Publication

The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is a high profile, multi-country development project that has aimed to serve as a model for ending rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa. The project became the subject of controversy when weaknesses in its claims of success were exposed. This paper examines the methods used to evaluate the MVP and offers lessons on three recent mini-revolutions that have impacted the field of development economics: the rising standards of evidence for measuring impact, the 'open data' movement, and the growing role of the blogosphere in research debates.