The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,100 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Anchored by a network of more than 1,100 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.
Our affiliated professors are based at over 130 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty. They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training.
Our Board of Directors, which is composed of J-PAL affiliated professors and senior management, provides overall strategic guidance to J-PAL, our sector programs, and regional offices.
We host events around the world and online to share results and policy lessons from randomized evaluations, to build new partnerships between researchers and practitioners, and to train organizations on how to design and conduct randomized evaluations, and use evidence from impact evaluations.
Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters, and connect with us for media inquiries.
Based at leading universities around the world, our experts are economists who use randomized evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. Connect with us for all media inquiries and we'll help you find the right person to shed insight on your story.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Our global office is based at the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It serves as the head office for our network of seven independent regional offices.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.
How do policies affecting private sector firms impact productivity gaps between higher-income and lower-income countries? How do firms’ own policies impact economic growth and worker welfare?
How can we identify effective policies and programs in low- and middle-income countries that provide financial assistance to low-income families, insuring against shocks and breaking poverty traps?
Peer effects enter education production complementarily, yet students in underserved areas often lack access to high-achieving peers. This absence limits positive learning spillovers while exposing students to negative peer effects such as motivation deficits...
Our project is a one-year school-based pedagogical intervention targeted at public primary schools in Benin, which will be implemented over the period 2027-2028 following exploratory research over the period 2025-2026. It involves organizing inspections of...
Effective classroom time management in primary education remains a challenge, as traditional teaching methods often lead to disengagement among young learners. Pupils frequently become bored with note-taking, while teachers struggle to meet weekly curriculum...
This research proposal, submitted by the Saint-Louis Economic Research Laboratory (LARES), seeks to evaluate the impact of the PROMET program, a digital learning initiative by Senegal’s Ministry of National Education, on primary school students in low-income...
This project aims to pilot a positive parenting program (PPP) that tackles the foundational learning challenges among underserved children (ages 3-11) in Nigeria. Harmonized test scores (HTS) data shows that student learning outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa are...
The project aims to conduct an exploratory study on solar-powered borehole technology, a community-based intervention designed as a sustainable solution for climate adaptation and educational improvement in rural part of Nigeria. Implemented by our partner...
Most rural students in Sub-Saharan Africa work in agriculture. Our agenda aims to foster sustained improvements in learning by exploring pedagogical interventions associated with agricultural livelihoods. Using an RCT in 120 Liberian schools, this project...
I will conduct a cluster-randomized, school-level mental math intervention with the authorization of the District Education Officer. The intervention will focus on mental activities aimed at developing mathematics skills and practicing the four basic math...
We designed a behavioral intervention, SAFE in School (Students Advocating for Empathy), to improve the behavior and attitudes of adolescent boys and improve girls’ educational outcomes by reducing verbal and sexual harassment, thereby promoting gender equity...
In poorer countries, an estimated 70% of children struggle to read for meaning. Available evidence indicates that classroom environment is a contributor to poor cognitive and socio-emotional outcomes (e.g. Carneiro et al. 2020 and 2022; Alan et al, 2024; Alan...
We follow-up on a voucher experiment conducted among low-cost private schools in low-income neighborhoods of East Delhi. The program was designed to mimic and hence test the model of the nation-wide Right to Education Act, which mandates private schools to...
Multiple studies have demonstrated that teacher absenteeism and substandard teaching quality are significant concerns in primary schools within developing countries. Numerous scholars emphasize the significance of institutional arrangements or innovations that...
Beginning in 2012, the state government of Assam, in India, implemented a policy in which new primary school teachers are posted to government schools based on random assignment to increase transparency. In 2016 alone, 7,234 teachers were posted across 10...
This study evaluates the impact of TV-based educational lessons on foundational literacy and numeracy skills among Grade 3 students in rural Zimbabwe, specifically in Mashonaland Central and Matabeleland North provinces. The intervention addresses poor...
Burkina Faso is highly affected by climate change which represents an important health and education issue and contributed to the international displacement people (IDP) crisis. Inter-communal clashes over land, water, and other scarce resources have become...
STEM-related sector workers earn higher and face lower unemployment rates; yet, women are underrepresented in these sectors (29.2% of global workforce), reflecting the existing but overlooked girls’ low participation and achievement in STEM-education fields...
Parents have a significant influence on their children’s career choices, particularly in settings where family guidance plays a crucial role. Research by Carlana (2024) demonstrates that parental influence often reinforces gender-stereotypical beliefs...
A 15-year RCT in Ghana found that secondary school scholarships for girls significantly increased adult income, and cognitive development and survival of their children (revision requested, AER). While free primary education has expanded across Africa, few Sub...
This study examines the effectiveness and complementarity of early-grade and remedial interventions for foundational literacy and numeracy in Assam, India. In collaboration with Pratham, we propose a three-year randomized controlled trial to evaluate the...
We evaluate the impact of promoting non-agricultural entrepreneurship among young mothers on their children’s development and early learning through a novel ultra-poor graduation program (UPG) in Malawi. To our knowledge, this is the first UPG to combine the...
We propose a 10-year follow-up of a large-scale cluster-randomized trial of a low- cost home-visiting intervention – providing materials and counseling – integrated into Bangladesh’s pre-existing nutrition program (JPubE 2024). Community health workers...
Ashraf et al. (2020) conducted an RCT to evaluate the impact of negotiation skills training on girls’ educational outcomes in Zambia. The research team found that a two-week negotiation training given to eighth-grade girls significantly improved educational...
The Philippines consistently ranks at the bottom of global education rankings. Improving the education sector is a national priority, as demonstrated by the establishment of EDCOM II, a national commission tasked with overseeing its transformation. EDCOM has...
Problem: Recent evidence suggests an elevated prevalence of anxiety (19%) and depression (30%) among Colombian adolescents [1]. Simultaneously, 81% of Colombian adolescents own smartphones, devoting on average 4 hours/day to social media. We hypothesize a...
Improving student learning in developing countries not only involves identifying what works in the classroom, but also successfully implementing improvements in teaching at scale. This evaluation will use a 3-armed randomized controlled trial to test the...
Attainment of basic education for every individual is a major foundation for the socio-economic development of any society. Despite the importance of education, Nigeria still records the highest rates of girl child school dropout worldwide, exacerbated by...
Individuals with disabilities represent the largest multicultural minority in the world, with 1 out of 20 children under 14 years living with a severe or moderate disability (Azoulay, 2020). However, educational outcomes for this prevalent minority remain...
Researchers are studying Inspiring Teacher's Tools for Foundational Learning Improvement (TFLI). TFLI uses best practices from early-grade reading instruction in a structured pedagogy format, in which teachers are given teacher guides with semi-scripted, high...
Developing countries have made remarkable progress towards gender equality in school enrolment rates, particularly for primary and secondary schools. However, a wide gender gap remains in the transition to secondary school and completion rates. For instance...
Children’s and adolescents' mental health is a growing global concern, especially in developing countries and among vulnerable groups (WHO, 2022). Although the link between youth mental well-being and human capital development is well-documented in HICs...
This project seeks to refine and test a self-concept intervention that will tackle the effects of gender stereotypes on girls’ identity formation, learning outcomes, and choice of vocation. Normative stereotypes can influence both the academic performance and...
Over half of girls enrolling in the first year of primary school in Uganda drop out before completing all seven years. This research examines a key factor in dropout decisions: school fees. Similar to many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, households in Uganda...
Despite a long history and recent efforts to integrate environmental education into school curriculums, effective implementation remains challenging due to teachers’ varied beliefs about climate urgency and different levels of prior exposure to these topics...
The team is studying the impact of a scholarship-based intervention aimed to foster women's empowerment in Niger. After three years of implementation of the scholarships, school dropout and marriage rates among adolescent girls were two times smaller for...
There is a large donor interest in foundational literacy, given the belief that it can spearhead future learning. However, there is limited causal evidence on the long-run impacts of these programs. The team examines this question in the context of a...
The Government of India has launched the NIPUN Bharat initiative to achieve universal foundational literacy and numeracy in primary schools. Uttar Pradesh is aggressively implementing NIPUN Bharat in its 110,000 government primary schools which teach 6 million...
The Philippine basic education system has been facing many challenges, particularly in the quality of education and poor learning outcomes. Recent large-scale assessments revealed that Filipino learners rank among the lowest in literacy and numeracy (PISA...
Air pollution has been documented to have large detrimental effects on health, test scores, and productivity. Governments have long-term goals of reducing air pollution, but in the meantime, cost-effective policy alternatives are needed in the short term...
Inadequate training of preschool teachers alongside limitations in the provision of age-appropriate learning resources across classrooms in Kenya compromises nourishing children’s full developmental potential in their formative years, which can have accruing...
The purpose of this grant is to enable the designing and developing of a text message chatbot to engage Filipino students in grades 3-5 and their caregivers in personalized tutoring dialogues to help students learn basic numeracy operations. The chatbot will...
There is a lack of solid evidence on the impact of using televisions in classrooms in low-income countries, despite the potential benefits that such a low-cost technology could bring to education in these settings by addressing the issue of teacher quality...
The objective of this pilot study is to conduct preparatory activities for a randomized controlled trial planned for 2026, which aims to understand the role language acquisition plays in supporting early childhood development and later school preparedness. The...
Educational experiences rarely integrate the perspectives and insights of learners, including those training to be teachers. In Uganda, a didactic culture that treats the educator as the sole source of authoritative knowledge prevails. Nourani et al (2023)...
Over the last three decades, many developing countries have made tremendous progress in school enrollment. However, students in those countries sometimes very low learning outcomes. Solutions to address this learning crisis, such as remedial programs with...
The Fruit Forest Initiative for Schools (FFIS) aims to establish sustainable fruit forests on school properties to enhance biodiversity, environmental education, and student nutrition. The mitigating effects of agro-forestation may also improve students'...
Can teaching children about past violent conflicts help them learn skills such as cross-cultural tolerance, empathy, non-violence, and national citizenship? Countries with violent pasts often omit this history from school curricula, creating significant...
Researchers are evaluating two interventions that were virtually implemented during Covid-19-related school closures via a school-based cluster Randomized Controlled Trial. The interventions are (1) a gender-neutral Growth Mindset (GM) program around malleable...
This project studies the long-term effects of designating mothers as beneficiaries of cash transfer programs. It leverages the experimental design accompanying Tayssir, a government program that provides cash transfers to poor households with school-age...
Research indicates that poverty impedes cognition. This is particularly evident in developing countries, where children often underutilize their brains both outside and in school. The development of abilities such as critical analysis, informed decision-making...
The intervention involves the teacher-directed use of educational technology focusing on foundational learning in first and second grade. The smartphone app, Chimple, uses a game-based approach, provides simple performance metrics, and enables formative...
Recent decades have seen enormous progress in the implementation of Benin’s education reform known as the New Program of Study where the focus was on the first year of primary school when the reform began in 1999. Despite commendable efforts to improve...
How to improve the gender gap in educational outcomes and labor market participation, especially in Africa, is a perennial source of concern for academics and policymakers. Despite free-education policies and widespread informational campaigns on return to...
This pilot study will lay the groundwork for a rigorous randomized evaluation of a set of interventions seeking to reintegrate out-of-school youth in Ethiopia (particularly those who are marginalized or living in conflict-affected settings) into the formal...
Poor air quality has become endemic in many parts of the world due to its negative impact on health and cognitive abilities, with several developing countries shutting down their education and economic activities for weeks when air quality is bad. Early...
In Senegal, as in many SSA countries, teaching quality has been shown to be problematic, and the cause of insufficient learning from students. The team is currently evaluating the short-term impact of delivering a digital kit to teachers in 140 schools in the...
This project aims to enhance and scale 4-H Liberia's School-Based Agricultural Education (SBAE) program. By collaborating with 4-H Liberia, a local NGO, and integrating findings from a previous randomized controlled trial, the project will develop, test, and...
A fundamental challenge of education is that students are different. Teaching children in a classroom of 20 or 30 students when these students vary enormously in their academic levels is an extraordinarily difficult task. In Indian government schools, this...
Providing quality education is a global challenge, particularly magnified in developing nations. The traditional teacher-centered approach has proven inadequate in developing higher-order skills – such as creativity, curiosity, and confidence – highlighting...
The provision of academic, social, and emotional guidance to young girls is key to helping secure a bright future by ensuring informed decision-making. In this regard, the team partners with Braveaurora – an NGO to pilot the girl mentorship program which...
This project aims to evaluate a two-tiered school-based socio-emotional learning and mental health program: (i) a universal curriculum component led by the classroom teacher, focusing on socio-emotional competencies; (ii) for students with mild mental distress...
In low and middle-income countries, women's agency has been and continues to be constrained, leading to lower levels of human capital compared with men. Barriers to women’s agency limit their capacity to advocate for investments in themselves, resulting in...
Student absenteeism presents a major challenge to the government in improving educational outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa despite the efforts to address the problem undertaken by the African governments over the past decade. Information asymmetry between...
This pilot project focuses on evaluating the impact of play-based learning intervention implemented by the Tanzania Early Childhood Education and Care (TECEC) in under-resourced communities of Mara and Mwanza regions. The intervention includes the design of...
Air pollution remains a persistent problem in cities in low-and-middle-income countries leading to a loss in life expectancy (Fang and Greenstone, 2019), lower worker productivity (Adhvaryu, Kala and Nyshadham, 2022), and declining test scores (Bharadwaj et al...
Evidence from a diversity of contexts has shown the potential economic, social, and political benefits of educating girls. Despite this, there is muted evidence on interventions that specifically target girls who have dropped out of school. Pratham's Second...
This research aims to evaluate the impact of the Government of Indonesia’s “Quality Reading Books for Students” program on students’ reading habits, literacy skills, and teachers’ practices at school, by using a randomized evaluation covering about 1,000 low...
In Ethiopia, millions of children face barriers to attending school due to internal displacement, resulting in the rise of illiteracy, and extending intergenerational challenges. Moreover, existing schools at their destination are incapable of accommodating...
Teachers’ stereotypes are recognized to be pervasive (Tiedemann 2002) and have consequences for children’s learning outcomes and educational choices (Carlana 2019). This literature overwhelmingly focuses on high-income settings and leaves largely unexplored...
The project aims to conduct an exploratory study on a digital foundational literacy and numeracy product for early years’ foundational stage (children aged 18-60 months) learners developed by their partner organization. Wunderkind Smart Learners (WSL) is a...
The proposal motivates an "adapt and test" approach to adapt Breakthrough's "Taaron ki Toli" (TKT) gender sensitization program for students participating in Avanti Fellows online education programs. Breakthrough’s content will be adapted into digital modules...
244 million children are currently out of school worldwide and are at high risk of never obtaining functional literacy and numeracy, significantly jeopardizing their futures. AREAi has developed a model to teach functional literacy and numeracy skills to out...
WOOP (Wish, Outcome, Obstacle, Plan) is a low-cost behavior change intervention with a track record of improving short-term student outcomes in the US. WOOP fosters metacognitive skills of planning and self-regulation: goal setting (imagining a desired future)...
This project studies how to achieve lasting literacy and numeracy gains among the tens of millions of underserved children in rural areas of very low-income countries. To do so, it will measure the persistence or fadeout of massive literacy and numeracy gains...
Recent literature on human capital formation emphasizes the dynamic skills-building process throughout the life cycle. According to Cunha and Heckman (2010), deficiencies in building specific skills early in life make it difficult to catch up later. In 2014...
This study will measure the long-run effects of the Northern Uganda Literacy Project (NULP), a structured pedagogy-based, mother-tongue-first literacy intervention that focuses on training and supporting teachers in grades 1-3. The NULP has been shown to be...
While many children worldwide now have access to preschool, preschool quality varies, especially in low-income countries. What cost-effective and impactful interventions can a policymaker adopt to improve preschool quality and children’s holistic skills? The...
Climate change is primarily a water crisis, with 1.8 billion people expected to be living in “absolute” water scarcity by 2025 (UN 2022). In Jordan, the crisis is current, and piped water is only provided on “water days”, sometimes just once or twice per week...
The governments of Ghana and Sierra Leone have each designed an outcomes fund mechanism to improve student access, retention, and learning. Part of the rationale is to create a ‘market for impact’. The hope is that service providers with good insights into how...
The ability to analyze multiple options and make well-informed decisions, along with skills such as strategic planning, memory enhancement, and spatial understanding, are invaluable attributes cultivated through chess. Concurrently, studies have indicated that...
Curiosity and critical thinking are essential components of the learning process, enabling students to explore and evaluate information and ideas. By fostering curiosity and encouraging critical thinking, teachers can create a more engaging and effective...
Millions of children in low- and middle-income countries are at risk of not achieving their developmental potential, partly due to inadequate and unequal access to preschool education. These inequalities have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic: in...
Early childhood is a critical period for acquiring foundational skills essential throughout a child’s education. The importance of mothers in supporting skill acquisition is recognized, but much remains to be known about how to effectively support both mothers...
Many of the most effective interventions to improve literacy and numeracy center on structured pedagogy. These programs aim to illuminate a path toward effective instruction by giving teachers a step-by-step guide for teaching content effectively. The goal is...
This study proposes a randomized trial in Morocco to measure the effects of a new teacher trainee internship program on (1) middle school student learning and (2) future-teacher retention and productivity. This is a large-scale trial that tests one of the main...
The OECD predicts that by 2030, 80% of the world’s poor will live in fragile states and 30% will live in “extremely fragile” countries. These countries exemplify how fragility, extreme poverty, political oppression, and gender deprivation reinforce one another...
The Government of Andhra Pradesh (GovAP) in India has launched one of the first government-run personalized adaptive learning (PAL) with edtech programs in over 500 schools. This program was designed based on existing evidence that PAL is an effective pedagogy...
Despite progress in addressing barriers to human capital in the last two decades, significant learning gaps persist. A new line of research suggests that holistic skills have been associated with positive impacts on later life outcomes. However, there is...
The Saharsh curriculum is being implemented in grades 1-8 across Tripura (India) public schools in the 2023-2025 school years by Labhya in partnership with the government of Tripura. Labhya is an Indian education non-profit and in partnership with governments...
Schools in Administration are 35 public institutions run by private agents in low-income areas of Bogota, Colombia. These private providers are chosen in competitive processes with a quality criterion. The providers have flexibility in the administration of...
In Pakistan, as in many developing countries, students are often multiple grades behind, and there is wide dispersion in learning levels within a single classroom. This ongoing study in the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) of Pakistan uses a randomized...
This project will study the impact of regular psychological support on students' outcomes in Peru. The government implemented a program that randomly provided 500 out of 1,000 large schools with high reports of school violence the resources to hire a full-time...