Innovations For Poverty Action

As part of ipa's sector programs, ipa's peace & recovery program (p&r) aims to improve outcomes for conflict- and crisis-affected populations by building the evidence base on reducing violence and fragility, promoting peace, and preventing, coping with, and recovering from crises. In 2024, ipa launched the citizen security research initiative (csri), funded by the u.s. Department of state's bureau of international narcotics and law enforcement affairs. Csri aims to advance evidence on topics central to justice, civilian security, and crime and violence reduction addressing gaps in knowledge about effective strategies to strengthen justice systems and combat illicit activities.

Ipa has also continued to directly run rigorous field research to identify cost-effective and scalable programs. One example relates to childhood immunization, one of the most cost-effective ways of reducing child mortality, but in some contexts a large percentage of children fail to complete their immunization schedules. A simple, low-cost innovation a colored bracelet used to signal whether a child has initiated vaccination, progressed in the schedule, or completed all first-year vaccinations on time was found to increase timely and complete vaccination by 13 percentage points. To build a path to scale, ipa and researcher anne karing have been working closely with the government to integrate the intervention into routine systems and processes such as the vaccine supply chain, and test it at scale. Ipa is also working closely with the national and district civil service to build capacity within the ministry of health to manage the intervention, refine tools and protocols, and conduct implementation research into how to most cost-effectively deliver the intervention at scale in sierra leone.

Digital financial services have transformed how people save, borrow, and make payments especially in low- and middle-income countries. But rapid innovation has also introduced new risks for consumers, including hidden fees, fraud, over-indebtedness, and limited avenues for resolving problems that arise. In 2024, ipa continued to build evidence on the evolving nature of financial technologies and associated risks through our consumer protection research initiative.

Ipa's social protection program partners with governments and other implementers working to move households out of extreme poverty by creating economic opportunities for the poor. Ipa worked with the world bank's gender innovation lab on the effective socio-emotional skills to gain economic empowerment (esteem) framework, which clarifies which socio-emotional skills drive economic empowerment for different groups and provides free measurement tools and research insights on skills training and women's economic activity. This comprehensive approach positions ipa to build the next generation of evidence using common measurement frameworks while generating implementer-friendly insights for effective program scale-up.

Other programs.