July 2018 Newsletter
Measuring women’s and girls’ empowerment in impact evaluations
The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 5 provides a rallying call to achieve equality and empowerment for all women and girls. To progress toward this vision, we need a better understanding of effective policies to empower women and girls. And for that, we need to know how to measure empowerment well.
Researchers face many trade-offs and challenges in measuring empowerment. How can we measure women's power to make choices that matter to them when we rarely observe decision-making directly? Should we focus on outcomes like education, health, and income, or more direct measures of agency like decision-making power or self-efficacy—or both? When should we use internationally standardized survey questions and when is it better to develop locally tailored ones?
J-PAL’s newest research resource, A Practical Guide to Measuring Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment in Impact Evaluations, tackles these questions and more. Gathering insights from the experiences of J-PAL affiliated researchers and from diverse disciplines, the guide offers practical tips for how to measure women's and girls’ empowerment in impact evaluations. Read more »
Six rules of thumb for understanding statistical power
Randomized evaluations can provide credible, transparent, and easy-to-explain evidence of a program’s impact. A high-quality evaluation requires adequate statistical power and a sufficiently large sample size to yield meaningful results. J-PAL North America has laid out six rules of thumb for researchers and practitioners to keep in mind when designing an evaluation to ensure the right level of statistical power. Read more »
FEATURED POLICY INSIGHT
Reducing search barriers for young jobseekers
Young jobseekers face many barriers to quality employment, including not knowing how to search for jobs efficiently and struggling to communicate their skills to employers. Evidence from nineteen randomized evaluations shows that programs focused on reducing job search barriers often improve jobseekers’ employment outcomes. Read more »
AFFILIATE SPOTLIGHT
Adam Osman on expanding opportunities for evaluation in the MENA region
In our recent interview, Adam Osman (University of Illinois–Urbana Champaign; Co-Chair, J-PAL's MENA Research and Policy Initiative) reflected on catalyzing research in the Middle East and North Africa region. “We've been working for a few years to build relationships in the region and lay the groundwork to help support those who want to run impact evaluations. There is so much demand from policymakers and NGOs for evidence-based policy.” Read more »
UPCOMING EVENTS
September 26–27: Teaching at the Right Level Conference, Johannesburg, South Africa
J-PAL Africa and Pratham will co-host a conference on Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) in Johannesburg, South Africa, September 26–27, 2018. The conference brings together education stakeholders from a growing network of TaRL implementers for two days of knowledge sharing and brainstorming geared toward fostering future collaboration. Learn more and apply by July 27 »
July 25: Measuring Women's and Girls' Empowerment in Impact Evaluations, Washington, D.C.
The Center for Global Development, in collaboration with Data2X, will host a public event in Washington, D.C. on July 25, 2018 to mark the launch of J-PAL’s Guide to Measuring Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment in Impact Evaluations. Experts will discuss the proposed measurement approaches, promising ways to overcome challenges related to measuring empowerment, and important areas for future measurement research. Register now »
MEDIA HIGHLIGHTS
Economics and Mosquito Nets
BBC World Service
DFID-backed RCTs take on 'new frontiers' in fragile countries
Devex
J-PAL in global tie-up to promote education, health
Trade Arabia
In search of India’s missing women
The Hindu Business Line
Getting mindful of money matters
Economic Times
NEW RESEARCH PAPERS
Will a Five-Minute Discussion Change Your Mind? A Countrywide Experiment on Voter Choice in France
Vincent Pons
Double for Nothing? Experimental Evidence on the Impact of an Unconditional Teacher Salary Increase on Student Performance in Indonesia
Joppe de Ree, Karthik Muralidharan, Menno Pradhan, Halsey Rogers
The Morale Effects of Pay Inequality
Emily Breza, Supreet Kaur, Yogita Shamdasani
Energy Productivity and Energy Demand: Experimental Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Plants
Nicholas Ryan
FEATURED JOBS
Research, Education, and Training Associate, J-PAL Global (Cambridge, MA, US)
Communications Fellow, J-PAL Global (Cambridge, MA, US)
Digital Communications Associate, J-PAL Global (Cambridge, MA, US)
Policy and Communications Associate, J-PAL South Asia (New Delhi, India)
Policy Manager, Gender, J-PAL South Asia (New Delhi, India)
Senior Policy Associate and Donor Liaison, Agriculture, J-PAL Global (Cambridge, MA, US)