Reflections on Young Lives 2000-2005

Poverty research and assessment have attracted considerable international attention and resources over the last decade, as exemplified by international initiatives such as the UN Millennium Development Goals. Notwithstanding a growing body of research, however, there is still much to be done to effectively disseminate research results and strengthen relationships between NGOs, research networks, and policy practitioners to ensure substantial policy change. This paper explores efforts to bridge multi-disciplinary research, policy engagement, and practice to improve poor children’s life quality in four diverse countries. It draws on Young Lives research and experiences in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam to identify factors that either contributed to or thwarted evidence-based pro-poor child-focused change. It focuses in particular on three key aspects: partnership and networking, framing of messages, and dissemination/communication methodologies. The paper concludes by reflecting on the particular challenges involved when promoting children’s rights, including children’s limited voice in the social and political arena, the dearth of state and civil society champions of children’s rights, a limited evidence base to establish macro-micro policy linkages, and the tendency for children’s issues to be limited to health and education policies