Effects of participatory poverty alleviation programmes on children in Andhra Pradesh

• Context and opportunism – Major donor programme focused on user committees (educ/ health) – But growing concern re limited improvements in child welfare indicators

• Evidence and framing messages– In-depth q2 research on impacts on quality of children’s services– Participatory approaches to poverty alleviation improve ownership and

demand for accountability BUT – Parental participation without broader efforts to address power

imbalances (gender, caste, occupation) are inadequate • Connectors and champions:

– NGO partners, local research institute, UNICEF, MOWAC • Impact

– Research findings provided credibility but narrowness of government connectors limited implementation impact

Children and economic shocks in Kyrgyzstan

• Context and opportunism – ‘Shock therapy’ from independence in 1991– Very large population of children and young people but declining welfare and access to services

• Evidence and framing messages – CHIP research focused on how far inter-generational cycles of poverty are developing as result of

economic and social policy changes, and how livelihood coping strategies affect child wellbeing– Review of donor, NGO, and govt documents, and survey of 1100 hhs, in-depth interviews and FGDs

• Connectors and champions– Interested stakeholders invited to comment on research plans – Seminars with govt, NGOs and donor community – Feedback meetings in communities where research took place – Documentary film screened on national TV and in meetings nationally and internationally– Series of ‘social advertisements’ designed to raise awareness of childhood poverty among publicf policy-makers and

• Impact– Contributed to development of a Comprehensive Development Framework and National Poverty

Reduction Strategy (NPRS) which prioritises ‘building a fairer society’ including specific commitments to tackle childhood poverty

Children and decentralisation in Peru

• Context and opportunism

– Recent post-conflict context; decentralisation seen as key pillar of new state-citizen pact

– High levels of inequality and very poor child welfare indicators, esp in rural highlands

– Highly publicised presidential and provincial elections

• Evidence and framing messages

– q2 research on decentralisation and investment in children, especially social services

– Work with journalists to develop materials and question guidelines to improve qualtiy of media coverage

– Participatory photography, video and digital story telling exercises; travelling photo exhibit

• Connectors and champions:

– NGO partners, media – local radio and BBC, schools, local governments, mayors

• Impact

– Invitations to congress, ministry of social development to present findings

– Considerable press coverage and improved journalistic capacities

– Capacity building support by donors for child-sensitive

budget monitoring work

– Greater public understanding as evidenced by

radio impact survey and follow up of visitors to photo exhibits

Children, the MDGs and violence

• Context and opportunism– 2006 UN Study on Violence’s surprising reporting on

prevalence of school-based violence • Evidence and framing messages

Plan’s Learn Without Fear campaign builds on research by ODI and the International Observatory on Violence in Schools, evidence collected by the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children and Plan’s programmatic/ advocacy experience in 66 countries

ODI’s legal audit set a baseline on national laws protecting children from school violence and will be used to measure change in number/quality of legislation

• Connectors and champions– Plan, partners in 66 countries, think tank, media, youth groups

– “I used to ignore violence in my school but I am now able to speak out against violence confidently. Some forms of violence like corporal punishment have reduced. I have realised that some schools do not perform well academically…one [problem] is violent behaviour.” (Girl, 16 years old, Uganda, participant in Plan’s international youth project on gender-based violence in schools).

–

Children, the MDGs and violence

• Impact – Int’l: secured new campaign partners and

endorsements– Involved in int’l events with UNICEF, Innocenti,

UNESCO, IV World Conference on Violence in school and public policies and World Congress III Against the Sexual Exploitation of Children; contributing to WHO and UNICEF initiatives on developing indicators to reduce int’l violence

– 7 regional events with important public awareness and media impacts

“From what these children have said and done concerning the various types of abuse against them, we (adults) should bow our heads in shame. But there will be more chances for us to raise our heads with pride, only if we support our children to have access to health, education, and to participate in communal decision-  making.” Village Chief, Ghana.

Different Types of Evidence

Impact Evidence

Implementation Evidence

Descriptive Analytical Evidence

Economic and Econometric

Evidence

Ethical Evidence

Counterfactual

SurveysAdmin DataComparativeQualitative

Cost-BenefitCost-Effectiveness

Cost-UtilityEconometrics

Social EthicsPublic Consultation

Oral historiesParticipatory Photography

or video

Attitudinal Evidence

Surveys,Qualitative Research,

Citizen consultations

Experiential evidence

Source: Phil Davies Impact to Insight Meeting, ODI, 2005

ExperimentalQuasi-Experimental

QualitativeTheories of Change

Conclusions and ways forward

• Discursive shifts towards childhood poverty and

vulnerability as a distinct concept from adult poverty is

improving, as are policy decision-making procedures,

but progress in terms of policy content and behavioural/

attitudinal shifts are still limited

• Governments are not resistant to this idea but need greater evidence and awareness raising, as well as support in how to operationalise such understanding at a programme level

• Researchers need to continue to strive to distil findings about childhood poverty into policy-relevant messages and policy recommendations –

i.e. proactive knowledge translation work

• Identifying and supporting stable local champions or intermediaries is key – international development researchers tend to be transitory in a specific national contexts and govt officers can turn over rapidly

Conclusions and ways forward

• Triangulating sources of evidence and communication mechanisms is critical to reach breadth of target audiences – esp. given multi-dimensionality of childhood poverty and impacts from social and economic policies

• It is important to invest in ‘extensions and

supplements’ to support children and

young people’s role in the

knowledge-policy interface, including

supporting the innovative use of

different types of evidence