Development economist with 10 years of experience in applied research in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Motivated to produce evidence that has a tangible impact on human welfare. Working with policymakers and NGOs and using experimental methods to evaluate the effects of social policies on climate adaptation and households' resilience to shocks. # Current Appointments Lecturer in Quantitative Methods (Dept. of Int. Development, University of Oxford) \hfill Sept. 2025-present Fulford Junior Research Fellow (Somerville College, Oxford University) \hfill Oct. 2023-present Post-doctoral Research Fellow (Dept. of Economics, University of Oxford) \hfill Nov. 2022-present # Education *University of Oxford*, DPhil, International Development \hfill 2023\ Date of viva: 20 July 2023 *University of Oxford*, MPhil, Development Studies (Distinction) \hfill 2018\ with concentration in Development Economics *University of Cape Town*, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Economic History (Distinction) \hfill 2015 *University of Cape Town*, Bachelor of Social Science in Philosophy (Distinction) \hfill 2014\ Visiting student, University of California, Berkeley # Research ## Select publications Jain, R., Budlender, J., Zizzamia, R., & Bassier, I. (2023). [The labor market and poverty impacts of COVID-19 in South Africa](https://doi.org/10.1111/saje.12356). *South African Journal of Economics.* 91(4), 419-445. Schotte, S., & Zizzamia, R. (2022). [The livelihood impacts of COVID-19 in urban South Africa: A view from below](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11205-022-02978-7). *Social Indicators Research*. 1-30. Zizzamia, R., Schotte, S., & Leibbrandt, M. (2022). [Snakes and Ladders and Loaded Dice: Poverty Dynamics and Inequality in South Africa](https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/saje.12308), 2008 to 2017. *South African Journal of Economics.* 214-242. Zizzamia, R., Bassier, I., Budlender, J., Leibbrandt, M., & Ranchhod, V. (2021). [Locked down and locked out: Repurposing social assistance as emergency relief to informal workers.](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105271) *World Development*, 139, 105271. Clementi, F., Fabiani, M., Molini, V., & Zizzamia, R. (2021). [Are We Really Painting the Devil on the Walls? Polarization and its Drivers in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Past Two Decades.](https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejab006) *Journal of African Economies.* Zizzamia, R. (2020). [Is employment a panacea for poverty: A mixed-methods investigation into employment decisions in South Africa.](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.104938) *World Development.* 130. 104938. Schotte, S., Zizzamia, R., & Leibbrandt, M. (2018). [A poverty dynamics approach to social stratification: The South African case.](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2018.05.024) *World Development*, 110, 88-103. ## Work in progress [Acting early under uncertainty: Anticipatory cash transfers in the context of flood disasters](https://www.povertyactionlab.org/initiative-project/improved-early-action-through-precise-targeting-timely-cash-and-early-warning) (with Stefan Dercon, Ashley Pople, Hannah Timmis, Prabhmeet Matta) [Rejection sensitivity and on-the-job search: A lab-in-the-field experiment in South Africa](https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:64531bf5-bd53-4dbc-917d-da9ae5294a29), **Revise and Resubmit*, *Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Economics** [Group Coaching and the Scalability of Ultra-Poor Graduation Programs: Evidence from Three Field Experiments](https://sites.northwestern.edu/christopherudry/files/2025/03/group_individ_full_paper.pdf) (with Stefan Dercon, Emily Beam, Dean Karlan, and others). **Submitted** Anticipatory Education Support During Climate Crises: An evaluation of Cash Transfers and Remote Education in Kenya (with Noam Angrist and Stefan Dercon) Optimal household targeting of cash transfers in a disaster setting (with Hannah Timmis, Stefan Dercon, Ashley Pople, Prabhmeet Matta) Welfare-Risk Trade-offs in Anticipatory Aid: A Portfolio Theory Approach (with Prabhmeet Matta) [Fostering Adaptation to Climate Change: The Role of Multifaceted Social Protection Programmes and Microcredit](https://osf.io/bd2sh/) (with Prabhmeet Matta and Anindita Bhattacharjee) [Ultra-poor graduation programmes and resilience to climate shocks: A mixed-methods investigation in flood-prone Pakistan (with Nasir Iqbal and Saima Nawaz) # Research and Teaching Experience ## Research Consultant (International Labour Organization) \hfill 2022 Research Assistant (Oxford Department of Social Policy and Intervention) \hfill 2022 Research Officer (Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit) \hfill 2016 - 2021 Consultant (National Income Dynamics Study-Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey) \hfill 2020 Visiting Fellow (GIGA German Institute for Global and Area Studies) \hfill 2018 Short-Term Consultant (World Bank Group, Poverty Global Practice Unit) \hfill 2017 - 2018 ## Teaching Lecturer, Quantitative Methods (Oxford Dept. of International Development) \hfill 10/10/2024-21/07/2025 TA, Quantitative Methods (Oxford Dept. of International Development) \hfill 14/10/2020-18/07/2022 TA, Various (Philosophy Dept., University of Cape Town) \hfill 05/01/2013 - 11/11/2014 TA, Religion, Conflict and Violence (Religious Studies Dept, University of Cape Town) \hfill 08/09/2014 - 11/11/2014 # Grants (PI or co-PI) *Anticipatory action for climate disaster response*, Weiss Asset Management Foundation\ **$1,000,000** \hfill 2024 - 2025 *The impacts of an ultra-poor graduation program in building resilience: An investigation in flood-prone Pakistan*, International Growth Centre\ **$25,000** \hfill 2025 *Anticipatory action for climate disaster response*, J-Pal King Climate Action Initiative\ **$250,000** \hfill 2023 - 2025 *Boosting decent employment for Africa’s youth*, International Development Research Centre\ **CAD$500,000** \hfill 2019 - 2022 *Working to learn: an evaluation of an on-the-job training program*, J-Pal Post-Primary Education Initiative\ **$25,000** \hfill 2019 - 2022 # Awards Oxford Dept. International Development Scholarship \hfill 2022 - 2023 Clarendon Scholarship \hfill 2019 - 2022 Papiya Ghosh Thesis Prize (best MPhil thesis) \hfill 2018 Skye Foundation Scholarship \hfill 2016 - 2018 Michael Wills Scholarship \hfill 2016 - 2018 UCT Council Scholarship \hfill 2014, 2015 UCT Humanities Scholarship \hfill 2012, 2013, 2014 Twamley Scholarship \hfill 2012, 2013 Hyman Liberman Prize \hfill 2012 # Presentations **2025** — ISDC, Berlin; AFD Conference, Paris (scheduled); IDOS Workshop, Bonn (scheduled); ISDC Fragile Lives, Berlin (scheduled); WFP Workshop, Rome (scheduled) **2024** — a2i x GiveDirectly Conference, Dhaka (online); NOVAFRICA Conference on Economic Development, Lisbon; Oxford Economics Department Jamboree, Oxford; SALDRU Conference, Cape Town **2023** — Department of Social Policy and Intervention workshop, Oxford; CREB Applied Development Economics, Lahore; ESA Africa Regional Conference, Cape Town; Path2Dev Conference, LUMS, Lahore **2022** — WB/IZA/UNU-WIDER Conference, Cape Town; CSAE Workshop, Oxford **2021** — UNU-WIDER Seminar, Helsinki (online); RESEP Seminar, Stellenbosch; CSAE Workshop, Oxford **2020** — Agence Française de Développement; SALDRU; African Centre for Excellence in Inequality Research; IUSSP Population, Poverty and Inequality Research Conference (all online) **2019** — IDRC/ILO/INCLUDE Workshop, Nairobi; WB/IZA/UNU-WIDER Conference, Bangkok; IUSSP Conference, University of Michigan **2018** — CSAE Conference, Oxford; SALDRU Seminar, Cape Town; RESEP Seminar, Stellenbosch; African Studies Centre, Oxford; INET-YSI Africa, Harare; HDCA Conference, Buenos Aires; AFD Conference, Paris; GIGA Seminar, Hamburg **2017** — Fifth Congress of African Economists, Malabo; HDCA Conference, Cape Town; CSAE Conference, Oxford; African Studies Centre, Oxford **2016** — DSA Conference, Oxford; SALDRU Seminar, Cape Town; International Workshop on the Middle Class in Africa, Cape Town # Public engagement My research has been featured in the [Financial Times](https://www.ft.com/content/85ad034e-146d-4e8f-a3ad-f8d237346d6d), The Economist ([1](https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2020/07/18/covid-19-has-throttled-south-africas-economy), [2](https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2024/05/02/how-south-africa-has-changed-30-years-after-apartheid), [3](https://www.economist.com/special-report/2019/04/25/cyril-ramaphosa-faces-a-daunting-task-if-he-wins-south-africas-election), [4](https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2021/01/07/south-africas-black-middle-class-has-prospered-under-democracy)), [The Mail and Guardian](https://mg.co.za/news/2020-07-15-three-million-jobs-lost-and-hunger-surging-amid-covid-19-crisis-survey/), among others. My own public-facing writing can be found [here](https://roccozizzamia.github.io/otherwriting/). # Service **Policy engagement**: Policy modeling for the [Special Covid Grant Working group](chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://covid19economicideas.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Special-Covid-19-Grant-Proposal-full-version-17-April-2020.pdf) -- proposal to introduce a [Social Relief of Distress Grant](https://www.gov.za/services/services-residents/social-benefits/social-relief-distress#:~:text=Social%20relief%20of%20distress%20is,children's%20grants%20to%20be%20processed) adopted by the South African government. **Mentoring:** Co-founder of the [Oxford Africa Society Mentorship Scheme](https://www.oxforduniversityafricasociety.com/scholarship-access-mentorship); Mentor for Lumiere Education **Refereeing**: Journal of Economic Inequality; Economic Modelling; World Development; Review of Development Economics; Applied Economics Letters; South African Journal of Economics. **Editor:** [CSAE Working Paper Series](https://www.csae.ox.ac.uk/working-papers?filter_types-3013581[]=c-report&filter_series-3013581[]=1356606,2072376,1429171) **Organiser:** CSAE Workshop on Social Protection and Climate Adaptation (2024); CSAE Research Seminar (2024-2025); Anticipatory Action panel at Fragile Lives (2025) # Other information **Programming/Software** - Stata, R, Python **Languages** - English (native), Italian (native), German (actively learning), Afrikaans (basic) **Sport** - Oxford University First Marathon Team and half-Blue colours. Marathon PB: 2h28 # References Stefan Dercon (stefan.dercon@economics.ox.ac.uk); Pramila Krishnan (pramila.krishnan@qeh.ox.ac.uk); Christopher Woodruff (christopher.woodruff@qeh.ox.ac.uk)
