Development Impact West Africa
Motivation
Over the past ten years, the evidence-informed policy revolution has swept academic institutions, think tanks, and governments– and the trajectory towards good governance and accountability by African governments and citizens is positive. In January 2017, the Ghanaian government established a Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation charged with improving the impact and efficiency of public sector programs. However, there still remains a lack of integration of rigorous impact evaluation techniques in evaluating government programs. Additionally, local academic curricula does not include training in these methods.
Established in 2019, Development Impact West Africa (DIWA) is a partnership between CEGA and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA). Through DIWA, CEGA is helping GIMPA build tools and methods for rigorous and transparent impact evaluation into its curricula, boost demand for rigorous evidence as a tool for improved policymaking and program design, and facilitate new collaborative research opportunities between Ghanaian researchers, CEGA researchers, and policymakers.
Activities
Impact Evaluation Training and Curriculum Development
DIWA builds upon the rigor of GIMPA’s monitoring and evaluation trainings with an added focus on impact evaluation methods. Training for policymakers focuses on developing skills to commission, manage, and use impact evaluations in their decisions. Trainings for academics provides in-depth technical knowledge to design and conduct impact evaluations.
CEGA is also working with GIMPA to strengthen its economics curriculum to include impact evaluation topics.
Visiting Fellowships and Ongoing Skills Development
Select researchers are invited to apply for a competitive semester and month-long fellowships at UC Berkeley to deepen their impact evaluation skills, build their networks, and engage in collaborative research projects with CEGA faculty. DIWA fellows have the opportunity to audit courses in impact evaluation and international development; present research; attend seminars; develop curricula; design collaborative research projects; and build their networks. DIWA also provides West African faculty and graduate students with the opportunity to enroll in a practical online course in Applied Impact Evaluation.
Matchmaking, Collaborative Research and Dissemination
DIWA convenes US academics, Ghanaian academics, and Ghanaian policymakers to seed three-way research collaborations on priority questions. DIWA then provides competitive research funding for these ideas, and holds events to disseminate findings to key stakeholders.
