Building Inclusive and Effective Institutions: A Research Matchmaking Workshop

Governments around the developing world are seeking new ways to create institutions that sustain inclusive economic growth and provide critical public services, including health care, judiciary, law enforcement, and education. However, despite efforts of governmental actors and their NGO partners, the institutional policies and reforms that promote economic development are still unclear.

On April 13 – 14, 2016, the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at the University of California – Berkeley together with a consortium of partners convened a workshop designed to create practitioner-researcher partnerships for rigorously testing new strategies to support effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions. The event was led by impact evaluation experts Ernesto Dal Bó and Frederico Finan. It was held on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings and connected senior policy makers from across the developing world with researchers and implementation partners.

Participants came to the workshop with specific opportunities for policy reform or program innovation, and then collaborated with researchers to develop practical plans for linked randomized controlled trials. Impact evaluations conceived by workshop attendees could then apply for EDI research funding opportunities