Improving child nutrition in India


INDIA IS ONE OF THE FASTEST growing economies as well as the hotbed of child under-nutrition. To unravel this conundrum – sometimes termed the South Asian Enigma – researchers from the Universities of Warwick and Allahabad, India explored whether low levels of autonomy among women help explain the low levels of nutrition among children. Using a new, robust measure of mothers’ autonomy, initial findings show that greater women’s autonomy causes a significant improvement in the long-term nutritional health of younger children below three years of age but not upon older children. Researchers’ analysis of the effectiveness of


the Integrated Child Development Scheme – the largest maternal and childcare government programme in the world – suggests that it has massive potential to bring about a reduction in child under-nutrition in India. What is now required, say researchers, is a driver which pushes and inspires efficiency and outcome orientation among some of the larger, poorly performing states. n


i Contact Professor Wiji Arulampalam,


University of Warwick Email wiji.arulampalam@warwick.ac.uk Telephone 024 76523471 ESRC Grant Number RES-238-25-0005


Society still values civility


CIVILITY CAN SEEM like an old- fashioned concept but a new report finds that, far from being a thing of the past, civility is something that people still care deeply about. Indeed, experiences of incivility cause hurt, stress and deeper social problems, and these experiences have a bigger impact on people’s sense of social health than crime statistics. Long-term trends such as growing pressures on people’s time, increased mobility and greater use of technology could be making civility harder to sustain. To address this challenge, researchers suggest changes in national and local policy including a better balance between punitive measures and those which actively encourage civility. One effect of punitive measures, for example, has been


to make people over-reliant on authorities such as the police to control behaviours which in the past may have been dealt with at a personal or community level. The main role of interventions


should be to make individuals aware of, and change, their own behaviour – even in small ways. People are quick to see incivility in others, yet less aware of how their own behaviour can offend, researchers conclude. n


i Contact Mr Will Norman, The Young Foundation


Email will.norman@youngfoundation.org Telephone 020 8980 6263 Web www.youngfoundation.org/publications/ reports/charm-offensive-oct-2011 ESRC Grant Number RES-193-25-0001 - Connected Communities Cross-Council Programme


IN BRIEF


CHURCH AND GENDER The Church of England’s approach to gender has been taken as a key test in how contemporary faith institutions integrate gender equality ethics. Recently, this was lived out in the debate over whether women should become bishops. A new study will look at how gender and parenthood interact in the context of the Church, giving a fresh perspective on the contemporary clergy life. ESRC grant number PTA-026-27-2911 - Post-doctoral Fellowship


GLOBAL CORRUPTION Surveys from more than 130 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and North America will be used to analyse the actual experience (as opposed to the perception) of corruption. Each survey asks questions about contacts with health, education, police and other municipal services, and whether any bribes were paid. The project partner is Transparency International’s Secretariat in Berlin. ESRC grant number RES-062-23-3212


AID ALLOCATION Donors choose to give development aid to poorer countries around the world. While other budgets are being cut, the UK government is sticking to the target of aid representing 0.7 per cent of British GDP. A new study will examine several major aid donors and consider issues including how donors decide who to give aid to and whether poverty is more important than trade links. ESRC grant number PTA-026-27-2842 - Post-doctoral Fellowship


SUMMER 2011 SPRING 2012 SOCIETY NOW 5


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