How do we know if a programme made a difference? The answer to this question is not as straightforward as it seems, because we never know what would have happened without the programme. This concept is referred to as the ‘missing counterfactual’ (or simply ‘the counterfactual’ since, by definition, a counterfactual is… Read more →←
Topic: Impact evaluation
How does a Ghanaian female scholar navigate social-protection research in Africa? Fidelia Dake is a Lecturer at the Regional Institute for Population Studies at the University of Ghana, and recently completed a research fellowship in UNICEF Innocenti with the Transfer Project. UNICEF Innocenti’s Amber Peterman sits down with… Read more →←
In the past four years that I have been working on several national child poverty studies, either conducting the analysis directly or providing assistance and feedback, a few key findings have emerged as consistent poverty-related or poverty-driven issues that need to be addressed. These five areas should be considered priorities in… Read more →←
Since adolescence is a highly vulnerable period of rapid physiological, biological, and psychological change, researchers and development partners are increasingly asking how social protection can facilitate safer transitions to adulthood, and what additional factors shape these transitions for youth. Vulnerabilities related to adverse… Read more →←
Imagine you work for UNICEF in Lebanon. Your team has the challenging task of ensuring that half a million displaced Syrian children who fled the war in their home country attend primary school. These children live scattered throughout the country, as Lebanon has a “no-camps” policy. Many of them are traumatized and grow up in bitter… Read more →←
Last Fall I visited three of the most poverty-stricken rural districts of Zambia: Kaputa, Kalabo and Shangombo. Each location took two days’ travel by car from Lusaka. We drove up to Kaputa, near the border with DRC, with a stock of jerry cans filled with fuel, passed through the Kafue National Park and crossed the mile-wide Zambesi… Read more →←
In international development, research is never purely an academic exercise. Its purpose, ultimately, is to provide knowledge that can be used to improve the lives of poor and vulnerable populations. Yet, despite increased focus on understanding the influence that research has on development policy and practice, methodology for… Read more →←
Recently, I’ve found myself immersed in a number of intellectually stimulating and ethically challenging discussions on the role of research in international development. Two instances stand out, because they vividly capture some of the dilemmas encountered in ethical research management and evidence-informed decision making. The first… Read more →←
I have just returned from rural Tanzania, where I got to see one of the largest social protection programmes in Africa in action. The Productive Social Safety Net provides three types of support to poor and food insecure households: conditional cash transfers, ‘cash for work’ and livelihood enhancement. I traveled to the Mbarali… Read more →←
During a recent trip to Ghana, we presented the baseline findings from an impact evaluation of the “LEAP 1000” cash transfer programme to UNICEF colleagues, government and development partners. LEAP 1000, an extension of Ghana’s Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programme, targets households with young children. It is designed… Read more →←