Photo: IDRC

GGP will support research for enriching policy dialogue and policy making on strategies for inclusive growth in developing countries. More specifically, it will provide funding and technical support to initiatives falling under at least one of the following research areas.

a. Patterns and drivers of inclusive growth. This research area focuses on elucidating the patterns of growth (geographic, sectoral, technological) that are more conducive to poverty reduction, and the engines of such inclusive growth. It also addresses the functioning of the labour market and the policy changes (in and beyond the labour market more narrowly defined) which contribute to generating more and better remunerated jobs.

b. Markets, other institutions and inclusive growth. This research area focuses on the equity and poverty implications of various trade, competition, and regulatory policy scenarios; in particular, on the pace and sequencing of policy reforms to achieve their efficiency goals while maximizing their contribution to inequality and poverty reduction. It also includes examination of non-economic institutions (e.g., power or custom-based household or exchange arrangements) that mediate between growth, equity, and poverty.

c. Providing social protection. The final research area focuses on clarifying what groups of households or individuals need State-provided protection, of what kinds and in what forms, in various developing country settings, and on how to strengthen the capacity of states to finance social protection equitably and without negatively affecting growth.

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In supporting activities within the three research areas, the program will prioritize those that contribute to innovating in development thinking by addressing one or more of the following cross-cutting concerns:

i. The enrichment of poverty and inequality analyses, in particular by explicitly paying attention to the dynamics of poverty and vulnerability and to the various (monetary and non-monetary) dimensions of inequality and deprivation beyond income and consumption levels.

ii. The critical analysis of the appropriate levels of policy response – local, sub-national, national, regional, global; i.e., the ‘subsidiarity’ issue – and of suitable responses at each level and the policy coordination and coherence requirements of pro-poor change.

iii. The effective contribution to pro-poor policy change through research initiatives that help elucidate political economy constraints and viable pathways to reform, and base their strategies on sophisticated substantive understanding of the policy process.