Live online skills training courses have the potential to reach more people at lower costs than in-person training. However, evidence is limited on whether these platforms can deliver similar or higher impacts to microentrepreneurs as in-person, classroom-based programs can. In Guatemala and Mexico, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation to measure the impact and cost-effectiveness of a live online entrepreneurship training program for female microenterprises during the COVID-19 pandemic. The live online training led to improved business practices and higher sales after two months, but these effects disappeared after six months.

Funded by IPA's Human Trafficking Research Initiative (HTRI), researchers traveled to Guatemala to build a partnership with the Pan American Development Foundation and examine its community-led awareness and information sharing counter-trafficking intervention.

In collaboration with IPA, researchers conducted a randomized evaluation in Guatemala that found that a video and text message campaign for women agricultural producers about the government’s School Feeding Program increased knowledge of the program and better prices and sales of the products it demanded. However, the campaign had no impact on getting women to participate in the School Feeding Program itself, suggesting better alignment of the program with local market conditions is needed.