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CREDIT: 
Amos Odero
Global Lens: Breaking the Cycle with Micro-Insurance
Johannes Haushofer, Joost de Laat, Matthieu Chemin
October 27, 2011

The second post in our series comes from Amos Odero, a Research Associate on the Urban Micro-Insurance Project in Nairobi, Kenya.

“Jua Kali” means “under the hot sun” in Swahili. The term refers to the millions of Kenyans working in small businesses as artisans, mechanics, and vendors under trying conditions, even without shelter from the elements. The Jua Kali sector encompasses small-scale entrepreneurs and workers who lack access to credit, property rights, training, and good working conditions.

Kamukunji Jua Kali is an association of informal sector workers in the...
Deworming makes history: From research to action in India
Media Coverage
October 10, 2011

In the late 1990's, UC Berkley's Ted Miguel joined forces with Harvard's Michael Kremer to conduct a piece of ground-breaking research to evaluate the education impacts of school-based deworming campaigns in Western Kenya.
Worms could mess up your child's performance
Media Coverage
October 08, 2011

Sick children are not as able to learn in school as their healthy classmates. For millions of children across the world this illness is caused by intestinal worms. These parasitic worms can cause cause anaemia, stunted growth, lethargy, impaired...
DEWORMING THE WORLD: Boosting school populations in developing countries
Announcement
October 07, 2011

MIT Professor Kristin Forbes admits she once wondered if economics was "all about doing proofs in an ivory tower.” Now, as a founder of Deworm the World, she has seen firsthand "the power of good economics to improve the lives of millions.”
Deworm the World helps make history in Bihar, India
October 06, 2011

IPA’s Deworm the World (DtW) initiative, a collaboration with Partnership for Child Development, has exciting news to share. DtW released a statement reporting that its support operation in the Indian state of Bihar has treated over 17 million children, making it the largest school-based deworming effort in the world’s history.

Implemented from February through April 2011, the program aimed to target all school-age children in Bihar, which suffers from a very high rate of parasitic worm infection – exceeding 50% in most districts, according to DtW surveys. Led by the Bihar Education...
Indian state of Bihar makes history with world?s largest school-based deworming program
Press Release
October 03, 2011

Patna, India:

Over 17 million children in the Indian state of Bihar were provided with deworming treatment as part of one of the largest school-based deworming efforts ever conducted in the world. The announcement was made by Mr. Rajesh Bhushan, the State Project Director of the Bihar Education Project Council (BEPC) and Secretary of Public Relations Department, Mr. Sanjay Kumar, Secretary of Department of Health & Family Welfare and Executive Director of the State Health Society Bihar (SHSB), and Ms. Prerna Makkar, Regional Director - South Asia, Deworm the World (DtW) as they...
British parliament launch for UK NTD Coalition
Announcement
September 09, 2011

Tuesday 13 September sees the launch of the UK NTD Coalition which aims to promote awareness and action on NTDs by bringing together UK organisations and policy makers.

To mark this special occasion the British Parliament is holding a...
Esther Duflo Bribes India's Poor To Health
Media Coverage
August 12, 2011

Rajasthan is India's desert state, an often inhospitable place where per capita income averages around $1.77 per day. Poverty like that--understanding it and imagining ways to fix it--is what Esther Duflo lives for.
Interview with Esther Duflo: Fighting worms to fight poverty
Media Coverage
July 27, 2011

According to Esther Duflo what we need is “a pragmatic change of direction”. Duflo, 39, is the director of the Massachussests Institute of Technology's (MIT) Action Poverty Lab and is considered by the Economist to be one of the most influential “economic thinkers” of today's world.
2010 Global NGO Deworming Inventory
Media Coverage
July 18, 2011

You are invited to participate in the 2010 Global NGO Deworming Inventory to help ensure the deworming work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), faith-based organizations (FBOs) and other independent organizations is recognized and counted...
Experimental Researcher Helps Improve Health Care in Zambia
Media Coverage
July 14, 2011

Sometimes big ideas start with small experiments. That's been the experience of Harvard Business School professor Nava Ashraf, whose experimental approach to research in developing countries has produced insights that have influenced government policies.
What really drives the poor
Media Coverage
June 28, 2011

Banerjee and Duflo suggest small interventions rather than grand solutions to help the poor. Click here for the podcast. 
Recent Random Research Roundup
Dean Karlan, Jonathan Zinman, David McKenzie, Lori Beaman, Andrew Dillon, Karthik Muralidharan, Michael Kremer, Halsey Rogers, Marcel Fafchamps, Christopher Woodruff, Pascaline Dupas
June 27, 2011

Surprising Results of Microfinance

In a recent article in Science, Dean Karlan and Jonathan Zinman find that small loans in the Philippines helped households manage risk, but did nothing for business growth, and actually seemed to reduce subjective wellbeing.

 

Survey of Impact Assessments in Finance and Private Sector Development

David McKenzie synthesizes some of the lessons from recent rigorous impact evaluations in the field and makes some suggestions for new research.

 ...
Build it, and they will come?
Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Rachel Glennerster
June 23, 2011

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation recently secured funding for the next four years, enough to immunise more than a quarter of a billion children in developing countries. This is estimated to save more than 4 million lives by 2015, which is clearly fantastic news. Vaccines are an incredibly cost effective way of improving and saving lives. 

But what if they could be made even better?

In a new UNICEF briefing paper Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo describe their research in India with the NGO Seva Mendhir. They guessed that part of the problem was reliable...
Rethinking Deworming: New Reasons to Focus on School-Based Deworming
Media Coverage
June 22, 2011

On 29 June, 2011, The World Bank will host a seminar exploring compelling new reasons to focus on school-based deworming. DtW President Michael Kremer and DtW Executive Director Lesley Drake will both be speaking at the seminar.

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