I set up this blog to create awareness around challenges for micro, small and medium sized enterprises, in the hopes of discovering like minds on steemit.
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It is doing that, from the comments, I am getting great feedback and being pointed in directions that readers would be interested in.

Take a look at this comment here highlighting the MIT initiative - the Poverty Action Lab


![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmNM4SosEBSNsbaNaAAQFTi81bHyNcSp5MuhpsiwSwgknU/image.png)

PAL evaluates the successful of poverty alleviation efforts.
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I've looked at a lot of pros and cons for Kiva.org and bitbond.com and its clear that though they are great initiatives there are some pitfalls.

Most of us want to help others out and would probably like to do it in the most effective way available.

The Poverty Action Lab or J-PAL has the following mission:
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>Our mission is to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. We do this through research, policy outreach, and training.

The world is not short of good ideas and noble intentions but I think its great that J-PAL is focused on effectiveness evaluation, using scientific methods, to determine just how well initiatives are meeting their desired aims.

There are a couple of initiatives affiliated with J-PAL and so I hope to delve into J-PAL and these associates over the next couple of days.
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