From October 10-14, IPA’s Social Protection Program participated in a workshop in Dakar, Senegal with the World Bank and social protection teams from six countries in the Sahel region to design a package of services to help cash transfer recipients increase income and protect against shocks.Kelsey Wright, Program Manager, presented findings from an assessment of constraints to movement out of poverty conducted in Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Côte d'Ivoire, and Nicolo Tomaselli, FWA Country Director, led an introduction to evaluation using RCTs.

On September 28th, IPA’s Financial Inclusion Program, together with JPMorgan Chase & Co., co-hosted a workshop on using behavioral insights in the financial sector.The event brought together top behavioral scientists from both academia and industry to present recent research on financial products and services, and how participants can integrate these lessons into their own work.The event also explored how rapid-fire testing can be used by both financial institutions and nonprofit service providers to improve the design and delivery of products and services.

On September 27th, Maria Aranzazu Rodriguez Uribe (IPA Colombia) moderated a panel at the 2° Seminario Impulsando el Ahorro Voluntario (2nd Seminar Promoting Voluntary Savings).The event, hosted by the IADB and the Mexican pension authority, CONSAR, brought together key players in the Mexican long-term savings space to discuss policies and practices aiming to encourage long-term voluntary savings.The IPA panel focused on the idea of using behavioral science to promote voluntary savings, with panelists from various pension providers and policymakers describing their latest work on the topic.