Childhood poverty and evidence-based policy engagement in Ethiopia

This paper explores efforts to bridge multi-disciplinary research and policy engagement to tackle childhood poverty in developing country contexts, based on the experiences of Young Lives, an international longitudinal policy research project. It focuses on a case study involving the utilisation of...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jones, N, Tefera, B, Woldehanna, T
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Routledge 2008
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Description
Summary:This paper explores efforts to bridge multi-disciplinary research and policy engagement to tackle childhood poverty in developing country contexts, based on the experiences of Young Lives, an international longitudinal policy research project. It focuses on a case study involving the utilisation of research evidence on childhood poverty to shape policy debates about Ethiopia’s second generation Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (2006-10). The discussion is situated within theoretical literature on the knowledge/policy/practice interface which supports the reconceptualisation of policy making as a non-linear dynamic process. It pays particular attention to the importance of understanding the political and policy contexts of Southern countries rather than simply importing Northern-derived models of advocacy. It concludes by teasing out generalisable lessons for translating research into social policy change.