Cost-ober 2020 Webinar Series: The Role of Cost Evidence in Global Development Research

Understanding the costs of a program or policy–in addition to its impacts–is critical to making informed decisions about how limited development resources are spent. Yet the supply of cost evidence in international development is low, of inferior quality, and lacking in transparency. In October and November 2020, CEGA’s Cost Transparency Initiative (CTI) and associated Costing Community of Practice (CCoP) will host its inaugural “Cost-ober” webinar series including virtual panel discussions with front-line policymakers, donors, journal editors, researchers, and practitioners regarding the role of cost evidence in boosting the policy relevance of impact evaluation research.

Panel events are listed below and will be updated as dates, moderators, and speakers are confirmed.

Part I: Publishing Cost Evidence

Wednesday, October 21st, 2020, 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM Pacific Time

This panel engaged journal editors in a discussion of the benefits of and barriers to publishing cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit analyses alongside impact evaluations of development interventions.

Moderator: Dave Evans, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development (CGD)

Panelists:

• Dean Karlan, Founder of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), Co-editor, Journal of Development Economics
• Susan Amrose, Editor-in-Chief, Development Engineering: The Journal of Engineering in Economic Development (Dev Eng)
• Rema Hanna, co-Chair of the editorial board for the Review of Economics and Statistics
• Marie Gaarder, Executive Director of 3ie, editor for the Journal of Development Effectiveness

Part II: How Do Donors Think About Cost Evidence?

Tuesday, October 27th, 2020 – 9:00 AM – 10:20 AM Pacific Time

Panelists from top aid agencies and foundations discussed the demand for cost evidence within their own organizations; share examples of how cost evidence policy for funded projects could inform programming in LMIC settings, and speak to the experience of institutionalizing cost data collection and analysis.

Moderator: Carson Christiano, Executive Director, CEGA

Panelists:

• Ruth E. Levine, CEO and Partner of IDinsight, formerly head of the Global Development and Population Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• Nazmul Chaudhury, Lead Economist, World Bank’s Operations Policy and Country Services (OPCS)
• Hannah Reed, Program Officer on the Agricultural Development team at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Dr. Neil Buddy Shah, Managing Director, GiveWell
• Daniel Handel, Evaluation Team Lead in USAID’s Policy, Planning and Learning Bureau

Part III: Policymaker Demand for Cost Evidence 

Thursday, November 12th, 9:00 AM – 10:20 AM Pacific Time

This panel asked frontline policymakers serving in government ministries (or in adjacent institutions) to provide perspective on how and when they use evidence of program costs and cost-effectiveness for decision-making.

Moderator: Craig McIntosh, Professor; Co-director, Policy Design and Evaluation Lab, University of California San Diego

Panelist:

• Gonzalo Hernández Licona, Director of the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN)
• Samson Ondiek, Business Planning Manager, Kenya Power and Lighting Company
• Barri Shorey, Senior Technical Director Economic Recovery & Development Technical Unit at International Rescue Committee (IRC)
• Damit Serge Didier Amany, Director, Project Development Result Evaluation Directorate at West African Development Bank

Part IV: Cost Evidence In Development Engineering

Friday, November 20th, 9:00 AM – 10:20 AM Pacific Time

Panelists discussed current outstanding challenges and opportunities in the use of cost estimation as a tool for designing and implementing innovations in low-resource settings.

Moderator: Susan Amrose, Editor-in-Chief, Development Engineering: The Journal of Engineering in Economic Development

• Alaka Holla, Program Manager, Strategic Impact Evaluation Fund (SIEF), World Bank Group
• Loïc Daudey, Country Manager at the French Development Agency (AFD – Agence française de développement)
• Caroline Delaire, Deputy Director of Technology and Innovation, Aquaya
• Daniele Lantagne, Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, Tufts University