2019 Nuru Nigeria Baseline Report

RMC researchers Dr. Heath Prince and Ashweeta Patnaik have completed the baseline analysis for the four-year impact evaluation of Nuru International’s programming in Nigeria. The overarching goal of Nuru Nigeria is to equip rural, vulnerable households to improve livelihoods and build resilience capacities to cope with conflict, environmental, economic, and social shocks and stressors for stability and prosperity. The goal of the multi-year impact evaluation is to study, through a development economics lens, how Nuru’s anti-poverty interventions in Nigeria impact resiliency to shocks. A cluster randomization approach was used to randomly assign two wards to the intervention group and two wards to the comparison group. Statistical methods designed for improving inter-group comparability were applied at baseline to bring the intervention and comparison group participants as closely into balance as possible. A difference-in-differences statistical technique will be used to estimate program impact annually and at endline. The impact evaluation utilizes a mixed-method approach with both quantitative and qualitative components, including a household survey, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. The evaluation design, baseline data, and the covariate balancing methods applied to the baseline data place the project on a solid footing for rigorous impact analyses at midline and endline.