As a result of educational reforms aimed at universal primary enrollment in Morocco, most Moroccan children begin primary school, but many drop out before reaching sixth grade. Surveys suggest that these children drop out due to both the direct cost of attending school and the opportunity cost of not working. Other countries have successfully addressed these issues by implementing conditional cash transfer programs that pay families when school-aged children attend school. However, it is not clear whether a similar program would be effective in Morocco, and if so, how it would be optimally designed.

The Moroccan government is launching a pilot conditional cash transfer program and collaborating with IPA and JPAL researchers to test various ways of implementing the program. More specifically, the pilot study will involve 320 poor school districts, randomly allocated into 5 groups as follows: one control group (no transfers); one treatment group that receives unconditional cash transfers; and three treatment groups that each receive conditional cash transfers. Each of these three conditional cash transfer treatment  groups tests a distinct method of monitoring student attendance (teacher registries, registries checked for accuracy, and fingertip machines).

In order to determine if the effectiveness of the transfers depends on the gender of the direct beneficiary of the transfer (the child's mother or father), mothers will be receiving the transfers in half of the school districts sampled for transfers and fathers will be receiving the transfers in the other half. Outcomes of interest include: school enrollment, attendance, academic achievement, and consumption levels.