IPA is a research and policy nonprofit that discovers and promotes effective solutions to global poverty problems. IPA brings together researchers and decision-makers to design, rigorously evaluate, and refine these solutions and their applications, ensuring that rigorous evidence leads to tangible impact on the world.
In recent decades, trillions of dollars have been spent on programs designed to reduce global poverty, but clear evidence on which programs succeed is rare, and when evidence does exist, decision-makers often do not know about it. This leads to programs that are either ineffective or not as effective as they could be, and often to wasted money and enduring poverty.
Imagine if the trillions of dollars spent on aid in the past fifty years went to programs that had a tangible, cost-effective impact. IPA exists to make this vision a reality.
IPA specializes in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) because this rigorous methodology, considered the gold standard of impact evaluation design, allows researchers to isolate the effects of a program from other factors. IPA also replicates promising studies in new contexts and supports the scale-up of solutions that work.
Transforming evidence into practice requires active mobilization of evidence to policy-makers, decision-makers, and other stakeholders through multi-channel outreach and engagement. Mobilizing evidence to policy is a key piece of IPA’s mission.
By designing and evaluating potential solutions to global poverty problems and supporting decision-makers to use this evidence, IPA is working to create better and more cost-effective programs and policies, benefiting millions of people worldwide.
