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Research undertaken at the University of Manchester (UoM) has made a major contribution to understanding the role and significance of direct cash transfers as financially and politically sustainable instruments, essential in addressing extreme and chronic poverty in low and middle income countries. Research findings, outputs and related uptake activities have: stimulated, supported and led global research on antipoverty transfers; shaped policy thinking within the development community (e.g. DFID, HelpAge International); influenced national governments (e.g. UK, Sweden) and informed practice in several countries (e.g. Uganda, Bangladesh).
GCU research into media coverage and public perceptions of poverty, and measures to tackle poverty has had an impact on policy making, policy content and the public discourse of poverty. Deprived communities have been the primary beneficiaries of this impact, e.g. GCU research helped secure pledges from all the main Scottish political parties to avoid stigmatising and socially divisive language in discussing poverty. Secondary beneficiaries have been campaigning organisations whose media engagement strategies have improved. Finally, GCU poverty research has informed the Scottish Government's Child Poverty Strategy and the child poverty measures of Community Planning Partnerships.
Poor people define poverty to include a simultaneous lack of education, health, housing, mployment and income, among other factors. Recognising this, Sabina Alkire and James Foster developed an axiomatic methodology of measurement that incorporates multiple dimensions of poverty — the Alkire Foster method (AF). The AF method provides a robust, `open-source' measurement tool for policy-making. One key impact is an AF index covering 100+ countries, published annually in the UNDP's Human Development Reports. Another is national adoption by three governments and a multidimensional poverty peer network of 22 governments and agencies. The AF method is also incorporated into other internationally recognised well-being measures such as USAID's 19-country Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index, and Bhutan's Gross National Happiness index.
The primary beneficiaries of Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) research into media representations of poverty are people experiencing poverty themselves. Mediating beneficiaries are editors and journalists; television drama producers; politicians and political parties and third-sector organisations. The research has:
Research undertaken at the University of Manchester (UoM) confronts deficits in social policy in sub-Saharan Africa, emphasising the promotion of state capacities for the delivery of social welfare, The research has engaged with users (2003-present), and has contributed to demonstrable policy shifts towards strengthening social welfare systems. As a result, UNICEF, alongside donors such as USAID/ PEPFAR, are now placing an increased emphasis upon the importance of strengthening state social welfare systems, with less emphasis the on role of NGOs. The research also contributed to a renewed prioritisation on developing capacity for the implementation of social policy within the African Union Social Policy Framework (2008).
Microfinance — financial services for people excluded from mainstream banking — expanded rapidly during the 1990s into a global industry of specialist microfinance institutions (MFIs) serving over 100 million clients. The dominant view was that directly assessing achievement of social goals, such as poverty reduction and women's empowerment, was an unnecessary distraction from the commercial expansion of MFIs, needed to reduce their financial dependence on aid. Our research successfully challenged this view by demonstrating that MFIs could effectively monitor their social as well as financial performance. The impact of this has been an increase globally in the number of MFIs doing so, the development of global standards for social performance assessment, and better quality financial services for millions of relatively poor clients.
Funded by JRF and ESRC, a long-term series of qualitative studies with residents of very deprived neighbourhoods in Teesside has reached important conclusions about the realities of worklessness and poverty. Many of these run counter to prevailing thinking amongst politicians, policy makers and practitioners. Thus, the research has been used to influence the thinking and the practices of organisations (nationally and regionally) that seek to tackle problems of poverty and worklessness. The research has informed political debate in the UK and EU and has been used nationally and regionally to improve the way that problems of worklessness, poverty and `the low-pay cycle' are understood and responded to. Impact has come about as a consequence of the academic profile and reputation of the underpinning research and a subsequent planned and concerted set of dissemination, public engagement and knowledge exchange activities.
During the last 20 years Mascie-Taylor's research has had a significant influence on both the UK and Bangladesh governments' policy, practice and understanding in relation to food supplementation and the association between poverty and undernutrition. This research was responsible for demonstrating that existing approaches to improving nutrition were not effective, and suggested reasons for this. As a result of this advice, both the policy and programme approach were changed in 2011. By being the catalyst for these changes, the study has benefited the poor of Bangladesh, improving their health and wellbeing while supporting the introduction of these changes which have led to improved levels of nutrition and reduced individual and household poverty. For example participants of the programme (n=250,000 households ~ 1million individuals) reported ten-fold increases in savings and reduced prevalence of chronic illness, from 15.6% to 4.8% between 2010-12.
Essex research, conducted between 1994 and 2010, has provided a new way for the UK Government to measure income poverty, leading to a measure of persistent poverty being included in the Child Poverty Act 2010. The research has enriched policymakers' understanding of changes in inequality and provided a framework for the analysis of poverty dynamics. It has also changed the way in which the Joseph Rowntree Foundation approaches its research and policy work on poverty. A sub-strand of work, on how incomes change after couples separate, has informed policy development work by the charity Gingerbread.
Jonathan Bradshaw and colleagues at York influenced UK and international measures of child poverty, child deprivation and child well-being. The multi-dimensional well-being measures have been adopted by UNICEF and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Office for National statistics (ONS) is now developing measures of child happiness based on our work.
Our research highlighted how badly children in Britain were doing. Informed by this evidence, a Government strategy was developed after 1999 and investment in children improved at least until 2010. As a result, child poverty and well-being improved in the UK. Our work contributed to moving the national and international discourse beyond a focus on income poverty.