Parenting interventions in low- and middle-income countries rely on intensive training and close supervision of Community Health Workers (CHWs), making them challenging to scale. Moreover, digital cash transfers ease financial constraints but are insufficient to shift parenting behaviors. It remains unclear how to cost-effectively combine these approaches to support holistic Early Childhood Development (ECD) outcomes. We conducted a large-scale RCT in Dodoma, Tanzania, to evaluate the relative effectiveness of three ECD intervention packages delivered during the child's first 1,000 days: (i) a parenting program delivered by CHWs supported by a digital app, (ii) an unconditional digital cash transfer (UCT) program via mobile money, and (iii) a combination of both. We find that after 15 months, parenting support improves home stimulation, parental involvement, and children's socio-emotional development, with effects magnified when paired with digital cash transfers. Digital cash alone improves caregiver mental well-being, household expenditures, and child growth.

Public service delivery in low- and middle-income countries is often constrained by weak state capacity and limited accountability. We evaluate India's Aspirational Districts Programme, one of the world's largest policy-monitoring initiatives, which publicly tracks and posts performance data for 112 most underperforming districts to accelerate development. Leveraging administrative data from 6000 Right to Information Requests, national health and education surveys and satellite data, we estimate the program's impact on public service delivery, public financial management, and bureaucratic transfers. Our findings will reveal whether transparency through improved information systems can enhance governance outcomes and close persistent development gaps across poorest regions.

This paper evaluates how local governments respond to citizen complaints about recurring civic problems, such as monsoon flooding and irregular garbage collection, when those complaints are voiced on social media. Although residents frequently tag municipal authorities in their posts, follow-through is uneven. Some complaints prompt action while others receive little attention. Drawing on administrative records, we trace the path of complaints from online posting to government response and identify the points where action stalls. Our findings will speak to the institutional frictions limiting digital channels' ability to improve urban service delivery accountability.