Does 'shame-proofing' anti-poverty programmes improve their effectiveness? Theory of change and impact policy evaluation in cross-national settings

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Our ESRC/DFID funded research (RES-167-25-0557) suggested that shame associated with poverty is ubiquitous and structural being imposed by others in their dealings with people in poverty. Shame may serve to perpetuate poverty through eroding individual agency, while policies that stigmatise could be counterproductive in adding to the debilitating effects of shame.This research has proved very influential, spawning replications and adding poverty-related shame to the topics covered by the ESRC 'Understanding Society' study, following the successful inclusion of questions in the ESRC 'Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK' survey. It also led directly to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) including the principle of governments having respect for the rights and dignity of social protection recipients in Recommendation 202 on social protection approved in 2012. The UN has cited the research to support its guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights. However, while the previous research yielded a model hypothesising how shame and stigma might exacerbate poverty, the research was not designed to provide evidence of casual relationships. Hence, new research is proposed to rectify this omission by testing the effectiveness of social protection policies that have been 'shame-proofed' against those which have not. The robustness of the test is much enhanced by simultaneous replication in Uganda, India and China; each evaluation is sensitive to local circumstances, but shaped by a common theoretical framework with a core of standardised measures and comparable methods. In Uganda, theory of change evaluation, which employs diagnostic techniques to examine whether underlying logic of the policy works in practice, is combined with impact evaluation to measure the relative effectiveness (and value for money) of shame-proofing. Theory of change evaluations will be conducted in China and India with the prospect of impact evaluations being added with financial support from the ILO.The research builds on a current study undertaken by the same research team, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, to develop the shame-proofed policies that are to be refined, implemented and evaluated in the proposed research. The evaluation will entail a mix of surveys, depth interviews, focus groups, investigative research and extraction of administrative records. In addition to establishing whether shame-proofing is cost effective and whether the underpinning policy logic works in practice, the research will:1 Advance poverty studies by conceptualising poverty as a multi-dimensional embracing material and psycho-social dimensions that take account of poverty dynamics. A person's score on each dimension determines the severity and nature of the poverty experienced at a point in time while scores at different times reflect how aspects of poverty are causality related - for example, material deprivation at time 1 might increase poverty related-shame at time 2.2 Employ the family of statistical techniques called Structural Equation Models to measure poverty defined as above and to establish the effectiveness of social protection policies in reducing poverty.3 Engage end-users and others in developing and refining shame-proofed policies consistent with the ILO and UN principles that also reflect local needs and voices. Aside from the required Key Stakeholder Workshop, further policy seminars and public meetings are planned in Uganda, China and India to coincide with project planning meetings. Academic articles on the poverty-shame nexus and measurement will be accompanied by policy publications and templates for implementing policy consistent with ILO and UN guidelines.In sum, the research engages directly with two of the three ESRC/DFID Call questions: 'Pathways in and out of poverty' and 'Political and institutional conditions' and both cross cutting issues: 'Structural inequalities' and 'Measurement'.