International Topics

International Projects

International Policy Research

photo of mother and children Mathematica's depth and breadth of experience in evaluating complex social programs in the United States fill an important gap in the international arena. Our skills in designing and conducting rigorous, evidence-based evaluations of programs and policies strengthen international health, education, and other approaches to poverty reduction research and evaluation. We work with governments, multilateral donors, foundations, private organizations, and nonprofit partners to help them develop indicators of program impact and measure results. Our experts conduct formative research, situation assessments, policy analysis, and program evaluations. They also help ensure capacity development in countries around the world.

Agriculture

Mathematica is working on a number of interventions related to agriculture. We are conducting an impact evaluation of the Cocoa Livelihoods Program, which is being implemented in five countries in West and Central Africa: Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, and Nigeria. The evaluation assesses the program’s impact on cocoa income and production, household food security, and children’s school attendance.

Mathematica is also conducting an impact evaluation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation's (MCC) agricultural and irrigation investments in Moldova. The evaluation focuses on three compact activities: agricultural finance, irrigation rehabilitation and water management transfer, and farmer training and technical assistance.

In Armenia, Mathematica is evaluating training of 60,000 farmers to see if they are making better use of improved irrigation systems.

Democracy and Governance

Mathematica is designing a rigorous and timely evaluation of MCC’s Threshold Program activities in Rwanda to determine their effectiveness for participants and others. The activities are aimed at strengthening the rule of law, civil society, civic participation, the media, and the inspectorate services of the national police. We are also evaluating government accountability and land ownership interventions in Niger.

Education

Mathematica is working on a number of interventions related to education for children and youth. For example, we designed and implemented a rigorous evaluation of interventions to improve schooling for elementary-school-age girls in Burkina Faso. The study is looking at effects on school enrollment, attendance, food consumption, household livelihoods, child care activities by young girls, teacher behaviors, mothers’ educational activities, parent attitudes, and resource allocation within households. We are also evaluating a similar intervention in Niger. Mathematica is working in Cambodia, India, Tajikistan, and Timor Leste to rigorously evaluate evidence-based pilot programs addressing school dropouts.

The PATH evaluation in Jamaica included impact analyses of a conditional cash transfer program on school attendance and school enrollment rates. The study found that PATH succeeded in encouraging households to send their children to school with greater regularity. We are also supporting research and evaluation related to programs for children and youth in Ireland and Northern Ireland and providing design support and instrument development for an early childhood initiative in Chile.

Health

In Uganda, Mathematica has worked with the Population Council on a formative assessment of the situation of orphans and vulnerable children to prepare cost estimates for three different types of programs aimed at providing services for orphans and vulnerable children. The programs reflect different models of service delivery and encompass comprehensive core services included in Uganda's national policy and strategic plan for orphans and other vulnerable children. The results of the cost analysis contributed toward a better understanding of the fixed as well as recurring costs of providing comprehensive services to facilitate countrywide planning in the future.

In Jamaica, the impact analyses of the of the conditional cash transfer program found that the use of preventive health care for children in PATH families also improved.

Two projects for the Department of Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom (UK) examined ways to address workplace issues for people with disabilities and chronic illness. One study examined the cost of workplace accommodations for disabled people, costs and benefits to employers, worker retention, employee attitudes and morale, and challenges in recruiting and hiring. Our staff commissioned papers and produced an edited volume on this study. In addition, we were part of the consortium evaluating the Pathways program, which provides a series of mandatory supports geared to promote employment, for disabled persons in the UK. We reviewed the U.S. literature on work programs for people with disabilities, drew implications for related policies in the UK, and consulted with the team on evaluation design and analytic methods.

Infrastructure

In Tanzania, we are working with MCC and MCA Tanzania to rigorously evaluate the impact of electrification projects on health, economic, and educational outcomes. We designed and implemented an evaluation of initiatives in Armenia that involved rehabilitating irrigation infrastructure and rural roads.

Social Protection

Mathematica’s growing capacity in the area of social protection includes a study for the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation of the International Organization for Migration's (IOM) efforts to combat human trafficking. We designed and are implementing a study of IOM’s four-pronged strategy to counter human trafficking, including examining information and prevention campaigns; research on human trafficking; capacity and network building to prevent trafficking; and direct assistance projects for people who have experienced trafficking, including protection and return and reintegration programs.

We are also assisting the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy in the Ukraine to assess the strength and relevance of monitoring and evaluation activities under its Social Assistance System Modernization (SASM) project. Key objectives include improving the rate of benefit award among applicants, reducing intake and processing times, and improving the ability of government agencies to monitor the system. Mathematica staff conduct technical reviews of monitoring plans and evaluation strategies and provide appraisals of methodological issues confronting the evaluation activities. We also review research and evaluation reports to validate their quality and to assess their relevance and utility.

In Mexico, we provided technical assistance to the government on a local evaluation of a key social program, Estrategia de Microrregiones (EM). EM involves channeling resources to rural areas in need of socioeconomic development. For Habitat, a program similar to EM but focused on urban areas, we examined impacts on access to water, electrification, and sewage. We found that Habitat increased access to sewage more in the intervention group that in comparison groups, but it did not have a statistically significant effect on access to drinking water or electricity.