Since 1990, there have been considerable efforts to reduce absolute poverty in most developing countries. However, especially in Sub-Sahara Africa, progress has been slow. Literature shows that the academic debate on the determinants of poverty reduction takes place in disciplinary silos, where approaches that work well for high-income economies but ignore structural differences between high-income and developing countries are applied and deliver ambiguous results. ADAPTED will address this apparent research gap by developing high-level training for early-stage researchers, aiming to avoid the existing silos, integrate developing country realities into poverty reduction approaches and bridge the attested knowledge gaps. The project will validate pathways towards poverty eradication, analyse interactions between poverty reduction and other policy areas and contribute to optimise the impact of poverty reduction policies.

The ADAPTED research programme is organised in three work packages (WP) that address the following broad research areas:

WP 1 - Validating Pathways: We want to investigate how effective different growth- and social protection-oriented policies are in improving poverty-related outcomes, given the large heterogeneity of low- and middle-income countries and the differences in the target groups that these policies are able to reach. (ESR projects 1-5).

WP 2 - Analysing Interactions: Poverty reduction-related policies are not implemented in a policy vacuum. Usually they are implemented side by side in settings, which are characterised by the existence of a multitude of other policies, which serve purposes other than poverty reduction. We therefore want to study poverty-related trade-offs and co-benefits within different growth- and social protection-oriented policy frameworks on the one hand, and between them and other policies on the other hand for deriving recommendations towards a policy mix responsive to poverty reduction. (ESR projects 6-10).

WP 3 - Optimising Impact: We want to identify mechanisms that increase the relevance and the quality of delivery of social protection schemes, which allow for an improved coordination of fragmented social policies, and support the design and implementation of poverty reduction-related policies in neopatrimonial environments. (ESR projects 11-15).