According to World Vision, around 1.2 billion people across the globe live in multidimentional poverty. Given the widespread nature of poverty, several organizations are making efforts to find solutions. Among such organizations is Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA). IPA is an organization that plays a significant role in the global effort against poverty by utilizing evidence-based research to identify effective alleviation strategies.

Evidence-Based Solutions

IPA, based in New York City and Washington D.C., operates in 20 countries and manages projects in more than 50 nations. This nonprofit focuses on using evidence-based research to determine effective poverty alleviation strategies, aiming to eliminate models that do not work.

Furthermore, IPA collaborates with governments, donors and organizations to conduct research and advocate for evidence-based solutions to global poverty. It bases its operations on a Theory of Action, focusing on the “Ripple Effect” of its impact. Sarah de Tournemire, Chief Partnerships and Philanthropy Officer at IPA, discussed with the Borgen Project the significance of evaluating the broader consequences of its initiatives.

The Origin and Mission of IPA

IPA’s Ripple Effect begins with its founder, Dean Karlan, who, while working with a microfinance institution in Latin America, found himself asking “‘How do you know whether your program is working? How do you know what your clients think of the program?’” Karlan realized through this project that, as Tournemire put it, “there is more to learn about how to effectively monitor, evaluate and learn from development projects.”

With this experience, as Karlan watched more and more organizations make new steps in the pursuit of ending global poverty, each project required new research, new trials and new people, opening up room for more error in determining effective poverty alleviation models. As thorough as each project group was, Karlan saw a need for a system, not just to organize and manage the data collected, but to create efficient, data-backed, large-scale solutions.

As he explained in an interview with Startups for Good, if researchers were conducting meaningful research in some communities, “the reality is, those awesome [data collecting teams] in those countries can help more than just that small set of researchers.” Once researchers were “experienced and knowledgeable [on] how to do that kind of work, then there’s a huge economy of scale that can be had by helping other researchers also use that knowledge, that infrastructure or that human capital to help coordinate their similar studies.”

Karlan went on to pursue a PhD in Economics at MIT, where working with his doctoral advisor, Esther Duflo, as explained by Tournemire, started asking the question that would directly prompt his creation of IPA: “How do we know what works and what doesn’t work to alleviate poverty?”

Concept to Global Impact

After completing his graduate research, Karlan began seeking evidence that the research and data collection were creating a ripple. As he wrote in his book More Than Good Intentions, he noted, “I wanted to make sure that my research and the research of other like-minded professors, did not simply get published and sit on dusty bookshelves in academic halls. I saw a void, a real need for a new kind of organization with a head for academia, but with its feet squarely in the real world. It would serve as a loudspeaker and an advocate for policy-relevant research and be full of people ready and eager to help generate research results and most importantly, it would work to scale up the ideas that are proven to work.”

Demonstrating the Ripple Effect of Innovations

How has the Ripple Effect manifested? Since its inception, IPA has conducted 950 evaluations demonstrating significant impacts across various initiatives. These include unconditional cash transfers, free malaria bed nets, targeted education strategies, chlorine dispensers for water purification, deworming programs and many more, according to Tournemire.

In its first decade, Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) focused on conducting thorough research to identify effective and ineffective poverty alleviation strategies. Tournemire stated, “In roughly the last 6 years we have been intentionally growing our work with decision-makers to create a ripple effect. Though we still create rigorous evidence we are increasing our advisory and policy work with governments in countries where we have a long-term presence.”

The Success of the Graduation Approach

IPA conducted a comprehensive review of the Targeting of the Ultra Poor Model, also known as the Graduation Approach. This program aims to provide multifaceted support to assist individuals in escaping poverty. A 2015 study analyzing results from 21,000 people across six countries found that participants experienced increased savings and enhanced physical and economic stability. Remarkably, the program demonstrated cost-effectiveness, yielding returns between 133% and 433% on the investment.

Partnerships and Policy

However, after demonstrating the effectiveness of the Targeting of the Ultra Poor Model, IPA expanded its impact by joining forces with several organizations within the Poverty Alleviation Coalition. Together, they embarked on an ambitious mission to lift 500,000 households out of poverty within five years. As Tournemire explains, “So it was sort of at that point where we had all this information, now we had to push it out to the world. We need policymakers and decision-makers to take up and use this evidence.”

IPA established a policy unit to enhance collaborations with ministries through initiatives like Embedded Evidence Labs for integrating evidence-based programs in government functions. Additionally, it formed Evidence-to-Policy Groups to foster dialogue between researchers and policymakers and it incorporated Policy and Impact Focus areas within IPA to tailor projects to decision-makers needs, among other policy-driven initiatives.

Linking Evidence to Policy for Poverty Relief

As Tournemire summarizes IPA’s mission, she explains that the organization continues “to generate evidence and informed data but almost a third of its work is now focused on this policy piece of making sure that the questions that need to be asked are being asked and there is a culture of evidence-based decision making being built.”

IPA brings forward a truth valuable to any person or entity working to alleviate global poverty. Tournemire argues “Decisions made upon rigorous data and evidence are the strongest weapons. If we want to have a real impact it’s about much more than just good intentions.” In other words, it’s the Ripples of our tangible progress that have the greatest potential in our battle to end global poverty for good.”

– Aria Desai
Photo: Unsplash