Policy research for policy change
Five new regionally focussed projects have been commissioned by DFID in support of its policy research programme.
Africa
The Institute of Development Studies will link sustainable livelihoods
issues with those of governance,
participation and poverty. Centred on field
investigations in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, a key feature of the
proposed research programme will be to link research activities to policy
networks at district/provincial, national and regional levels. The Overseas
Development Group will undertake research in Tanzania, Malawi and Uganda to
investigate how policy change could help to reduce the vulnerability of the
rural poor. IIED will be working in Ghana and Nigeria to examine the impact of
recent innovative policies and programmes intended to reduce rural poverty. It
will also consider wider policy and institutional constraints to sustainable
livelihoods in the poorest areas and identify possible ways to overcome such
constraints based on examples of best policy practice.
Asia
In its efforts to promote policy change for reducing rural poverty in Asia,
DFID is supporting policy research at the Overseas Development Institute.
The
focus is on livelihood diversification which poor people generally see as a
means of adding part-time or seasonal work to their existing work but which
governments tend to view as requiring new, full-time activities in new
enterprises. The central research idea is that government strategy can be
improved to enable poor people to reduce their vulnerability and increase
income more effectively, more quickly and more sustainably than at present.
Policy research of a different kind is being undertaken at Leeds University.
Here policies relating to different forms of natural resources will be
examined, their impact at community level and the institutional processes
through which policies are translated into actions. Both these policy research
projects will support DFID's work to promote sustainable livelihoods. ODI
and Leeds University will be working in India, Bangladesh and Nepal and Leeds
University will also be working in Sri Lanka.
