The Impact Initiative

Our mission is to increase the uptake and impact of research from two major research programmes jointly funded by the UK's Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Department for International Development (DFID): the Joint Fund for Poverty Alleviation Research and the Raising Learning Outcomes in Education Systems Research Programme. [read more] 

The Impact Initiative 

News and Views

Event: All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Education ‘Marking International Day for Education: Heralding the Decade for Leaving No Girl Behind’

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Global Education in collaboration with the Global Partnership for Education and the Impact Initiative invites you to: ‘Marking International Day for Education: Heralding the Decade for Leaving No Girl Behind.’

Blog: The opportunities and challenges of raising learning outcomes in India

Blog: UHC - where did we get lost?

News: Raising Learning Outcomes in Indian Contexts

News: Learning from Brazil and Mozambique

News: Putting Children First podcast

Blog: Make some noise so no one is left behind! Halla Bol!

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The Impact Lab

The Impact Lab seeks to strengthen links and create dialogue by providing an outline of the issues and clear lessons for knowledge practitioners, donors and researchers. Outputs include impact stories, an edited collection of articles, and a series of learning guides. Find out more or see our glossary of terms. Additional resources are available from the Impact Initiative collections in the OpenDocs e-repository.

Calling ESRC DFID Grant Holders

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Discover how to maximise the impact of your project

Edited collection of articles

The social realities of knowledge for development

Analysis of the critical challenges faced by organisations and individuals involved in evidence-informed development through a diverse set of case studies and think pieces

Impact stories

Devi prepares a cooking fire at her home in Dhoderi village, Nepal

Providing Alternatives to Fossil Fuels in Nepal

Research in Nepal shows how indigenous oil seed plants can be an alternative, more environmentally friendly energy source than fossil fuels.
Photo: South Africa. Children reading in class. Credit: Chris Sattlberger/Panos Pictures.

Improving Literacy Through Indigenous Languages in South Africa

A multi-disciplinary team of researchers are working towards a deeper understanding of higher reading gains in English and three African languages.

Investigating Domestic Violence Law in Cambodia

Research on Domestic Violence (DV) law in Cambodia not only contributed to greater understanding of the limitations of the legislation but was used as evidence in a law court.

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Featured Projects

Urban/Rural

Safe and sustainable cities

This project seeks to incorporate migrant perspectives and sources of innovation into urban planning to build safer and more sustainable cities, addressing environmental sustainability, poverty, and conflict and security.

Children & Young People

Young people in fragile and conflict affected situations

The overall aim of the research is to generate new knowledge about how marginalised youth perceive, navigate, negotiate and respond to uncertainty in impoverished fragile and conflict affected communities in Ethiopia and Nepal.

Security

Development frontiers in crime, livelihoods and urban poverty

This mixed-methods research aims to bring together key development concerns related to sustainable livelihoods, social vulnerability, and poverty to build an alternative account of 'insecurity and crime' in African cities.

Governance

Impact of social pensions on multiple dimensions of poverty

This research seeks to generate robust, urgently needed evidence to address the critical knowledge gaps in order to inform policy debates and thinking on the further development of the Older Persons Cash Transfer Programme in Kenya.

Resources

Briefing paper

Raising learning outcomes in diverse Indian contexts

Improving learning outcomes in India requires a rethinking of educational strategies. While improvements in physical access to schools are welcome, improving learning outcomes requires different stakeholders to adapt teaching content and methods to local contexts.

Research for policy and practice

Women and conflict

Research evidence from the ESRC-DFID Strategic Partnership explores social norms, economic empowerment and women’s political participation in fragile and conflict-affected states, including Jordan, Pakistan and Somaliland.

IDS Bulletin

Exploring Research-Policy Partnerships

This IDS Bulletin issue explores how partnerships focused on the production of policy-engaged research seek to achieve societal impact and the challenges involved. Draws on research funded by ESRC-DFID's Strategic Partnership.

Research for policy and practice

Gender and education

Valuable research evidence enabled by ESRC-DFID draws from Honduras, Malawi, Niger and South Africa to provide key insights about strategies to ensure that commitments to eliminate gender disparities in education are met.


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