Summer School 2025: Development Methodologies

As part of the "Development Methodologies" Chair held by Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, a summer school for African researchers, project leaders and other partners will be organised from July 7 to 11, 2025 in Dakar, on the campus of the African Center for Higher Studies in Management (CESAG). This edition follows four similar summer schools held online in July 2021, in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) in July 2022, and in Rabat (Morocco) in July 2023 and 2024. This new edition will be organised in partnership with the French development agency, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), the Fund for Innovation in Development, and CESAG. It will be led by renowned researchers affiliated to the J-PAL network, including Esther Duflo, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), co-founder of J-PAL and winner of the 2019 Nobel Prize in Economics.

PARTICIPANTS

The summer school will bring together three groups of participants:

• A group of French-speaking and English-speaking African researchers who have demonstrated an interest in and ability to incorporate impact evaluation methods into their research. 
• A group of project leaders keen to embark on a rigorous evaluation of the impact of their innovation. 
• A group of civil servants and other partners from Senegal and the region keen to gain a better understanding of how evaluation can be used to inform public policy.

FORMAT

A high-level day will be organised jointly with Senegalese institutional partners to mark the opening of the summer school. It will bring together participants from the summer school as well as stakeholders from the impact evaluation and public policy sectors in Senegal. 

The three main modules will be spread over three to four days. 

• Researchers will follow an academic module. 
• Project leaders will take part in an incubator to work on the evaluation of their own programme or intervention. 
• Senegalese and regional partners will take part in a module on transforming public policy through the use of evidence. 

Academic module

The aim of the academic module is to reinforce the knowledge and good practice of participants who are already familiar with the methodological foundations of impact evaluations.

The academic module will focus on the following areas: 

1) Key theoretical sessions given by J-PAL affiliated researchers

• Advanced impact evaluation designs
• Sample size and power calculation
• Measuring and designing questionnaires
• Data analysis

2) "Work in Progress" workshops where participants can present their own work and receive feedback from researchers.

3) Case studies and exercises on more specific aspects (ethics and transparency of research, coding on statistical software). 

Project incubator 

The project incubator will aim to give a non-specialist audience a solid understanding of impact evaluations and what they entail, in order to prepare them to engage in a similar process. The incubator will alternate between theoretical sessions and group work where participants can apply the theoretical knowledge acquired to their own programmes.

Transforming public policies module 

The transforming public policies module is aimed at senior civil servants and other Senegalese and regional partners who want to gain a better understanding of how evaluation can be used to inform public policies. It will be coordinated by AFD and CESAG and will aim to raise awareness among Senegalese and regional partners of the use of impact evaluations, and in particular rigorous evidence, to develop and adapt public policies.

Agenda for the 2025 summer school coming soon.

SPEAKERS

Esther Duflo, Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, co-founder and co-director of J-PAL, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2019, will give the inaugural presentation.

J-PAL affiliated researchers and senior staff will run the academic module and the project incubator, while AFD will facilitate the transforming public policies module.

REGISTRATION ACADEMIC MODULE 

Applications for the academic module are open until Friday, February 14, 2025. 

Candidates will be selected on the basis of the following criteria: 

• Being a national from an African country;
• Being fluent in English; 
• Holding a PhD (or currently pursuing a PhD) in economics and/or social sciences; 
• Being affiliated with a university or academic institution in an African country; 
• Having an interest in rigorous impact evaluations, notably RCTs, to be demonstrated, among other things, by ongoing research work (an important element for the "Work in Progress" workshops, see above).

If you are interested in this course and meet the selection criteria, we would be delighted to consider your application. 

Please complete this application form by Friday, February 14, 2025. We will contact you in March to inform you of our decision regarding your application. 

We encourage applications from people who are under-represented in economics, particularly women.  

Please note that we are not accepting applications for the incubator and the transforming public policies module; participants in these two modules will be nominated directly by the organisers. 

CONTACT 

If you have any questions about this summer school, please write to us at [email protected].