CEGA Welcomes Six Visiting Scholars
CEGA’s Global Networks initiative is hosting six East and West African scholars at UC Berkeley this semester to develop their skills in rigorous impact evaluation and grow their networks. Beda Castillo, this semester’s Global Networks intern, spoke with the six fellows to discuss their research and aspirations as fellows under the East Africa Social Science Translation (EASST) Collaborative and Development Impact West Africa (DIWA) programs.
We are excited to announce that we have welcomed back our cohort of residential EASST and DIWA fellows at UC Berkeley, since the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted our program in March 2020. This group of six fellows is not only the largest cohort since we began hosting fellows in 2012, but also includes scholars from Ghana and Burundi for the first time. During their fellowship, the scholars will audit courses in impact evaluation, meet regularly with faculty and peer mentors, work on a research project, and present their work at several seminars at UC Berkeley and beyond. Below we introduce the fellows and the research projects they are focusing on while here, and some first impressions of their time on campus.
Bezawit Bahru (EASST Fellow)
Home Country: Ethiopia
Research Project: Bezawit is designing a randomized evaluation that aims to quantify the effect of Ethiopia’s flagship cash transfer program on women’s time use agency, social capital, and mental health. She will also evaluate the impact of men engaging in behaviour change communication and time saving technology on women’s time use agency, social capital and mental health.
First Impressions: “For me, [this fellowship] is a very perfect fit to my background, I have experience in impact evaluation and also a bit of policy engagement…I was lacking experience in experimental approaches and here it is used more widely, whenever possible, so it is a very good fit to what I know and what I don’t know.”
John Gambo (DIWA Fellow)
Home Country: Ghana
Research Project: John, together with several co-authors, is working on designing and implementing his DIWA-funded project to evaluate the Northern Rural Growth Program (NRGP) in Ghana’s effect on smallholder farmers’ income, productivity, and food security. The NRGP was set up to achieve sustainable agricultural and rural livelihoods, in counter to the poverty-inducing patterns of erratic rainfall, low soil fertility, and lack of farming activities in dry season that affect the three northern regions in Ghana.
First Impressions: “My experience in Berkeley is so amazing. Being my first time in the U.S., I am indeed surprised about many things: the infrastructural development, the technology that is applied in almost every area of life. Here technology has made a lot of work simple.”
Richard Boso (DIWA Fellow)
Home Country: Ghana
Research Project: Richard, together with CEGA affiliate Alfredo Burlando, is working on a DIWA-funded pilot project to evaluate the Government of Ghana’s Microfinance and Small Loans Center (MASLOC) program which provides, manages, and regulates funds for microfinance and small-scale credit schemes. Richard is seeking to evaluate the impact of small loans on the survival and development of small businesses using a quasi-experimental approach. They will also assess the quality of beneficiary targeting and program sustainability, and are thinking through the design of a larger study based on this pilot.
First Impressions: When asked, How does it feel to be one of the first fellows from Ghana?, Richard responded, “One word. Humbled….I am humbled by the opportunity, at the same time I am a little intimidated by the responsibility to represent my nation.”
Michel Armel Ndayikeza (EASST Fellow)
Home Country: Burundi
Research Project: Michel, together with UC Berkeley PhD students Luisa Cefala and Nicholas Swanson, is working on an EASST-funded randomized evaluation estimating the impact of a job training program on soft and hard skills of recent Burundian graduates.
First Impressions: “[My] first goal is to develop the pre-analysis plan of my research proposal, and my second goal is to develop my knowledge of econometric goals related to impact evaluation so that I may be able to teach courses back in Burundi and also provide trainings in Burundi wherever possible.”
Mulusew Gerbaba (EASST Fellow)
Home Country: Ethiopia
Research Project: Mulusew is working on several experimental projects while at Berkeley, aiming to address two pressing public health challenges (acute malnutrition and tuberculosis) in Ethiopia. The first project estimates the causal impacts of combined effects of WASH and psychosocial stimulation on the growth and development of children treated with community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM). The second project integrates deep learning techniques to improve active tuberculosis (TB) case detection in low-resource settings.
First Impressions: “The way students interact here is more active engagement through academics and nonacademics; there are vibrant communities here.”
Jonathan Izudi (EASST Fellow)
Home Country: Uganda
Research Project: Jonathan is working on designing a quasi-experimental study to examine if a recently-launched Ministry of Health program to treat patients with a six month anti-TB regimen will be more effective then the standard eight month anti-TB regimen in Uganda.
First Impressions: “I think Berkeley really is a ground of great importance, of knowledge, and a lot of well experiences…so it is really a totally unique experience for me and I’m super excited to be here.”
For all fellows, the semester they spend at Berkeley is just the beginning of their journey in evidence-driven research and policy change. Upon returning to their home institutions, EASST and DIWA fellows are asked to engage in curriculum development or conduct short-courses to strengthen rigorous evidence generation knowledge within their universities and countries. To this end, the goals and aspirations of the Fall 2021 fellows are nothing short of ambitious. Jonathan says, “I am here to take [this knowledge] back home…I plan to run courses and incorporate some of these impact evaluation approaches, and to use this more and more in the public health sector…[I want] to extend this information to people who do not have the opportunity to reach here.” Similarly, Mulusew and Beza, share the aspirations of “establish[ing] an impact evaluation causal inference lab somewhere in Ethiopia…we want to replicate what we learn here and teach all young fellows in Ethiopia — PhD and Masters students.” They will join a network of over 45 researchers who we have hosted at Berkeley, and hopefully stay connected with us and each other for decades to come. We’ll catch up with them again after their time here to share some reflections — stay tuned!
