Young Lives experiences in mainstreaming children into Ethiopia

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Young Lives experiences in mainstreaming children
into Ethiopias national poverty reduction
strategy

• Nicola Jones (SCUK London)
• Bekele Tefera (SCUK Ethiopia)
• Tassew Woldehanna
• (Dep. Of economics, AAU, Ethiopia )
• For SARPN Workshop
• 20-21 November 2006, Pretoria, SA

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Presentation format

• ingredients of success
• Quality evidence
• Intent matters
• Policy and advocacy environment
• Networking and identifying key players
• Framing research messages
• Aligning MDG and PRSP
• Conclusions lessons learned

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Mainstreaming children into national poverty
strategies

• This presentation draws on research to evaluate
  efforts made by YL in Ethiopia to look at the
  impact of PRSP I (SDPRP) on child welfare
• IDRC grant was given to assess impacts of PRSP I
  (2002-5) on child well-being structured around
  MDG themes education, nutrition and child labour
  
• We also carried out child-sensitive critiques of
  PRSP I and compare it with other 10 countries

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Mainstreaming children into national poverty
strategies

• It was an 18 months program involving
• Multi-disciplinary mixed method research
  economists, sociologist, political scientists and
  use of Q2
• Quantitative analysis of YL first round data with
  3000 children
• New qualitative data (sub sample of 20 sites)
• Analysis of national and sub national policy
  framework and implementation practices
• Develop video documentary and photograph projects
• We engaged in multi-pronged communication,
  dissemination seminars with key stakeholders
  capacity building workshops with national and
  state level policy practitioners
• Coincides with development of PRSP II (PASDEP)

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Ingredients for success

• Literature on research and policy influencing has
  identified a of key ingredients (Court and
  Maxwell, 2005)
• Importance of credible quality research
• Intent to shape policy
• Understanding the socio-political context of
  research up-take
• Identifying and networking with key actors
• Importance of context-appropriate framing of
  messages
• We have evaluated our efforts to mainstream
  children in national PRS based these 5 criteria.

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Quality evidence

• In Young Lives project, we have sought to ensure
  quality of the research across 3 dimensions
  research sample, integration of quantitative and
  qualitative methods, analysis from
  multidisciplinary perspectives
• Research sample
• 3000 households in five most-populous regions
  cover wide diversity of agro-ecologocal zone,
  livelihood pattern, cultural and religious
  traditions, human deve. levels and ethnic
  compositions
• Qual. Using sub sample
• Integrating quantitative and qualitative methods
• Quantitative (econometrics) Aggregating
  determinants of childhood poverty
• Qualitative research provides richer definition
  of poverty, provides us a greater explanation of
  the results obtained from quant, which otherwise
  looks counter institutive. E.g. education, child
  labour, caring younger sibling
• Multi-disciplinary analysis
• Involve economists, political scientists,
  sociologist. And anthropologists
• Helps us to provide convincing cases to wider
  audience
• Econometric analysis provided currency in the
  language of power (MF, WB)
• Contextual sociological analysis (in-depth case
  studies) enables us to translate the more
  technical analysis into a more compelling
  human-cantered narrative
• Hence it enables us to reach broader civil
  society and public audience,

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Intent matters

• Through the process of Knowledge creep, research
  may reach policy stakeholders (Crew et al.,
  2005), perhaps by chance. However, this will
  take more time and it may not be timely. Message
  may not reach in a way we want them.
• But research explicitly designed to influence
  policy will have better chance of success than
  research that relies upon chance or accident to
  shape policy (Saxena, 2005).
• Understanding this, YL partnership is designed
  with DFIDs spirit of getting research to users
  and beneficiaries
• YL is a partnership project between research
  consortium and an international NGO aimed at
  explicitly producing policy-relevant research in
  order to improve policies that will enhance child
  welfare. The same at country level
• Our research initially aimed to critically look
  at PRSP I and influence PRSP II
• Time constraints we had to finish our working
  paper and conduct dissemination before
  governments drafting deadline

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Context Ethiopian policy context

• In order to engage effectively with policy makers
  and practitioners, it is important to understand
  how policy decisions are made who have the more
  political power, and which issues are
  politically sensitive.
• Hence see if the policy process consultative or
  technocratic.
• What is the balance of power among key political
  institutions? Where are the best points of entry
  for dialogue and influence?
• Are Civil society-state relationship
  constructive/complementary or antagonistic?
• Ethiopia
• disproportionate influence of MoFED (sector
  ministries) technocrats
• limited civil society consultations in PRSPI
  process
• limited awareness of need for child-sensitive
  development policies among CSOs
• Government was well aware of child rights
• Donors have a negotiation power with the GO

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Context Ethiopian policy context

• Elections strain civil society-state relations
  and overshadow PRSP consultations
• Which one to approach CSO or MoFED and how to do
  with Donors?
• Dilemma of seeking path of greatest influence
  versus solidarity with local civil society
• Be more flexible and use situation specific
  approach
• Importance of cooperative but separate identity
  for research-policy initiatives
• We learned to advocate separately CSO, Donor
  and GO
• And conduct dissemination at the very local
  level

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Identifying and networking with key players

• Experience tells us that research result has to
  be owned by GO, community and the public at large
  
• In Ethiopia this issue was handled by making the
  research be housed under EDRI and dissemination
  by SCUK and MOLSA and all get guidance by
  advisory panel (PRSP technical committee
  chairperson members and representative of NGOs
  and CSOs).
• YL strategy of promoting stakeholder buy-in
• Government partners
• Advisory panel
• Formal and informal discussion with key
  decision-makers get advice on how to disseminate
• We involved people from advisory panel in the
  dissemination at national and local level
• We have leaned also to
• work with sector ministries and make child
  mainstreaming be presented by sector ministries
  to MOFED
• and use known but politically independent (by the
  eyes of GO) academicians and researchers

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Framing research messages

• Culturally and audience-appropriate discursive
  tactics
• Use of international standards and conventions
• Construction of pithy but not overly simplified
  messages
• Borrowing from the language of gender
  mainstreaming
• Proactively teasing out policy implications from
  research messages
• e.g. ADLI may result into child labour hence
  child labour as to be monitored over time
• Specificity of policy-related messages
• Productive safety net example

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Linking MDG to PRSP

• Young Lives has not face problem in the regards
• During PRSP I GO started to link it
• Wrote report
• UNDP provide awareness workshops
• GO is very positive on MDG
• PRSP II already worked with MDG
• Young Lives choose it research topics around MDG
  themes

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Conclusions lessons

• Need for flexible advocacy and dissemination
  strategies
• Research-based advocacy can help to by-pass the
  political
• Critiques are palatable if backed by evidence
  from a large, diverse sample
• E.g. PANE versus YL

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New lessons cont.

• Importance of sustainability of researcher/
  advocacy linkages
• Can build on credibility rather than establishing
  anew for each research endeavour
• Proactively fostering research ownership through
  a stakeholder as partner model
• Invite policy-makers to present on your topic
• Capacity building as a tool to shape the
  politico-institutional context
• Civil society, weak political institutions, media

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New lessons cont.

• PRSP is the main national development plan
• Federal GOs
• NGOs
• Sub-national GO
• Ordinary people