From the Executive Director

After J-PAL MENA’s virtual office launch in 2020, the cautious return to in-person research, policy, and capacity building activities has invigorated the J-PAL MENA team this year. An overarching theme for us in 2021 was partnerships: deepening existing ones and forging new collaborations.

We expanded close partnerships with government agencies, including Egypt’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency, Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity, and Morocco’s Ministry of Labor. We incorporated lessons from randomized evaluations into partners’ policy decisions, launched new policy-relevant impact evaluations that address government priorities, and conducted innovative and tailored capacity building programs for government officials in Arabic and French.

Together with our government partners, we are laying the foundation for ambitious new embedded labs within government agencies, which aim to take an evidence-based approach to addressing top development priorities.

And we have welcomed an extraordinary new cohort of eighteen new staff members—and our first ever post-doctoral fellow—onto the team. Our new colleagues bring policy expertise; experience in academia, international organizations, and government agencies; and valuable energy and new ideas.

We’re grateful to our local, regional, and international funding partners who continue to make this work possible. As vaccination efforts accelerate in Egypt, we are hopeful for 2022 but remain cognizant of the disproportionate effects of the pandemic on the most vulnerable across the region. Our commitment to an evidence-informed approach to reducing poverty remains at the forefront as we push forward in tackling new and evolving development challenges.

@JPAL_MENA

J-PAL MENA Leadership

The Year in Review

Built government partners' capacity to generate and use rigorous evidence

We delivered two rounds of a three-day training on the Foundations of Randomized Evaluations to senior leaders of Egypt’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (MSMEDA). The in-person training was presented in Arabic for the first time in the history of the course; participants learned why and how randomized evaluations can be used to evaluate MSMEDA programs.

Strengthened Global Evidence in Egypt partnership with UNICEF

J-PAL MENA and UNICEF Egypt conducted the fourth Global Evidence for Egypt seminar focused on gender and women’s empowerment. We renewed our partnership for another two years, which will focus on sharing evidence related to health, education, labor markets, and social protection. The next phase kicked off with a convening on government priorities featuring Egypt’s Minister of Social Solidarity.

Deepened government partnerships across multiple sectors

J-PAL MENA signed three MoUs in 2021 to generate new research and deepen policy outreach and capacity building with Egypt’s Ministry of Social Solidarity, the Nasser Social Bank, and MSMEDA.

Launched new research and training engagements through the Morocco Employment Lab

The Morocco Employment Lab (MEL) launched four randomized evaluations in partnership with Morocco’s Ministry of Employment, National Employment Agency, and the National Observatory for Employment. MEL also trained over 140 Moroccan policymakers in evidence generation and use, and contextualized and disseminated rigorous evidence and policy lessons through four webinars.

Grew our team in Egypt and Morocco

We launched major recruitment cycles, hiring a total of eighteen new staff members working in research, policy and communications, training, and finance and operations. J-PAL MENA also welcomed its first post-doctoral fellow.

The Year Ahead

Launch the Egypt Impact Lab

In partnership with Egypt's Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, Ministry of Social Solidarity, MSMEDA, and the National Council for Women, we will establish the Egypt Impact Lab to support program evaluation and evidence use in decision-making around three key government priorities: social protection and poverty alleviation, employment and enterprise development, and gender and family development.

Establish new research partnerships on priority policy issues

We will work with researchers to launch the first pilot studies in MENA at the intersection of climate change, transportation, and migration, with support from J-PAL’s King Climate Action Initiative and the European Union.

Learn more about J-PAL MENA