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Targeting the Ultra-Poor Program in Afghanistan, Baseline and Follow-up Surveys, 2016 - 2018
Baseline and Follow-up

Afghanistan, 2016
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Reference ID
AFG_2016-2018_TUP_v01_M
DOI
https://doi.org/10.48529/kxmk-md98
Producer(s)
Guadalupe Bedoya, Aidan Coville, Johannes Haushofer, Jeremy Shapiro
Metadata
Documentation in PDF DDI/XML JSON
Created on
Jan 30, 2026
Last modified
Jan 30, 2026
Page views
9190
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  • Study Description
  • Data Description
  • Documentation
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  • Identification
  • Version
  • Coverage
  • Producers and sponsors
  • Sampling
  • Survey instrument
  • Data collection
  • Depositor information
  • Data Access
  • Disclaimer and copyrights
  • Metadata production
  • Citation
  • Identification

    Survey ID number

    AFG_2016-2018_TUP_v01_M

    Title

    Targeting the Ultra-Poor Program in Afghanistan, Baseline and Follow-up Surveys, 2016 - 2018

    Subtitle

    Baseline and Follow-up

    Abbreviation or Acronym

    AFG TUP 2016-18

    Country/Economy
    Name Country code
    Afghanistan AFG
    Study type

    Other Household Survey [hh/oth]

    Series Information

    This is the first submission in the TUP AFG series and includes two data collection rounds: baseline (spring 2016) and follow-up 1 (summer 2018). Upcoming submission(s) in these series will include the four-part phone survey follow-up (conducted in January - June 2021). This information will be updated with relevant study IDs to future submission(s) to the Microdata Library, once complete.

    Abstract
    TUP programs have been designed with the objective of lifting households out of extreme poverty by targeting ultra-poor, usually female-headed households, who are able to manage an enterprise but have no productive assets in the household or access to credit. These programs provide a comprehensive package, generally including productive assets, training, and consumption transfers with the aim of lifting ultra-poor households out of poverty by tackling multiple constraints simultaneously. These types of programs documented remarkably consistent, positive, large, and persistent impacts across several stable developing settings (Banerjee et al. 2015; Bandiera et al. 2017).
    With support from the World Bank, the Microfinance Investment Support Facility for Afghanistan (MISFA) has been implementing the TUP program since 2015, which has reached approximately 12,698 households in 8 provinces in Afghanistan. Recipient households were provided with: (1) a transfer of a productive assets (generally livestock) from which to generate business opportunities; (2) specific skills training on how to generate value out of a productive asset and run a business; (3) consumption support through a monthly stipend; (4) a once-off healthcare subsidy; and (5) social development coaching including sessions with information and promotion of financial services, health-related services, and women empowerment awareness. Four districts in the Balkh province were selected as the site for this impact evaluation.
    The impact evaluation of the TUP program in Afghanistan is designed to generate evidence on the effects of the TUP program on the livelihoods of the target population, and to draw lessons for future expansions of the program in the country and in other fragile and conflict-affected situations (FCS). The baseline survey was conducted among TUP-eligible households from February to April 2016, and is the first survey included in this catalogue submission. Starting in May 2016, the treatment group received the full TUP package, while the control group did not receive any of the components. The program lasted 12 months from the time of asset transfer. The first follow-up survey was conducted from July to October 2018, approximately one year after program completion and two years after the asset transfer, and is the second survey included in this catalogue submission.
    Kind of Data

    Sample survey data [ssd]

    Unit of Analysis

    The Lady of the Household (LHH), Targeting, and Male Household Head (MHHH) surveys are at the household level, with some information (e.g., household roster) at the individual level.

    Village survey is at the village level.

    Market survey is at the district market level.

    Version

    Version Description

    version 0.1: The data files are raw cleaned data from the baseline and the first follow-up surveys.

    Version Date

    2021-10-20

    Coverage

    Geographic Coverage

    The impact evaluation surveyed predominantly rural households in four districts of the Balkh province in Afghanistan: Dawlatabad, Dehdadi, Nahr-e-Shahi, and Khulm districts.

    Producers and sponsors

    Primary investigators
    Name Affiliation
    Guadalupe Bedoya The World Bank Group - DECIE
    Aidan Coville The World Bank Group - DECIE
    Johannes Haushofer Stockholm University
    Jeremy Shapiro The Busara Center for Behavioral Economics
    Producers
    Name Affiliation Role
    Mohammad Isaqzadeh Princeton University Co-Investigator

    Sampling

    Sampling Procedure

    The sample comes from 80 villages in the four districts of the Balkh province. 20,702 households were ranked by wealth, with 43% initially identified as ultra-poor. TUP eligibility was verified through a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) combined with a Proxy Means Test (PMT), which determined a final program eligibility group of 1,235 households. Of these, 1,219 were subsequently included in the lottery to determine treatment assignment. 16 households were not included in the lottery and assigned to treatment due to being the only household in the PRA group. 1,219 UP households were randomly assigned into one treatment group (491 households) and one control group (728 households).

    Response Rate

    689 (or 95%) of control households and 458 (or 93%) of treatment households were surveyed at the first follow-up.

    Weighting

    Sampling weights based on the total population for each village are used to control for sampling probability among the non-ultra-poor (non-UP) when estimating non-UP statistics (variable pweight).

    pweight_CWR is the weight at the village/wealth ranking category level.

    Survey instrument

    Questionnaires

    Baseline and first follow-up survey instruments included a household survey for ultra-poor households administered to the woman in the household with the most knowledge and decision power (the Lady of the Household or LHH survey), with a subset of questions administered to the male household head if the primary woman was not also the head of the household (the Male Head of the Household or MHHH survey). The Targeting survey was administered to non-ultra-poor households and is a subset of questions from the LHH survey.

    Additionally, a village survey was administered to village leaders and recorded basic village-level data on infrastructure, violence, and other village-level shocks. A market survey was administered at the district market-level to collect data on food prices for calculating consumption values from quantities. Saliva samples were also collected to measure cortisol levels at the first follow-up.

    Data collection

    Dates of Data Collection
    Start End Cycle
    2016-02 2016-04 Baseline
    Mode of data collection
    • Computer Assisted Personal Interview [capi]
    Data Collection Notes

    A comprehensive 10-14 day training was provided to enumerators, majority female, including the theory of the questionnaire, consent and confidentiality procedures, and use of electronic devices for data capture. Refresher trainings were provided at various points of the surveys as necessary.

    All instruments were traislated and back-translated into Dari and Pashto, piloted and revised prior to full-scale data collection. The Lady of the Household (LHH) survey took about 2 hours on average to complete, while the Male Head of the Household (MHHH) survey took about 45 minutes.

    Third party monitoring (TPM) was used to monitor the quality of follow-up data collection, including back checks and spot checks.

    Depositor information

    Depositor
    Name
    World Bank

    Data Access

    Citation requirements

    Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:

    • the Identification of the Primary Investigator
    • the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
    • the survey reference number
    • the source and date of download

    Example:
    Guadalupe Bedoya (The World Bank Group - DECIE), Aidan Coville (The World Bank Group - DECIE), Johannes Haushofer (Stockholm University), Jeremy Shapiro (The Busara Center for Behavioral Economics). Afghanistan - Targeting the Ultra-Poor Program in Afghanistan, Baseline and Follow-up Surveys, 2016 - 2018, Baseline and Follow-up (AFG TUP 2016-18). Ref: AFG_2016-2018_TUP_v01_M. Downloaded from [uri] on [date].

    Disclaimer and copyrights

    Disclaimer

    The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.

    Metadata production

    DDI Document ID

    DDI_AFG_2016-2018_TUP_v01_M_WB

    Producers
    Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
    Development Data Group DECDG World Bank Documentation of the study
    Date of Metadata Production

    2025-12-18

    Metadata version

    DDI Document version

    Version 01 (2025-12-18)

    Citation

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