Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Overview
Prepared by (Name of the experimenter)
Javier Brolo and María Inés Castañeda
On date (Day/Month/Year)
December 30th, 2021
Current status of experimental activity
Completed
What portfolio does this activity correspond to? If any
Implementing environmental public policy
What is the frontier challenge does this activity responds to?
How to improve the collaboration between society and public institutions to increase resilience to climate change
What is the learning question(from your action learning plan) is this activity related to?
How to implement environmental public policies?
Please categorize the type that best identifies this experimental activity:
Fully Randomised (RCTs, etc.)
Which sector are you partnering with for this activity? Please select all that apply
Public Sector, Civil Society/ NGOs
Please list the names of partners mentioned in the previous question:
Municipality of Guatemala; Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources; Residents of Zone 5 in Guatemala City
Design
What is the specific learning intent of the activity?
The experiment wants to evaluate the degree of acceptance of
feeling included among the beneficiaries of the 164-2021 agreement, between a
group of people who are taught that its implementation involves a shared
effort, and a group of people who are only taught their individual
responsibility regarding the agreement. The intention is learning if, by
showing that the implementation of the agreement involves a shared effort from
municipalities, environmental and health ministries, as well as citizens,
people will feel included as part of the group of people who benefit from the
policy instead of feeling they are affected by it. It is expected that those
who know that the effort implements the policy is shared feel included as
beneficiaries of the policy and not as affected by it.
What is your hypothesis? IF... THEN....
IF people are pointed out that implementing waste management regulation not only requires collaboration from citizens but also using human and monetary resources from institutions; THEN, people will feel that they are among those benefited by the regulation.
Does the activity use a control group for comparison?
Yes, a different group entirely
How is the intervention assigned to different groups in your experiment?
Random assignment
Describe which actions will you take to test your hypothesis:
We will compare between a control and a treatment group, where the treatment is assigned randomly. The treatment consists in offering a complementary explanation about the role of the municipality and ministries on the implementation of the 164-2021 governmental decree. We will observe the degree of acceptance that people are included among the beneficiaries of the policy.
What is the unit of analysis of this experimental activity?
Residents of zone 5 in Guatemala City.
Please describe the data collection technique proposed
Participants will be selected from people walking who are invited to participate and asked for consent. To assign the treatment, we will use Google's randomization tool (https://www.google.com/search?q=flip+a+coin). We will use a paper questionnaire to collect information.
What is the timeline of the experimental activity? (Months/Days)
One day
What is the estimated sample size?
10-49
What is the total estimated monetary resources needed for this experiment?
Less than 1,000 USD
Quality Check
This activity is relevant to a CPD outcome, The hypothesis is clearly stated, This activity offers strong collaboration oportunities, This activity offers a high potential for scaling, This activity has a low risk
Please upload any supporting images or visuals for this experiment.
Please upload any supporting links
What are the estimated non- monetary resources required for this experiment? (time allocation from team, external resources, etc) If any.
This is a low cost experiment. We printed the paper forms and filled them by hand. We used a vest and card for identification. We were two people during 6 hours for data collection. We used open source software for analysis. The total monetary costs were under US$50.00.
Results
Was the original hypothesis (If.. then) proven or disproven?
Disproven
Do you have observations about the methodology chosen for the experiment? What would you change?
The sample size should be increased. The instrument can be piloted and refined to reduce the length of the explanations. Instead of randomly intercepting people, we could select a sample of households (but this would require additional permissions). Considering a different time for data collection to include people who work during the afternoon.
From design to results, how long did this activity take? (Time in months)
Less than one month
What were the actual monetary resources invested in this activity? (Amount in USD)
Under US$50.00
Does this activity have a follow up or a next stage? Please explain
We used these results to define the question for the next
learning cycle. Why do people do not adopt practices even if they recognize
them as beneficial?
Is this experiment planned to scale? How? With whom?
It is planning to scale in several ways. Its results will be
used for the next cycle. The methodology will be transferred to local
governments and the ministry of environment so they can discover what works,
instead of only providing them with the results.
Please add any supporting links that describe the planning, implementation, results of learning of this activity? For example a tweet, a blog, or a report.
Considering the outcomes of this experimental activity, which of the following best describe what happened after? (Please select all that apply)
This experiment led to partnerships, This experiment led to adoption of new ways of working by our partners
Learning
What do you know now about the action plan learning question that you did not know before? What were your main learnings during this experiment?
The results showed that most participants consider the
policy that requires separating waste as something that benefits them,
regardless of whether they are pointed out that its implementation requires
effort from both citizens and public institutions or not. There is no evidence
that people resist environmental public policy because they don't see their
benefits, or because they think it's imposing responsibility only to citizens.
At least separating waste is a politically correct response. It is also
interesting pointing out that people do recognize that separating waste could
mean having to spend on more bags. Additional conversations suggested that
people do not comply because they do not want to pay for waste collection.
What were the main obstacles and challenges you encountered during this activity?
We had to prepare in little time so instruments could not be tested properly. We were limited to people willing to participate and available during that time.
Who at UNDP might benefit from the results of this experimental activity? Why?
The environment programmatic area because their projects
include efforts to increase public support for environmental policies.
Who outside UNDP might benefit from the results of this experiment? and why?
The municipalities and the ministry of environment and
natural resources who have the responsibility to promote waste management
practices under the new regulation.
Did this experiment require iterations? If so, how many and what did you change/adjust along the way? and why?
No. This was only one iteration to inform questions in the next cycle.
What advice would you give someone wanting to replicate this experimental activity?
Try to anticipate that people have a bias to support politically correct regulation such as environmental policy.
Can this experiment be replicated in another thematic area or other SDGs? If yes, what would need to be considered, if no, why not?
Certainly, the use of prompts that include additional information to affect attitudes is a technique that can be applied to other topics that are interested in increasing public support.
How much the "sense" and "explore" phases of the learning cycle influenced/shaped this experiment? In hindsight, what would you have done differently with your fellow Solution Mapper and Explorer?
The selection of the hypothesis to test was a direct result from exploration and mapping activities. We prioritize together based on the opportunities to link grassroots solutions and new sources of data.
What surprised you?
That people don't respond negatively to a framing that emphasizes that responsibilities are being transferred to citizens.
11Sustainable cities and communities
13Climate action
17Partnerships for the goals
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