J-PAL Europe

Letter from the Executive Director

We believe that advancing evidence-based policymaking in Europe requires investment in the research infrastructure to generate new evidence, as well as in the skills required to access and leverage insights from this research for more effective policies. 

In recent years, we have increasingly invested in partnerships with governments and universities across the continent to incubate new research projects, train researchers and policymakers in the fundamentals of what we do, develop access to administrative data and shared measurement tools for researchers, and help policymakers consider and act upon research findings.

Two current partnerships with European governments illustrate the kind of work we think is essential. In France, our Innovation, Data, and Experiments in Education (IDEE) program with the education ministry is an eight-year investment in promoting timely, relevant and world-class experimental research on improving education. The focus is on facilitating access to administrative data, providing conceptual and methodological support to new research, and providing training and resources to educators and policymakers. 

In Spain, we worked with the Ministry of Social Inclusion to launch randomised evaluations of 32 social inclusion pilot programs designed to accompany and extend a new minimum income scheme. 

Much of our work in Europe is captured under the umbrella of social inclusion, including our flagship European Social Inclusion Initiative. We also anchor the J-PAL network’s engagement on evaluation in humanitarian action, and run the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative and Humanitarian Protection Initiative to fund research globally. 

We also engage European development actors on how to use more rigorous evidence in their work, and we support training and policy outreach in francophone Africa.

In the years ahead, we will develop more resources to help European actors scale up evidence-backed approaches, including by advising partners on how to evaluate innovative approaches to pressing problems while keeping the path to scale in mind from the outset. We will also continue our efforts to build more research in southern and eastern Europe as well as in Central Asia.

We are grateful for the support of our partners and funders in accelerating this important work, and look forward to future collaborations with new partners who share our vision for more effective social policies across the continent.

Cillian Nolan
Executive Director, J-PAL Europe

J-PAL Europe Leadership

J-PAL Europe in Review

Fostering a culture of evidence-informed education policy in France

The French education system faces major challenges, from a decline in students’ mathematics skills to a growing learning gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their more advantaged peers. With support from the French National Research Agency, J-PAL Europe launched the eight-year Innovation, Data, and Experiments in Education (IDEE) program in 2021 to foster large-scale experimental research in education. 

IDEE has supported researchers in conducting rigorous experimental research by publishing a catalogue of administrative data with the French Ministry of Education, developing a secure remote data warehouse, offering methodological support to over 50 research projects, publishing research resources in French, and connecting researchers with key education stakeholders. 

The program has also empowered policymakers and practitioners to engage with evidence by facilitating over 30 impact evaluation trainings, launching a free online course, publishing a comprehensive resource website, connecting them with relevant researchers, and participating in national and international events to advance evidence-informed education.

Promoting social inclusion across Europe with a dedicated research fund

J-PAL Europe launched the European Social Inclusion Initiative (ESII) in 2019 in partnership with Community Jameel and Porticus to promote social inclusion in Europe through research, training, and policy outreach. ESII focuses on labor, education, and health interventions designed to support the inclusion of vulnerable populations in Europe, including youth, refugees, and migrants. 

To date, ESII has supported ten studies across eight countries on the continent. Some of these studies have focused on mitigating social exclusion of refugee children in classrooms through perspective taking (Turkey), fostering social acceptance of immigrant kids among native students and teachers and preventing social exclusion of minority groups (Italy), and testing a data-driven approach to refugee integration (the Netherlands). 

Building a Policy Lab for Social Inclusion in Spain

In July 2022, Spain’s Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security, and Migration launched an embedded Inclusion Policy Lab to evaluate innovative social inclusion programs supported by EU Covid-19 recovery funds, aiming to complement or extend the effects of the country’s minimum income scheme. 

J-PAL Europe served as scientific partner to the Lab along with the Center for Monetary and Financial Studies (CEMFI), working with a group of Spanish and international researchers to provide technical assistance to the design and implementation of 32 randomized evaluations of these pilot programs, and advise on how these learnings can be used to promote social inclusion in Spain and the rest of Europe.

Achieving sustainable livelihoods for displaced persons and host communities and promoting protection outcomes for conflict-affected populations

J-PAL Europe hosts and co-manages two global initiatives with Innovations for Poverty Action: the Displaced Livelihoods Initiative (DLI) and the Humanitarian Protection Initiative (HPI). These novel initiatives are filling critical research gaps in displacement response and humanitarian programming. DLI was launched in 2023 with support from the IKEA Foundation and has supported seven projects–including four full RCTs–over two competitive funding rounds. 

HPI was launched in 2024 with United Kingdom (UK) international development funding support. HPI has supported nine research projects thus far, including five exploratory studies, two pilots, and two full RCTs—with more research and policy partnerships in the works. 
In the past year, the DLI and HPI teams have organized three training “incubator” courses to bring together implementers and evaluators to design new policy-relevant studies.

Training the next generation of policymakers in Côte d’Ivoire

J-PAL Europe has partnered with the National School of Statistics and Applied Economics of Abidjan (ENSEA) in Côte d’Ivoire to launch a comprehensive education and training programme for Ivorian students and civil servants. The partnership focuses on building skills for impact evaluation and evidence-informed policymaking, with the support of the Ivorian Government and the French Development Agency (AFD). 

The collaboration includes three pillars: 

1. Supporting students in taking DEDP MicroMasters courses, 
2. Developing an in-service certificate program for civil servants on public policy evaluation, and 
3. Supporting the development of a master’s program in impact evaluation. 

Thus far, 33 ENSEA students have earned 71 DEDP course certificates, and four have earned the full DEDP MicroMasters credential. In addition, 62 Ivorian civil servants representing 16 ministries have participated in the collaboration’s civil servants training program. The first cohort of civil servants to participate in the training graduated in October 2024.

ENSEA is a founding member of J-PAL’s Alliance for Data, Evaluation, and Policy Training (ADEPT). Convened by J-PAL and Community Jameel, the ADEPT network is united by a shared vision: to empower the next generation of researchers, policymakers, and practitioners with the tools and ambition to innovate, test, and scale effective policies and programs to improve the lives of billions.

The Year Ahead

• Scaling our model for government partnerships across Europe: We aim to build and strengthen government partnerships that promote a culture of evidence, helping policymakers across the region to make informed policy decisions. Through our partnerships, we develop the infrastructure and insights that enable responsive and effective solutions to Europe’s most pressing social challenges.
• Partnering for research generation and evidence use in Central Asia: J-PAL Europe is seeking to forge research partnerships in Uzbekistan and across Central Asia to promote the use of high-quality evidence to address local development challenges. We have started an exploratory study together with the Ministry of Preschool and School Education (Uzbekistan) and have a solid collaboration with the Center for Economic Research and Reforms in Uzbekistan. 
• Supporting European development actors in using rigorous evidence for more effective development cooperation: We aim to mobilise our expertise to support European development agencies in using evidence in their development cooperation programmes. So far, we have worked with development cooperation agencies, including AFD, GIZ, and LuxDev, to access, leverage, and generate insights from randomised evaluations conducted worldwide to inform their development programming.
• Promoting evidence for scale and replication: J-PAL Europe will continue investing in long-term partnerships for scale by offering evidence-informed advice on programme replication and expansion, supporting policy adaptations grounded in research, and fostering a culture of evidence use beyond individual programmes and policies.

In case you missed it: Highlights from 2024

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• J-PAL Europe continued to launch new rigorous research across the region. In the map above, each dot represents a randomized evaluation of a social policy or program. 
• Yhdessä (Together): Creating documentary photography on inclusion and friendship in Finnish schools: The Yhdessä ("Together") project by J-PAL Europe uses a documentary photo series in Finnish schools to make the insights from J-PAL’s impact evaluations accessible to wider audiences. Through collaboration with researchers and implementers, J-PAL staff documented compelling stories and visuals that underscore the evaluations' outcomes, transforming complex evidence into engaging narratives that encourage broader interest in socio-economic research programs.
• A new IDEE online course: A new open online course, “Evidence-informed education: An introduction to impact evaluations” (in French, "L’éducation informée par la recherche: Une introduction aux évaluations d’impact") was developed by J-PAL Europe under the framework of the Innovation, Data, and Experiments in Education (IDEE) program. In partnership with the French Ministry of Education, IDEE’s objective is to develop experimental research in education in France and to promote evidence use.
• Esther Duflo appointed new President of the Paris School of Economics.

Lead photo credit: Spanish Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration