The department is a lively community that is recognised internationally as one of the top centres for research and teaching in development studies.
Human Development, Poverty and Youth
Poverty and human development have long been core areas of research for the department. Going beyond a narrow conception of per capita income, our approach incorporates health, education, living standards and quality of work – all of which enable productive, creative and autonomous lives.
Our present strength and reputation in this field is due mainly to two research groups: the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) and Young Lives
ODID faculty, notably Professor Emerita Frances Stewart, participated in design, methodology and research for the UNDP's flagship Human Development Report from its foundation in 1990. This work has been continued and enlarged by OPHI, winner of the Queen’s Anniversary Prize in 2020. With its innovative Multidimensional Poverty Index, OPHI contributes globally to the conception of the Sustainable Development Goals and also engages with many national governments on data gathering and measurement of poverty to provide evidence for policy.
Building human capabilities necessarily starts with children, and the Young Lives project, initiated in 2001, conducts longitudinal study of childhood poverty following the lives of 12,000 children in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. Carried out in collaboration with country partners, the study covers education, skills, work, health, nutrition, inequality, child protection and gender. This multi-country longitudinal research has now moved from studying children to youth, as their original child cohorts have grown older. Young Lives has also developed a new focus on work, in view of the crisis of youth employment.
Teaching maths using real world data: a Young Lives collaboration with Oxfam
research_impact52Home and school contributions to cognitive skill formation and the effect of early stimulation int...
research_project54Consumption and social enterprise in a context of poverty, Morro da Cruz, Brazil
research_project51'Times have changed for real': children and youth and social change in central Rwanda...
research_project54Breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty? Young people’s education and employment trajector...
research_project54Pages
Laura Ahlborn
Quantitative Research Assistant, Young Lives
Sabina Alkire
Director, OPHI, and Professor of Poverty and Human Development
Subham Basak
Research Student
Severine Deneulin
Associate Fellow in International Development
Vyoma Dhar Sharma
Research Student
Jakob Dirksen
Research and Policy Officer, OPHI
Richard Dolan
Research Student
Marta Favara
Senior Research Officer and Deputy Director, Young Lives
Kath Ford
Senior Policy Advisor, Young LivesPages
30 Nov, 2022Global crises hit mental health and well-being in low and middle-income countries - Young Lives report
09 Mar, 2022Two years on, COVID threatens to derail prospects for a generation in Global South, Young Lives reports
03 Mar, 2022Sabina Alkire gives evidence to House of Commons International Development Committee
31 May, 2021New article from Young Lives quantifies increase in domestic violence during lockdown in Peru
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- 15 Jul, 2021
'We can make progress on global poverty — in spite of Covid'. Sabina Alkire writes for the Financial Times
10 May, 2021'"Each burning pyre is an unspeakable, screeching horror" – one researcher on the frontline of India’s COVID crisis'. DPhil Vyoma Dhar Sharma writes for the Conversation
04 Feb, 2021'Class cancelled: how Covid school closures blocked routes out of poverty'. Young Lives research features in the Guardian
22 Aug, 2020'Hunger, lost income and increased anxiety: how coronavirus lockdowns put huge pressure on young people around the world'. Marta Favara, Alan Sanchez, Catherine Porter and Douglas Scott write for the Conversation
29 Jul, 2020'Keeping Poverty Reduction Front and Center'. Juan Manuel Santos and Sabina Alkire write for Project Syndicate on the need to seize the opportunity presented by the pandemic to build a more inclusive and sustainable world
20 Jul, 2020'COVID-19, Lockdowns, and Africa’s Informal Sector: Lessons from Ghana'. Elvis Avenyo and colleagues explore how the lockdown might affect the performance of informal enterprises in two urban areas of Ghana in a new UNU Merit Working Paper
19 Jul, 2020'Coronavirus could reverse a decade of progress in reducing global poverty levels, UN study suggests'. The Independent writes about the 2020 global MPI from OPHI and the UNDP and COVID-19
02 Jun, 2020'History tells us coronavirus pandemic could lead to global reduction in poverty, Oxford academic says'. Sabina Alkire interviewed by the Independent
30 May, 2020'How Colonialism and Austerity Are Shaping Africa’s Response to the Coronavirus'. Simukai Chigudu is interviewed by Jacobin magazine
18 May, 2020'Coming of age in the time of coronavirus: young lives and families in low- and middle-income countries'. Gina Crivello draws on the findings of Young Lives' Young Marriage and Parenthood study and the implications of COVID-19
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