Impact Evaluation of Governance Programs Workshop

J-PAL Africa and the Governance Initiative partnered with the UK’s Department of International Development (DFID), the EU, Irish Aid, and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) to jointly organize an evidence and training workshop on impact evaluation of governance programs in Lilongwe, Malawi. 

Representatives of 23 organizations and members of civil society working in Malawi and other countries in East Africa participated in this two-day workshop. The goal of the workshop was to familiarize participants in the use of randomized impact evaluations and other impact evaluation methodologies, particularly within the context of governance programs, and to communicate some of the evidence and lessons learned from randomized evaluations of governance programs in different contexts. 

Lectures and evidence presentations were combined with group sessions, in which participants discussed how the material could be applied to the work of their own organizations. This process allowed participants to think about the feasibility of conducting a randomized impact evaluation for a specific project, present preliminary work on an evaluation design, and receive feedback from J-PAL and Innovation for Poverty Action (IPA) affiliates and staff on how impact evaluations can fit into the design and implementation of their intended projects.  The sessions were led by J-PAL affiliate Dean Yang (University of Michigan), Kelsey Jack (Tufts University) and Martin Abel (J-PAL Africa). Fletcher Tembo (Overseas Development Institute’s RAPID program) and Cristobal Marshall (J-PAL Global) highlighted key challenges and available evidence on governance issues from Malawi and other countries.