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 1,000 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 1,000 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 120 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 research, policy, and training work is fundamentally better when it is informed by a broad range of perspectives.
Senior Research Associate, J-PAL Middle East and North Africa
Salma Salem is a Senior Research Associate at J-PAL Middle East and North Africa. She is currently working on two RCTs; one is for an edutainment project conducted by UNFPA Egypt, that aims to identify how effective media and social mobility interventions are in shifting attitudes and behaviors related to gender norms in Egypt. The other RCT is conducted by the National Council for women, and assess the impact of digital village savings and loans associations (VSLAs) on the livelihoods and investment behavior of women in rural communities in Egypt.
Salma is a holder of an Masters degree in Applied Development Economics from the London School of Economics, after being awarded the Chevening Scholarship by the British government. She also holds two bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science, with a minor in statistics, from Cairo University.
Before working with J-PAL, she worked for four years with refugees in Save the Children and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.