From 10—14 July, IPA together with J-PAL Africa, held a five-day training course on evaluating social programs aimed at providing a thorough understanding of randomized evaluations and pragmatic step-by-step training for conducting one’s own evaluation. Some of the topics covered included benefits and methods of randomization, choosing an appropriate sample size, and com- mon threats and pitfalls to the validity of experiments.

The Executive Education course brought together researchers, policymakers, donors, and advo- cates of evidence and evidence-informed policy from across the globe. Organization present in- cluded: Evidence Action, Ghana Education Services, UNICEF, Young 1ove, Ethiopian Develop- ment Research Institute, Kenya Revenue Authority among others.

Day one saw J-PAL Executive Director for Africa, Laura Poswell and IPA-Kenya Country Director, Suleiman Asman welcome participants and give an overview of the respective organizations and their scope of work. The panel sessions composed of research experts who took the participants through RCT’s. Lorenzo Casaburi, Assistant Professor of Development Economics at University of Zurich presented on how to measure impact and how to randomize, while Edward Miguel, Oxfam professor of Environmental and Resource Economics at the University of California, took participants through the process of project start to finish. Suleiman presented on threats and anal- ysis of RCT’s.

Two of IPA-K’s very own RAs, John Mungai and Martin Gitahi, served as Teaching Assistants for the training, guiding the participants through group work exercises.