In December 2022, the government of Côte d’Ivoire passed a new law mandating the evaluation of public policies. The Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (MEPD), tasked with implementing the law, sought to build internal capacity on rigorous impact evaluation. J-PAL Europe and ENSEA, Côte d’Ivoire’s National School of Statistics and Applied Economics, seized this opportunity to launch an ambitious collaboration targeting students and civil servants. The partnership includes:
The partnership aims to foster evidence-informed policymaking and promote research collaborations aligned with government priorities. In October 2024, ENSEA was officially welcomed as a founding member of ADEPT.
We offer targeted support to ENSEA students in taking DEDP MicroMasters classes. To remove learning barriers, we translate subtitles into French, offer tutoring sessions and provide scholarships. Through this effort ENSEA and ADEPT aim to offer students a powerful academic and professional signaling tool in the development space, an opportunity for credit recognition at pathway universities that can accelerate their progress towards earning an in-person degree and exposure to graduate-level courses taught in English by MIT faculty and J-PAL affiliates and staff.
Every year ~60 civil servants from 10+ ministries are trained at ENSEA on impact evaluation, with a focus on RCT. The program combines three in-person events and an online semester-long DEDP course allowing civil servants to earn certification from ENSEA, J-PAL, and a course certificate from MITx. One event is an incubator where learners receive hands-on advice to workshop evaluation priorities from their ministries. This upgrades the skills of practitioners and contributes to the emergence of promising collaborations between researchers and policymakers. Training events are co-led by J-PAL and ENSEA faculty for mutual learning and eventual transfer of ownership.
ADEPT is supporting ENSEA in the development of a blended master’s program in impact evaluation. The program will leverage ENSEA’s existing courses and content from the DEDP MicroMasters and is currently being designed.
Launched in 2020, the Data, Economics, and Design of Policy (DEDP) master’s program at MIT is the pioneering example for ADEPT partnerships. As the first master’s degree offered by MIT’s Department of Economics and the Institute’s first program delivered exclusively in a blended format, the program combines rigorous online MicroMasters coursework with an intensive eight-month residential experience on campus. Each year, the program trains a diverse cohort of approximately 20 students from around the world.
The DEDP program uses an inverted admissions model: only learners who complete the DEDP MicroMasters credential are eligible to apply. Admissions decisions are based primarily on academic performance in the online courses, with no requirement for prior degrees or standardized tests such as the GRE or GMAT. This approach has created a new pathway to graduate education for learners from non-traditional backgrounds. To date, the program has graduated over 100 students from 44 countries—84% of whom are international students, and more than half from low- or middle-income countries.
Graduates go on to meaningful careers and further study. Around 75% work with NGOs, multilateral organizations, or government agencies, while 21% pursue PhDs or research roles. Alumni have continued their studies at institutions including MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, and Princeton.
As the flagship model for ADEPT, MIT’s DEDP program offers a compelling proof of concept: globally informed, scalable, and rooted in open-access learning. ADEPT builds on this foundation to expand access to high-quality education and equip more learners worldwide with the skills to advance evidence-informed policy and development.
