Bristol Poverty Institute presents
Poverty and the Sustainable Development Goals: From the Local to the Global
The Sixth Peter Townsend Memorial Conference
27-29 April 2021 (online)
Slide Presentations and Video Recordings available for download below
The programme is available to download here: Final BPI Conference Programme 2021 (PDF, 485kB)
Day 3, Thursday 29 April 2021
Visual minutes of the morning sessions below
(Credit: Bristol Poverty Institute, Jorge Martin, Illustrator)
Engaging with Policy and Practice
09:30-10:30 Impact on inequalities: partnering with charities and campaigning organisations
Academics engage with policy to develop impact from research on inequalities in multiple ways. Policy engagement in this area can pose challenges, including staying up to date with, and acting on, developments in policy and opportunities to influence it, and seeing impact ‘results’ from critical research, which may not align with (or even directly challenge) government policy.
Developing relationships with intermediary organisations, whose primary role is to create change via campaigning, can result in mutual benefit. Intermediaries can gain up to date expertise, researchers develop pathways to impact, and both parties benefit from pooled knowledge and contributing different skills and resources to shared goals.
This panel session will discuss the ways in which critical research on inequalities can create impact, before focusing on how researchers can partner with charities and campaigning organisations to undertake knowledge exchange and develop impact. We will examine the types of evidence needed to support change, emphasising the importance of coproduction, understanding context, assessing implementation strategies, evidence about systems change and scaling up challenges. The session will also explore the meaning of impact in this context, ways in which researchers can work with intermediary organisations, the relationships and boundaries between research, campaigning, and policymaking, and suggest avenues to support development of reciprocal and useful relationships in the future.
Chair: Dr Lindsey Pike, PolicyBristol, University of Bristol, UK
Co-Chair: Mrs Eloise Meller, Impact Development Team, University of Bristol, UK
This roundtable discussion featured:
- Mr Jamie Evans, Senior Research Associate at the Personal Finance Research Centre (PFRC), University of Bristol, UK
- Ms Jane Lewis, Director, Centre for Evidence and Implementation, UK
- Dr Wanda Wyporska, Executive Director, The Equality Trust, UK
This session did not feature slides
Video recording available below
11:00-12:00 Policy solutions for a better world
The Coronavirus pandemic is resulting in large increases in poverty and deprivation across the world and making progress towards the SDG goals increasingly difficult. In rich countries, there is increasing strain on the three pillars of what Richard Titmus called the Social Division of Welfare – social, fiscal, and occupational welfare – and low- and middle-income countries are struggling to establish adequate social protection floors which fulfil children’s and adults’ social and economic rights. This session examines the potential of two radical policy options – Universal Basic Income and Child Friendliness.
Chair: Dr Shailen Nandy, Reader, School of Social Sciences, University of Cardiff, UK
Co-Chair: Professor David Gordon, Director of Bristol Poverty Institute, University of Bristol, UK
Adjusting the focal length of poverty reduction policies and strategies in Africa: Towards longer-term interventions to address core issues
- Mr Yehualashet Mekonen, Director of the African Child Observatory Programme at African Child Policy Forum (ACPF), Ethiopia
Presentation slides available below
BPI Conference 2021 - Adjusting the focal length of poverty reduction (PDF, 171kB)
Possibilities and impossibilities of Basic Income in Finland
- Professor Olli Kangas, Director of Equal Society research programme at the Academy of Finland; Professor of Practice at the Department of Social Research, University of Turku, Finland
Presentation slides available below
BPI Conference 2021 - Education Possibilities and impossibilities of Basic Incom (PDF, 667kB)
Beveridge and Unfinished Business: Is it time to implement a guaranteed, non-means-tested basic income floor?
- Mr Stewart Lansley, Economist and financial journalist; Visiting Fellow at the School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol and London's City University, UK
Presentation slides available below
BPI Conference 2021 - Beveridge and Unfinished Business (PDF, 895kB)
Video recording available below
Visual minutes of the afternoon sessions below
(Credit: Bristol Poverty Institute, Jorge Martin, Illustrator)
The roundtable will critically explore the relationship between education and poverty. Education is often assumed to play a key role in reducing poverty through providing the skills and competencies required to support sustainable livelihoods. These assumptions underpin the SDGs. Yet, how accurate are these assumptions? What evidence is there that education and training can contribute to sustainable livelihoods and under what conditions? Drawing on evidence from around the world the panellists will address these questions.
The panel will explore the following questions:
(i) What do you think is the relationship between education and poverty?
(ii) To what extent can education play a role in poverty reduction?
(iii) What needs to change?
Chair: Professor Leon Tikly, Global Chair in Education and Director of the Centre for Comparative and International Research in Education, School of Education, University of Bristol, UK
Co-Chair: Dr Tigist Grieve, Senior Research Associate, School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol, UK
Access to educational opportunities: trajectories of girls’ education in Africa
- Dr Tigist Grieve, Senior Research Associate, School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol, UK.
Presentation slides available below
BPI Conference 2021 - Access to educational opportunities (PDF, 394kB)
The Struggle for the Good Life: A Longitudinal Study of How Geography Shapes Girls’ and Boys’ Post-Schooling Pathways
- Dr Emily (Markovich) Morris, Director of International Training and Education Program and Senior Professorial Lecturer, School of Education, American University, Washington D.C., USA
Presentation slides viewable in the video recording
Education and Human Development: Analytical Reflections
- Dr Tebeje Molla, DECRA Fellow, Deakin University, Australia
Presentation slides available below
BPI Conference 2021 - Education and Human Development (PDF, 660kB)
What do we know about the relationship between poverty and schooling in South Asia?
- Dr Arif Naveed, Lecturer, School of Education, University of Bath, UK.
Presentation slides available below
BPI Conference 2021 - Poverty and schooling in South Asia (PDF, 900kB)
Education vs Poverty: some sub-Saharan perspectives
- Mr Simon Ingram-Hill, former Country Director for the British Council in Sierra Leone, Mozambique, Hungary, Mauritius.
Presentation slides available below
BPI Conference 2021 - Education (PDF, 1,874kB)
Video recording available below
Closing Session
15:00-16:30 Building Back Fairer: Concluding Session
The Covid-19 pandemic has halted and reversed the some of the progress that was made during the 21st Century towards meeting the Millennium and Sustainable Development Goals. The world has changed forever and there is a global need to rebuild a better world than before. This session will examine how we could build back a better world.
Chair: Professor David Gordon, Director of Bristol Poverty Institute, University of Bristol, UK
Co-Chair: Chair: Dr Lauren Winch, Manager of Bristol Poverty Institute, University of Bristol, UK
Supporting Families and Children post-COVID-19: Learning from previous crises for building back fairer
- Dr Dominic Richardson, Chief, Social Policy and Economic Analysis at UNICEF Office of Research (Innocenti), UK
Presentation slides available below
BPI Conference 2021 - Building back fairer (PDF, 3,519kB)
Facing poverty in post-pandemic Latin America
- Professor Luis Beccaria, Senior Research Officer at the University of General Sarmiento (Argentina). Professor of postgraduate courses at the University of Buenos Aires and FLACSO (Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences), Argentina.
No presentation slides featured in this talk
Addressing Health and Economic Inequalities: The Critical Role of Paid Sick Leave Amidst the Pandemic and Beyond
- Professor Jody Heymann, Distinguished Professor, Fielding School of Public Health; Luskin School of Public Affairs; David Geffen School of Medicine, Dean Emeritus. UCLA. USA.
Presentation slides available below
BPI Conference 2021 - Health and Economic Inequalities (PDF, 2,941kB)
Closing remarks
The Director of the Bristol Poverty Institute, Professor David Gordon, shared some closing remarks on the conference, reflecting on discussions across the three days.
Presentation slides available below
BPI Conference - Concluding remarks (PDF, 360kB)
Video recording available below