Unpacking policy: knowledge, actors and spaces in poverty reduction in Uganda and Nigeria

This book presents the findings from a research project carried out by a team of researchers based in the UK, Uganda and Nigeria. Using examples from Uganda and Nigeria, it sets out to examine the processes by which policies for poverty reduction are made and implemented and assesses the scope policies provide for positive change in the lives of poor people. The writers based their approach on three interconnected themes. Knowledge: the information on which policies are based û who provides it? How is it used? Actors: the people involved in policy-making and implementation and the recipients of these policies û where does power lie? How can the poor be empowered? Spaces: the opportunities available to actors at all levels and the constraints imposed on them by politics, culture and history û who occupies the spaces and why? How can the poor gain access to them? The authors investigate these three aspects of policy-making at all levels, from central and local government, to independent civil society organisations, NGOs and the communities of the poor themselves.