Monday 9 June 2008

Concept paper


A NETWORK ON RESEARCH INTO CHILD POVERTY

Objectives:

Overall Objective:
To consult, coordinate and develop a common body of knowledge with the goal to influence research, policies and actions of importance for Child Poverty and Child Well-Being.

Primary consideration should be given to the situation of children in the developing world (transition, middle and low income countries) and to stimulate and provide support to researchers from developing countries.

Specific Objectives:
Strengthen the evidence base. Promote research on childhood poverty with better international uptake and analysis of existing data sets (e.g. MICS) on the topic.

Establish mechanisms for dissemination of research findings, and for stimulating evidence-based advocacy on childhood poverty issues internationally. Develop instruments to inform evidence-based policy briefs targeted at key policy Stakeholders. In particular, seek to make available to key policy makers state of the art perspectives and evidence on child poverty.

Promote the development of appropriate research methodologies, methods, analytical tools and concepts through the regular exchange of learning from the various research initiatives.

Support capacity building in research methodology, methods and concepts, focusing on young scholars in developing countries engaging in constructive dialogue on research.

Activities:


1) Organize face-to-face meetings, within and outside the network, as a mechanism for consultation and cross-fertilization, with emphasis on the nexus of research (methods and findings) and policy. (The first of these meetings will be held as a side event at the CRC anniversary conference being planned for 2009.)

2) Develop internet-based communication capacity as a way to promote easy and regular exchange among network members. The intent is to draw on existing resources to establish a web-based network and feed into a host website (housed, for example, within the Childwatch website) that would both facilitate communication and exchange, and serve as a repository for relevant resources.

Through this web the network will promote/facilitate:
Systematic consultation and cross fertilization of research into child poverty/child wellbeing
Sharing information and communication tools. (E-newsletter.)
Combination of research that is carried out by different organisations
Access to relevant websites
Dissemination of information of datasets etc.

3) Develop and support capacity building activities with emphasis in developing countries. Drawing on existing resources (for example, UNICEF’s the Young Lives Project, multi-country Study, the training experience developed by The New School, networking assets of the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty, etc.) the network will:

· Support the use of quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze the situation of children living in poverty and the impact of socio economic policies. This might include the organization of international initiatives to promote the use of existing data on child poverty.

· Promote the development of training activities, materials, and courses on child poverty including conceptualization, methods and measurement, and programs and policies. Regional workshops also will be pursued as a key capacity building activity.

· Seek to influence the academic and research organizations to include child poverty into current curricula and research agendas.

· Support the exchange of research staff among organizations that belong to the network.

4) Develop collaborative research endeavours on child poverty among network members. If successful, the communication and capacity building activities noted above should facilitate the improvement in quality of existing research and promote the development of new and policy relevant research projects. The network will provide members with:

· Information about existing and emerging research funding opportunities
· A mechanism to promote the development of collaborative research proposals
· A forum within which to share and comment on one another's research
· A mechanism to promote north-south and south-south research partnerships
· A means to keep research initiatives grounded in policy and policy priorities

On membership:
The network should include:
· Institutions working on the issue of child poverty with a human rights based approach.
· Institutions and people from academia, the multilaterals and international NGOs.

Organizing members of the Network:
1. New School, NY
2. Young Lives, DFID
3. SCF-UK and alliance,
4. UNICEF IRC and NY,
5. Childwatch,
6. CROP, Comparative Research Programme on Poverty.
7.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

A comment to congratulate those leading this initiative. It is of the most importance. There is much more to be done to both understand and respond to poverty issues affecting the young population throughtout the world. We together can do more and spaces of articulation like this plus our collective will are crucial steps towards this goal. As President of Childwatch International Research Network I strongly support the initiative and call for others to join us.
Irene Rizzini
Rio de Janeiro
Brazil
Director of CIESPI (The International Center for Research and Policy on Childhood).

Usha said...

Great work and looking forward to reading more posts on here as well as contributing to these efforts.
On another note, please sign me up for email alerts when a new thread is posted. Best, Usha

lij1 said...

Sadly, this is the first foray for this particular Luddite into the world of blogging. I look forward to learning from and contributing to this important conversation. Leif.

Leif Jensen
Penn State University, USA

Aina Siao said...

Just thought I should leave a short comment saying thank you for your hard work and effort putting all this information together. It is deeply appreciated. house painting