From Monday June 18 to Friday June 22, 2007, Total Upstream Companies in Nigeria will be hosting an Executive Training Programme essentially designed to equip participants with skills of evaluating social programmes. It will take place at the Transcorp Hilton in Abuja, Nigeria's capital.
Total is organising this training programme in conjunction with the Abdul Latif Poverty Action Lab, Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States.
Experts researchers will provide both theoretical and example-based classes complemented by workshops where participants can apply key concepts to real world examples.
This programme is designed for people with different backgrounds, especially those with direct relationship with developmental issues - from managers to researchers in governmental and non-governmental organisations - from around the world.
Concepts to be covered include:
- The common pitfalls of evaluation
- Why randomised evaluations circumvent these pitfalls
- The guidelines to successful implementation of a randomised evaluation
- The significance and proper techniques of statistical analysis
- The interpretation and marking of results
- Optimal deployment of resources based on information-led evaluations
The executive training programme, the first of its kind in Nigeria, is part of the Capacity Building initiative of the Total Group.
It is expected that participants, especially those from Nigeria, would apply the knowledge and skills acquired during the training to evaluate several social/development programmes they are directly involved in. These include eradication of diseases in both rural and urban areas, impact of provision of potable water, enlightenment campaigns on HIVAIDS, improved hygiene, provision of social infrastructure, such as schools, roads, etc.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) - MIT
The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is eminently placed to provide these skills in social programmes evaluation. J-PAL is dedicated to fighting poverty by ensuring that policy decisions are based on scientific evidence. This it does by undertaking, promoting the use of, and disseminating the results of randomised evaluations of poverty alleviating programmes.
J-PAL has worked on issues such as boosting girls' attendance at school, improving the output of farmers in sub-Sahara Africa, racial bias in employment in the United States and the role of women political leaders in India.
J-PAL was started in June 2003 by Prof. Abhijit Baneyee, Esther Duflo and Sandhil Mullainathan at the MIT. J-PAL was renamed in honour of Abdul Latif Jameel in October 2005.
Jameel is president of the Abdul Latif Jameel Co. (ALJ), which was founded by his father in 1945. Today, the company is the largest private independent distributor of Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the world with operations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Japan and China. The group activities also cover the areas of electronics, technology 'startup' investments, real estate development, financial and marketing services.
Jameel is a dedicated philanthropist who supports many programs related to poverty alleviation, job creation, economic development and efforts to promote understanding among different cultures and religions.
Total Corporate University and MIT Partnership
Total and the MIT signed an agreement in the spring of 2006 under which Total initially covers tuition and expenses for African students. The university has already selected three students who are to begin their studies at MIT in September 2007. Thanks to the Total scholarship, the students will be able to study and live in Cambridge, MIT's hometown, during their studies.
Besides, each year, Université Total organizes a weeklong seminar for Total senior executives, jointly sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and held at its campus near Boston.
