On September 18, IPA Ghana and the National Board of Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) co-hosted a roundtable on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) entitled “SMEs in Ghana: From Evidence to Action” at The African Regent Hotel in Accra.The purpose of this event was threefold: to hear from high-level policymakers on the most pressing challenges in the sector, to share policy lessons from rigorous evidence generated on the topic, and to build new relationships that will translate into collaboration across sectors.

When it comes to combating crime and homicide in Latin America—home to 41 of the 50 most dangerous cities—policymakers have few tested tools at their disposal.Does hot spots policing reduce violence in high-crime neighborhoods? How can police become more accountable and trusted in their communities? On September 12, IPA hosted a discussion to explore these questions with researcher Rodrigo Canales (Yale School of Management) who is working with the Mexico City Police Department, and Sebastian Chaskel (IPA’s Peace & Recovery Program Director) who shared the results of testing hot spots policing in Bogotá, Colombia.

On September 12, IPA and the Cabinet Secretariat of the Government of Mongolia co-hosted a stakeholder workshop to share the final results of the impact evaluation of the Peri-Urban Rangeland Project (PURP) that ran between 2008 and 2013 and was funded by the Millennium Challenge Corporation.