The Centro de Informacion y Recursos para el Desarrollo (CIRD), IPA Peru, and J-PAL LAC organized a seminar on the importance of scientific evidence in improving the efficiency and efficacy of social policy.Dylan Ramshaw (Deputy Country Director, IPA Peru) introduced IPA and J-PAL’s mission and work in the region.Juan Hernandez (Policy Manager, J-PAL LAC) presented on the value that evidence can bring to public policy, as well as the role that randomized evaluations can play.Mauricio Alainz (Paraguay Project Coordinator, IPA Peru) presented results from randomized evaluations that examined topics in education, financial inclusion, and rural development.

Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) in Malawi and the Yale Savings and Payments Research Fund, under the Financial Inclusion Program at IPA, partnered with the Bankers Association of Malawi (BAM) to host a policy conference on Achieving Better Banking in Malawi on November 20 – 21, 2014, in Lilongwe, Malawi.   The conference brought together practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to discuss the current landscape of empirical evidence on financial inclusion in Africa and its implications for policy in Malawi.

IPA Peru and J-PAL LAC collaborated with the Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD), a local research center, to hold a seminar in La Paz on the importance of generating and using evidence in public policy.Local policymakers as well as members of academia, civil society, and international organizations attended the event.Dylan Ramshaw (Deputy Country Director, IPA Peru) introduced IPA and J-PAL’s mission and work.Marta Garnelo (Policy Associate, J-PAL LAC) presented on the importance of using causal evidence to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of social programs as well as the methodology of randomized evaluations.