From the outset we shall design a comprehensive impact strategy in line with ESPA Knowledge and Impact Strategies. Through this, we will ensure that we achieve impact for our intended beneficiaries that include: (a) policy-makers and practitioners working in urban poverty reduction in Tanzania and Bangladesh; (b) capacity building for our research partners in both countries; and (c) our ultimate beneficiaries: low-income residents in Dhaka and Dar.

We shall achieve this by raising awareness about the ecosystem needs and priorities of low-income people, assessing the space available for incorporating local knowledge into planning processes, and providing new evidence to assist in policy making and programme design. We shall also produce a range of deliverables, including: (i) one book; (ii) five top-level papers and associated working papers; (iii) five policy briefings; press briefings; (iv) disseminationseminars in Dhaka, Dar, Manchester and London; and (v) active engagement with informal day-to-day policy processes. In addition, the project will generate substantial new qualitative (e.g. participatory appraisals; case studies of institutional practices) and quantitative data (e.g. spatio-temporal variations in pollutant loading and transfer, and food contamination by gender and age cohort).

Finally, we will seize the opportunity created by the growing policy constituency for the poor (as evident in post-MGDs negotiations) to firmly place the urban poverty – ecosystem link in the global policy arena. The objective of the project is thus far-reaching and stretches beyond the sum of our proposed outputs. See Pathways to Impact for more detail on our output and impact strategy.