On March 3rd, as part of the implementation of its program of activities for the year 2017, with the support of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and Rebuse (Network of Burkinabe Monitoring and Evaluation workers), IPA Burkina Faso participated in a promotional day for Emerging Evaluators in Burkina Faso. The general objective of this day was to create a space for exchanges between the actors of the evaluation world and the "emerging evaluators" in Burkina Faso.


L’agriculture ne consiste pas simplement en la production de cultures, c’est la production de nourriture et de fibres tirées du sol et de l’eau de notre monde. Sans l’agriculture il est impossible d’avoir une ville, un marché, des banques, des universités, des églises ou encore des armées. L’agriculture est la fondation même de la civilisation et de toute économie stable.
On October 31th, IPA Burkina Faso participated in a Field Internship Workshop for the students of the AGRINOVIA Master. This event was aimed at sharing experience with the students of a Master on Agriculture and Innovation (master AGRINOVIA). Several NGOs and research institutions were gathered to present their activities and answer questions from the students on research and internships.
From October 10-14, IPA’s Social Protection Program participated in a workshop in Dakar, Senegal with the World Bank and social protection teams from six countries in the Sahel region to design a package of services to help cash transfer recipients increase income and protect against shocks. Kelsey Wright, Program Manager, presented findings from an assessment of constraints to movement out of poverty conducted in Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Côte d'Ivoire, and Nicolo Tomaselli, FWA Country Director, led an introduction to evaluation using RCTs.

The IPA Francophone West Africa team organized a seminar at the University of Ouagadougou. Some 40 attendants actively participated to the meeting and speakers were challenged with interesting questions. Research Associate Alassane Koulibaly moderated the seminar with great professionalism. Senior Research Associate Estelle Plat presented preliminary results from the Sorghum Tech Adoption study, Country Director Nicoló Tomaselli presented results from the Agricultural Lending study in Mali and Adrien Pawlik discussed baseline data collected for the Ouaga Sanitation experiment.

IPA Burkina Faso presented to the Commission for Reforms in Burkina Faso. The commission is in charge of proposing reforms to the government before the elections in October 2015.

On May 4, IPA Burkina Faso appeared before the Commission for Reforms of Burkina Faso. The Commission for Reforms is charged with proposing reforms in crucial areas such as electoral law, constitution modification, media and communication regulation, and public finance. They are in the process of composing a report to serve as a road map for the next government. IPA Burkina Faso presented two proposals for public finance reforms and shared results on deworming and teaching at the right level.
IPA Burkina Faso participated in the kick-off meeting of a research project launched by the National Institute for the Environment and Agricultural Statistics (INERA). The research project is a longitudinal descriptive study which aims to analyze the effect of agricultural research dissemination on the cultivation of cotton, maize, and rice in Burkina Faso. During the event, Nicoló Tomaselli (Country Representative, IPA) offered a seminar to civil servants participating in the research on the fundamentals of randomized evaluation methodology.
Results and prospects in Francophone West Africa
July 10-11, 2014
Azalaï Independence Hotel, Avenue du President Abubakar Sangoulé Lamizana, Ouagadougou - Burkina Faso
IPA, J-PAL Europe, and Burkina Faso’s Ministry of Education hosted a conference on education in French-speaking Africa in Ouagadougou on July 10. The conference aimed to share the results of rigorous evaluations and to discuss policy lessons on how to improve access to and the quality of education in the region. Following the conference, the organizers offered a one-day training on impact evaluation methods.
IPA Burkina Faso hosted an impact workshop titled “Girls’ Schooling in Burkina Faso: Effects of Conditional and Unconditional Cash Transfers.” Richard Akresh (Illinois University) presented the results of a 2010 survey in southern Burkina Faso. The audience of the seminar included NGO workers and students, among others.