CLEAR/J-PAL South Asia’s Executive Education: Evaluating Social Programs 2024

Evaluating Social Programs (ESP) 2024 is a three-day in-person course that explores the use of monitoring and evaluation to drive sustainable social impact at scale. 

This course seeks to equip professionals from across social enterprises, NGOs, governments, and multilateral organizations with the tools to evaluate the impact of their programs, products, and services and strengthen the use of data and evidence to drive impact sustainably and at scale. 

Applications are due by 20 October 2024.

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Please note that given the volume of interest in the course, applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis and applications may be closed ahead of the deadline if all the course seats are filled. We recommend that you apply well ahead of the deadline to increase your chances of being selected. Note that confirmation of selection is subject to complete payment of the course fees.

About the course 

CLEAR/J-PAL South Asia’s Executive Education: Evaluating Social Programs is a three-day workshop that delves into the theory and practice of conducting randomized evaluations and explores how they can be used to rigorously measure social impact and inform decision-making. 

As sustainability, social impact, and innovation become increasingly important for nonprofits, businesses, and those who invest in them, the ESP is tailored towards enabling organizations to better understand how they can measure the impact of their products/services and use this evidence to identify opportunities for increased effectiveness and growth. 

The course builds on insights from J-PAL’s twenty years of conducting randomized evaluations across the world to provide participants with a clear understanding of how data and scientific evidence from rigorous impact evaluations can inform decision-making and maximize social impact across sectors. 

Evaluating Social Programs 2024 will be conducted by J-PAL affiliated researchers from leading universities around the world and senior CLEAR/J-PAL South Asia staff. Participants will learn to measure and showcase the long-term impact of their interventions through a blend of lectures, case studies, and hands-on activities. In a unique "Evaluation Sandbox," participants will apply their learnings to develop a use case for impact evaluations for their organization’s products, services, or interventions.

For the first time in ESP history, participants will also have the opportunity to engage deeply with innovators and industry leaders through a half-day-long keynote panel and open-house networking session. 

View the sample agenda to determine the applicability of this course to your learning needs. 

Course focus

Participants can expect to:

• Build an understanding of why and when social programs, products, and services need to be evaluated, and the different roles that systematic monitoring and evaluation can play in nonprofits, social enterprises, and government organizations.
• Unpack the fundamentals of social impact measurement, sustainability, and governance using tools and processes such as needs assessments, logical frameworks, and theories of change.
• Gain insight into how real-world randomized evaluations are designed and implemented, what factors affect the effectiveness of an impact evaluation, how to mitigate challenges that arise during the evaluation, and how impact evaluation can feed into a program's cost-effectiveness.
• Evaluate the applicability and scalability of research findings to optimize resource allocation and drive positive societal change.
• Engage with a vibrant community of leaders, decision-makers, and practitioners from across various domains and specializations to harness their collective expertise and support in designing, planning, and implementing rigorous evaluations for social good.

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Informational Webinar + Q&A Session

CLEAR/J-PAL South Asia is hosting a virtual Informational Webinar and Q&A session on 6 September 2024 between 5:00 pm–7:00 pm IST.

Through this session, participants can learn more about

• Course content
• Suitability for this course
• Selection criteria for applicants

The informational webinar has been conducted. 

Who can apply? 

The course is intended for professionals who are interested in understanding how they can strengthen their organizations’ programs, optimize resource allocation, scale effective solutions, and rigorously measure the social impact of their work.

This includes professionals working in international/local development organizations and social enterprises, donors, government, and other non-governmental organizations. 

Only individuals working or studying in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) are eligible to apply to this in-person training course. Interested individuals in Pakistan are encouraged to apply to the Evidence-Based Program Design workshop organized by our partner, CLEAR Pakistan and Central Asia, based at the Centre for Economic Research in Pakistan (CERP). 

The deadline for applications is 20 October 2024 at 11:59 pm IST. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.

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Scholarships

CLEAR/J-PAL South Asia is offering one scholarship spot for student applicants to attend ESP 2024. The scholarship consists of either a partial or full fee waiver based on criteria determined by CLEAR/J-PAL South Asia and discretion of the organisers. Student applicants who are shortlisted for the scholarship may have to go through an additional screening and interview process.

The scholarship will only cover the cost of the course fee. It will not cover travel, accommodation, food etc expenses in Bengaluru during the workshop. Students who are awarded the scholarship will have to make their own arrangements for the same and it is open only for individuals who are currently enrolled in a full-time Master’s Degree, Post Graduate Diploma, or PhD Program in India. 

Please note that CLEAR/J-PAL South Asia will award no further funds beyond the above scholarship.

Please reach out to Bhakti Bhowmik ([email protected]) for any questions, queries, and support.