The impact of coupling scholarships with human rights training on school non-attendance: evidence from Mexico City

ABSTRACT

Many studies show that cash transfer programs have significant impacts on school non-attendance. There is a lack of evidence on the influence of coupling cash transfers with complementary interventions such as educational sessions. We isolate the impacts of the components of the Scholarship Program for Socially Vulnerable Children (SPVC) on school non-attendance among elementary school students in Mexico City. The SPVC comprises two components: 1) a cash transfer and 2) educational sessions and activities directed toward foster children´s empowerment, such as training on human rights and gender equity. We assessed the impacts of SPVC using a survey and an Endogenous Switching (ES) model. We found that the two components of the SPVC contribute to reducing school non-attendance, although cash transfers have a more significant impact than complementary activities. These results suggest that training children on human rights and gender equity may be a promising way to strengthen the impact of cash transfers on educational outcomes in middle-income countries, such as Mexico. Thus, to improve the impact of such policies, the possibility of coupling cash transfers with educational sessions and activities should be considered when designing new programs.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank to the Consejo de Evaluación del Desarrollo Social del D.F. for the facilities provided for conducting surveys. The authors thank Ruth Martínez Ventura, Lizeth Guerrero González, Debora Martínez Ventura, Raúl Orozco Aguilar and Ana Laura Rodríguez Trejo, for their technical assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

Ethics statement

This paper reports analysis of primary data. The ethics of data collection and analysis were approved by the System for the Integral Development of the Family of the Federal District (DIF-DF). The persons from whom data was collected gave their free, prior and informed consent and their data has been kept confidential and anonymous.

Notes

1. In 2016, the SPVC was a conditional cash transfer program with complementary sessions and activities. In 2020, the program was transformed into the Leona Vicario Scholarship Program, which has undergone a series of changes in its design and implementation (Sistema para el desarrollo integral de la familia de la Ciudad de México, 2020).

2. Although the survey was conducted in 2016, we believe that the conclusions obtained from our statistical analysis are still relevant, even after the pandemic, due to the following reasons: 1) the SPVC explored an innovative way to empower children by providing them not only with cash transfers but also with knowledge about their human rights, which are the basis of a modern democracy and inclusive development (Slater, 2011), 2) This database offers a unique opportunity to test the existence of synergies (complementarities) between the two components of the intervention, 3) the analysis of this database provides clues for the future design and implementation of other programs aimed at reducing non-attendance and at the same time empowering children.

3. The pilot test allowed us to ensure that the training of personnel was correct and that the group of interviewers correctly assimilated the indications and instructions. Likewise, the duration of the survey was reviewed (approximately 25 minutes). Activities were carried out where the 10 interviewers practiced the procedure for carrying out the survey and their doubts were clarified. In this regard, some adjustments were made to the survey at the end of the pilot test. These adjustments consisted of a) checking whether all the questions were easy to understand for the interviewees, b) confirming whether the respondents felt comfortable with the questions, c) verifying whether the duration of the survey was adequate, d) detecting whether the question options were valid, and d) reviewing the design of the questionnaire.

4. Students on the waiting list had the same characteristics as the participants. However, they did not receive the scholarship in 2015 because of financial restrictions.

5. The participating equation is reported in Appendix B.

Additional information

Funding

This article was supported by the following proyects: the Support Program for Research and Technological Innovation Projects (PAPIIT) IN301421 and IN302419, and the Support Program for Projects to Innovate and Improve Education (PAPIME) PE301422 and PAPIME PE310919, both from the General Directorate of Academic Personnel Affairs (DGAPA) of the UNAM. Likewise, Armando Sanchez-Vargas thanks to the Support Program for Staff Improvement (PASPA) of DGAPA for the financial support provided to carry out this research.

Notes on contributors

Armando Sánchez-Vargas

Armando Sanchez-Vargas Director of the Institute of Economic Research (IIEc) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico(UNAM), Full time researcher at the IIEc, and member of the national research system at the National Research council of Mexico(CONAHCYT, SNI 3).

A. Naranjo Carbajal

A. Naranjo Carbajal is a Master in Economics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico(UNAM). She works at the National System for the Integral Development of the Family.

F. Castillo

F. Castillo is a Research specialist at the Berkeley food institute at the college of natural resources, University of California at Berkeley. He is an expert in collecting survey data.