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Impact Note
September 2021

Fall 2021 Residential Fellows at UC Berkeley

CEGA Welcomes New African Fellows

This month, CEGA welcomed a new cohort of Development Impact West Africa (DIWA) and East Africa Social Science Translation Collaborative (EASST) Fellows—our first residential Fellows since Spring 2020. Hailing from countries across Africa, including Uganda, Ghana, and Ethiopia, six selected researchers will spend a semester taking courses at UC Berkeley, deepening skills in impact evaluation, and tapping into a personalized mentorship program to develop their research ideas. We further accepted two Fellows to our new Non-Resident Fellowship, a virtual version of our flagship residential program, which also equips early career African social scientists with the skills to conduct rigorous evaluations of social and economic programs.

MEDIA

Fragile Learning in Pakistan

CEGA affiliated professor Natalie Bau writes for Dawn, explaining that while schooling reduces inequality between students at different achievement levels, Pakistan's pedagogical approach leads to “fragile learning,” where children learn, but fail to consolidate knowledge, thus forgetting what they have learned. She calls for balancing the benefits of schooling with instructional reform.


Photo: Dawn

Rwanda Tackles COVID-19

EASST Fellow Vedaste Ndahindwa (Fall 2014) discusses how Rwanda is handling the surge in COVID-19 cases in an interview with Yeni Safak, explaining how the country has learned to slow transmission from the first wave of the pandemic and the experiences of other countries like India. We also interviewed EASST Fellows Jeanine Condo (Spring 2013) and Aimable Nsabimana (Spring 2022) about Rwanda’s response to Covid-19 and how data and evidence played a key role in stemming the crisis.


Photo: Yeni Safak

Rice Training Boosts Well-being and Yields

ScienceDaily explores new research from CEGA affiliated professor Marcel Fafchamps and coauthors on how instructing Bangladeshi farmers in the System of Rice Intensification (SRI) planting and harvesting method increased yields, profits, and the well-being of farming households and greater communities.


Photo: Kashfia Nehrin

FEATURED POLICY IMPACT


Photo: Gaganjit Singh

Delivering Social Protection Wages Faster Across India

More than fifty million households depend on wages from India’s federal workfare program (MGNREGA), making it among the largest social protection schemes globally. With funding from CEGA’s co-managed Economic Development and Institutions (EDI) program, researchers evaluated the impact of the PayDash app, which reduces delays in payments by improving the flow of information and accountability for bureaucrats. Working with over 1,000 local policymakers, the team also scaled the app to Bihar and will continue scaling it to other states.

 

RESEARCH

Economics Adopts Research Transparency

In the Journal of Economic Perspectives, CEGA Faculty Co-Director Edward Miguel documents the rapid expansion of research transparency tools and practices in economics, including pre-registration and the sharing of data, code, and instruments over the last decade. He also presents innovations in transparency, such as the Open Policy Analysis (OPA), which seeks to advance the credibility of evidence-based policymaking.


Photo: Stephanie Skinner for Evidence Action

Mask Use in Kenya

CEGA Postdoctoral Researcher Aleksandra Jakubowski and coauthors conduct phone surveys and observe public behavior to determine adherence to mask mandates in Kenya and quantify the bias of self-reported mask usage. They find large discrepancies between self-reported and observed mask use.


Photo: Patrick Ngugi

Conflict Affects Long-term Consumption

EASST Fellow Annet Adong (Fall 2013) and coauthors examine the impact of conflict on food consumption after the cessation of hostilities in Uganda and reveal that years after hostilities cease, affected households have less consumption than during the conflict, suggesting that recovery programs should focus on safety nets.


Photo: Francesco Ungaro

Working Papers

 
  • Karthik Muralidharan and coauthors randomize school voucher access, estimating that despite lower ability-to-pay, low income households have similar willingness-to-pay for private schools.
  • Edward Miguel and coauthors compare cash transfers and in-kind programs in Kenya and Ghana, finding Ghanaians prefer in-kind gifts and Kenyans prefer cash.
  • Gaurav Khanna, Manisha Shah, Alessandra Voena, and coauthors survey women on COVID-19 lockdowns in India, finding food insecurity and reduced mental health.
  • Edward Miguel and coauthors evaluate a decentralized approach to economic development—community driven development (CDD)—and estimate gains in goods and market activity.
  • Daniel Posner and Andrew Harris examine decentralization in Kenya’s premier development program and find most projects don’t target poor residents, except in less populated, rural areas.
  • Craig McIntosh and Lauren Falcao Bergquist find a mobile phone-based marketplace for agricultural commodities increases revenues for large- but not small-scale farmers in Uganda.
  • Stefano Caria and coauthors test a new targeted treatment assignment method to assess how policies help Syrian refugees find work and find targeting increases employment. 

BLOG POSTS

  • Chelsea Downs highlights how CEGA developed the Non-Resident Fellowship, a virtual version of our flagship residential fellowship, and introduces the Fall 2021 Non-Resident Fellows.
  • Yevanit Reschechtko interviews EASST Fellows Jeanine Condo (Spring 2013) and Aimable Nsabimana (Spring 2022) about how Rwanda has used research-backed evidence to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Aleksandar Bogdanoski and Fernando Hoces de la Guardia introduce the Social Science Reproduction Platform, a resource for teaching and improving computational reproducibility.

EVENTS

Visit CEGA's event page or our YouTube channel to watch videos of past events. Videos are typically posted within one week of the event date.

Photo: SEEDEC 2019 | CEGA

October 7:  Symposium on Economic Experiments in Developing Countries (SEEDEC)

FAIR at the Norwegian School of Economics and the Department of Economics at the Monash Business School will host a Symposium on Economic Experiments in Developing Countries. SEEDEC connects researchers conducting experiments in low- and middle-income countries. This year will feature keynotes by Sule Alan and Alistair Munro. For more information and to register, see the event page.

OPPORTUNITIES

Hiring Associate Director, Communications and Policy Engagement

We’re seeking a creative, ambitious, and mission-driven communications professional to develop and implement a new communications and policy engagement strategy for CEGA. This full-time role will lead the Center’s communications and external engagement. Communications is critical to CEGA’s mission, ensuring that our research is used by policymakers and others to improve lives, while amplifying our credibility and visibility among key audiences. To apply, see the listing.

Hiring Research Intern, ECD + Livelihoods for Refugees

We’re seeking a research intern to support a rapid evidence review for interventions designed to improve early child development and youth employment outcomes among refugees and their host communities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This internship is part-time, fully remote, and paid. To apply, see the listing.

Request for Submissions to DevEng Journal Special Issue: Cost Estimation

Development Engineering: The Journal of Engineering in Economic Development is seeking submissions for a Special Issue that explores the use of cost estimation as a tool for resource-constrained design and the evaluation of products, services and innovations intended for marginalized populations. To submit, see the announcement

Request for Submissions to DevEng Journal Special Issue: Geospatial Analysis

Development Engineering: The Journal of Engineering in Economic Development is seeking submissions for a Special Issue on the latest research that leverages geospatial analysis for global development. To submit, see the announcement

About CEGA 

 

Research. Inspire. Change.


CEGA is the West Coast hub for research on global development. Headquartered at UC Berkeley, CEGA’s large, interdisciplinary research network—including a growing number of scholars from low- and middle-income countries—identifies and tests innovations designed to reduce poverty and promote development. Our researchers use rigorous methods as well as novel measurement tools—including wireless sensors, mobile data, and analytics—to evaluate complex programs. Through careful matchmaking, competitive grantmaking, and research dissemination activities, CEGA ensures that the research we produce is relevant, timely, and actionable to policymakers.

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