TRADUIRE LA RECHERCHE EN ACTION
1
Happiness on Tap? Piped Water Adop2on in Rural
Morocco
Urban Services Ini2a2ve Conference
Collabora2on between…
• Veolia Environnement (funding)
• Amendis (implemen7ng partner in Morocco)
• JPAL research team: – Florencia Devoto – Diva Dhar – Esther Duflo – Pascaline Dupas – William Pariente – Vincent Pons
Context
§ City of Tangiers in northern Morocco
§ Most households have a private connec7on to the water grid managed by Amendis
§ But poorest households do not have a private tap
§ Main reason: cannot afford cost of connec7on to the grid
§ Instead they use public taps
Amendis “BSI” program
§ BSI = “Branchements Sociaux Individuels”
§ Program to help poor households acquire private connec7on to water grid
§ Subsidy in the form of a 0%-‐interest loan to purchase the connec7on § Connec7on costs from US$ 540 to US$ 1340, depending on distance to
grid
§ Loans to be reimbursed in monthly installments over 3, 5 or 7 years § About US$ 15 per month
Poten2al ways through which the program could posi2vely affect the lives of the beneficiaries § Improved Health?
§ Private tap = no risk that water is contaminated while transported or stored
§ Private tap = higher quan7ty of water available since no transport costs. Can affect hygiene prac7ces.
§ Freed 2me? § Average untapped household spends 7 hours a week fetching water § With private tap this 7me can be allocated to produc7ve ac7vi7es
(labor supply for adults, schooling for children), or to leisure
§ Fewer conflicts in the community? § Private tap = no conflict within household w.r.t who is on water
fetching duty…. § Private tap = no risk of conflict with neighbors about maintenance or
use of public tap
But could be nega2ve impacts too…
§ Private tap = confines women to the house? § Lose opportunity to socialize / meet others at water source
§ Credit = stress ? § Though unlikely since credit is voluntary and failure to repay only
means disconnec7on from grid. No legal consequences.
Research Design: Randomized Encouragement
§ Census. Iden7fied 850 households eligible for the loan
§ Randomized 850 eligible households into two groups:
§ TREATMENT GROUP: Home visit to provide informa2on about loan program + assistance with paperwork
§ CONTROL GROUP: Eligible if applied on their own, but not informed nor helped
Large impact of encouragement on take-‐up
Share of households with a private connec4on to the grid, 7 months a9er randomized encouragement
68.7%
9.7%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
Traitement (n=434) Contrôle (n=411) Treatment (n=434) Control (n=411)
Why such a big difference?
§ Since everyone was eligible for loan program, why was take-‐up so low in control group?
§ Study done during pilot phase of program: before program was heavily adver7sed, so households did not yet know about it
§ Cumbersome paperwork required to apply § Need approval from local authority § Need copies of important iden7fica7on documents § Go to branch office to make downpayment
Evalua2on Timeline and Data
§ Baseline survey administered in August 2007 § Socio-‐economic characteris7cs § Health and hygiene prac7ces § Water collec7on, storage and treatment prac7ces § Social integra7on, life sa7sfac7on, mental health § Time use (including labor supply and schooling)
§ For a subsample : water test (Chlorine and E coli) § Baseline Diaries for health and schooling in Dec 2007
§ Daily illness records for children (diarrhea, fever and vomi7ng) § Daily school anendance
§ Encouragement visit to treatment households in January 2008 § Connec7ons built by Feb March 2008 § Diaries for Health and Schooling in May, Aug, Nov 2008 § Follow-‐up Survey : August 2008
No change in water quality...
• No significant difference in E coli presence
• 12 percentage points (28%) increase in chlorine presence
12.79 10.38
37.8
0.00
5.00
10.00
15.00
20.00
25.00
30.00
35.00
40.00
Treatment Control Rural
Tangiers Kenya
E Coli found in drinking water
0.55
0.43
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
Présence de chlore détectée*
... but a large increase in quan2ty of water available Reported at endline (about 5 months a9er connec4on if connected)
0.88 0.88
3.03
3.63
0.67 0.71
2.74
3.66
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
4.00
Bathing*** House cleaning*** Respondent* Youngest child
Has enough water for… Times bathed in last 7 days…
Treatment Control
No effect on health
• No health effect despite big gain in water quan7ty à suggests that water quan7ty is not a big factor in health?
Weekling number of days with severe diarrhea, children age 0-‐6 at baseline
0.37
0.23
0.35 0.32
0.35 0.32
0.29 0.32
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
0.40
Follow-‐up 1: May 2008
Follow-‐up 2: Aug 2008
Follow-‐up 3: Nov 2008
Average
Treatment Control
Large Time Gains…
0.15
0.71 0.95
3.09
0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50
that a child fetched water***
that an adult fetched water***
# of 7mes over past 3 days
Treatment Control
95 8
1053
41 0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
fetching water*** socializing while fetching water*
Minutes spent over past month
Treatment Control
…but at a monetary cost
(in MAD)
502
145
76 73
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Fixed cost of connec7on*** Monthly water expenditure***
Treatment Control
What do people do with their free 2me?
• They do not work more or generate more income • Children do not do more homework or anend school more • But everyone report having more free 7me, more 7me for
watching TV, receiving friends or family. • So essen7ally: more leisure.
Posi2ve impact on social integra2on
4% 4% 5%
7%
4%
2% 2%
15%
6%
10% 12%
1%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
Belongs to water issues*** property maners inheritance water issues*** property maners
a social group or associa7on*
with family members regarding with neighbors regarding
Having a conflict with…
Treatment control
Overall, well-‐being seems to improve
21%
35%
57%
51%
65%
13%
57%
24%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Water listed as major source of concern***
Home is cleaner than a year ago***
Water tastes good Overall, the life of the household has improved compared to a year ago
Treatment Control
Overall, well-‐being seems to improve
0.179
0.432 0.476
0.639
0.23
0.47 0.43
0.596
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
Sad Worried Sa7sfied
Over the past 7 week, respondent was some7mes… Average effect on mental health*
Treatment Control
Demand over the long-‐run
• People could stop using private tap and go back to (free) public tap if they wanted….did they?
• We see no evidence of that • Early 2010 (2 years auer gevng connected), households were s7ll paying their monthly bill • No complete default on loan (no disconnec7on) • Suggests that households are con7nuously willing to pay for the connec7on • Though about 20% of people were late on their payments, sugges7ng cost is not trivial
• What about those in the control group? • We find evidence that those who lived near treatment households learned about the
program and were more likely to take it up • This confirms that those in the treatment group were happy enough to recommend the
program to their friends
Wrap-‐up
• High willingness to pay for a private water connec7on
• No impact on health • Not surprising since water quality at public tap already very high
• Nevertheless, large effect on well-‐being • More 7me for leisure • Fewer conflicts within or across households • Higher reported sa7sfac7on level
• Improved access to credit allows households to invest in quality of life-‐enhancing technology • Even if credit is not put to produc7ve use, appears to significantly
improve welfare
A Collabora2on between…
• Veolia Environnement (funding) • Amendis (implemen7ng partner in Morocco) • JPAL research team:
– Esther Duflo, Pascaline Dupas, William Pariente, Florencia Devoto, Vincent Pons, Diva Dhar
• First discussion with Amendis in summer 2006: – Consider all projects suitable for evalua7on
• Actual study in the field from August 2007 to August 2008, informed Amendis prac7ce immediately:
– In par7cular the result of high take up of BSI – No change in e-‐coli in water. – Help control group to access program that was not previously used as much as thought
• First drau of the paper available in September 2009