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News, ideas, and analysis from J-PAL staff and affiliated professors. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive monthly email updates.

A market vendor sits amid baskets of fresh fruit and vegetables

J-PAL and CEGA launch the Digital Agricultural Innovations and Services Initiative

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Through generous support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, J-PAL and UC Berkeley’s Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) launched the new Digital Agricultural Innovations and Services Initiative (DAISI) to support innovative, policy-relevant research on the availability, quality, and...
An Indian woman sits at a sewing machine, stitching a purse

Gender and Economic Agency Initiative funds nineteen new research projects on women’s work

GEA has completed its second full funding round, supporting nineteen research teams to produce evidence that addresses critical knowledge gaps on what works to support women’s economic agency. Read about the funded projects.
Headshots of Abhilasha and Amber

Alumni working together: Abhilasha Purwar ‘15 and Amber Luong ‘15 on the need for disruptive innovation to fight climate change

Amber Luong and Abhilasha Purwar first met on a J-PAL South Asia research team. Abhilasha has since co-founded Blue Sky Analytics, a climate tech startup, and Amber is now head of partnerships at Blue Sky. Read their story in our latest alumni interview.
students attending Breakthrough's gender sensitization in-classroom discussions

Gender inequality: What really needs to change?

In an op-ed for the India Development Review, J-PAL SA's Anna Rego and Shagun Sabarwal argue that policies and programs must change restrictive gender norms in order to meaningfully impact the lives of women and girls.
Rachna is standing and speaking into a microphone

Alumni Voices: Reimagining how innovation funders measure and value gender impacts

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  • Rachna Nag Chowdhuri
Rachna Nag Chowdhuri ‘13 (former research manager at J-PAL South Asia) discusses her work at the Global Innovation Fund to reimagine how funders measure and value impact on gender equality outcomes.
A group of people participating in an impact evaluation training discuss lessons while sitting at a table.

J-PAL South Asia launches Indian Scholars Program to strengthen ties with India-based researchers

J-PAL South Asia’s new Indian Scholars Program (ISP) will provide research funding, training, and networking opportunities for researchers and academics in India to further expand its network of researchers leading rigorous, policy-relevant randomized evaluations in the country.
A woman sitting at a sewing desk smiles at the camera while cutting cloth with scissors

Growing the research agenda on women’s work

Through the Gender and Economic Agency Initiative (GEA), J-PAL is catalyzing a new body of innovative research on women’s work to support policymakers in implementing policies to support working women during and after the pandemic. GEA is now expanding our research portfolio with support from the...
A man squats in a rice paddy looking at a rice plant while holding a cell phone

Affiliate Spotlight: Shawn Cole

Shawn Cole is a Co-Founder and Chair of the Board at Precision Development (PxD), the John G McLean Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, and serves as a Co-Chair for J-PAL’s Innovations in Data and Experiments for Action (IDEA) Initiative. For over twenty years, Shawn has...