Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) aims to fill two voids that currently exist in development work: insufficient evaluation of what works -- and why -- in poverty reduction, and insufficient use of research results to develop and scale effective interventions. To fill these gaps, we employ social science tools, mainly from economics, psychology, political science and public health, to design and test programs that adapt to the local context and to the real behaviors of people. Using research results to identify effective interventions, we disseminate the lessons to policymakers, practitioners, investors and donors around the world.

To achieve our goals, we:

Innovate: We help development leaders, policy-makers and for-profit and non-profit program implementers design new and innovative programs based on cutting-edge research from economics, psychology, political science and public health.

Evaluate: We typically conduct randomized controlled trials to determine whether a particular program results in improved individual or household well-being for poor recipients.

Replicate: To make the most progress on poverty reduction, programs have to be evaluated in several different locations and situations. This allows organizations and policy-makers to understand why a program works and fine tune strategies for maximum impact.

Communicate: For research to improve the lives of the poor, policy makers need to be able to understand the findings and apply them to real world conditions. IPA presents results in a brief, non-technical style, and answers key policy questions with reliable evidence. 

Scale: IPA spreads effective solutions around the world by offering hands-on technical assistance and expert advice for expanding effective programs to broader populations.

Our Methodology: 

Our effectiveness as an organization depends upon the accuracy and usefulness of our evaluation results. We rely primarily on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to achieve the highest quality results -- the same types of evaluations used by the medical industry.

Our focus on rigorous research methods sets IPA apart. The standard technique for measuring program impact is comparing the outcomes of participants to the outcomes of a similar group of non-participants. But this analysis is unlikely to produce a reliable estimate of a program's impact, because it compares people who chose to participate to people who did not, or it compares people in a village which the program chose to serve to people in a village the program chose to skip over. Such comparisons do not account for the sometimes subtle differences, intrinsic or extrinsic, between people who receive a service and people who do not. These differences are not trivial, and can lead policy makers to the wrong conclusion about the effectiveness of certain programs in addressing poverty.

Randomized controlled trials are one of the best ways to isolate the impacts of a specific program from other factors, such as other programs offered in the region, general macroeconomic growth, a short-term event such as a favorable harvest, or even a personal quality that might make one individual more successful than another. By identifying a group of participants and separating them randomly into otherwise similar control and treatment groups, randomized trials allow us to reliably conclude whether a particular program is responsible for generating positive changes in income, health, education, or other poverty-related areas. Programs that are effective at alleviating poverty can be adopted by others. Those that are not can be retooled or dropped in favor of more effective solutions.

The second key component of IPA's mission is replication. A good evaluation shows whether an idea worked in a particular place and time with a particular group of people. Replication of the analysis allows us to understand whether the same results hold in a different context.  To be relevant for policy, research needs to address: Why does the program work the way it does? Can the program be scaled successfully to include a larger number of people? 

IPA disseminates information about what works, and what does not, to people and organizations dedicated to working with the poor, so that it can be put to practical use. IPA also works closely with policy makers and partners to design effective programs.