Here I present a quick overview of the projects I participated in over the years, in reverse chronological order.
Impact evaluation of an e-wallet project funded by AGRA, allowing farmers in Ghana to save through their mobile phone and use the accumulated credit to purchase farm inputs at a significant discount.
I supervised the implementation of a survey in Liberia funded by IDH, to gauge baseline-levels of smallholder productivity and the current state of land use and forest protection, before the start of an international community driven palm oil investment project.
I ran a pilot experiment involving 8,000 farmers and offering index-insurance with delayed premium—with/without joined liability at the Iddir level (informal risk-sharing associations).
I managed the impact evaluation of a microcredit+ scheme involving technical assistance to farmers. I coordinated the collection of baseline and follow-up data on over 2,000 farmers and clients of Sembrar-Sartawi across Bolivia.
I designed and managed a randomized control trial to evaluate the impact of insurance and credit packages on the use of certified seeds and other inputs, and on farm management among smallholders in the County of Meru.
I managed and supervised a team of over 70 between research assistants and enumerators in Uganda, collecting data for eight different impact evaluations of development projects funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
I set-up the baseline questionnaire for the World Bank funded SIPP-II project, aimed at creating village credit organizations, community infrastructure, and youth skills/employment in the framework of Community Driven Development. Together with CNRS we trained enumerators and piloted the country-wide survey before handing over the intervention to the Social Development Foundation, the implementing organization in Bangladesh.
I carried out a randomized control trial in 200 forest edge communities around the Gola Forest. The goal was to test the impact scheme that engaged communities in the protection of the adjacent forest by providing alternative livelihood support.
I investigated the transaction risks and costs farmers face in the sesame value chains of Humera, Ethiopia, under commission of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Our findings suggest that transaction costs in dealing with traders are minimal compared to the transaction costs involved in acquiring inputs, especially labour, during peak times. Contract farming can be a mechanism to reduce some of the costs of exchanging inputs for farmers.
I conducted a qualitative feasibility study using participatory methodologies, commissioned by Banca di Credito Cooperativo di Pontassieve, Cassa Padana, Comune di Pelago, Comune di Pontassieve . I lived several months embedded in remote and impoverished communities of the Prefeitura (Municipality) of Vitória do Mearim, in the state of Maranhao, in Brasil. The goal of the study was to investigate the opportunities and possible support strategies to engender local development initiatives based on bottom-up collective action and self-entrepreneurship.