By Eddy Josephson Randriamihary Fetra Sarobidy,
As Anisha Jo says in her song « Tu rayonnes… Il y a des rêves qu’on abandonne et puis d’autres pas ». (« you shine… there are some dreams you give up and some dreams you don’t »).
I come from a family of farmers from the countryside of Madagascar and have always aspired to pursue higher education, which I believe will equip me with the knowledge and skills to improve the lives of my fellow farmers. Agricultural economics which focuses on maximizing the crop yield while maintaining a good soil ecosystem has always fascinated me and I feel privileged to undertake a PhD in this field on the ARISE-HOPE project at the University of Antananarivo. When the opportunity arose to travel, see the world and learn from worldwide leading economists and scholars in a two-weeks course in Abidjan and Morocco, my long held -dream has started to come true.
On 24 June 2024, I was set to fly to Abidjan to attend a one-week ‘Learning days’ organized by the Africa Hub of Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) at the Centre de Recherche et d’Action pour la Paix (CERAP). The aim of the learning days was to develop participants’ familiarity with causal inference in impact evaluations. How adventurous it is to take the first course in my PhD journey while travelling abroad for the first time!
We were a bunch of 24 scholars and program evaluators from the Global South, all eager to master the fundamentals of research design and apply the new knowledge in our research projects.
Although it was intimidating to sit with a distinguished group of next-generation African scholars, the expertise of Brice Bado and Nahomi Ichino, the unequalled pedagogy of Garett Nellis and Alyssa Heinze and the exceptional dynamism and interactivity in Yabo Vidogbena’s teaching, made concepts like causal inference, statistical power or Type II error so easy to grasp. The stimulating discussions during the office hours were also as invigorating as the classroom lectures. I was also very fortunate to get tailored feedback on the design of our randomized controlled trial (RCT) with members of village savings groups in the southeast of Madagascar.
I hugely appreciate these learning opportunities and now feel much more confident to carry out my research project. I also got to spend a lovely week in Abidjan: a beautiful town that offers a rich and diverse culinary scene that reflects its vibrant culture and history.
Continuing my quest for knowledge, I travelled to Morocco from Abidjan on 30 June to attend the summer course in “Methodologies of development” organized by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-Pal) at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Rabat. J-PAL is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by rigorous, scientific evidence. This J-PAL summer course was run separately from the training I attended in Abidjan but took place consecutively, which made my trips much more convenient. They were also both fully funded, all my flight costs, meals and accommodation were taken care of, so I did not have to use our already scarce resource.
To me, the highlights of the course include Marc Gurgand’s lecture on advanced RCT designs and spillovers, I didn’t realize there was so much to learn on these topics and how they can significantly improve the efficiency of a RCT design and its statistical power. I was also hooked by the engaging lecture on the theory of change and the sessions on power calculation using Stata, led by Clémence Lobut and Adrien Pawlik.
The richness of these courses has sharpened my appetite even more for those already delicious Moroccan dishes, especially their excellent couscous, which will never bore my taste buds. One piece of advice however: don’t try them while sitting with renowned professors in development economics such as Karen Macours or Tanguy Bernard. You would want to make the most of your time with them and not get distracted by the food. I was also amazed by the long summer days in Rabat where the sun only sets late at night. Going to bed at 10pm with the sun spying through my window was not an option. I had to make the most of these opportunities and stayed up late at night devouring the rich training materials I got access to through these two trainings.
I am extremely grateful to EGAP and J-PAL for these incredible opportunities. These were the most exciting two weeks in my PhD journey so far, and I am eager to apply and share what I learned with my colleagues back home.