Ideas to action: independent research for global prosperity
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Blog Post
April 28, 2023
Despite a steady rise in literacy rates over the past 50 years, there are more than 750 million adults worldwide who cannot read or write. While policymakers and academics have primarily focused on educating children, and for good reason, adult learning and education programs are an important compo...
WORKING PAPERS
April 28, 2023
Approximately 770 million adults worldwide are classified as illiterate. Despite the potential for adult education programs to bridge this gap, such programs are often plagued by low enrollment, high dropout, and limited skills acquisition. Recent research in educational neuroscience and economics o...
Blog Post
May 13, 2021
It is widely recognized that social science research involving human participants should be based on the principles of “doing good” and “mitigating harm.” While research results are often shared with academics and policymakers alike, it is unclear whether—and how often—they are shared with the parti...
WORKING PAPERS
May 21, 2015
In rural areas of developing countries, education programs are often implemented through community teachers. While teachers are a crucial part of the education production function, observing their effort remains a challenge for the public sector. This paper tests whether a simple monitoring system, ...
Nov
6
2014
12:00—1:30 PM
October 29, 2014
Education programs in rural areas of developing countries are often implemented through local agents, such as community teachers. With this knowledge, Jenny Aker and co-author Christopher Ksoll tested mobile phone monitoring systems to see if they could improve learning outcomes as part of an adult ...
CGD in the News
July 07, 2014
Two years ago Aker et al added to [our knowledge of “what works” in adult education in low-income environments] with a study from Niger showing that a mobile phone-based component added to a standard adult literacy program improved math and literacy scores for participants, and those res...
WORKING PAPERS
May 22, 2014
Over 755 million adults worldwide are unable to read and write in any language. Yet the widespread introduction of information and communication technology offers new opportunities to provide standardized distance education to underserved illiterate populations in both developed and developing count...
Blog Post
May 14, 2014
I have had the privilege of living and working in West Africa for the past 15 years. In 2007, I spent several months in northern Nigeria, interviewing grain traders in cross-border markets. These markets were some of my favorite places in West Africa—bustling, chaotic, open-air markets th...
