In this video, Annette Brown explains how you can create a valid counterfactual using randomized control trials and rigorously evaluate programmes. She illustrates how random assignment works in practice.

Impact evaluations have been used to assess the impact of health programmes on a host of outcomes. In this video, Shagun Sabarwal explains how a mixed-method impact evaluation was used to assess the effectiveness of a programme in Malawi and generate highly policy-relevant evidence.

Impact evaluations can provide practitioners with useful guidance on what an intervention can realistically accomplish. Stuti Tripathi shows how impact evaluations have helped the microfinance sector introspect on where microcredit was falling short in fulfilling its mandate and contributed to innovation in programme design.

Impact evaluations of humanitarian relief programmes are considered particularly challenging because they need to be done quickly and it may be difficult to have a valid counterfactual.

Agricultural productivity in Africa is low although there are several technologies now available for increasing yields. Markus Olapade demonstrates how an impact evaluation that combines propensity score matching and difference in difference estimation was used to assess the impact of farmer field schools in East Africa.