Research project led by Dean Yang receives USAID grant | Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy
 
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Research project led by Dean Yang receives USAID grant

June 1, 2012
Development Innovation Ventures, a competitive grant program by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has awarded a grant to a group of researchers led by Dean Yang.

Yang's project, "Honing help back home: Maximizing the development impact of migrant remittances," will examine whether migrants would be more generous in remitting their earnings if they could be sure of how the money would be used. Remittances that migrants send home are the
second largest cash inflow to developing countries.

The research team, in collaboration with a major Philippine bank remittance channel and a respected Philippine education NGO, will pilot and rigorously test a financial innovation called EduPay. This new educational payment and monitoring facility will allow overseas Filipinos to pay educational institutions in the Philippines directly from overseas, without channeling the funds through a relative or other "trustee," and to monitor the performance (i.e. grades and attendance) of the sponsored student.

USAID launched Development Innovation Ventures in October 2010, according to the USAID website. Through DIV, USAID awards grants to compelling new development solutions, rigorously tests them, and helps scale those that are proven successful to become development grand slams.