PBS on Impacts of an Interfaith Soccer League in Post-ISIS Iraq
Media Coverage
December 18, 2019

PBS' Nova special The Violence Paradox, with Steven Pinker, explores evidence-based methods of reducing violence. They interview Political Scientist Salma Mousa and show her RCT in Iraq encouraging social contact between Christians and Muslims in post-ISIS Iraq with interfaith soccer teams. The study is one of several supported by IPA's Peace and Recovery Program.

Click below for the program. Note, the interview and segment on this research starts an hour and 35 minutes into the program

 

 
United News of Bangladesh on IPA Evidence Around Rohingya Refugees
Media Coverage
December 16, 2019

United News of Bangladesh recaps an event in Bangladesh, where IPA, the International Growth Centre, and Y-RISE released a new study on the trauma experienced by Rohingya refugees in the Cox's Bazar camp in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
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Why We Are Building A Humanitarian and Forced Displacement Initiative
Mushfiq Mobarak, Jeannie Annan
December 16, 2019

Hakimpara refugee camp in Bangladesh. Photo: Jared Kalow

The world now has over 70 million forcibly displaced people. This is the highest absolute number in history, and the proportion of displaced people has risen by a dramatic 48 percent in recent years—from about 1 in every 160 people in 2009 to 1 in every 108 people today, according to UN data. Yet there is very little evidence on what works for forcibly displaced and host community populations. IPA is responding to this gap by launching a new Humanitarian and Forced Displacement Initiative, under the academic leadership...
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Weathering the Storm: Navigating Political Transitions During a Research Project
Rodrigo Canales, Mushfiq Mobarak
November 20, 2019

Partnering with governments on research projects is a great way to ensure buy-in to rigorous research from policymakers, but it comes with a unique challenge: those policymakers can change due to political transition or staff turnover in the middle of a study. When that happens, what does that mean for the research? Months of organizational planning typically go into a research project, and the prospect of blowing it up and doing something new can be daunting. In this blog post, we discuss IPA Mexico’s experience working through a political transition and what it’s taught us about how to...
The Dhaka Tribune on IPA Bangladesh Adolescent Health Findings
Media Coverage
July 25, 2019

The Dhaka Tribune recaps a roundtable in which IPA Bangladesh Country Director, Dr. Mohammad Ashraful Haque, presented baseline findings of a survey on adolescent well-being, assessing mental, physical, and sexual/reproductive health as well as educational and economic development. The survey also noted the role of violence in the everyday lives of Dhaka adolescents, finding: 68% of married adolescents experience intimate partner violence, 82% of adolescents report experiencing corporal punishment at school, and 62% of female caregivers use physical punishment to discipline underage family...
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Two Takeaways from Our Panel on Security Policy in Latin America
June 18, 2019

 

“Our obsession is our citizens’ lives,” said Jairo García, Secretary of Security of Bogotá, at a recent panel I moderated on citizen security policy in Latin America sponsored by IPA’s Peace and Recovery Program and J-PAL’s Crime and Violence Sector at the America Latina Crime and Policy Network (AL CAPONE) annual meeting at EAFIT University in Medellín last month. “But citizens’ obsession is with muggings,” Secretary García went on, as he explained that while Bogotá’s citizens rank security as a top concern, whether they feel safe is more closely related to their perception of...
The Economist on Applying IPA Research from Liberia to Reduce Chicago's Murder Rate
Media Coverage
May 28, 2019

The Economist reports on an experimental program aiming to reduce Chicago's murder rate by providing high-risk men with job training and therapy on de-escalating and avoiding violence. The program applies findings from an IPA study in Liberia on the impacts of cognitive behavioral therapy and cash grants to combat violence and crime among street youth.

[Note: article may be gated].
Vox Reports on IPA’s 9-Year Follow-up From a Cash Transfer Study in Uganda
Media Coverage
September 18, 2018

While many cash transfer studies report outcomes over the first several years, Vox reports on IPA returning to study how Ugandan cash beneficiaries fared nine years later. Christopher Blattman describes, how he, with Nathan Fiala and Sebastian Martinez, found that their conclusions changed when discovering the comparison group caught up to the cash recipients in the long run.
Devex Covers the DFID-backed Governance, Conflict, and Crime Initiative
Media Coverage
July 18, 2018

Devex reports on the Governance, Conflict, and Crime Initiative (GCCI), a joint IPA and J-PAL initiative that was granted funding through the UK's Department for International Development (DFID). GCCI's goal is to support RCTs piloted through IPA and J-PAL to generate much-needed evidence on solutions to conflict and corruption, particularly in fragile states. Devex outlines some of these pilot evaluations and key takeaways from a London event in early June.
Small Cash Grants Might Not Work as Well as We Think
Media Coverage
March 28, 2018

Mother Jones covers recent discussion on the long term effects of cash transfers, including Chris Blattman's reflections on a study he and other IPA-affiliated researchers conducted with IPA in Uganda.
IPA and J-PAL Announce $16 Million Grant From UK Government to Fund New Research on Solutions to Challenges in Governance, Crime and Conflict, and Peace and Recovery
Press Release
December 06, 2017

New Haven, CT / Cambridge, MA – Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), two research centers working to support evidence-informed policymaking, were jointly awarded a grant of GBP£12 million (US$16 million) from the UK Department for International Development to generate new research on effective policies to promote peace and good governance, reduce crime, and support individuals and communities recovering from conflict.

The grant, approved in December 2016 and signed in August 2017, contributes to three research programs:

IPA’...
IPA Peace & Recovery Program Launches First Call for Expressions of Interest
Announcement
August 15, 2017

The Peace & Recovery (P&R) Program at Innovations for Poverty Action is launching its first request for proposals, through an Expression of Interest (EOI) Form available now. Expressions of Interest are due on September 15, 2017.

The P&R Program is designed to support field experiments and related research in several broad areas:

Reducing violence and promoting peace Reducing “fragility” (i.e. fostering state capability and institutions of decision-making) Preventing, coping with, and recovering from crises (focusing on conflict, but also including non-conflict...
New IPA Sierra Leone Reconciliation Research, Washington Post Monkey Cage
Media Coverage
May 13, 2016

In the Washington Post's Monkey Cage blog, Rachel Glennerster reviews what we know about how societies recover after war in light of IPA's new findings. She covers the new research, and why it's critical to understand how to heal societies after war.
Reuters on IPA's new Sierra Leone Reconciliation Research
Media Coverage
May 13, 2016

Reuters reports on the new research from IPA in Sierra Leone on community reconciliation after war came at a cost:

While forgiveness toward perpetrators increased, the prevalence of severe trauma among the participants was more than a third higher than among those who didn't take part in the project, said the study, published in the journal Science.
Pacific Standard on IPA war reconciliation research
Media Coverage
May 13, 2016

Pacific Standard  covers IPA's research on the benefits and tolls of post-war reconciliation in Sierra Leone.

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