In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, IPA has launched Research for Effective COVID-19 Responses, or RECOVR. Through this effort, IPA is generating rigorous evidence, advising governments, and bringing together partners across the research-to-policy sector to rapidly provide decision-makers with rigorous data and evidence to mitigate the impacts of the crisis.

We would like to acknowledge the Global Poverty Research Lab (GPRL) for their support and the Yale Research Initiative on Innovation and Scale (Y-RISE) for their partnership in this effort.

IPA's RECOVR Impact Goals

To equip decision-makers in vulnerable contexts with timely data, evidence, and analysis to:

1. Reduce COVID-19 transmission rates
2. Improve social-safety net responses
3. Build resilient and adaptable businesses and employment opportunities
4. Keep children safe, healthy, and learning
5. Improve women’s health, safety, and economic empowerment
6. Build resilience and protect the financial health of families and individuals
7. Promote peace and safety, and improve humanitarian response

How we are achieving our RECOVR impact goals

Rapid Response Surveys to Answer Critical Policy Questions (more than 10 countries)

• The RECOVR survey: IPA has built a rapid response panel survey to directly inform key government partners on the health, economic, and social ramifications of the pandemic, and will be running it in eight countries to start. The survey is meant to document real-time trends of policy concern and inform decision-makers about the communities that are hardest-hit by the pandemic. Learn more here.
• The COVID-19 Economic Impact Surveys, a joint effort with the International Growth Centre, is measuring the economic impact of the crisis on a variety of agents, such as large companies, SMEs, informal and micro businesses, self-employed people, workers, and farmers in low- and middle-income countries. Learn more here.

A Portfolio of IPA Studies to Generate Rigorous Evidence on COVID-19 (more than 80 studies)

• We are rapidly developing more than 80 new individual evaluations related to the COVID-19 response. Some build on existing studies to answer how existing programs under evaluation are impacting people’s ability to cope with the pandemic.
• Others are new studies that have been quickly developed to inform the design of new programs aimed at mitigating the impacts of the crisis on health, livelihoods, learning, and other outcomes.

A Global Hub that Centralizes Research and Policy Lessons (more than 150 projects)

• We are collaborating with peer organizations to centralize and share research, resources, and funding opportunities to inform global stakeholders and advocate for more funding to be allocated to economic responses, especially in the global south.

Advising More than 20 Governments on Evidence-Based Approaches

• Over the last five years, we have partnered with dozens of ministries in over 15 countries. Almost every partner we have (and new partnerships we have just formed) has urgent requests for data needs and evidence-informed advice.
• For example, with Y-RISE, CEGA, and researchers, we are advising the government’s social protection responses in Bangladesh, Ghana, Nigeria, and Togo. And we are supporting education system distance learning responses in Ghana, Peru, Rwanda, and Zambia.

Research-on-Research to Strengthen the Quality of Remote Data Collection

• Evaluating different methods and ways of conducting phone surveys
• Hub for data-gathering world: lessons for phone banking in low-income countries
• Evidence synthesis and ‘how-to’ guidance on phone survey methods