Researchers working with IPA Colombia conducted a randomized evaluation to determine whether informational WhatsApp videos could increase Venezuelan migrants' registration to a regularization program permit and to test the effectiveness of WhatsApp surveys for contacting hard to reach populations. The videos were ineffective and even counterproductive for registration, while the surveys had limited effectiveness due to losing contacts, declining response rates, and privacy concerns.

Vulnerable populations often face barriers to accessing public services designed to improve their well-being. For instance, in an attempt to further integrate Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, the government launched a program in 2021 called the Temporary Protection Statute for Venezuelan Migrants (ETPV in Spanish). This 10-year regularization program offers Venezuelans—who arrived before January 2021 and entered legally by May 2023—legal status and access to healthcare, public services, financial services, and work rights through a permit. Despite the benefits of ETPV, registration remains low due to limited awareness of the program, distrust in the government stemming from legal issues during regularization and deportation fears, and administrative hassles and bottlenecks during the registration process that deterred migrants from registering.

In partnership with IPA Colombia, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure whether informational WhatsApp videos could increase registration rates for Venezuelan migrants in Colombia’s ETPV permit program. Through preliminary qualitative interviews with migrants, researchers identified key barriers to program registration and designed videos to address them. The study involved 1,375 permit eligible Venezuelan migrants in the Atlántico and Magdalena Departments, who were randomly assigned to one of four groups:

• Awareness: Migrants in this group received a 3.5-minute video featuring a Colombian actor portraying a government official who explained the permit's key benefits, eligibility requirements, and basic application steps. The video emphasized that the program was free and accessible to all Venezuelans who arrived before January 2021.
• Trust: Migrants in this group received a 3.5-minute video containing identical information as the Awareness video but narrated by a Venezuelan mother who had successfully obtained her permit. She shared her personal registration experience and addressed common concerns about the program's legitimacy and safety.
• Step-by-step: Migrants in this group received a longer 5.5-minute video narrated by the same Venezuelan mother, providing detailed instructions for each stage of the registration process, from creating an online account to scheduling biometric appointments. The video included screen recordings demonstrating how to complete the online forms.
• Comparison: Migrants in this group received no video interventions.

Over four weeks, researchers contacted migrants weekly through WhatsApp. Migrants assigned to receive videos got their designated video followed by a survey one hour later, while the comparison group received only the survey. These surveys served two research purposes: (1) to track the videos’ impact on registration outcomes (intention to register, starting the process, and completing registration) and (2) to test whether WhatsApp could effectively collect data from hard-to-reach populations compared to traditional in-person surveys.

Sending WhatsApp videos discouraged migrants from registering for the ETPV permit program at every step. Compared to migrants who received no videos, migrants who received videos were 12.2 percentage points less likely to say they would register, 7.7 percentage points less likely to start the registration process, and 8 percentage points less likely to request the permit. This meant that sending videos reduced registration rates by about 15 percent relative to the 53.8 percent of comparison group migrants who registered for the permit. These negative effects came from migrants who received the videos but never watched them—typically older migrants who were busier and had limited internet access. During follow-up qualitative interviews, these migrants explained they were frustrated by repeated messages and struggled with technical issues like no emails to follow up on content and limited reliable Wi-Fi networks. A challenge for policymakers would be to develop effective strategies to encourage more people to view the videos.

WhatsApp surveys proved challenging for data collection, with nearly half the participants lost in the transition from in-person to digital contact and declining response rates across subsequent survey attempts. In the follow-up qualitative interviews, migrants indicated the same issues as the migrants who received but did not watch the videos as well as concerns about sharing their private information digitally. This suggests that WhatsApp surveys may not be effective for gathering data from hard-to-reach populations.

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