Corporate Impact and Sustainability Partnerships
J-PAL supports companies to achieve their responsible and sustainable business goals through evidence-sharing and research partnerships.
As part of our mission to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence, J-PAL works with companies to apply experimental research methods to pilot, evaluate, and scale corporate social and environmental impact programs. J-PAL’s global network of world-leading researchers brings a rigorous scientific approach to advancing sustainability leadership. We have helped companies make progress on their commitments across the full range of corporate sustainability actions, including emissions reductions, employee skilling and engagement, worker wellbeing, and supply chain resilience.
How we advance corporate impact and sustainability:
Evidence-based impact and sustainability insights
Access evidence from J-PAL’s database of thousands of completed randomized evaluations. We help our partners make the best use of J-PAL’s existing research through curated insights. Evidence insights can:
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Enable a fast way for partners to access J-PAL’s evidence base
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Curate learnings from existing evidence on the effectiveness of similar social and environmental interventions to inform sustainability programming
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Provide access to lessons learned in an accessible and actionable way
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Map this evidence to partner priorities and context to facilitate investment in programs with proven impact
Program impact evaluation
Evaluate new and innovative social and environmental interventions using J-PAL’s rigorous approach to impact assessment. Program evaluation can:
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Generate data-driven insights to support operational decisions for impact
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Help to understand whether to scale up the program
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Help to identify the conditions for a successful scale up
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Position companies for impact leadership within their industry
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Provide independent academic analysis to support impact claims
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Match companies with the world’s leading researchers in our network to collaboratively design, pilot, evaluate, and scale new and innovative ideas – explore our network of Affiliated Professors and Invited Researchers
Capacity building and training
J-PAL offers a range of capacity-building courses that help participants strengthen their understanding of how to find and use evidence for impact, how to think critically about impact, as well as fundamental research methods for conducting randomized evaluations. J-PAL courses and trainings include:
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Evaluating Social Programs - our flagship five-day executive education course is designed to equip participants with resources and knowledge to engage with randomized evaluations of social programs
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Custom Courses - content tailored to a specific impact theme, geographic region, or level of technical detail. J-PAL custom courses can be taught in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Indonesian. Some of our most popular modules include:
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Theory of Change - learn how to design a program to address identified needs and define the steps needed for a program to achieve the desired change in outcomes
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Evidence use - understand what constitutes good evidence, where to find it, data, and insights, and how to engage with the evidence for maximum impact
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Embedded Impact Labs
Embedded impact labs allow organizations to leverage all of J-PAL’s capabilities in impact evaluation, evidence sharing, and capacity building to support organizational impact ambitions. Labs are dedicated to working exclusively across an organization’s portfolio of impact projects to evaluate, strengthen, and scale impact programs. J-PAL works closely with partners to co-design bespoke labs that support organizational sustainability priorities.
Last year we launched UJALA, an agricultural research lab with OCP Africa, a subsidiary of OCP Group and a leading global provider of phosphate, as a key partner to increase small-scale farmers’ food security, productivity, and profitability.
Insights
Evidence from randomized evaluations led by researchers in the J-PAL network has produced insights on a range of topics relevant to corporations and social enterprises. Browse by topic below.
What are the best practices to reduce shipping emissions?
In an ongoing study, J-PAL affiliated researcher Robert Metcalfe is partnering with shipping company Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement to test how individualized feedback to ship captains can affect fuel efficiency. Read the project summary »
What trainings are most effective at improving garment worker productivity?
J-PAL affiliated researchers Achyuta Adhvaryu, Namrata Kala, and Anant Nyshadham partnered with Shahi Exports, the largest ready-made garment export firm in India, to study the effects of teamwork, leadership, and relationship management trainings on worker productivity. Read more »
How does working from home affect worker productivity and work-life balance?
A study from J-PAL affiliated researcher Nicholas Bloom and coauthors James Liang, John Roberts, and Zhichun Jenny Ying evaluated new working norms implemented by Ctrip, the largest online travel agency in China, to understand the effects on workers. Read more »
What can we learn about the social and environmental impacts of ride-hailing platforms?
To better understand the demand for ride-hailing services, J-PAL affiliated researchers Peter Christensen and Adam Osman partnered with Uber to conduct a randomized evaluation in Egypt. They used a series of targeted discounts to study how this affected demand for transportation services and how those services increase urban mobility. Read more »
How can management practices help the aviation industry to decarbonize?
To answer this question, Virgin Atlantic teamed up with J-PAL affiliated researchers John List and Robert Metcalfe, and coauthor Greer Gosnell, to understand how airline captains can be agents of change. Read more »
What is the private sector’s role in worker well-being, sustainability, and inclusive growth?
The J-PAL Firms sector shares the reflections from researchers and businesses who attended a 2023 workshop co-hosted with the Good Business Lab and the University of California, San Diego’s 21st Century India Center. Read more on the J-PAL blog »
How can firms and investors learn from randomized evaluations to improve business performance in developing economies?
J-PAL partnered with the IFC to share evidence and explore research collaboration on global supply chains, sustainability, and productivity improvement. Read more »
