University of Basel is looking for a Master or doctoral student who is interested in participating in an experimental pilot study in rural C te d'Ivoire. The research internship involves the collection of qualitative and quantitative data during a 3-month research stay. Moreover, there is the possibility to use the collected data within the scope of a Master or PhD thesis.
The project is a joint research study of the Swiss TPH (Prof. Günther Fink), the WWZ (Renate Strobl, Labour Economics) and the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques (CSRS) in C te d'Ivoire. The aim of the project is to study whether seasonal income fluctuations, as typical for the agricultural sector, affect health care seeking behaviour of rural households. Moreover, the study investigates whether the willingness to enroll in health insurance is higher in the harvest season where it is easier for farmers to mobilize resources for the premium payment compared to the planting season. The study will be conducted in rural C te d'Ivoire where the majority of households primarily live from seasonal cash crops (cacao) and where the government is currently introducing a national health insurance scheme.
During the fieldwork, the student will conduct surveys and experimental games in around 200 households in several villages of the Taabo region. Ideally, these research activities will be realized in a team with a paralleled Ivorian Master student. The students will be based at the CSRS in Taabo ville.