COVID-19 and Migrant Workers: On Misinformation and Financial Stress
Panel Discussion
About the Event
The webinar is based on two projects which Good Business lab (GBL) carried out in the past year. Both of these studies were conducted with migrant workers, who were the one of the worst hit groups during the COVID-19 national lockdown in India.
The first study was conducted to increase the uptake of digital payment applications which could be used to send remittances back home for female migrant workers in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The study aimed to build trust in our sample of 618 female workers around these platforms and habituate workers into using them. We conducted a randomized control trial in which the treatment group was given training sessions on how to use these payment platforms. The training involved two mechanisms- a cheaper classroom based model and a costlier but intensive individualized training program. We found that the individualized training was more effective and overall our program increased the usage of digital platforms by 5 percentage points (6% to 11%). This study was carried out in partnership with IDInsight. We built on the scope of work of this project and studied the impact of COVID-19 induced lockdown in 2020 on the remittance behavior and financial stress among migrants.
The second study was conducted to spread the right information about COVID-19 without creating unnecessary anxiety in migrant workers. Given the rise in mental health complications, our messages helped alleviate anxiety and depression in our sample of 517 workers with an average age of 24 years. These migrant workers were not able to return to their homes and stayed back in factory hostels. We split our sample into three categories based on the way they were to receive information- Text messages, a pre-recorded audio message or phone calls. We found that a third of our participants didn’t mention cough and half of them didn’t mention fever to be a symptom of COVID-19. We also find that phone calls were the best at delivering our message as more workers listened to messages from direct phone calls as compared to pre-recorded audio messages. Calling also reduced anxiety and depression by 16%.
Since our samples have low literacy, asymmetric or false information about a pandemic and resultant financial and mental stress become significant. Through this webinar we delve into all these aspects of COVID-19 with a focus on migrant workers. The discussion will also bring up challenges related to operating evaluations in the pandemic.
We expect participation from development professionals, academics, business leaders, CSR professionals, and the general public.
The first study was conducted to increase the uptake of digital payment applications which could be used to send remittances back home for female migrant workers in Bengaluru, Karnataka. The study aimed to build trust in our sample of 618 female workers around these platforms and habituate workers into using them. We conducted a randomized control trial in which the treatment group was given training sessions on how to use these payment platforms. The training involved two mechanisms- a cheaper classroom based model and a costlier but intensive individualized training program. We found that the individualized training was more effective and overall our program increased the usage of digital platforms by 5 percentage points (6% to 11%). This study was carried out in partnership with IDInsight. We built on the scope of work of this project and studied the impact of COVID-19 induced lockdown in 2020 on the remittance behavior and financial stress among migrants.
The second study was conducted to spread the right information about COVID-19 without creating unnecessary anxiety in migrant workers. Given the rise in mental health complications, our messages helped alleviate anxiety and depression in our sample of 517 workers with an average age of 24 years. These migrant workers were not able to return to their homes and stayed back in factory hostels. We split our sample into three categories based on the way they were to receive information- Text messages, a pre-recorded audio message or phone calls. We found that a third of our participants didn’t mention cough and half of them didn’t mention fever to be a symptom of COVID-19. We also find that phone calls were the best at delivering our message as more workers listened to messages from direct phone calls as compared to pre-recorded audio messages. Calling also reduced anxiety and depression by 16%.
Since our samples have low literacy, asymmetric or false information about a pandemic and resultant financial and mental stress become significant. Through this webinar we delve into all these aspects of COVID-19 with a focus on migrant workers. The discussion will also bring up challenges related to operating evaluations in the pandemic.
We expect participation from development professionals, academics, business leaders, CSR professionals, and the general public.
Speakers
| Name | Title | Biography |
|---|---|---|
| Smit Gade | Senior Data & Research Manager | Smit holds an M.Phil in economics from Oxford University. He looks after data and research at GBL. Smit is an experienced Research Manager with a demonstrated history of working in development research and impact evaluations. |
| Karan Nagpal | Economist | Karan leads the technical design and analysis of impact evaluations andsample surveys using a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods. Dr. Nagpal has considerable research experience on urbanization, governance, and political economy in developing countries. He holds a Phd from Oxford University |
| Eshika Gombar | Senior Partnerships Associate | Eshika holds a bachelor's in Political Science and a Diploma in Conflict and Peace Studies. She has a keen interest in business sustainability, labor, and gender. At GBL, she works on building strategic partnerships. |
| Saswati Mishra | Senior Research Associate | Saswati holds an M.A. Economics from Ashoka University. She is currently working on migration, mental health and social networks to reduce social costs of migration faced by new female migrant workers. She is also the lead on the misinformation study with migrant workers conducted by GBL. |