Study design
The program "Promoting Entrepreneurship among the Youth in Afghanistan" (PEYA) was an RCT-based project funded by the Afghan Reconstruction Trust Fund. It was launched in August 2015 and closed in July 2018. The PEYA program was implemented by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Afghanistan in Balkh, Kabul, and Nangarhar provinces. The program's objective was to help establish new micro-enterprises or expand existing businesses by providing a cash grant of USD 500 (approximately 33,500 Afghan (Afs)), which is equivalent to 2017 GDP per capita in the country to zero or low education individuals. In this study, 3490 eligible applicants were chosen depending on their business proposals. Based on a lottery process, half of the study participants (1745) were assigned to the treatment group where they received a cash grant, whilst the other half who were assigned to the control group did not receive a cash grant. The lottery and the baseline interview were conducted in August 2016. Due to the potential lack of sufficient numbers of mentors who could give mentorship on businesses, mentorship on businesses was randomly given to the half of individuals who received the cash grant and lived in Kabul (
