00:02 I'm Carson Cristiano.
00:03 I'm
00:03 the executive director of CIGA,
00:05 which is the Center for Effective Global Action,
00:07 and on behalf of
00:10 the World Bank and CIGA,
00:11 I am so excited to welcome you all to our 8th annual
00:15 measuring Development conference which we're calling
00:18 The Role of Mobile Data and Global Development.
00:21 Um,
00:21 so it's,
00:22 it's again,
00:23 it's really awesome to be here in person and it's great to see all of you in the room.
00:26 I'm pretty sure we have
00:28 like
00:29 60 and counting,
00:30 maybe 70 and counting,
00:31 um,
00:31 people joining
00:32 live.
00:33 Uh,
00:33 there were several more people registered,
00:35 so we're,
00:35 we're expecting people to sort of come in and out
00:38 throughout the day,
00:39 but it's great.
00:39 Thank you all for joining us either in person or
00:42 remotely,
00:43 um.
00:44 And I'm gonna start by introducing the organizers.
00:46 So,
00:47 um,
00:47 that's UC Berkeley's CIGA and the World Bank's DIM Group.
00:51 Um,
00:51 so CIGA is the Center for Effective Global Action.
00:53 We're headquartered at UC Berkeley.
00:55 We're a hub for research on global development,
00:58 uh,
00:58 with a large and growing network of faculty affiliates
01:01 based at institutions up and down the west coast
01:04 of North America.
01:05 Um,
01:06 but we do work,
01:07 uh,
01:07 in low and middle income countries and low resource areas all over the world.
01:11 Um,
01:11 our network also includes a growing number of
01:14 scholars from low and middle income countries,
01:16 uh,
01:17 who have either trained in person,
01:19 uh,
01:19 come,
01:20 come spent a semester with us at UC Berkeley,
01:22 or participated in
01:24 our new,
01:25 uh,
01:26 non-resident fellowship program.
01:28 So CIGA researchers,
01:29 um.
01:30 They evaluate innovations designed to
01:32 reduce poverty and promote global development
01:34 using rigorous evaluations,
01:37 uh,
01:38 uh,
01:38 data science methods and new measurement tools.
01:41 Um,
01:42 we,
01:42 uh,
01:43 look at the impacts of large scale programs and policies.
01:46 CIGA supports us by making grants,
01:48 by seeding new partnerships across disciplines and across geographies,
01:52 um,
01:52 and also bringing people together like this to disseminate research.
01:57 The World Bank's Development Impact evaluation
01:59 Group DIME generates data and research to
02:03 transform development policy and reduce extreme poverty.
02:06 It develops customized data and evidence
02:09 to produce actionable information and recommends
02:11 specific policy pathways to maximize impact.
02:15 So their DIME's work is based on a co-production model
02:18 aimed at transferring know-how to partners to make
02:20 mid-course corrections and scale up successful policy instruments.
02:25 DM,
02:25 uh,
02:25 today is a team of 290 PhD economists,
02:29 data analysts,
02:30 program managers,
02:31 data scientists,
02:32 and engineers that partner with donor agencies,
02:35 um,
02:35 to deliver a $20,220 million research program to support adaptive implementation
02:41 of $26 billion in development finance across 62 countries.
02:46 They provide advisory services to,
02:48 uh,
02:48 30 multilateral and bilateral development agencies all around the world.
02:52 So every year our measuring development conference puts a
02:55 spotlight on the types of uh data and approaches,
02:59 analytical approaches that are being used in global development research,
03:02 and I think this is a topic that sometimes gets
03:05 missed in our conferences that are very focused on outcomes and interventions,
03:09 um,
03:09 so this conference,
03:11 um.
03:12 Ask questions like how can new sources of
03:14 data fill information gaps in data sparse environments,
03:18 uh,
03:18 what technologies and partnerships can enable us to access these data,
03:22 what methods and measurement tools might be most
03:24 appropriate for answering specific questions related to development,
03:28 and then how can the use of new
03:30 sources of data and tools actually
03:33 influence development outcomes.
03:34 Um,
03:35 so in past,
03:37 in past years we've looked at,
03:39 um.
03:40 At data and measurement in in specific sector context
03:43 so we've looked at health we've looked at infrastructure,
03:45 uh,
03:46 we've looked at environment.
03:47 And climate.
03:48 Um,
03:49 today's conference is going to be cross-cutting,
03:51 so,
03:52 uh,
03:52 we're looking at the role of mobile data across a number of different sectors,
03:56 including the ones that I mentioned.
03:57 And by mobile data,
03:58 by the way,
03:58 we mean data from mobile phones,
04:01 from remote sensors,
04:02 and other types of mobile
04:03 devices,
04:05 um,
04:05 how they've been used in research.
04:07 Uh,
04:07 today we're going to hear about
04:09 research related to targeting aid,
04:11 understanding social unrest,
04:12 diagnosing disease,
04:13 and looking at how people move around.
04:16 Um,
04:16 we're gonna have some framing remarks by Ariana Legovini,
04:19 who's the head of DIM.
04:20 Uh,
04:21 we're gonna have about 5 sessions of research presentations.
04:25 Uh,
04:25 Sveta Milosheva from the bank is gonna,
04:27 uh,
04:27 give us a primer of sorts on mobile data for development,
04:30 get us all on the same page,
04:32 and then we'll end with a round of lightning talks to get you all excited about
04:36 other work that's happening.
04:38 On these topics,
04:38 so before I pass the mic to Ariana,
04:40 I want to quickly go over some logistical details.
04:43 Um,
04:43 so first,
04:44 because we have a very full agenda today,
04:46 please save your questions for the end of each
04:48 session.
04:49 Um,
04:50 our session chairs are going to manage the Q&A.
04:52 We are going to prioritize questions from the live audience.
04:56 Uh,
04:56 if you have questions from the live stream,
04:58 uh,
04:59 on Webex,
04:59 please enter them in the Q&A,
05:01 and we will ask those questions if we have time.
05:04 Uh,
05:05 we're also going to direct speakers at the end of their talks to the presenters,
05:09 sorry,
05:09 to the organizers table over here so
05:11 you can actually look at the questions that have come through and answer them,
05:14 um,
05:15 after your talk.
05:17 Um,
05:18 let's see.
05:19 If you're an in-person participant,
05:21 um,
05:21 we really encourage you to continue the conversation
05:23 during the coffee breaks and over lunch,
05:26 um,
05:27 and during our networking reception after the event today.
05:30 Um,
05:30 and then finally,
05:31 we ask that you keep your masks on unless you're speaking,
05:34 you're more than welcome to take it off,
05:36 um,
05:37 or unless you're eating or drinking,
05:39 of course.
05:40 Uh,
05:40 any questions about logistics,
05:42 questions?
05:44 Where the bathroom is.
05:46 I don't even know where that is,
05:47 so.
05:49 Um,
05:49 anything at all.
05:50 OK,
05:50 great.
05:50 So with that,
05:51 I'm very excited to introduce Arianna Legovini who's the,
05:54 um,
05:55 director and founder of the Development Impact evaluation unit at the bank.
05:58 Um,
05:58 she's gonna give us some framing remarks for our,
06:01 uh,
06:01 event today.
06:02 Thank you.
06:15 Good morning everyone and thank you so much for joining us
06:19 uh as uh Carson said,
06:20 I'm the director and founder of the DME Group who specialize in tailored
06:25 and customized data to understand
06:28 development problems that we are trying to solve
06:31 and use
06:32 advanced analytics to prioritize investments,
06:35 provide input into,
06:37 um,
06:38 design and implementation of our programs,
06:42 our programs and also programs of partner organization.
06:44 Organizations that we're working with
06:46 and uh impact evaluation research to provide
06:49 a a different way um for governments
06:54 to
06:55 take decisions in real time based
06:57 on rigorous evidence
07:00 um the idea of course is to transform the path of development not really judge
07:04 as you all know not really judge whether people are doing well or not,
07:08 but to really identify.
07:09 You know,
07:10 high marginal high margins where we can improve the impact
07:15 of
07:17 of uh development programs
07:20 by shifting
07:21 the path of decisions of government
07:25 officials and other people involved in development
07:28 we are really focused on developing capacities
07:31 because at the end of the day through those
07:33 capacities we can affect the decisions that make our
07:37 our work worth it's while.
07:40 So I,
07:42 we will spend the whole day today.
07:44 On a specific issue which is mobile technologies
07:48 this is super exciting
07:50 uh obviously we all have those technologies right at our fingertips
07:55 through our
07:56 you know online shopping,
07:58 mobile banking,
07:59 uh,
08:00 streaming and social media apps and so forth and so on.
08:05 At our fingertips,
08:06 it's our classroom.
08:08 Our movie theater,
08:10 our
08:11 shopping mall,
08:12 and we take it today for granted,
08:14 but these technologies have the potential of
08:17 transforming completely the way we do development economics
08:21 and um and development finance.
08:26 Why?
08:26 Because these developments,
08:27 these digital solutions
08:29 are actually
08:31 addressing problems that we were not able to tackle in the past
08:35 or at least not able to tackle them,
08:37 you know,
08:38 within reasonable cost.
08:42 When I lived,
08:43 um,
08:43 when I lived in,
08:44 uh,
08:45 in Kenya back in the early 2000s there was barely anyone with a bank account
08:50 but this of course was before M-Pesa.
08:53 And PSA was launched in launched in 2007
08:56 and today 72%
08:58 of Kenyans have
09:00 a mobile banking account.
09:02 Now
09:03 this is one of the highest rates in the world.
09:05 Through it
09:07 they can of course deposit withdraw transfer funds they can pay for the utilities
09:13 they can even get a coffee at Java House.
09:17 And it is not just the average person,
09:20 even the most vulnerable populations in Kenya
09:23 demand their government transfers in the form of mobile cash.
09:29 95% of in fact of urban dwellers
09:32 like to have their government check sent into their phones.
09:38 Today many governments are even distributing funds for free.
09:42 As part of the social protection programs to increase the government to person
09:47 um
09:48 relations.
09:51 So the the idea of expanding
09:54 of expanding
09:55 digital
09:56 uh
09:57 access
09:57 to all the populations
09:59 holds an enormous promise
10:01 and of course it's not without challenges and this is why research is
10:06 very very important to for us to understand how to do this right
10:10 and just get it right
10:11 meaning
10:12 uh understand what solutions are really transformational
10:16 in the development in the development agenda.
10:19 So the idea of providing people.
10:22 With high value
10:24 services such as education,
10:26 health,
10:27 social protection,
10:28 um,
10:29 business,
10:29 agriculture,
10:31 banking
10:32 through their phones in real time it's
10:35 extraordinary I think we forget that,
10:38 you know,
10:38 we forget that because we get so used to doing it
10:41 that it seems
10:42 like
10:43 we've always been doing it in fact my son always
10:46 says like mom how did you live without a phone,
10:49 right?
10:50 So what we call a phone,
10:52 we know it's not a phone.
10:54 It is just about everything,
10:56 almost everything we need except for love.
11:02 Well,
11:03 so
11:04 the interesting,
11:05 um,
11:06 thing about digital solutions of course is there
11:08 are so many people out there thinking about
11:11 what
11:12 they can
11:13 solve.
11:14 So all these digital disruptors,
11:16 for example,
11:17 uh,
11:17 we're working with uh you know I mentioned Kenya but of course they're everywhere.
11:21 Um,
11:22 providing solutions to,
11:25 you know,
11:25 Uberizing freight,
11:27 connecting suppliers and buyers,
11:30 uh,
11:30 providing
11:32 in mobile insurance
11:33 for,
11:34 uh,
11:35 crops,
11:35 etc.
11:36 they really address a lot of the constraints in the supply chain
11:40 of.
11:42 Agriculture and other sectors that were not
11:45 addressed before and therefore can be totally
11:48 transformational in terms of increasing the amount
11:51 of economic growth in our countries.
11:54 Not only that,
11:55 uh,
11:56 but the provision
11:58 of,
11:58 for example,
11:59 gamified educational apps
12:02 to children
12:03 who are not in the education system.
12:06 Can be quite transformation in their ability to
12:11 uh increase their own literacy and numeracy
12:13 and um.
12:15 Not only doing that but doing that
12:18 much faster than traditional education systems we have seen that in a few months
12:24 kids can learn in their own languages
12:27 how to read and write
12:29 and how to do basic math.
12:32 And so kind of preparing them for a school system
12:35 um that otherwise would have taken in the Africa
12:38 region 23 sometimes 4 years to get them literate
12:42 mHealth the same.
12:44 One of the studies in India shows that information and incentives can
12:49 can increase levels of vaccination by as much as 44%.
12:53 So the,
12:53 the,
12:54 the promise for these applications to
12:57 bridge
12:58 the human development gaps are really impressive.
13:03 Um,
13:05 um.
13:06 One of the um
13:09 One of the important things of course of all these applications
13:12 is that
13:14 they generate a staggering amount of data.
13:17 Uh,
13:19 and we are not even close to.
13:22 Kind of taking advantage of all these datas but today
13:25 and through our throughout our day we'll look at how
13:30 creative researchers have been
13:32 in uh
13:33 addressing or using.
13:35 And
13:36 and exploiting mobile data
13:39 to
13:41 understand the world in a way in which we have
13:43 never really understood before with the level of granularity and
13:47 and um
13:48 uh depth asking very different questions that we were ever able to ask.
13:53 Ask before
13:53 for example in session one we'll see how mobile
13:57 data combined with machine learning has been used to
14:00 um can be used to
14:02 target or improve targeting of humanitarian aid and
14:05 even resilience to uh social unrest and crisis.
14:11 The idea
14:12 that we can use data in real time
14:15 to identify
14:16 who is affected
14:18 by.
14:19 Climate shocks by war
14:22 by any type of event
14:24 and actually being able to target those people in real time is
14:28 amazing.
14:30 I just,
14:32 there is no halfway around that.
14:34 In session
14:36 2 and 3 on health and and COVID we'll
14:38 see how different type of applications can help us improve
14:42 or reduce infant mortality,
14:44 improve diagnosis
14:46 of tropical disease,
14:47 or improve
14:49 and expand the way people seek and prevent
14:53 and,
14:53 and,
14:54 um,
14:55 um.
14:56 Improve their own health outcomes
14:58 these type of applications in health,
15:00 I think,
15:01 are really transformational,
15:02 and we should think of them
15:04 in a couple of different ways.
15:05 One of course is that people can take care
15:07 of their own health and improve their chances,
15:10 but they also have big implications on
15:12 the financial resource burden on public health systems
15:16 and that's releasing
15:17 um resources for pub those public health systems to work better.
15:24 In uh in the session on transport
15:27 we'll have uh
15:28 a series of uh cases where we measure
15:33 violence against women
15:34 and also the impact of violence against women in public space on their mobility,
15:40 education
15:41 and labor market decisions that have huge implications on.
15:45 Economic growth
15:47 we'll also look at
15:49 real-time mapping
15:50 of car crashes around the city being able to prioritize where investment should go
15:55 in a city to
15:57 uh reduce mortality by half as for the SDG 3.6
16:03 and
16:04 being able to use real-time data
16:06 to look for example at mobility policies during COVID and understand
16:10 what the impact of those policies was on road safety.
16:15 The 4
16:16 the 4th session will be on methods
16:18 here we will learn
16:20 uh how to and
16:22 what uh how to use data from mobile devices but also what are some of the constraints
16:28 and issues that we need to think about.
16:30 It will link back to this idea of distributing phones or increasing digital access
16:36 to actually.
16:37 Lower the bias in the data that we're looking at by having
16:41 a wider set of populations being covered by these technologies
16:44 and finally we'll have as mentioned by Carson
16:47 the Ignite sessions that we hope is full of
16:50 uh interesting studies
16:52 telling us for example what people do,
16:55 uh,
16:55 how they spend their time and money,
16:57 who they relate to,
16:58 who they transact with or even how to monitor crops,
17:01 monitor cities
17:02 and so forth and so on that should be quite exciting.
17:06 So the overarching message
17:07 that I want to leave you with
17:09 is that by exploring experimenting and validating
17:12 these technologies we can learn a lot
17:14 about how to scale up digital solutions but also
17:18 how to shape those digital tools in a way
17:21 that increases their usability and usefulness.
17:25 Uh,
17:26 so
17:27 I'm gonna give a pitch to my colleague,
17:30 uh,
17:30 Zweta Milussheva who will talk about this,
17:33 uh,
17:33 um.
17:35 What is it stayed off of that.
17:39 State of play,
17:40 the state of play,
17:41 um,
17:41 so there is a lot of data out there,
17:44 but access to that data for researchers to use is still very
17:48 much a constraint and an issue so we'll need to work together
17:52 to find solutions to access to mobile
17:55 data always respecting of course privacy concerns,
17:58 um,
17:59 for that data
18:01 uh we'll hear more about that um after lunch.
18:06 Now,
18:06 uh,
18:08 So of course I hope you enjoyed the day
18:10 um
18:12 and uh I think it will be a super super interesting day
18:16 what I want to say is that we
18:18 uh we at DIME and the whole research community
18:22 makes itself available
18:24 for practitioners and policy makers to work with
18:28 to understand.
18:29 Uh,
18:30 and exploit other people's settings and and solution seeking
18:35 and we hope that this day will be a mechanism through which,
18:39 uh,
18:40 we can establish better and stronger collaborations moving forward.
18:44 So before leaving,
18:45 uh
18:46 the mic I want to
18:48 first of all welcome all the researchers who
18:50 creativity and productivity makes this day possible
18:54 and exciting
18:56 and of course the organizers.
18:58 That have worked hard to get us all together,
19:00 uh,
19:01 both online and in person.
19:03 This is my first in person so
19:06 it's many people's
19:07 uh other experience but also want to welcome some of the friends that
19:12 have been.
19:13 Uh,
19:14 we're coming today to moderate the sessions who are
19:17 long friends,
19:18 uh,
19:19 with long term partnerships.
19:21 Uh,
19:21 the first is Melis who's representing Mikhail Rutovsky who's
19:25 the global director for social protection and jobs,
19:29 uh,
19:29 with
19:30 the practice we have a wonderful collaborations on the partnership for
19:33 economic inclusion that also includes a lot of the researchers,
19:37 um,
19:37 that will be here uh today around the table.
19:40 And that we're launching phase two now uh in May
19:45 with uh several governments around the world for the
19:48 scale up of these economic inclusion programs hoping to develop
19:53 sustainable
19:54 poverty reduction strategies.
19:56 Part of a
19:58 country's social protection systems so that's really exciting.
20:01 The second person I want to welcome is Soji.
20:03 Soji is an old friend.
20:05 He was one of the first people who gave
20:07 me money for
20:09 one of our first program of evaluation in malaria.
20:13 That program
20:15 had a huge impact on Global Fund policy
20:18 transforming,
20:19 uh,
20:19 well at that point was called malaria case management into fever case management
20:25 as we discovered most children have fever which was not related to malaria
20:29 and a vertical program only related to malaria was not as effective
20:32 as a program managing fever.
20:35 Um,
20:35 the third person I want to,
20:37 uh,
20:37 welcome
20:38 is,
20:39 uh,
20:39 Nicola.
20:41 Nicola is our incoming global director for
20:44 transport.
20:46 Again in transport
20:48 we have a wonderful collaboration
20:50 since 2015
20:53 called iConnect.
20:54 iConnect is a program of evaluation of large infrastructure
20:58 to understand how to maximize the impact
21:01 of that infrastructure onto people's lives and we'll hear more about it
21:06 later.
21:07 I also want to welcome Norbert.
21:09 Norbert is our chief economist for human development.
21:12 He just completed a very important report,
21:16 um,
21:17 documenting the impact of COVID
21:19 on uh human development outcomes,
21:21 a very,
21:22 a very sobering,
21:23 uh,
21:24 report,
21:25 and,
21:25 uh,
21:25 he comes here today.
21:27 Uh,
21:27 just like all of us
21:29 to understand what solutions
21:31 we can advocate for,
21:33 uh,
21:33 evidence-based solutions
21:35 that,
21:35 uh,
21:36 we can take to scale
21:37 to help bridge the human development gap.
21:41 And I welcome Art.
21:43 Art is our deputy chief economist
21:45 and he will be moderating the method sessions.
21:48 He's a staunch supporter
21:50 of the expansion of,
21:51 uh,
21:52 research in development economics
21:54 and,
21:54 uh,
21:55 we welcome here as well.
21:57 So thank you very much all of you,
21:58 uh,
21:59 for coming to
22:00 today
22:01 and everybody online as well who
22:04 who are the people that I usually look at.
22:08 So it's a good
22:09 uh change in uh
22:11 in mode.
22:12 Thank you very much.
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