Richard De Groot Email & Phone Number

Florence, It

Florence, Tuscany, Italy

• Quality assurance and technical assistance to evidence generation on social protection/ cash transfers in East and Southern Africa and West and Central Africa, including advising on research design and methodologies of impact evaluations. This work includes projects in South Sudan, Madagascar, Somalia, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Mauritania.• Conduct research and provide technical assistance to the social protection/cash transfers workstream of the Social and Economic Policy unit, including the Transfer Project and Gender-Responsive Age-Sensitive Social Protection. This includes research in Ghana, Mali and Burkina Faso.• Day-to-day management of research operations, project design, planning, development and implementation, including the identification of new lines of research on social protection/cash transfers.

Netherlands

• Design, implementation and data analysis of an impact evaluation (RCT) of a gender-responsive and gender-transformative cash-plus programme in Mali.• Data analysis and reporting on the 7-year follow-up of the (quasi-experimental) impact evaluation of the Ghana LEAP 1000 cash transfer programme. • Conducting an extensive evidence synthesis on the effectiveness of cash plus social behaviour change programmes.

Amsterdam Area, Netherlands

I was responsible for the coordination and management of an innovative research project on mobile technologies and universal health coverage in Kenya. The programme being evaluated aims to enhance access to health care for low income women of reproductive age and with children < 5 years old using innovative digital tools. The study entails a randomized control trial and uses high-frequency, high-detail data collection techniques (Financial and Health Diaries) complemented with qualitative methods, household surveys, and behavioral experiments.Specific duties included:• Day-to-day coordination and management of all operational research work• Contribute to ethical clearance requests and the development of research instruments• Keep overview of all research activities and ensure compliance to research protocols (informed consent, randomization etc) • Organize regular meetings with internal staff, as well as core partners in Kenya• Contribute to the analysis and report on findings in collaboration with PI’s• Coordinate project-related logistical arrangements and monitor research and financial progress

Netherlands

I led or contributed to research projects for research institutes, academia and international development organizations: • UNICEF Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa: Analyzed the progress of the 21 countries in the region towards the SDGs, Strategic Plan goals and the Regional Priorities. • Deutschen Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ): Conducted an impact analysis of the Health Basket Fund on primary health care services in Tanzania.• UNICEF Sierra Leone: Performed data analysis and report writing for two rounds of the COVID 19 Impact Monitoring Survey in Sierra Leone (7 research briefs and 1 technical report).• HelpAge International: Data analysis of World Bank high-frequency phone surveys in Malawi to explore the impact of COVID-19 on older people’s wellbeing.• UNICEF Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean: Conducted mixed-methods analysis on children’s diets in the region. Co-authored technical report and journal article.• London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine: Conducted data analysis and co-authored journal article on the impact of Lesotho’s Child Grant on people with disabilities.

Florence Area, Italy

• As part of the Transfer Project (https://transfer.cpc.unc.edu/), I played a key role in the impact evaluations of the Ghana LEAP 1000 programme and the mainstream LEAP programme. The LEAP 1000 is an extension to the existing national cash transfer programme in Ghana (LEAP) that aims to reach families with pregnant women or very young children.• Both impact evaluations use quasi-experimental designs: propensity-score-matching and regression discontinuity.• Supported the design and implementation of LEAP 1000 baseline and endline, LEAP Wave 3 evaluation, including questionnaire design and testing, training of field teams and quality assurance during field work.• Contributed to the baseline and endline evaluation reports, including generation of variables, building analysis files, conducting data analysis, preparing tables and written inputs for report, and presenting findings to government stakeholders.• Contributed to other research on the impact of cash transfer programmes on child health, nutrition, schooling and adolescent wellbeing, including pathways and moderator effects. • Contributed to knowledge management and research uptake including documentation of good practices and lessons learned through the development of several methodological briefs about the LEAP impact evaluations.• Supported the management of UNICEF Ghana - OoR research programme, including drafting of Terms of Reference, selection of local research partners and development of progress reports.• Disseminated research findings through in-country stakeholder workshops, conference participation, working papers and peer-reviewed journal articles.

Phnom Penh Area, Cambodia

I took on research projects in my areas of expertise for international NGO’s and development partners. Selected assignments include:• Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) (Sept. 2014 – Feb. 2015) Conducted secondary analysis of statistical data on health seeking patterns and health related expenditure among vulnerable groups in Cambodia.• Save the Children (Sept. 2014 – Feb. 2015) Conducted the mid-term review of the First Read project, a home-based early childhood care and development project.• UNICEF (Aug. 2014 – Feb. 2015) Performed secondary analysis on the risk factors for child and maternal malnutrition among the urban poor in Phnom Penh. Performed secondary analysis on determinants of child stunting using several years of DHS. Conducted analysis on the effect of storing conditions on the nutritional value of five micronutrients in fortified rice. • Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (Dec. 2013 – Jan. 2015) Training two PhD students to conduct quantitative analysis of data from a project investigating the nutritional outcomes of different varieties of fortified rice on primary school aged children.• Plan International (Mar. 2014 – Jun. 2014) Conducted the Mid-Term Evaluation of the Empowering Families Project.• UNICEF (Sep. 2013 – May 2014) Performed quantitative research on the the sensitivity and specificity of the MUAC cut-off levels in the Cambodian context. • Plan International (Jan. 2014 – Apr. 2014) Conducted the year 3 evaluation (Y3E) of the “Empowering Adolescent Girls through Education” project.• Plan International (Sep. 2013 – Dec. 2013) Implemented a research project on knowledge, attitudes and practices of people from ethnic minorities on early childhood care and development in North-Eastern Cambodia.• World Bank (Apr. 2013) Performed quantitative analysis to assess the deprivations of poor and at-risk households in areas such as education, health, nutrition and employment, to develop a section on social protection.

The Hague Area, Netherlands

Worked on financing schemes of social assistance to small entrepreneurs, disability benefits and unemployment benefits.

The Hague Area, Netherlands

Research work for project on the labour market for older workers and research on labour market flexibility in the Netherlands.

Siem Reap Area, Cambodia

Worked on the design, implementation and management of an educational program for young adults, aimed at promoting educational attainment, enhancing personal development and improving career prospects.

Doctor Of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Governance And Policy Analysis

Dissertation title: Show Me the Money: Essays on the Impact of Cash Transfers on Child Nutrition and the role of Intra-Household Dynamics

Bofeb - Postgraduate Program On Financial And Economic Policy, Financial Policy, Economic Policy, Social Policy

Financial, Economic and Social Policy

Msc, International Economic Studies

Cum Laude Graduated within top 3% of graduation cohort

Bsc, International Business