Youth and Adult Microfinance to Improve Resilience Outcomes in Democratic Republic of Congo

August 12, 2019 updated by: Johns Hopkins University

The investigators will test the effectiveness of a youth-led animal husbandry microfinance program, Rabbits for Resilience, combined with the adult microfinance, Pigs for Peace (PFP), program on youth, family and community resilience outcomes. The following aims will be completed over the five-year longitudinal, mixed-method, cluster randomized community trial:

Specific Aim 1: Determine the relative effectiveness of a youth-led microfinance combined with the adult microfinance on youth and family resilience outcomes (reduced mental health distress, increased economic stability, improved family functioning) compared to a youth-led microfinance only and adult microfinance only approaches.

  • The investigators hypothesize that at six, twelve and 18-months post-baseline youth and adults in households in the youth-led and adult microfinance approach will report improved individual and family resilience outcomes compared to households in the youth-led microfinance only and adult microfinance only approaches.

Specific Aim 2: Determine the relative effectiveness of a youth-led microfinance combined with PFP microfinance on community resilience (e.g. social capital and participation in community groups by youth and adults) compared to youth-led microfinance only and adult microfinance only approaches.

  • The investigators hypothesize that at 18-months post baseline in households in the youth-led and adult microfinance will report improved community resilience compared to households in the youth-led microfinance only and adult microfinance only approaches

Specific Aim 3: Determine if changes in youth resilience (caregiving ability, empathy and outlook for the future) mediate the relationship between youth engagement in microfinance and outcomes, as measured by reduced mental health distress, improved family functioning and improved social capital.

Specific Aim 4: Examine youth perspectives on resilience in the context of multiple adversities (war, poverty, loss of family, displacement, victimization). Youth participants (N=50, ages 10-15 years) will be invited (with parent/caregiver consent) to complete at baseline and 18 month post-baseline qualitative interview/group discussion to examine individual, family and community resilience and what that participants perceive as key to buffering the negative health and social consequences of prolonged conflict and other adversities.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Congolese youth, families and communities have survived the 16 years of conflict and are now faced with significant challenges for rebuilding participants' futures. Developing, implementing and evaluating microfinance programs that combine youth and adults is an innovative strategy to assist households and community efforts by focusing on existing strengths. The study will advance knowledge for youth, families and communities impacted by armed conflicts in six critical areas:

  • 1) increase the investigators' knowledge of youth and adult resilience (mental and physical health, family functioning, social capital) in context of multiple adversities;
  • 2) measurement of resilience from a social ecological and longitudinal, mixed-method perspective;
  • 3) expand investigators' understanding of resilience to develop prevention interventions for youth in early adolescence (ages 10-15 years), an important time to develop healthy transitions to young adulthood (ages 15-10 years);
  • 4) test a youth-led microfinance program combined with an existing and successful adult microfinance program, Pigs For Peace (PFP), that is sustainable and appropriate to the context of a war-affected population;
  • 5) detail resources and infrastructure needed for conducting research in challenging field settings with diverse cultures and languages as well as with limited resources, such as access to mental health professionals;
  • 6) provide guidelines for the ethical conduct of research in settings where participants of diverse ages and backgrounds may have limited knowledge of human rights and ethical research concepts, such as informed consent and assent.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

988

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Congo
      • Bukavu, Congo, 2375
        • PAIDEK, Congo

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

10 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • girls/boys (ages 10-15 years) and women/men head of households (ages 16 years and older)
  • Resident in participating 10 village in Walungu Territory in Democratic Republic of Congo

Exclusion Criteria:

  • girls/boys under 10 years of age

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Other
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Youth microfinance only
Youth receive loan
Behavioral: adult microfinance
Female piglet provided to household member. Participants agrees to repay participants' "loan" by giving two piglets (one to repay the loan and one for the interest on the loan) to the association from the first litter of piglets (on average 6-12 piglets). These piglets are then given to other village member households
Active Comparator: youth and adult micro finance
youth and adult receive loan
Behavioral: Youth microfinance only
One child (10-15 years) receive rabbits loan. The child is mentored by microfinance and community mentors. The child repays the loan to program and other children in the family and community are provided a loan from the repayment.
Active Comparator: adult microfinance
adults receive loan
Behavioral: youth and adult micro finance
One child and adult member of household receive animal loan. The child and adult are mentored and repayment of the loan to the program is provided and the repayment animal is provided to other members of the community

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in baseline Mental health distress at 18 months
Time Frame: Baseline to 18 months post baseline
The outcome will be collected from multiple sources: 1) one randomly selected program eligible youth; and 2) one parent/caregiver in participating household
Baseline to 18 months post baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Johns Hopkins University

Collaborators

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

August 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 23, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

May 23, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 7, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 6, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

December 11, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 14, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 12, 2019

Last Verified

August 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • NA_00067820
  • R01HD071958 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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