NPR Features Graduation Program Evaluated by IPA | New Blog on Investing in Learning-Focused MEL

NPR Features Graduation Program Evaluated by IPA in Uganda

NPR’s Goats and Soda recently followed Dean Karlan (Founder of IPA and Professor of Economics and Finance at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management) to refugee settlements in Uganda to examine a critical question: If capital is available to start a business, why don’t people always use more of it?

The story explores a Graduation program and what IPA’s ongoing research is revealing about risk, trust, market shocks, and why households living in extreme poverty make cautious investment decisions, even when financing is available. As global aid landscapes shift, this reporting underscores why evidence, learning, and program adaptation matter as much as funding itself.

Why Learning-focused Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning is the Best Investment You Can Make Right Now

Why do so many organizations collect so much data, yet learn so little from it? Across the development sector, Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning (MEL) systems often focus on accountability instead of what truly matters: improving programs and increasing impact. In a recent blog post, Thomas Chupein (Director, Right-Fit Evidence) and Daniela Sanchez (Advisor, Right-Fit Evidence) shared how RFE helps partners shift from compliance-driven reporting to systems that prioritize learning, adaptation, and evidence-based decision-making. By investing in learning-focused MEL, organizations can adapt faster, avoid waste, and scale what works, which is more important than ever in today’s constrained funding environment.

Scaling Up Evidence-Informed Early Childhood Education Teacher Training in Ghana

IPA collaborated with the Ghana Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service (GES), Sabre Education, and Right to Play to develop, pilot, and implement Ghana's new in-service teacher training (INSET) manual to train early childhood teachers in evidence-informed, play-based learning. The INSET manual will be scaled nationwide to reach 2.4 million children, 16,200 schools, and 61,840 kindergarten teachers in Ghana over a two-year period, and will impact teaching practices, improve learning outcomes, and improve school readiness. To prepare for the scale-up, IPA has been collaborating closely with these partners to finalize the monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) framework and associated tools, develop a sustainable data system, and design an actionable learning agenda for the scale-up.

From Local Lessons to Global Scale: Generalizing Evidence on Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES)

As part of IPA’s Best Bets evidence-to-scale agenda, we have published a report synthesizing global evidence from over 40 experimental and quasi-experimental studies, along with implementation documentation, on Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES). PES offers financial incentives for landholders to conserve forests and other natural resources. This analysis provides actionable guidance for policymakers and practitioners designing or expanding PES programs, clarifying where, how, and under what conditions they are best positioned to deliver lasting environmental impact.

Evaluating the Impact of a Universal Graduation Program: Evidence from Uganda

In collaboration with IPA Uganda and Raising the Village, researchers Mahreen Mahmud and Emma Riley are conducting a randomized evaluation to measure whether supporting entire villages with livelihood interventions—instead of individual households—can lead to widespread improvements in welfare.

Join IPA in discovering and advancing evidence-backed solutions for people living in poverty around the world by making a gift today.

From now through the end of the year, all gifts to IPA will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $50,000, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous supporter. That means from now through December 31, you have a chance to double your impact with a gift to IPA.