Laterite

❓ How do you identify control groups for an evaluation when the intervention locations have been purposively selected, and in contexts where administrative data is lacking? We used geospatial data to identify control gotes (Ethiopia's smallest administrative unit) with similar agricultural and geographic characteristics to selected intervention gotes. How did we do this? 🚶🏾We physically visited gotes where the program was being implemented and obtained a GIS coordinate of each intervention gote. 📍Then, we plotted the gotes on a map and drew a square ‘cell’ centered on that GIS coordinate (red squares in figure below). 🌐After that, we identified 26 potential control regions or kebeles and overlaid a grid over these kebeles to create a set of potential control cells (green grids in figure below). Read the next steps in our case study: https://lnkd.in/e6vKSU6Z

Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) / ODI is a large-scale longitudinal study that aims to collect data on adolescent wellbeing, specifically on topics related to health, education, voice and agency, and economic empowerment. As GAGE’s quantitative research partner in Ethiopia, we've worked on this large-scale survey of boys and girls since the midline study. During that time, our colleagues Melese Alemu Samuel Tesfaye Habtamu Demissie Abdi Mersha and Fitsum Dagmawi Desta led 3 rounds of field data collection with a sample of 8,000 adolescents. We're looking forward to this next round of data collection that will support in deepening our understanding of educational opportunities for girls, psychosocial well-being, economic empowerment, and bodily integrity especially during crises.

📣 We are #hiring! Do you want to work for our research teams in East and West Africa, or know someone who would? For the full job descriptions and how to apply: https://lnkd.in/dMNK76pi

Research carried out in 355 Rwandan schools alongside the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre shows that students from disadvantaged backgrounds, including girls and overage students, scored lower in math compared to their peers. However, these same students also showed a greater improvement in math learning outcomes over two years. This provides encouraging evidence that focusing teacher training initiatives and school infrastructure improvements on less advantaged schools reaps rewards in terms of narrowing the achievement gap. Read more about our learning synthesis here: https://bit.ly/3YmM5bO

🌐We’ve increasingly been using geospatial data to support our work in development research. 🛰️Geospatial data uses remote sensing data collected by sensors, satellites, phones and drones. Our interactive geospatial database contains variables on five East African countries. These span various geospatial themes—from data on an area’s topography, to demographic and environmental data, to information on distances to surfaces. 🗺️In our recent blog, we share four interesting maps showing how we use geospatial data for our development research projects. Read about the maps here: https://lnkd.in/efRBE_-6

📝 Last September, our learning partnership with Mastercard Foundation's #LeadersInTeaching program in Rwanda came to a close. During the last months of the project, we were able to share five years' worth of findings with the STEM teachers involved in the research. We went back to each and every school and brought them summaries in Kinyarwanda. 💡 Too often, research projects do not plan for this kind of engagement with participants, focusing instead on communicating with other researchers or policymakers. We've found that the cost of organizing these events is small compared to its benefits: teachers who are engaged with research that affects them. Read more about what we did here: https://lnkd.in/eExxEcMc

In cased you missed it: loopedconsultants.com built a collaborative database of humanitarian and development consulting firms that now has more than 150 organizations from all over the world. We're happy to be a part of it!

We're proud to have worked with 60 Decibels as learning partners for Tanager's six-year IGNITE project collaborating with African agricultural institutions. Read the compilation of case studies highlighting the IGNITE journey integrating gender and nutrition in agriculture programming: https://bit.ly/3A2Ypo7

Our Ethiopia Country Research Operations Manager Fitsum Dagmawi Desta has concluded a seven-month leadership seminar in Kenya. Well done Fitsum! Read about his reflections below 👇

❓ How do you identify control groups for an evaluation when the intervention locations have been purposively selected, and in contexts where administrative data is lacking? 👩🌾 Alongside the Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group (EPAR), we are evaluating CARE Ethiopia's Women’s Empowerment through Gender Transformative Market Opportunities program. CARE selected intervention locations that had the necessary characteristics for cultivating and marketing targeted horticultural products. 🌐 We used geospatial data to identify potential control groups with similar agricultural and geographic characteristics as CARE’s selected intervention groups. However, we quickly ran into a second challenge: Ethiopia’s geospatial data didn't include the locations nor boundaries of the smallest administrative units. Read how we solved this in our newest case study: https://lnkd.in/e6vKSU6Z