Jeddah, Saudi Arabia: The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) has been awarded a joint grant of US $16 million from the UK Department for International Development to research policies that focus on good governance and tackling violent crime.

The support contributes to two J-PAL specific research programs:

  • J-PAL’s Governance Initiative - which funds randomised evaluations to identify effective approaches to improving state capacity to deliver of social services.

  • J-PAL’s new Crime and Violence Initiative - which funds randomised evaluations relating to crime and social and political violence.

The joint grant was also awarded to Innovations for Poverty Action’s new Peace and Recovery Initiative, which supports research on preventing, coping with, and recovering from humanitarian crises and conflict.

To date, evaluations funded by the J-PAL initiatives include studies evaluating the impact of safety practices and fighting violence in several counstries including Bangladesh, Brazil, Republic of the Congo, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, and Uganda.

Supported by Community Jameel, the social enterprise organisation, J-PAL was set up at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2003 to tackle the root causes of poverty, including issues related to health, education, youth employment, and financial inclusion.

J-PAL has a track-record of leveraging insights gained from its research to support policymaking around the world, including in the Middle East, where J-PAL has active and completed research projects and local partnerships to support policymaking in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and Morocco.

To date, J-PAL affiliated researchers have conducted more than 890 evaluations in 80 countries, and more than 300 million people have been reached by programs tested and found to be effective through J-PAL evaluations. The organisation has been instrumental in increasing the number and quality of randomised evaluations on development interventions.

For more information on the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and its work, visit: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/ 

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Community Jameel is a social enterprise organisation that helps communities transform themselves through a wide range of initiatives.  It works to create job opportunities, tackle unemployment, promote arts and culture in the Middle East and around the world, enable research for poverty alleviation and food and water security, and provide education and training opportunities. Community Jameel was formally established in 2003 to continue the Jameel family's tradition of supporting the community, a tradition started in the 1940s by the late Abdul Latif Jameel, founder of the Abdul Latif Jameel business, who throughout his life helped tens of thousands of disadvantaged people improve their lives.

© Press Release 2018