Developing countries face significant structural challenges related to their demographic composition, poverty and inequality, insecurity, political instability, and climate change. In response to these challenges, cooperation and development policy actors are increasingly engaging with the research community to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of their interventions. It is crucial that policy decisions, whenever possible, are based on rigorously established evidence or informed by it.

Empowering development through impact evaluation and collaboration

The Research Unit on Impact Evaluation of Development Policies – known in French as la Cellule d’analyse d’impact des politiques de développement – was established in June 2022 at the initiative of the Directorate for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs to provide advisory services to Luxembourgish Cooperation and its implementing agency, Lux-Development.

Its diverse missions include facilitating collaboration between decision-makers and research teams, conducting research to deepen the understanding of the causes and persistence of poverty, improving the targeting of policy measures, evaluating the impact of development policies and cooperation strategies on targeted beneficiaries and development outcomes, collaborating with research and non-research organisations in Luxembourg and partner countries, and organising training sessions for various stakeholders.

The Research Unit on Impact Evaluation of Development Policies (CAIPD) employs a diverse range of advanced methodologies to assess and guide development policies. This methodological toolbox supports rigorous impact evaluation and policy analysis, enabling evidence-based decision-making across multiple sectors and timeframes.

These methodologies are central to our mission of promoting effective development cooperation, empowering policymakers to make informed decisions based on rigorous, empirical evidence. The toolbox is constantly evolving, integrating the latest advancements in research methods to address pressing global challenges, including poverty, inequality, and climate change.

This structured approach ensures our work is grounded in data and focused on creating meaningful, measurable change.

Recognised as the "gold standard" in impact analysis, RCTs are used to evaluate pilot interventions before potential scaling. By randomly selecting participants for treatment and control groups, RCTs help to accurately measure the causal effect of an intervention, ensuring its relevance and effectiveness before wider implementation.

These methods enable robust policy evaluation without the need for randomisation. By using observational data and statistical techniques, we estimate the causal impact of policies, particularly when RCTs are not feasible. This approach helps refine policy designs and guide decisions on scaling interventions.

Used to assess the vulnerability of regions or countries to external shocks, such as climate change or conflict, this method allows for projections of future impacts. Structural models help predict the effects of development policies on specific regions and sectors, providing essential insights for policy planning and risk management.

Issue 9

• Développer l'accès à l'électricité des ménages

Michael Greenstone, Kelsey Jack, Jack Ellington

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Issue 5

• Development aid and migration in Senegal: How local employment projects shape mobility

Narcisse Cha'Ngom

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Issue 9

• Les services de garde d'enfants subventionnés : Un levier pour accroître la participation des mères au marché du travail au Sénégal

Fatou Cisse, Nabilatou Bouraima

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Issue 8

• Preventing Islamic radicalisation and conflict

Pedro C. Vicente

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Issue 7
• Developing Scalable Pathways for International Migration: Harnessing “Triple Wins” for Global Economic Progress

Mushfiq Mobarak

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Issue 6
• Temporary Migration Response to Rainy Season Conditions in Senegal: New Evidence using Mobile Phone Data
Flore Gubert & Paul Blanchard

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Issue 5
• Senegal’s Climate Poverty and Migration: the Price of Inaction

• Climat, pauvreté et mobilité au Sénégal : les conséquences de l'inaction

Michal Burzynski & Aleksandra Szymanska, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), Luxembourg, Luxembourg

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Issue 4

• Vocational Training and Employment in Senegal

• La Formation professionnelle et technique et l’emploi au Sénégal

Rana Cömertpay & Michel Tenikue, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), Luxembourg, Luxembourg

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Issue 3

• Development Cooperation, Skills and Migration: Embracing the World Development Report 2023 and Beyond

Frédéric Docquier & Aleksandra Szymanska, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Ousmane Faye, LAREM, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar, Senegal

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Issue 2

• Reconciling the Senegalese Population with Their Healthcare System: Strategies to Mitigate healthcare Renunciation

Réconcilier les Sénégalais avec leur système de santé : quelles solutions pour réduire le renoncement aux soins ?

Mohamadou Sall, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar & Institute for Training and Research in Population, Development and Health Reproduction (IPDSR), Senegal

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Issue 1

• Vocational Training Programmes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Insights from Experimental Studies

• Impact des programmes de formation professionnelle dans les pays à faible et moyen revenu : leçons tirées des études expérimentales

Mariajose Silva-Vargas, J-PAL Europe & Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER), Luxembourg

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On July 19, 2023, Luxembourg's Minister for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Affairs, Franz Fayot, and Senegal's Minister for the Economy, Planning, and Cooperation, Oulimata Sarr, officially signed the fifth Indicative Cooperation Program (PIC V) between their respective countries. Read more

The PIC V outlines a comprehensive program monitoring and evaluation plan scheduled for execution from 2024 to 2030. LISER, working through the CAIPD, will assume a central role in promoting evidence-based approach to aid management and cultivating the essential expertise required for program impact assessment. To fulfill this mission, the formulation of a detailed work plan is imperative. LISER is optimistic that this pionnering collaboration with development stakeholders under the PIC V-Sénégal initiative will serve as a blueprint for potential replication in other partner nations.

Michal Burzynski, Narcisse Cha’ngom, Rana Cömertpay, Joël Machado, Aline Müller, Michel Tenikue, Mariajose Silva-Vargas, Marc Suhrcke, Aleksandra Szymanska

In this project, LISER partners with J-PAL Europe and several research institutions in Senegal such as ENSAE-ANSD or the Institut de la Population, du Développement et de la Santé de la Reproduction (IPDSR) in Dakar.