Watch the above video to hear Karla Petersen, IPA’s Director of Scaling, explain why Becoming One is one of IPA’s “Best Bets.”
 

Becoming One: Leveraging Data and Faith to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence

Becoming One, one of IPA’s Best Bets, is a 14-session group counseling program designed to bring couples closer and prevent intimate partner violence against women. The program is delivered by faith leaders, who guide couples through engaging illustrated workbooks that teach communication skills, emotional regulation, shared control over finances, and healthy sexual relations. From pilot to scale, IPA has supported its implementation and learning journey as a promising, effective approach to reduce intimate partner violence in Uganda and Kenya.

One year after the program’s implementation in Uganda, 12 percent fewer women experienced violence, women became more involved in decision-making around men’s earnings and financial planning, and couples improved their communication and conflict resolution skills. This led IPA to work with our partners to expand Becoming One across Uganda and adapt and pilot it in Kenya.

IPA Embedded Evidence Labs Program Co-Hosts 5th Cross-Country Learning Exchange

From October 13-15, IPA’s Embedded Evidence Labs Program, the What Works Hub for Global Education, and the Ministry of Education, Kenya co-hosted the 5th Cross-Country Learning Exchange (CCLE) in Nairobi, Kenya, to advance the use of evidence in education policy. This event brought together education leaders, researchers, and policymakers from 14 countries across the globe to exchange insights and collaboratively develop solutions to shared challenges. The conference provided Lab teams with hands-on workshops and collaborative peer-to-peer discussion sessions where teams shared real-world challenges and solutions. Lab teams and their partners left the workshop with a reaffirmed commitment to making evidence use a routine part of public education decision-making, and with a new suite of tools, approaches, and next steps to scale data-driven education reforms.

Social Learning and Technology Adoption: Evidence from Leather Goods Factories in Bangladesh

In partnership with IPA, researchers Ritam Chaurey, Gaurav Nayyar, Siddharth Sharma, and Eric Verhoogen conducted a randomized evaluation in Bangladesh to understand how firms decided to adopt a modern technology. Local exposure played a key role, as firms within a 500-meter walking distance of firms that had installed energy-efficient sewing machine motors were 16 to 19 percentage points more likely to adopt the motor. This localized social learning accounted for one-third of the technology’s estimated social benefits, suggesting that it can be a cost-effective policy lever to stimulate widespread adoption of climate-friendly technologies in manufacturing and beyond.

IPA Presents at Financial Inclusion Week 2025

From October 6-9, IPA presented several sessions at Financial Inclusion Week. Topics included the role of savings groups in advancing financial inclusion; research gaps and opportunities for inclusive, climate-resilient finance; insights from new global survey data on protecting consumers in the digital finance era; and the potential of digital financial services to lead to financial abuse, how to measure the prevalence of these abusive practices, and how we can mitigate these harms. These topics are at the forefront of IPA’s work on consumer protection and financial inclusion, and sharing our findings in global convenings like Financial Inclusion Week helps translate IPA-generated evidence into action.

Work with IPA 

Featured Job Opportunity

Research Manager, Consumer Protection Research Initiative
Oversee a portfolio of regulatory partnerships and research activities in Eastern Africa for IPA's Consumer Protection Research Initiative, a global initiative focused on strengthening consumer protection in digital financial services

Research Funding Opportunities

• Soft Skills Research Fund | Curated Portfolio of Research Projects (ongoing) and Competitive Request for Proposals
• Peace & Recovery Initiative | Call for Proposals | Round X
• Human Trafficking Research Initiative | Request for Proposals | Seed Funding Round 4