While prior research shows that behavioral interventions prompt immediate behaviour change on savings and productive activities, a significant gap remains in understanding whether these effects persist over time and if they translate into improved livelihood outcomes. This extended to the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project’s Complementary Livelihood and Asset Support Scheme (CLASS), a productive inclusion program for the lowest-income households in the country. A previous randomized evaluation found that 
light-touch behavioral interventions to enhance the impact of CLASS showed positive effects on saving behavior, but delays limited follow through on investments, creating a need to evaluate long-term impacts.

Researchers are conducting a three-year follow-up study to measure whether the behavioral interventions from the original evaluation lead to enduring savings habits, reinforced financial self-efficacy, and ultimately, increased financial resilience, business performance, and overall well- being. Additionally, the follow-up will update the cost-effectiveness analysis, which calculates the additional cash amount required to achieve the same savings impact as the behavioural tools, based on available government data from the program scale-up. The findings, if positive, will provide a model for the design of scalable and cost-effective interventions for social protection and productive inclusion programs.

Results will be available in 2027.

This project was funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office, awarded through the Strategic Impact Evaluation and Learning (SIEL) Program, managed by IPA.

Implementing Partner