In Argentina, a researcher evaluated whether informing students of their potential could be a cost-effective way to increase motivation and improve educational outcomes among secondary school students. They found that the intervention did not impact students’ perceptions of the difficulty of school tasks, school climate, academic performance, or future education plans.

Researchers evaluated the impact of a program in Sierra Leone called Empowerment and Livelihood for Adolescents (ELA) that aims to address this problem by bundling health education, vocational skills training, and micro-credit. Researchers found that, while girls experienced higher teen pregnancy and lower school attendance post-Ebola, ELA clubs mitigated many of these negative effects.

Researchers combined subsidized weather index insurance with input loans for fertilizer and modern seed use for smallholder farmers in rural Ethiopia to investigate the impact of these products on demand for insurance and resulting shifts in agricultural technology use and crop yields. Results indicate that providing free insurance may not result in meaningful increases in investment in inputs like fertilizer.