Bet Helena Caeyers

Senior Researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI, Bergen) and Adjunct Associate Professor at FAIR/Norwegian School of Economics (NHH).

Bet Caeyers is also the Research Director of the Thrive project and Thrive Tanzania co-Principal Investigator. Holding a PhD in Economics from Oxford University, Bet has extensive experience living and working in Sub-Saharan Africa. Her research focuses on policy and programmatic strategies for scaling social protection and human development services, particularly in Early Childhood Development (ECD). Her work combines rigorous measurement, innovative program design, and evaluation of cost-effective, scalable interventions for national implementation.

Before joining CMI, Bet worked as a Senior Research Economist at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) in the UK, leading impact evaluations of ECD and sanitation programs in India and Ghana. She previously served as Global Impact Evaluation Advisor at Oxfam GB, overseeing evaluations in Nepal, Armenia, Rwanda, and Indonesia, and gained extensive field experience managing large-scale surveys in Tanzania as Research Project Manager at EDI Global. Currently, her main research centers on Kizazi Kijacho (“The Next Generation”), a major longitudinal and experimental ECD study in Tanzania. This international collaboration aims to generate actionable evidence for designing scalable, integrated programmes that support children’s development from pregnancy through their first three years of life.