Private vs. Group Mentoring Modalities
RCTClinical Trial
Designing cost-effective active labor market policies requires evaluating whether resource-intensive private one-on-one coaching provides significant advantages over group-based assistance. Unclear cost-benefit tradeoffs complicate the scaling of post-training guidance for rural youth.
Picture this
Group coaching functions like a shared study circle where one tutor answers questions for multiple students at once, whereas private assistance is a dedicated one-on-one tutoring session tailored entirely to an individual student's specific weaknesses.
What the evidence says
Empirical comparisons of employment rates and income outcomes between private and group modalities are forthcoming as the study evaluation is ongoing.
- Who was studied
- 1,100 eligible jobseekers organized into 96 predefined clusters (24 clusters in group assistance, 24 clusters in private assistance) in Maharashtra, India.
- How
- Four-arm Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) evaluating 3-month interventions delivered via WhatsApp group messages/calls versus individual messaging/calls.
What to do
Pilot group-based messaging protocols before investing in one-on-one mentoring to identify optimal cost-efficiency thresholds.
From the source
"Interactions with the livelihood coordinator were conducted via group messages or calls... [or] one-on-one assistance... conducted via individual messages or calls."
Providing Post-Training Assistance to Young Jobseekers to Improve Employment Outcomes in India