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poverty
17 Oct, 2018
Why do some countries reduce poverty faster than others?
'Can poverty be eradicated?' is the biggest question for development. Progress in poverty reduction was a central success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): estimates suggest that as many as ...
20 Sep, 2018
From MDGs to SDGs: where next for Bangladesh?
Would you say that a country was likely to reach any of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) if it is affected by adverse geographical conditions, has a state apparatus perceived as chronically corrupt,...
13 Aug, 2018
The impact of cohort studies
Young Lives has just published ten updated case studies, each of which demonstrates how the study has resulted in significant positive...
16 Jul, 2018
Advancing human development: theory and practice
'Human development is a process of enlarging people’s choices. The most critical ones are to lead a long and healthy life, to be educated and to enjoy a decent standard of living. Additional choices include...
08 Jun, 2018
Defining the middle class in the global South: a quantitative perspective from South Africa
What makes you middle class? Is it your income, occupation, or education? Your family background or maybe the house and neighbourhood you live in? It is probably all of these things.
03 Apr, 2018
Trickle-down does not work in social policy either: the micro side of the macro success story of inequality reduction in Latin America
It is a widely accepted fact in academia and policy circles that Latin America has experienced important gains in human development outcomes over the last decade, mainly through the creation of new non-...
07 Nov, 2017
Why are some children able to ‘beat the odds’ stacked against them early in life?
We know that children who grow up in poverty are disproportionately more likely to leave school early and less likely to enter post-secondary schooling. We also know that they are disproportionately more...
02 Nov, 2017
Reflections from 'Putting Children First': from surviving to thriving
I spent much of last week in Addis Ababa at the ‘Putting Children First’ conference (for my hopes on this, see a blog written the week...
13 Oct, 2017
Three insights on multidimensional poverty from the UN General Assembly
While most media attention at the United Nations General Assembly was focusing on President’s Trump’s first appearance at the UN, little attention was devoted to central themes, such as the fight against...
30 Jun, 2016
First thoughts on this year’s State of the World’s Children
Two big reports are out this week – first, UNICEFs ‘State of the World’s Children’ report, and second (given I write from the UK), the UK’s own annual official statistical report on low incomes within the...
30 Mar, 2016
Making research more ‘impactful’ for policy and programming
How social science research contributes to solving real world problems has always been a concern for researchers. Few people study social ills like poverty without wishing to contribute to policies and...
02 Nov, 2015
Multidimensional Poverty Index adopted as a SDG target indicator
The Inter Agency Expert Group on Sustainable Development Goal Indicators met for the second time in Bangkok, 26-28 October 2015. The purpose was to move towards the selection of the indicators that will be...
25 Sep, 2015
Will the SDGs advance progress for disadvantaged children?
The end of the week sees the meeting to agree the Sustainable Development Goals. Don’t expect too many surprises; the document to be signed off has already been published. There are 17 proposed goals, with...
24 Sep, 2015
Income and multidimensional poverty – fighting poverty in all its dimensions
The way we define poverty has changed. At the Sustainable Development Summit on 25-27 September 2015, the UN will formally adopt a new sustainable development agenda that will include a goal to end poverty...
13 Jul, 2015
Seeing poverty up close
Poverty measures reported at the national level provide only a sketch of the reality poor people face. Multidimensional poverty estimations released on 22 June 2015 by the Oxford Poverty and Human...
26 May, 2015
Tough boys and docile girls? Questioning the use of corporal punishment in schools
Globally, corporal punishment is widely used in schools despite international concern about the effects on children and the implications for their capacity to benefit from school. And yet it persists....