Case for Context: Building culturally sensitive economic evidence in labor-intensive settings

Economic research is infamous for being context agnostic & its impacts thought to be universal. Even the shift away from this tradition is mired by the binary of developed vs developing, with the widely diverse and varied developing countries lumped into one category. We will bring together researchers working on M&E projects in 2 developing countries- India & Colombia, and 2 different labor intensive industries to discuss how projects with similar aims can & should differ in their methodology to account for cultural context. Our session will aim to facilitate a conversation around collaboration and building distinctive M&E practices across geographies and cultures.