JEDDAH, 18 July 2007 — The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), based in the economics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and which is devoted to rigorously testing what works in reducing poverty, has announced the establishment of its first field office.
Located in India, the new office will serve as the headquarters of J-PAL’s South Asian operations. The Institute for Financial Management and Research (IFMR), a major business school, has partnered with J-PAL to host this field office in the southern Indian city of Chennai.
Narayana Murthy, founder of Infosys, was the chief guest and speaker at the launch event on Friday. Representatives of J-PAL’s partners were also there to help open the office including Madhav Chavan, founder of Pratham, Nina Singh, inspector general of personnel for the Rajasthan Police, Ajay Mehta, executive director of the National Foundation of India and president of the board of trustees of Seva Mandir, and N. Vaghul, chairman of ICICI Bank and IFMR.
J-PAL South Asia at IFMR will work to improve the effectiveness of poverty programs in South Asia by providing policymakers with clear scientific results that help shape successful policies to combat poverty.
The field office will facilitate the management of rigorous evaluations of poverty alleviation, strengthen relationships with partner organizations throughout the region, build local capacity to undertake rigorous evaluations, and disseminate the results of research.
J-PAL was started in June 2003 by Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo and Sendhil Mullainathan, and is supported through a substantial endowment from Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, an alumnus of MIT, who heads the Jeddah-based Abdul Latif Jameel Company. MIT marked the generous gift by naming the Poverty Action Lab after Mohammed Jameel’s father, Abdul Latif Jameel, in October 2005.
J-PAL South Asia’s mission of translating research into policy action through dissemination and dialogue with local partners has been funded by a grant from the Mulago Foundation.
“India is at a time of great historical importance, where the future of the country depends on its ability to succeed in bringing the poor along with the rich as its economy continues to grow at astounding rates,” said J-PAL Director Abhijit Banerjee.
“India was a natural choice for our first field office as it has encouraged its researchers to critically assess what is effective in reducing poverty and how to ensure that all Indians benefit from economic growth,” Banerjee added.
