Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA) and the Australian National University are jointly hosting a series of free Introduction to Impact Evaluation workshops on Wednesday 4 March in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG). The purpose of these workshops is to introduce participants to impact evaluation methods, with a focus on randomised control trials (RCTs), and develop their understanding about how these approaches can be used to create evidence to inform policy.

The important role impact evaluations can play in fostering evidence-based policy making is now widely accepted and illustrated by the recent Nobel Prize in Economics being awarded to the pioneers of randomised control trials. However there is a notable absence of their use in the Pacific region, with only a tiny number having been carried out in PNG. These workshops aim to be a first step in changing this by building an appetite for greater evidence about the impact of policies and programs among stakeholders in the government, NGOs and donor community.

The workshops are supported by the Pacific Research Program, which is a consortium led by the ANU Department of Pacific Affairs, the Development Policy Centre and the Lowy Institute and co-funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.