Why is IPA needed?

Two voids exist in development policy: insufficient incorporation of results from social science research, and insufficient evaluation to learn concretely what works and what does not.

To generate new ideas for solutions to poverty problems, we use new social science research on a range of findings relevant to the issues faced by developing countries. These include insights into how people make financial decisions, adopt new technology, use social networks to help survive crises, respond to incentives, decide how much education to acquire, etc. We employ tools from both economics and psychology, commonly referred to as behavioral economics, to design interventions that adapt to the local context and real behaviors of individuals.

To evaluate, we use randomized controlled trials. This provides the highest quality, most reliable answer to the tough questions of what works and what does not. This high level of reliability is critical for formulating policy and allocating future resources. We also apply new techniques, more creative randomization designs, that allow us to evaluate in situations that previously were not deemed suited for high quality evaluations. Furthermore, much of the evaluations dig deeper than merely asking whether something works, but are designed to test specific theories. This is critical for understanding why ideas work, which is needed to then predict, out-of-context, what to do in the next country, or the next decade.

What makes IPA unique?

IPA is unique because of its approach to learning what works and what does not, the researchers who lead and manage projects, and our focus on tackling "ideas" rather than individual projects.  Specifically, the following characteristics set IPA apart:

·         We are driven by the creation of ideas and the testing of ideas. We are not driven by evaluation of particular projects, although that is what we do in order to test specific ideas. The integration of similar research (i.e., "replication") from around the world is critical for breaking out of the current mold, which is a series of unconnected case studies that do not help establish larger frameworks for understanding what works best, and when and where ideas work best.

·         We are committed to a communication strategy that helps bridge academic and practitioner/policy worlds.  Thus research can be conducted with technical and scientifically rigorous methods, but communicated and thus impact the policymakers and practitioners who need better evidence to help guide their decisions.

·         We are led by development economists and specialists with Ph.D. level training from top universities who have made frontier contributions to the analysis of economic development and poverty programs. Our researchers include some of the most recognized names in development economics and development studies today.

·         Our unwavering commitment to randomized evaluations to determine what works and what does not sets us apart from other non-academic firms and organizations engaged in evaluation work.

·         Both lead academic researchers and our full-time research staff have extensive experience in operations and management. We have experience in working with a variety of non-profits, governments, for-profits and private-public partnerships throughout the world. Our staff all receive rigorous training in randomized controlled trials so that we always maintain the highest scientific standards for our evaluations.

What are our Services?

·         Assist with the design and development of new and innovative poverty alleviation strategies with a strong likelihood of producing effective results, based on knowledge of economics and other key social sciences and of effective programs around the world.

·         Develop quantitative measurement tools and experimental designs to monitor the effects and client responses to interventions. These measurement tools will include a randomized or quasi-random evaluation strategy. We emphasize the highest ethical standards in evaluation, using random design particularly when random assignment is also the fairest allocation in the presence of resource constraints, and borrowing the highest ethical and scientific standards from medical trials.

·         With in-country staff supervising all projects, we manage critical components of evaluation of innovative projects, such as data management, organizational change and direction, staff training techniques, client and management focus group techniques, and qualitative and quantitative research useful for the product and innovation design phase.

·         Provide technical assistance to organizations to learn how to implement proven ideas.

·         Synthesize and disseminate results from multiple evaluations in order to provide policymakers and practitioners guidance on how to maximize their impact.