Innovations for Poverty Action applies rigorous research techniques to develop and test solutions to real-world problems faced by the poor in developing countries. Our primary objectives are to:
1. Innovate
Develop innovative solutions to poverty and policy problems worldwide. Use frontier knowledge from economics, psychology, and public health.
2. Evaluate
Conduct randomized controlled trials to evaluate public policies. This provides the highest quality and most reliable answers to what works and what does not. Our evaluations seek to generate insight into why particular strategies work -- not just whether they work -- so as to make the findings useful for scale-up and replication in other settings and countries.
3. Replicate
Replicate evaluations in multiple settings. We can learn from one evaluation, but we can learn much more about what to do after seeing replications of similar interventions in multiple settings, and learn when ideas work best, and when they do not. IPA is charged with conducting repeated evaluations of similar interventions.
4. Communicate
The dissemination strategy has two prongs. First, individual studies and sets of studies must be written in non-technical, accessible styles for development practitioners, policymakers, investors and donors. Second, IPA will produce synthesis articles that frame key policy issues and present reliable evidence to help guide development practitioners, policymakers, investors and donors towards better decisions and allocation of resources.
5. Scale
Facilitate scale-up and replication of effective solutions to other areas of the world in need. This includes hands-on technical assistance as well as extensive communication efforts.
Click here for some of our success stories.
