walw, Author at Evans School of Public Policy & Governance

Alumni Spotlight: Rebecca Walcott, Ph.D. ’22

Becka Walcott finished her Ph.D. at the Evans School in December 2022, with dissertation work focused on mobile money and financial inclusion tools in sub-Saharan Africa. The Evans School spoke early in the new year with Becka about her dissertation project.

Evans School: Congratulations on your dissertation defense. Your project examined innovative mobile money tools in sub-Saharan Africa. What is mobile money and why are these critical finance tools for households in sub-Saharan Africa?

Becka: Mobile money refers to financial transactions that take place over SMS networks on mobile phones. SMS is just regular texting – so users don’t need a smartphone or Wi-Fi connection. Plus, mobile money is usually administered through a telecoms company with agents in village bodegas, which means people don’t need to access formal banks to use it. Thus, mobile money is broadly accessible to populations without internet infrastructure or brick and mortar banks.

Evans School: In one study from your dissertation, you find that earned interest can encourage households to use their mobile wallets to store money. You also find increases in mobile savings do not reduce conventional bank account use, rather mobile wallets may lead to greater use of conventional savings bank accounts. These stand out as important findings – tell us more about the original insights of this study.

Becka: Mobile money regulations vary across countries, and Tanzania was the first country to require mobile money providers to distribute interest to mobile wallet accounts. The banks were worried that the ability to earn mobile wallet interest would cause people to pull their money out of formal savings accounts – or act as a disincentive from opening such accounts. My study was the first to examine the effects of providing mobile interest – and I was able to demonstrate that interest can encourage mobile savings without harming the banking sector. Hopefully this evidence can mitigate the concerns of the banking sector and also encourage other countries to offer more mobile financial tools.

Evans School: Another study in your dissertation examined preferences for digital repayment among microfinance borrowers in Uganda. Here you use a mixed methods research design to understand why individuals would opt for digital repayment. Tell us why it was so valuable to have both quantitative and qualitative evidence in this instance?

Becka: The quantitative data could tell us a borrower’s repayment preference at the time the question was asked, plus some important contextual data – but we needed the qualitative data to learn about how each borrower was framing the repayment options. Some were updating their preferences with new information, some were not receiving that new information, and some were influenced by other borrowers. The qualitative data revealed these important nuances that contributed to repayment preference.

Evans School: You also examine how countries adopt policies governing identity verification across mobile money tools. What did you learn about when countries enact identity verification regulation?

Becka: I learned that policy diffusion from regional neighbors likely plays a large role in adoption timing for these policies. I was surprised that I didn’t find more support for hypotheses around domestic factors and policy adoption, and I think there is room for a deeper examination of the way the domestic political economy can influence the diffusion of mobile money regulations.

Evans School: You must have had a great winter break following your dissertation defense. What’s up next?

Becka: I just started my new job as an economist at the American Institutes for Research, primarily working on international development projects. I’m super excited for this new chapter!

Evans School: Congrats on all your success!

Becka: Thanks!

Alumni Profile: Public Health and Policy, Q&A with Ikrama Hassan, IPPHL ’19

My name is Ikrama Hassan. I am currently the Chief Medical Director of the state specialist hospital – Dalhatu Araf Specialist Hospital – the largest hospital in Nasarawa State, in north central Nigeria. I am a public health physician with experience in health planning, policy and management.

What made you decide to apply to the International Program in Public Health Leadership?

I learned about the program through a colleague and alum of the program who encouraged me to apply. At the time, I was the Director of Health Planning, Research and Statistics at the Nasarawa State Ministry of Health. I am a medical doctor by training, and because there is no formalized leadership and policy training in the medical curriculum, a lot of learning typically happens on the job. Applying for the program turned out to be one of the best decisions I have ever taken.

Looking back at your time as a fellow, do you have any memorable experiences that stand out to you? How does the program inform and contribute to your approach to work and life today?

The composition of the cohort is a special part of this program. Prior to coming to the Evans School, my professional network was limited to within Nigeria and a few individuals in the U.S. and UK. On our first IPPHL class, I found myself in a virtual room with different people from across different African countries. We got to know each other virtually, so when we met in person in Seattle, it was like we knew each other already. By the end of the program, we were all looking forward to meeting again in person during the Capstone, and after that the bond and friendship has continued up till today. In fact, the last time I was in South Africa, one of my cohort members travelled from her home in Pretoria to Johannesburg to welcome me to the country. Whenever I have any issues that I want a second opinion on, I just need to pick up my phone and make a call, and I have friends from across Africa that can help.

I became the Chief Medical Director of the State Hospital during my time in the program. It was a new role for me, and I needed to hit the ground running. The executive coaching component became even more important for me as I entered my new position. Working with my coach, I was able to reorient and start asking the right questions: How do you start? How do you compose your team? How do you begin identifying and mapping stakeholders? Stakeholder engagement is a skill that has served me well, especially when dealing with the labor unions.

I apply the concept of the theory of change daily in my work. It enables me to have a helicopter view of a project. Another part of the program that I have internalized and deploy frequently in my work today is the pitch event, where we practiced compressing our policy papers into a 5-minute delivery. In my role, I meet frequently with the governor, deputy governor, and other political leaders. It’s an extremely valuable skill to be able to condense your thoughts and get to the point in a brief period of time.

What inspired you to pursue a career in public health?

Initially, I wanted to be either a cardiac or neurosurgeon, but after medical school, my father asked me to come back home to work for a while. During this time, I saw the real problems that people in my community were facing. What we most needed was not the high-tech medicine. We needed skills in the prevention and control of epidemic-prone diseases such as Lassa Fever, meningitis, and cholera. We needed basic things in our primary healthcare system. Out of pocket expenditures stood between our poor population and the healthcare system. So, I realized I would be more useful in the public health space than in a consulting room. I wanted to think up and provide solutions at the community and population level than at individual level. I became much more driven by the idea of preventing the diseases from happening, rather than waiting in the consulting room for someone to come in who was already sick. It was not easy making that shift to public health, but I have been happy with it ever since.

Can you share a little bit about the work that you’re doing right now, and what you’re most excited about?

There are so many areas. I’ll highlight a few. One of the major challenges in our healthcare system is the ability for individuals to pay for services. At the hospital, equity in service provision is extremely important. We believe people should be able to access services regardless of their socio-economic background and receive top notch care at an affordable price. While costs are nowhere near what they are in the U.S., we still have a very large population unable to afford services. In my previous role, as Director of Health Planning, Research, and Statistics. I was part of the team that established a social health insurance scheme for the state. Currently 100,000 people have been enrolled in the plan. This is something that I am proud of and continues to have an immense impact.

Recently, I’ve also been really focused on building our hospital’s capacity to conduct research. I’ve set up a team that is encouraging and supporting all our health care workers to participate in research, and I am happy to say that, so far, we have published nearly 20 papers in peer reviewed journals.

One of the major challenges that we’re dealing with in Nigeria is an exodus of skilled health care workers out of Nigeria and Africa to other parts of the world. I’m currently giving a lot of attention to training healthcare workers in our hospital at both post-graduate and undergraduate levels. I’m excited about progress that we’re making, and these are the future of healthcare delivery system in the country.

The Evan School’s values are equity, courage, and service. In what ways are these values part of the work that you have done, and that you continue doing?

Let me start with the courage part of the question. You see, right now, the world at large is going through severe economic difficulties. Many healthcare workers in Nigeria who can find work elsewhere are leaving in droves. For those who have stayed, it requires a lot of courage. My work every day is guided by service and equity. How can we provide services to these millions of people that otherwise could not afford it? And, if all of us leave, who will provide those services?

How do you think about global engagement in your line of work?

So far it has been a one-way traffic from the wealthy donors to us the poor recipients. Although the intention is good, there have been unintended consequences. On the part of the donors, there is the tendency to dictate the tune as well as donor fatigue. On the part of the recipients, the relationship breeds dependence and poor bargaining capacity.

In all, the most important underlying factor in the power asymmetry is the level of economic development. What we need therefore in Africa is no longer the conventional aid but one that will spur economic development on the continent. A country that successfully transits from poor to middle income category no longer needs handouts as aid. That country is more useful to the rest of the world than a poor one dependent on aid.

There is an ongoing debate on how best the global community can help Africa stand on its own. The trend for the last two decades has been an investment on its infrastructure. This is intended to spur manufacturing and an export-led economy a la the Asian Tigers. Critics of this model have pointed to the poor tangible success that have been recorded so far and are drawing attention to the model employed by Latin America where, based on areas of comparative advantage, they invested in agriculture. This paid off and saw the transition of many countries to middle income category.

We need a logical conclusion of this debate and the implementation of the most economically viable option for Africa. An economically strong Africa will be able to finance its public health needs and be a productive partner in the international arena.

Exciting Year for IPPHL

The International Program in Public Health Leadership (IPPHL) is celebrating its seventh year with the announcement of its next cohort, the return to international travel, and the creation of a new Summit gathering in Kenya to spotlight and support alumni in global collective action.

Public Health Leaders as Policy Leaders

IPPHL’s annual fellowship program provides an experiential eight-month learning journey for public health professionals as they design and lead critical policy and program implementation in their countries. Through a mix of online and in-person engagement, fellows work their way through a curriculum designed to build or expand on topics such as theory of change, policy analysis, stakeholder engagement, and personal leadership development.

Fellows identify evidence-based recommendations and plans for real-time implementation, graduating with a policy project ready for action. IPPHL offers a unique combination of approaches to integrate the policy and leadership curriculum including:

1:1 advising relationship with approximately 20 Evans and UW faculty
A continent-wide peer network and collaboration opportunities with their cohort and 115 program alumni across Africa
Executive coaching for individual leadership development
Online and in-person engagement in Seattle and Africa (this year in Nairobi)

Cohort 6

This year’s cohort of 40 fellows hail from 24 different countries and bring a range of expertise including HIV/AIDS, mental health, nutrition, health system strengthening, primary health care, and so much more. Primarily working at the country level within ministries of health, fellows lead in a variety of roles from medical officers to directors to chiefs of staff.

Beginning in March, fellows will participate in a series of live virtual sessions to set the foundation of policy analysis and begin development of their chosen policy or implementation challenge.

Past themes from these policy projects include the importance of strategies to increase access to healthcare services, with a strong focus on health equity. These strategies included developing community-based approaches and attending to the most vulnerable populations, including people living with HIV and those dealing with substance use disorders. Health systems strengthening themes also cut across many project areas from telehealth services, supply chain improvements, service coordination, and developing universal health coverage programs. Explore the full compilation of policy project memos from our 2022 cohort.

In June, we will return to international travel for the first time in three years, welcoming Cohort 6 to the Evans School and Seattle for two weeks of workshops and community connections. Fellows meet up again this August in Kenya for their capstone and graduation, entering our robust and active alumni network.

For the first time ever, IPPHL will host an all-alumni Summit in Nairobi, Kenya this September, bringing together over 150 alumni from 20+ countries across Africa for a series of activities and action. The Summit will launch our community into the next phase of collective action, solidify connections, co-create a shared vision for the future of IPPHL programming, and amplify the work and impact alumni are leading.

Our alumni expertise runs deep, and we invite you to explore our new Alumni Dashboard and imagine how your work might overlap or integrate. Do you have ideas or suggestions on ways to collaborate with the program or our alumni? Let us know: ipphl@uw.edu.

Researcher Highlight: Q&A with Didier Alia

Dr. Didier Alia recently was appointed a Research Assistant Professor at the Evans School. Alia is an agricultural economist with a broad research interest and expertise in international development with a focus on agricultural technology adoption, agricultural transformation, climate risks and adaptation. He received a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Kentucky in 2017. Prior to this appointment as a Research Assistant Professor, Alia worked for several years as a Research Associate at the Evans School Policy Analysis and Research Group (EPAR).

The Evans School grabbed a few minutes with Didier at the start of this new appointment.

Evans School:  You are a noted expert in agricultural economics, with a focus on crop productivity and agricultural transformation in Africa. How did you become interested in a research career and in this particular area of study?

Alia: I came from a small West African country, Benin, that is resource-poor and where agriculture is still the primary source of livelihood for most households. My own family is an agricultural family unable to rely solely on farming to a point that my parents have migrated to the city to seek informal non-farm employment. Growing up, I have seen firsthand the constraints facing farmers in my community. Later in my studies, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, I learned that these constraints are common across most of sub-Saharan Africa and other developing nations. After my Master in Statistics and Applied Economics, I worked at AfricaRice, a leading rice research center and this experience further motivated me in pursuing doctoral studies in agricultural economics and specializing in crop productivity and rural transformation in Africa with the hope to contribute to solving issues facing rural farmers through policy-oriented empirical studies.

Evans School: You are active in many other areas of research as well, right?

Alia: Currently, my research also relates to agricultural price analysis, barriers to trade and developing countries’ access to global markets, and food safety and food regulation in the global food value chain. I often approach this work through gender and inclusion lenses. My work also engages issues related to urbanization, education, health, and trade and their implications for rural development in Africa.

Evans School:  Upon finishing your Ph.D. in 2017, you joined the Evans School Policy Analysis & Research Group (EPAR) – what are some of the most important research findings to have emerged from your work with EPAR?

Alia: When I joined EPAR in 2017, my first project involved processing large-scale multi-topics household surveys for African countries. It has become incredibly clear to me how important data are to evidence-based decision-making, and yet statistics on agricultural households for most African countries are rare. So, my work with colleagues at EPAR has contributed to global public good with various agricultural development indicators made available. Our work has contributed to the research community by making our code freely available on GitHub for researchers based in Africa or interested in African agriculture to use. My other projects at EPAR involve analyzing decisions around indicator definition and constructions that have important implications about how specific and marginalized sub-groups (women and small farmers) are represented in statistics and policy analyses. Another important finding of my work includes assessing the constraints and drivers of agricultural technologies adoption, productivity growth, and rural transformation in Africa.

Evans School:  Even though much of your research is grounded in Africa, it connects to a host of issues in other global settings.  What research insights from your work stand out as particularly relevant to other regions of the world?

Alia: Although Sub-Saharan Africa as a region has its own specificities, issues facing small farmers and their communities in Africa are also prevalent in other regions of the world, most notably South Asia. My work at EPAR also involves India and other South Asian countries. In that region, and in other low-income nations, farmers increasingly face the challenges of climate change and its threats to livelihoods and way of life. My work on agricultural statistics measurement, understanding the drivers of agricultural technologies adoption, productivity growth, and rural development in Africa can inform both the research agenda and policy interventions in these other regions of the world.

Evans School:  Given your training and experience – what are a few key professional skills or competencies you see as essential to achieving success in agricultural development?

Alia: Like all other social sciences, Agricultural economics has become empirical and data-intense. So, a good understanding of statistics and data and a passion for empirical questions are essential skills for success in this field. Additionally, developing the ability to engage other disciplines and proximate partners in Africa are important professional skills.

Evans School:  How do you envision your work and research program evolving in the coming years?

Alia: My work is already shifting toward an integration of climate risks and how climate shocks affect rural households’ production and livelihoods. In the coming years, I envision my work and research program to continue to expand in this area. I am also increasingly interested in using a diversified set of datasets in my work, including merging data from novel sources such as remotely sensed and social media data with traditional household survey data to timely study rural development issues. Finally, I envision expanding my work into the capacity development of analysts in Africa who are instrumental to the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies that affect the lives of the poor.

Evans School: We are lucky to have your work and ideas contribute to our Evans community and to the broader global scholarly community. Thanks for chatting!

Alia: Thank you.

New Research: Self-perception of Climate Vulnerability Among Fishing Communities of the U.S. West Coast

A study conducted in partnership between The Nature Conservancy and the University of Washington was published today in the journal PLOS Climate. Led by Dr. Laura Nelson, the study asked fishers operating in the California Current along Washington, Oregon and California, about their perceptions of climate vulnerability, inquiring about the degree to which they felt that they are personally, and the industry is able to respond and adapt to climate change.

This article is part of an ongoing research series funded by Lenfest Ocean Programs and spearheaded by Dr. Phillip Levin at The Nature Conservancy and University of Washington, and Dr. Alison Cullen, University of Washington, which takes an interdisciplinary approach to studying the social and ecological vulnerability of fishing communities along the U.S. West Coast to changing ocean conditions.

The study provides a previously missing piece of the insight into climate communications, potential barriers to adaptation, and approaches for equitable and effective climate adaptation in the fisheries industry. Researchers surveyed 162 respondents working in fisheries across California, Oregon, and Washington and found that perceptions of climate vulnerability differed widely based on fundamental beliefs about whether or not climate change is occurring, and that people who fished on larger vessels felt they had a greater ability to adapt to climate change. In addition to climate impacts, survey respondents named operational costs, regulations, and habitat loss as key concerns; factors that if left unaddressed could present barriers to long-term adaptation.

Perceptions of climate vulnerability play an important role in behavior and will be a factor in how and to what extent individuals take action to adapt to climate change. Insight into these perceptions can be applied to climate communications within the fisheries industry as well, as policy actions that improve the ability of fishers to adapt to climate change can increase overall resilience, and the benefits outside of climate adaption need to be clearly articulated. As the industry and fisheries management work to support fishers in the future, understanding the concerns of fishers and how they perceive climate risks is valuable and essential to inform climate adaptation efforts moving forward.

This paper builds on recent research also conducted by the TNC and UW partnership and published in PLOS One, which developed a framework to assess community vulnerability by quantitively analyzing factors such as species exposure and sensitivity to changes in climate, economic reliance, and community social factors that are indicators of a communities’ ability to adapt to climate change.

Together, these studies provide a holistic understanding of climate vulnerability and adaptation potential for the fisheries industry in the California Current which fisheries managers and regional governing bodies can apply to create equitable and effective climate adaptation measures that benefit both people and marine ecosystems.

Grant Blume Publishes Article on Racialized Administrative Power

Evans School faculty member Grant Blume published a new article titled, “‘As Expected’: Theoretical Implications for Racialized Administrative Power as the Status Quo on racialized administrative power” in the Journal of Public Administration Research Theory. In the article, he argues that racialized administrative power results from institutional racism, and offers contributions to the development of public administration theory.

Event Recap | 2023 State of School Address

On January 27, 2023, the Evans School hosted the annual State of the School Address. Dean’s Council Members J. Eduardo Campos and Absa Samba provided welcoming remarks to frame this annual tradition. Recognizing the Evans School’s 60th Anniversary over the past year, Dean Jodi Sandfort offered reflections on her journey with the school and framed the key question, “How do we create ways to learn and act that move us towards our vision for the next 60 years?” A key focus is the work that it will take each of us – individually and collectively – to step more deeply in to learning and taking anti-racist actions to realize Evan School’s purpose: to inspire public service and democratize public policy.

Evans Community Connect Session:

After the State of the School Address, we hosted a Community Connect Session to capture the collective wisdom of our community around key initiatives at the school. Faculty, staff, student leaders, and community volunteers participated in the dynamic session to crowd-source ideas and resources in service to the people stepping into and leading innovative school projects and initiatives on six topics:

Graduate Certificates
EPIC’s Paid Family and Medical Leave project
The Undergraduate Programs strategic plan
Evan’s Equity & Inclusion Council
The Alumni Engagement Lifecycle
NextGen Programs (NextGen Civic Leader Corps and Junior Summer Institute)

Visiting Scholar: Q&A with Daniel Sloot

The Evans School welcomes Dr. Daniel Sloot from the Institute for Industrial Production at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, as a Visiting Scholar for Winter Quarter 2023. The Evans School caught up with Daniel as he was settling into Parrington Hall.

Evans School: A lot of your work focuses on energy consumption and conservation. What led you to this area of work?

Daniel: Initially, I wanted to become an organizational psychologist. During my college years, I discovered the field of environmental psychology that essentially studies how and when people make pro-environmental choices, such as conserving energy in some way. I was – and still am – fascinated by this question, in part because I personally care a lot about climate change and environmental protection. Most of my work indeed focuses on energy consumption and conservation, because I see the transition to a sustainable energy system as one of the key pillars of addressing climate change.

Evans School: Tell us a little about your current ongoing projects.

Daniel: Much of my recent work has focused on demand response, which is a temporary change in energy consumption by consumers in order to better match the available supply. For example, households with an EV could charge their car at times when there is abundant wind power. My research has investigated to what extent private household as well as the commercial sector would be willing to participate in demand response programs, and what motivations, drivers, and barriers can explain this. Related to this, I have looked at the role of financial incentives, such as rebates or pricing, in stimulating demand response.

Over the last year, I have started to think about a new issue in the realm of climate and energy policy, namely technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. These negative emissions technologies are increasingly seen as essential for combating climate change, but so far we know very little about whether these technologies will be accepted on a large scale and what role they can (and should) have next to more conventional climate change mitigation approaches. This topic is what brought me here and what I will mostly focus on over the next few months.

Evans School: We noted that Evans Faculty Ann Bostrom is your sponsor during your time here. How will time working with Ann and others at UW support your research program?

Daniel: Ann is a renowned expert on climate change communication and risk perception, concepts that are central for developing research on the framing and acceptance of negative emissions technologies. Collaborating with her and others at Evans will really enable new perspectives on this research. I am also curious to learn more about the public policy research at Evans in general, as this is a less developed field in the German university landscape, particularly when it comes to climate policy.

Evans School: Much of your work focuses on Germany, but your training and work connects to a host of settings – do the policy challenges around energy conservation vary much across the European continent and North America?

Daniel: Most of my research is empirical and indeed investigates particular settings and populations. I would say that a lot of it is generalizable to certain other populations at least to some extent, but there are also aspects that are distinct. For example, energy systems in European and North American countries differ in many respects, such as the energy supply mix, grid infrastructure, and regulations. There are different approaches to climate change mitigation and, linked to that, differing public attitudes towards climate and energy policy. As one example, capturing carbon and storing it underground is de facto forbidden in Germany due to certain risk perceptions, whereas Norway is actively encouraging underground storage facilities. I’d be happy to talk more about differences between European countries and North America.

Evans School: Last question – what do you hope to do in Seattle outside of work while you are here this quarter?

Daniel: I’m very excited to explore the city and surrounds over the coming months! I love being outdoors for hikes or runs, so I will try to get to the numerous parks in the city and do some other weekend trips like visiting the Olympic Peninsula.

Evans School: Sounds like you have some great plans. Welcome to our community!