salma Emmanuel)
• How courts and religious authorities influence social attitudes (Salma Emmanuel, Benjamin Risley, Kate SantaMaria)
• Barriers to reintegration for human trafficking survivors (Isabella Tang)

The survey was led by the Economic and Social Research Foundation, with field manager Neema Msechu and assistant manager Andrew Lusakelo. Enumerators: Husna Haruna Majura, Michael Zuakulu, Asha Rashid Matimu, David Maurilio Lumato, Sylivana Gotrid Karia, Anselem Richard Kadallah, Lucia Nyambo, Shehe Omary Shehe, Angela Jacob Kitali, Hamza Hassan Mtinanga, Careen Ringo, Thomas Nkondola, and Violet Urio.

Student researchers Benjamin Risley and Kate SantaMaria and researcher Francis Nyonzo presented at the 2024 African Studies Association meeting in Chicago. Risley and Nyonzo presented “How Watchdog Journalism Facilitates Political Accountability: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania.” SantaMaria presented “Class, Tribe, and Gender: The Determinants of Court Shopping in Rural Tanzania,” co-written with Noela Ringo.

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab featured Zakayo Zakaria for his ongoing research on food security in Tanzania.

Salma Emmanuel published an overview of her research with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. An expanded version of the study will launch in Tanga.

Zakayo Zakaria and Dylan W. Groves presented preliminary results from the Afya Yako project at the Social Science Research Council’s Mercury Project Solutions Summit in Nairobi, Kenya.

Innovations for Poverty Action’s Human Trafficking Initiative announced “Leveraging Local Religious Leaders to Counter Human Trafficking in Rural Tanzania,” with Beatrice Montano, Salma Emmanuel, and Dylan W. Groves. Summer fellow Isabella Tang is a lead researcher on the project.

Zakayo Zakaria and ESRF presented early results from the Afya Yako health project to Dr. Tumaini Kengia, Coordinator for Regional Health Management. Dr. Kengia recommended further dissemination, including at the national forum of Regional and District Medical Officers.

Salma Emmanuel presented “The Effect of Climate Change News on Public Opinion about the Environment” at the environmental politics mini-conference held alongside the American Political Science Association meeting in Philadelphia. The paper uses a survey experiment to test how climate news affects rural Tanzanians’ knowledge, attitudes, and willingness to act.

Five GML summer fellows traveled to Tanzania to support research projects: Benjamin Risley, Alana Kipnis, Saira Ali, Alexander Brown, and Isabella Tang. They worked on pastoralism, public health services, economic development, and human trafficking. Read their reflections on the student blog.

The Economic and Social Research Foundation team, led by Zakayo Zakaria, Noela Ringo, Brenda Nyambo, and Marco Kitundu, launched a nationwide audit of 465 health facilities in Tanzania after training 48 enumerators in Dar es Salaam. The audit is part of Afya Yako, a program supported by the Social Science Research Council’s Mercury Project and the New Venture Fund.

Salma Emmanuel presented the paper at the Midwest Political Science Association conference in Chicago. Co-authors: Donald P. Green, Dylan W. Groves, Constantine Manda, Beatrice Montano, and Bardia Rahmani.

Marco Kitundu presented the paper, co-authored with Dylan W. Groves and journalist Isakwisa Mbyale, at the Midwest Political Science Association conference in Chicago.

Noela Ringo presented “SMS Campaign to Increase COVID-19 Vaccine Take-up in Tanzania” at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata.

Anya Schiffrin and Dylan W. Groves summarized lessons from their review of how to measure the impact of journalism.

Salma Emmanuel presented “The Persuasive Power of Supreme Courts.” The team, led by Salma Emmanuel and Hasnat Aslam, will incorporate feedback into another round of data collection in Tanzania in January 2024. Dylan W. Groves presented research on government responses to watchdog journalism.