This paper looks at the impact of women's empowerment on child poverty and well-being. It includes an overview of theoretical literature on women's empowerment and inter-generational poverty transmissions; outlines the research methodology used; presents the findings from research in four districts of Andhra Pradesh; and sets out the conclusions and policy recommendations
This paper aims ..."to assess whether the government of Andhra Pradesh is giving sufficient priority to investment in children at the state and the sub-state levels, through both rural and urban local bodies, to ensure improved outcomes for children"
This is an evaluation of an attempt by Andhra Pradesh to involve communities in closer monitoring and management of education, health and Early Childhood Development services in order to improve their outreach, quality and responsiveness
This paper reviews the development and application of the concept of resilience and assesses how useful the term is to poverty researchers and practitioners, when applied to childhood poverty, poverty over the life course and the intergenerational transmission of poverty
This working paper looks at how social capital may help mothers to know, think, do and feel more or differently, and how this, as a result, could impact positively on children's welfare. Young Lives have been involved in a cross-country review and measurement of social capital manifestations and this paper draws on some of the findings, reviewing current debates, describing YL's methodology and providing a comparative analysis of social capital in relation to various aspects of child wellbeing, including nutritional status, health performance and educational attainments
This paper outlines debates about social capital in the socio-politcal context of Indian society, describes patterns of social capital, explores the linkage between maternal social capital and chronic malnutrition and reflects on policy implications
This paper explores patterns in access to multiple basic services, including health and education, among children living in poverty by drawing on a sample of over 8,000 children in four developing countries - Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam - participating in the longitudinal Young Lives project on childhood poverty
This paper considers the short comings of the education sector and other factors affecting the demand for schooling in Ethiopia, which has one of the lowest primary school enrolment rates and one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world. It recommends educational and cross-sectoral policy reforms and how these might be financed
Using government audited accounts and Ministry of Education data, this paper presents the findings of a benefit incident analysis of the Ethiopian education sector, in order to assess how pro-poor public expenditure on education has been since 1995/96
This paper addresses some of the key factors affecting children's education completion rates and achievement scores. It looks at the relative importance of the school and family environment and individual child characteristics in determining child grade completion or drop out at primary school; the relative importance of investment in school quality in determining students educational achievement; and the extent to which the Education Sector Development Programme reflects the determinants of children's primary school completion rates and educational achievement scores
This report looks at attempts to draw children in Ethiopia into the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper process. It is divided into two sections. The first looks at the importance of mapping the policy context so as to carry out effective policy influencing for and with children; and the second reviews the experience of the Young Lives project in Ethiopia
This paper explores efforts to bridge multi-disciplinary research, policy engagement and practice to improve poor children’s life quality in four diverse transforming societies. It draws on Young Lives (2000-2015), an international longitudinal policy-research project on childhood poverty, tracing 12,000 children (8,000 from birth and 4,000 from age eight) in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam
This paper looks at research and reciprocity between partners and participants in the Young Lives project in Vietnam with particular regard to: the sustainability of relationships with local collaborators and project partners; the challenge of ensuring that research is designed and disseminated in a way that translates into pro-poor and child-focused policy; and the particular challenges of adhering to the principles of research reciprocity when working on a child-focused project
This paper describes the patterns of income diversification of Peruvian households with young children (aged between 6 and 18 months) interviewed during the first phase of the Young Lives study. It "aims to link income diversification strategies to the livelihood asset base and the external context of these households. In addition, it examines the relationship between these income diversification strategies and child wellbeing"
This paper assesses how the needs of children are incorporated in Ethiopia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) - the Ethiopian Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program 2002-05 (SDRDP) - and seeks to develop policy recommendations for the second PRSP, based on a comparative content analysis with other countries’ PRSPs
In Vietnam there is growing concern about the potential social impact of rapid economic changes. The extent and type of social connectedness, or social capital, may be changing...The Young Lives project in Vietnam allows the examination of the relationship between maternal social capital and child well-being. With a sample of 1,953 mothers of one-year-olds and 954 mothers of eight-year-olds across five provinces, this study examines whether maternal social capital is associated with child health
"Child health in general and long-term nutritional status in particular are related to family characteristics and assets (including maternal education) and community characteristics (including access to public services), as well as to child-specific characteristics...This paper particularly explores how mothers' education interacts with access to clean water and sewerage, availability and quality of health facilities, proximity to paved or engineered roads, and access to electricity"
This paper examines the extent and characteristics of extra classes among eight-year-old children in the Young Lives study conducted in Vietnam. It tests for association between taking extra classes and learning outcomes (numeracy, reading and writing skills)
This paper is based on a study which sought to understand the impact on child labour and child schooling of public policy interventions formulated within the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP), and how changes are mediated through gender and rural/urban differences