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This analysis examines the cost efficiency of two small-scale pilot parenting programs aimed at reducing violence and insecurity children might face within their homes.

New York & New Jersey 2024 Election Effect Panel

USCIS has introduced new immigration fees, effective on April 1, 2024.

In partnership with the IKEA Foundation, the ̽����ѡ (̽����ѡ) launched Refugees in East Africa: Boosting Urban Innovations for Livelihoods Development (Re:Build) in 2021. The initiative targets 20,000 refugees and host community members to help them sustainably reach economic self-reliance and social cohesion. From 2022-2023, a three-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT) tested the effectiveness of mentorship on economic well-being and social cohesion on 1,570 of the Re:Build clients. All clients received a cash grant to start or improve a small business, i.e., a micro-enterprise. The program paired one-third of the youth with experienced entrepreneurs who served as business mentors. Another third received business mentorship and engaged in perspective-sharing exercises to build trust and social cohesion. The Best Use of Resources (BUR) team measured the cost-effectiveness of improved economic outcomes among the treatment arms evaluated through the RCT. The cash-only treatment costs €731 per client, while mentorship treatment arms cost €1,133. Most expenses went to program supplies and activities for all treatment arms. In contrast, mentee support costs drove additional costs required for the mentorship treatment arms, which covered transport and mentor stipends. Of the total €1,623,629 spent on the project, 10% of the project costs went to HQ and internal cost recovery. Impact evaluation results for the randomized controlled trial will be available in May of 2024, at which time we will update this brief to complete the cost-effectiveness analysis results.

The ̽����ѡ (̽����ѡ) implemented an anticipatory action cash-distribution pilot among six agro-pastoralist communities in Northeast Nigeria, focused on reducing the damaging effects of flooding. Prior to the flood season of 2022, the ̽����ѡ set up an early warning system with local hydrometeorological agencies to trigger pre-flooding cash distribution to resource-constrained communities vulnerable to flooding. The program aimed to improve the adaptive capacities of these communities through improved systems for information sharing about climate risks and severity, and resource access to undertake mitigation measures. Researchers measured the cost-effectiveness of a pre-flooding cash distribution triggered by the early warning system, as compared to traditional post-shock resource disbursement. 1,450 households were randomly assigned to receive pre- or post-shock distributions. Low cost transfer ratios, in addition to positive impact evaluation results, suggest that the pre-shock modality may be more cost-effective than business-as-usual post-shock transfers. The Anticipatory Cash project cost $695 per household receiving pre-shock cash transfers, which drops to $610 per household without system set-up activities. 71% of total group costs went to the cash grant itself. Similar cost-transfer ratios between pre- and post-shock groups suggest that the anticipatory cash response is just as cost-efficient as the post-shock modality.

In 2022, the ̽����ѡ (̽����ѡ) implemented the Remote Early Learning Program (RELP) in partnership with Sesame Workshop as part of the Ahlan Simsim project. This project aims to provide vital educational support and resources to children in crisis and conflict-affected regions. The program targeted households with children aged 5-6. From March to June 2022, RELP reached 995 children across four regions in Lebanon. This analysis examines the costs of implementing two treatment arms during wave one of the research study: RELP alone and RELP plus Ahlan Simsim Families (ASF), a parenting support program.

In cases where evidence is weak or does not exist, the ̽����ѡ is committed to generating evidence. Evidence generation strengthens the ̽����ѡ’s understanding of what works to achieve outcomes in humanitarian settings.

The ̽����ѡ is committed to understanding and applying the best available evidence to our programs in order to achieve outcomes for clients affected by conflict and crisis.

The ̽����ѡ is committed to maximizing the impact of each dollar spent to improve clients' lives. If we have better information about the cost efficiency and cost effectiveness of our interventions, we will be more effective at doing so.

From 2013 through 2020 the ̽����ѡ (̽����ѡ) and partners joined with the Pakistan Ministry of Education to implement the Pakistan Reading Project (PRP), which reached 1.78 million students across seven provinces. This analysis examines the costs of implementing PRP for a two-year cohort of the project in one province, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The analysis separates out the “fixed” costs of program management, from the costs of four components: reading and learning materials, face-to face training for teachers, teacher inquiry groups, and school support visits.