In the past year, researchers across the globe have shifted from primarily face-to-face to a variety of remote data collection modes.This has resulted in a new research paradigm that embraces modern digital solutions.However, evidence on the trade-offs between different remote surveying methods, and data quality constraints, remains limited.During this webinar on April 14, 2021, the Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), and IDinsight brought together expert research organizations to share their findings on questions related to remote research approaches.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on women and girls globally, widening existing inequalities in livelihoods, burden of care, schooling, and violence.Designing social policies to mitigate these impacts and support educational opportunities for girls—including to help them return to school and strengthen the skills they need to succeed in the workforce—is critical to post-pandemic economic recovery and gender equality.To understand the extent of these issues, and to shed light on the pandemic’s particularly hidden impacts on vulnerable girls, policymakers have needed data and evidence.

In the spirit of the Government of Côte d’Ivoire’s initiative to ensure higher levels of evaluation of public policies, IPA Francophone West Africa held a training session from April 4-8 for the Ivorian Ministry of Plan to foster an understanding of strong data systems and impact evaluation methodologies. 20 government entities hand-selected members of their technical team to join the week-long training.The IPA team shared key frameworks around monitoring, impact evaluations, and learnings with chief government officials and partners.