Building on local capacities to generate policy-relevant evidence in LMICs
Webinar | Online
About the Event
Beyond the ethical imperative to increase the diversity of researchers in economics, bringing more voices into the field will lead to a richer body of evidence. Academics living and working in-country are more likely to develop locally grounded, quality projects with strong partner buy-in. Furthermore, local researchers are well placed to ensure that findings from their research are used to influence policy decisions.
This event, hosted by CLEAR/J-PAL South Asia and J-PAL Africa, will explore the importance of strengthening regional researcher capacity, the demand for capacity building opportunities in each region, and the systemic barriers or challenges faced by local researchers. The event will then introduce J-PAL’s African and Indian Scholars Programs, featuring two researchers, Dr. Debayan Pakrashi (Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur) and Dr. Aaron Abuosi (University of Ghana) whose research activities have been supported via these programs. The scholars will present one or two research projects funded through the programs.
The event moderators will then lead a 15-mn Q&A session with the researchers to highlight the extent to which the Scholars' Programs have contributed to the advancement/diversification of their own research interests, and how their research is integrated and evolving within development organizations and/or governments to support the policy priorities of their state/country/region.
This event, hosted by CLEAR/J-PAL South Asia and J-PAL Africa, will explore the importance of strengthening regional researcher capacity, the demand for capacity building opportunities in each region, and the systemic barriers or challenges faced by local researchers. The event will then introduce J-PAL’s African and Indian Scholars Programs, featuring two researchers, Dr. Debayan Pakrashi (Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur) and Dr. Aaron Abuosi (University of Ghana) whose research activities have been supported via these programs. The scholars will present one or two research projects funded through the programs.
The event moderators will then lead a 15-mn Q&A session with the researchers to highlight the extent to which the Scholars' Programs have contributed to the advancement/diversification of their own research interests, and how their research is integrated and evolving within development organizations and/or governments to support the policy priorities of their state/country/region.
Speakers
| Nome | Título | Biography |
|---|---|---|
| Aaron Abuosi | Professor of Health Policy and Management | Aaron Abuosi is an Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management in the University of Ghana Business School. He holds a Phd in Health Services Management, MBA in Health Services Administration and BA in Nursing and Psychology. Aaron worked with the Ministry of Health in various capacities, including general nursing, Nursing Tutor, Hospital Administrator and General Manager for close to two decades before becoming an academic. He has taught, researched, and published extensively on quality of care, patient safety, health insurance, non-communicable diseases, and sexual and reproductive health. He consults for the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service, and the World Health Organization on quality of care, patient safety and health financing. He has won several local and international grants for research. He has presented several papers in international conferences and serves as reviewer for several peer reviewed journals. |
| Debayan Pakrashi | Associate Professor | Dr. Debayan Pakrashi is an Associate Professor at the Economic Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute Kolkata and the Department of Economic Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. He completed his PhD in Economics from the School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia with the Dean's Award for Outstanding Research Higher Degree Theses. Dr. Pakrashi is an applied microeconomist particularly interested in issues related to public policy and public health. His current research focuses on technology adoption and diffusion; maternal and child health; women's safety and empowerment, etc; using both primary (RCTs, household surveys, field, and audit experiments) and secondary datasets (cross-sectional as well as panel data). He recently finished a project on large scale adoption of “System of Rice Intensification” with 8,000 farmers from 200 villages in rural Bangladesh, in collaboration with the Government of Bangladesh with funding received from UKAid and International Growth Centre Bangladesh and successfully increased adoption rates (of rice cultivation using SRI) to about 50% among small scale farmers, particularly poor and disadvantaged female farmers. The results from this work publihed in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics received the AJAE Outstanding Article Award at the 2023 AAEA Annual Meeting. |
Moderators
| Nome | Título | Biography |
|---|---|---|
| Urvashi Wattal and Abdoulaye Ndiaye | Urvashi Wattal is the Associate Director - Policy at J-PAL South Asia. She supports the regional office’s efforts to promote evidence-based policymaking and build capacity for monitoring and evaluations. She is also leading J-PAL SA’s health sector and training engagements with a range of stakeholders. She is also the lead for the Cash Transfers for Child Health initiative hosted by J-PAL SA. Prior to joining J-PAL, she worked as an evaluation and research manager at Catalyst Management Services in India, working on evaluations of in the areas of early marriage, HIV, agriculture, and education. Urvashi holds a Masters in Development Studies from TISS, Mumbai, and a Bachelors in Economics and International Studies from Macalester College, St. Paul, US. Abdoulaye Ndiaye is a Senior Policy Associate at J-PAL Africa. Prior to joining J-PAL in 2020, he worked at the World Food Program as a program policy officer, focusing on social protection and safety nets issues. Before that, he conducted research on labor migration and labor market reforms as a research assistant for the Center for Technology and Economic Development. Abdoulaye holds a master’s degree in international economic policy from Sciences Po Paris and a bachelor’s degree in economics from New York University Abu Dhabi. |