Master thesis M2 PRO - Teodora Virban

FACULTE DES SCIENCES HUMAINES ET SOCIALES – SORBONNE
Master 2 PROFESSIONEL – « Expertise en population et développement », 2014 - 2015
INTERNSHIP REPORT
EUROPEAN PROJECT MANAGEMENT:
NOPOOR PROJECT
UMR 225 DIAL—Développement, institutions et mondialisation
(IRD – Paris Dauphine university)
January 1st–July 1st 2015
Master thesis promoter: Dr. Nolwen HENAFF (IRD – Ceped)
Internship tutor: Mrs. Delia VISAN (IRD – DIAL)
Teodora Irina VIRBAN
Student number: 21401220
June 2015, Paris, France

Table of contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................4
1.2. The academic context ........................................................................................................5
1.3. The professional context....................................................................................................6
1.4. The internship programme.................................................................................................7
2. project Nopoor .................................................................................................................8
2.1. The Seventh Framework Programme ................................................................................9
2.2. The call for financing and the grant agreement ...............................................................11
2.3. IRD and the UMR 225 DIAL .........................................................................................13
2.4. Project context, objectives and structure .........................................................................14
2.4.1.Description of the project context and objectives .......................................................................................14
2.4.2.The concept.................................................................................................................................................15
2.4.3.The six objectives of Nopoor ......................................................................................................................16
2.4.4.Project consortium partners.........................................................................................................................17
2.4.5.Structure of the project................................................................................................................................19
3. Responsibilities, lessons learned and added value for the organization ...................21
3.2. Job description .................................................................................................................21
3.2.1.Nopoor General Assembly (June 10th–12th 2015, Hanoi, Vietnam)..........................................................21
3.2.2.Nopoor Summer School (26 June July 1st 2015, Paris, France) .................................................................22
3.2.3.Dissemination tasks.....................................................................................................................................24
3.3. Specific missions .............................................................................................................26
3.3.1.The “European year for development” Platform.........................................................................................26
3.3.2.ASEAN-EU STI Days ................................................................................................................................27
3.3.3.The OECD Global Forum on Development................................................................................................28
3.3.4.The Durban World Social Science Forum ..................................................................................................29
3.3.5.The European development days ................................................................................................................31

INTERNSHIP REPORT M2 Expertise en population et développement 2014 - 2015
3
3.4. The policy brief writer recruitment..................................................................................37
3.5. Lessons learned and added value for the organization ....................................................40
3.5.1.LESSONS LEARNED:...............................................................................................................................40
3.5.2.VALUE ADDED FOR THE ORGANISATION:.......................................................................................42
3.5.3.GAINED AND DEVELOPED SKILLS:....................................................................................................43
4. The research study: “Interface between researchers and policy makers in
international development projects. Study case: the production of policy briefs in the
FP7 EU funded NOPOOR research project”......................................................................44
4.1. The background context...................................................................................................44
4.1.1.The policy events within nopoor project.....................................................................................................47
4.1.2.The Working Packages responsible for handling the Policy briefs in the NOPOOR project......................51
4.2. Literature review..............................................................................................................54
4.2.1.Hypothesis to be tested................................................................................................................................63
4.3. The research methodology...............................................................................................66
4.3.1.Semi-direct interviews ................................................................................................................................71
4.4. The results of the research study......................................................................................76
4.4.1.FINDINGS FROM OBSERVATION.........................................................................................................77
4.4.2.FINDINGS FROM THE INTERVIEWS ASSESSMENT .........................................................................79
4.4.3.MET IMPENDIMENTS AND SOLLUTIONS PROPOSED.....................................................................88
4.5. Recommendations............................................................................................................96
5. Conclusions.....................................................................................................................99
6. Bibliography.................................................................................................................100

“An EU project aims to reduce poverty by understanding it.”1
1. INTRODUCTION
I have had the opportunity to be recruited by the French Institute for Research on
Development (IRD) as a trainee, starting from the month of January 2015, to be part of the
management team of the NOPOOR research project, a project financed by the European
Union. The six month period of training took place at the office of DIAL (Développement,
Institution & Mondialisation) a mixed research unit (UMR 225) between IRD and the Paris
Dauphine University, in Paris. During this internship, the European project manager, Ms.
Delia Visan, who was managing the NOPOOR project partners worldwide, was my
supervisor and guide.
Having a background in economics, attending the courses of the Professional Master 2
“Expertise in population and development” proposed in the curriculum for the first semester
completed well my knowledge in development studies, and I felt that taking up managerial
tasks in an international research project would help me integrate better theory and practice.
During my previous academic training in Brussels, Belgium, I had had the possibility
to focus on a number types of development and cooperation programmes conducted by the
European Commission at a country level. My previous research study assessed, in a
comparative way, the coherence and respectfulness of development and cooperation
programmes conducted by the Directorate-General International cooperation and development
(DG DEVCO) in different, carefully selected countries. This experience enhanced both my
awareness of and curiosity about the actions of the European Commission regarding
development, particularly in emerging countries.
NOPOOR is an EU funded research project. , where the direct involvement of the
internal structures of the European Commission (namely the collaboration between two
Directorates Generals – International cooperation and development and Research and
innovation) are more than visible and are presenting real results. This variety of collaborations
and the capability to understand the inside tools and functions of the European Commission in
1. “NOPOOR Result In Brief”, CORDIS > Projects & Results Service > Towards poverty policies -
http://cordis.europa.eu/result/rcn/151736_en.html

5
an international research on development project, such as NOPOOR project, all were the
triggering point in following this professional formation with the French Institute for
Research on Development (IRD).
This report constitutes mainly of the description of my roles during the traineeship
period within the NOPOOR project, at the French Research Institute on Development (IRD).
Firstly, the framework of the project will be thoroughly introduced (the 7th
Framework
Programme, The Horizon 2020 Programme), the IRD, DIAL & Paris Dauphine University
involvement in the NOPOOR project. Furthermore, the NOPOOR project will be presented,
together with its context and objectives, the consortium partners, its structure and the DGs
involved from the European Commission’s side.
Secondly, the focus will move towards the responsibilities, the lessons learned and the
added value brought to the organization, all part of my own involvement in the project for the
6 months internship period.
Thirdly, a very important aspect of my activities in the management team of
NOPOOR project will be presented separately in more details. I had the opportunity to
conduct a research study on the project . The research studies a controversial aspect in similar
international research projects, an aspect that I judged to be an impediment upon the good
functioning of the project, namely the interface between researchers and policy makers in
delivering the political documents requested by the European Commission.
Finally, the report finishes with a line of conclusions of my judgement after being
present within the management team of the NOPOOR project for a consistent period and also
after analyzing the early mentioned issue.
The bibliography together with the appendix will close the report.
1.2. THE ACADEMIC CONTEXT
The academic context of which I take part represents an essential element to be
presented in the incipit of this report.
The Master 2 is entitled “Expertise in population and development” and it is
conducted by the Social Science and Humanities department of the Paris Sorbonne, at
Descartes University. The master programme proposed two possibilities, either to follow
professional curricula, either a research one.
The professional background that I have chosen aims to train the students in becoming
experts in development in order to be recruited by national or international institutions for

Teodora VIRBAN
6
jobs as technical assistants, studies or programs responsible or consultants. The students must
be capable both to design and lead development programmes and to conduct studies of
monitoring-evaluation on central issues in population and development (health, education,
family, migration, poverty, environment, etc.) (SHS Paris Descartes)
The syllabus was divided into two semesters, with two types of formation. The first
semester (September – December 2014) was composed by intensive full time teaching classes
with professors-professional researchers in different fields, whereas the second semester
(January – June 2015) was mainly composed by the put-in practice of the theory taught in the
first semester (either a professional formation, either an on-site research study), in my case,
the professional formation, at IRD.
A particular element of the knowledge assessment process from the university side,
besides the continuous evaluation during the first semester, consist of an entire day assigned
to sharing our experiences accumulated during the second semester. In this day, all the
students meet up and share with the entire generation their experience, offering the
opportunity to understand all kinds of possible experiences that we could have had just for
being part of this master programme. Additionally, the feedback received during this day
could help us to solve some key situations that we considered as obstacles during our
internships/field research.
The finality of the programme stands into the defence of our work (pro or research) in
front of an expert jury, at the end of the academic year.
1.3. THE PROFESSIONAL CONTEXT
When discussing the professional context, I have to integrate three big institutions, the
French Research Institute on Development (IRD), DIAL (Développement, Institution &
Mondialisation) with its 225 UMR (Mixed Research Unit) and the Paris Dauphine University.
The internship is signed with the IRD, the actual activity is done at the UMR DIAL quarter
and the most regular collaborations are realized with professor, doctors and Ph.D. students
from the Dauphine University.
This context represents an important added value for my professional career thanks to
the variety of experts that I have had the chance to meet and to discover within their practices,
even though the connection is not direct.
The research project NOPOOR that I will detail next has as the coordination
institution the IRD.

7
1.4. THE INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME
The internship offer was proposing a full time, paid activity in Paris for 6 months, in a
management position for tasks addressing the IRD’s biggest social science research project,
financed by the European Commission by the 7th
Framework Programme proposed by the
European Union. The candidate had to accompany the project manager, Ms. Delia Visan, in
her daily management demands.
Moreover, the candidate profile represented the Terms of Reference for this internship
proposition. Thus, the candidate had to:
 Pursue initial or continuing formation of Bac + 4 or Bac + 5 or equivalent (political
sciences, development sciences, international relations, communication, management
of European projects…);
 Have knowledge of the mechanisms of the European Union and of the 7 framework
programme for research and development;
 Have a knowledge of oral and written English;
 Be interested in the organization and coordination of international collaborative
projects;
 Have an interest in the animation and management of networks, communication,
negotiation, and related problems;
 Know the related mechanisms on the sites of the European Institutions (EUR-Lex,
Prelex, look…);
 Have a sense of organization and teamwork;
 Be communicative, autonomous, rigorous in realization of tasks, curious and dynamic.
The recruitment process was composed of two stages, first sending the cover letter and
curriculum vitae to both the project coordinator (Mr. Xavier Oudin) and the project manager,
second in having a discussion regarding the requirements.
The internship period lasted 6 months, from January 1st to June 1st 2015.

Teodora VIRBAN
8
2. PROJECT NOPOOR
“Reducing poverty has become an international concern, yet there is no international
consensus on guidelines for measuring poverty” (UNESCO) represents a strong statement
coming from one of the branches of the United Nations and also could represent one of the
reasons for many collaborative global efforts towards the reduction or eradication of poverty.
With regard to these malfunctions, the international community has reacted in 2000
with the organization of the United Nations Millennium Summit2; 189 countries had signed
the United Nations Millennium Declaration, where the essential values were named as
follows: freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility. 3
Moreover, the Millennium Declaration institutes an action plan with 8 directions, namely the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), having as a central point the fight against poverty.
In order to respond to the determined eight MDGs, the country that signed the Declaration
have taken the commitment to:
 Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
 Achieve universal primary education
 Promote gender equality and empower women
 Reduce child mortality
 Improve maternal health
 Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
 Ensure environmental sustainability
 Develop a global partnership for development (United Nations)
2. For more information, follow the link to the official page:
www.un.org/en/events/pastevents/millennium_summit.shtml
3. For more information, follow the link to the declaration:
www.un.org/en/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=A/RES/55/2

9
One of the most important actors that signed the Millennium Declaration and started
putting in action its goals is the European Union itself. The MDGs have been a key norm for
EU development policy, and the EU has made major contributions to achieving the MDGs.
(Directorate General for External Policies).
Furthermore, poverty in developing countries represents a major challenge for
Europe: strongly criticized for its inconsistency, lack of transparency, the EU must be
proactive if it wants to keep a major role on the international scene, most precisely because
the initiatives of poverty reduction are gaining importance in the redefinition of global
governance. Moreover, at the dawn of the end of the frame set for achieving the MDGs,
Europe has a unique chance to assert itself in the international dialogue to define the next
goals.
The involvement of the European Union in the fight against poverty is illustrated in
different circumstances by a variety of responsible bodies of the EU; one of the most focused
on this issue is the Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development or
EuropeAid (DG DEVCO), in charge in publishing the specific legislation reported to this
domain. In the same measure, the DG DEVCO is linked with the inceptive to the research
areas, thus including in the scheme the Directorate General Research and Innovation (DG
RTD) among others.
The Lisbon Strategy, also known as the Lisbon Agenda or the Lisbon Process, was an
action and development plan signed in 2000, aimed to create an EU that was "the most
competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable
economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion” (European Council,
2000) by the end of 2010, an aim almost entirely achieved. While it is true that programs and
research initiatives already existed prior to the development of the Lisbon Strategy, the latter
made them to take a considerable importance within the European policies.
2.1. THE SEVENTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME
The European research evolved in a more specific framework, namely into the EU
Research Framework Programmes, “the very first Europe-wide Framework Programme for
research launched 30 years ago to bring together expertise from across the European
Community, as it was then known, and make Europe more competitive in key technologies.
Since then, the Framework Programmes have become a major part of research cooperation in
Europe, growing progressively in size, scope and ambition. Their objective has also evolved

Teodora VIRBAN
10
from supporting cross-border collaboration in research and technology to now encouraging a
truly European coordination of activities and policies. The reason for this is simple: research,
technology and innovation are at the core of Europe’s economy and are vital for a successful
society. Today, Horizon 2020,4
the eighth Framework Programme, is the biggest and most
ambitious with a budget of EUR 80 billion.” (European Commission, 2015)
The Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development
(FP7) represents the key element that contributed to the existence of the Nopoor research
project and many other projects. The FP7 is also “the main instrument for funding research
and innovation in Europe over the period 2007-2013” (France Europe Innovation).
The projects financed by the EU through the FP7 must have been led by one of the
further thematic categories:
I. The “Capacities” programme has knowledge at the heart of its expectations and
objectives; this program “ […] aims to strengthen and optimize the knowledge capacities that
Europe needs to become a thriving economy based on knowledge.” (European Commission,
2007, p. 7)
II. The Ideas programme seeks to develop frontier research, that is to say the
experimental or theoretical work undertaken to establish theories or explanatory models. It
aims “to reinforce the dynamism, creativity and excellence of European research at the
frontier of knowledge and to improve the attractiveness of Europe for the best researchers
from European and third countries, as well as for industrial research investment” (European
Commission)
III. The "People" programme aims to promote the mobility of researchers in the European
Union and third countries through the allocation of incoming and outgoing international
fellowships
IV. The nuclear research programme and the training activities, carry on, amongst other
aspects, the technological development, the international cooperation, the distribution of
technological knowledge, the exploitation activities and also the formation. “In FP7 Euratom
there are two associated specific programmes, one covering indirect actions in the fields of
4. For more information on the programme, follow the link to the EU official page:
www.ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020

11
fusion energy research and nuclear fission and radiation protection, the other covering direct
actions in the nuclear field undertaken by the Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC)”
(European Commission)
V. The Cooperation programme is the most important part of FP7, and aims “ […] to gain
leadership in key scientific and technological areas by supporting cooperation between
universities, industry, research centres and public authorities across the European Union as
well as the rest of the world” (European Commission). A very important aspect in this
thematic is that the Cooperation program offer the developing countries the opportunity to get
involved in collaborative projects with the developed countries as underlined in the
description of the objective “It will also be open to the participation of entities from third
countries and of international organizations for scientific cooperation.” (European
Commission)
The areas covered by the program “Cooperation” are the following:
 Energy
 Environment (including Climate Change)
 Health
 Information and Communication technologies
 Nanosciences, Nanotechnologies, Materials & Production Technologies
 Security
 Socioeconomic Sciences and the Humanities
 Space
 Transport (including Aeronautics)
The next section of the report will detail the initial stages of the submission of the
proposal in the case of the Nopoor project, thus the call made by the EU and the actions
conducted by the group of researchers until signing the grant agreement.
2.2. THE CALL FOR FINANCING AND THE GRANT AGREEMENT
In 2011 a call for collaborative projects was made under the FP7 Cooperation Work
Programme 2011: Socioeconomic Sciences and the Humanities. The Call fiche was

Teodora VIRBAN
12
represented by: SSH-2011-1- Collaborative projects (large scale integrating research projects)
and the following details were available:
a) Call identifier: FP7-SSH-2011-1
b) Date of publication: 20 July
c) Deadline 1: 2 February at 17.00.00 Brussels local time.
For the creation of the proposal for what it is today the Nopoor research project, a
team of several people was created to conduct the process (the actual coordinator, Mr. Xavier
Oudin, Ms. Eloise Costa and Mr. Jean-Marc Siroen were the first actors that started to build
the proposal). The following stages included other researchers and also people more familiar
with the political relationships with the EC officials. During the process the involved actors
started reaching our to previous institutions with which collaborative research has been done
in order to establish the consortium that will lead the project. Nevertheless, not all the partners
were chosen by this criterion. After the proposal was accepted, the search for a person to
manage the 20 institutions in the consortium for 5 years has been recruited and the project has
started in April 2012. Moreover, as visible in Appendix 1, other details are available on the
call:
I. Activity: Europe and the World
II. Area: Area 8.4.1. Interactions and interdependence between world regions and their
implications
III. Challenge: SSH.2011.4.1-1.Tackling poverty in a development context
IV. Funding scheme: Collaborative project (large scale integrating project) for specific
cooperation action dedicated to international cooperation.
In addition to the already stated in details about the Call, the Document of Work on
the No Poor project summarizes the dimensions that the Call demanded to be respected by
those who will go to the next level, thus elaborating the project. The seven dimensions of the
call:
 To assess the issue of "policy space" and the building of institutional effectiveness and
state legitimacy
 A quantitative and qualitative comparative analysis of the impact of Official
Development Assistance on poverty

13
 To identify the strengths and weaknesses of international governance [aid
organisations] in cohesively addressing global challenges, including poverty
eradication
 How the politics and economics of natural wealth depletion affect poverty in
developing countries
 Analyse poverty in the urban context, including gender, the informal economy,
employment, under and unemployment, service availability and housing/shelter
 Technological progress and its link with the fight against poverty; interplay of
education, research and other public policies, including Intellectual Property Rights,
market and network mechanisms, and cultural constraints on the generation and
dissemination of knowledge.
 The political aspect of poverty; study the links between political systems and poverty.5
These dimensions are presented in the current report because they will be of great
service to understanding the context in which the research was conducted (see Part 3 of the
report).
Moving forward, the grant agreement for the FP7 projects lies important by the
illustration of its clauses. The relevant clauses of the FP7 grant agreement can be read in the
Appendix 2, whereas here, I would like to remind one of the clauses underlining the
organization of the consortium and the role of the coordinator, being directly linked with the
call discussed earlier and also in line with the paper’s research question on the relationship
between researchers and policy makers, thus: “4. Beneficiaries shall fulfil the following
obligations as a consortium: […] d) engage, whenever appropriate, with actors beyond the
research community and with the public in order to foster dialogue and debate on the research
agenda, on research results and on related scientific issues with policy makers and civil
society; create synergies with education at all levels and conduct activities promoting the
socioeconomic impact of the research.” (European Commission)
2.3. IRD 6 AND THE UMR 225 DIAL7
5. Information retrieved from the Dow of the Nopoor project, Section B1, p. 6.

Teodora VIRBAN
14
IRD, Institut de recherche pour le développement, in English, the French research
institute for development, conducts research on development in partnership with research
institutions from the global South. Conducting research on health conditions, understanding
the evolution of the societies, protecting the environment and the resources are the pillars of
its actions.institution characters, IRD works under the joint umbrella of the Research and
Foreign affairs ministers. Its researcers and engineers conduct research in developing
countries on the three continents. IRD headquarter is located in Marseille, France and the
Institute also has three other central locations in France, in Montpellier, Bondy and Brest.
Thanks to its collaborative activities in research, training and innovation, it works in
more than fifty countries in Africa, around the Mediterranean, in Asia, Latin America and
overseas. Based on interdisciplinary work, the projects conducted jointly handle issues crucial
for the South: tropical diseases and civilization, relationships between health and
environment, climate change, water resources, food security, tropical and Mediterranean
ecosystems, natural hazards, poverty, vulnerability and social inequality, migration, changes
in the labour market.
For the Nopoor project, IRD is a very important partner in the consortium, being well
represented in the Management and coordination teams, because IRD initiated the project.
The leadership of the project is conducted from the Mixed Research Unit DIAL
(Développement, Mondialisation & Institutions), in Paris, a strong collaborative relationship
between IRD researchers and Dauphine University teachers/researchers.
2.4. PROJECT CONTEXT, OBJECTIVES AND STRUCTURE8
2.4.1. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES
As stated in its title, Nopoor 's central objective is to enhance knowledge for renewed
policies against poverty. In order to achieve this objective, Nopoor brings together researchers
from twenty teams and seventeen countries, ten of which are teams from developing and
6. For more information, follow the link to the official website: www.ird.fr
7. For more information follow the link to the official website: www.dial.ird.fr
8. The information in this section are retrieved from the Document of work of the project and from the 1st
Management Report. Give the full references at the end of the report and just call the references here
(author, date).

15
emerging countries in three regions (Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia).
These countries have different characteristics – such as their access to resources, political
regime, quality of institutions and governance – as well as different experiences in policies
aimed at reducing poverty. This diversity feeds into Nopoor 's research agenda in that it calls
for policies and actions to be tailored to each country’s characteristics. These points are
developed by various approaches, including political economics, and different methods:
quantitative and qualitative surveys, econometric studies and case studies.
2.4.2. THE CONCEPT
The Nopoor project aims at producing new knowledge on poverty in developing
countries to generate more efficient poverty reduction policies. It takes a comprehensive
approach to poverty and places the emphasis on its dynamics. Understanding how and why
Figure 1. Basic facts about Nopoor project
Project Acronym: NOPOOR
Project Title: Enhancing Knowledge for Renewed Policies against Poverty
Grant Number: 290752
Programme: Seventh Framework Programme For Social Sciences & Humanities
Start date of Project: April 1st 2012
Duration: 60 months (until March 31st 2017)
EU Contribution: 8,000,000 €
Project Team: More than 100 researchers from 20 institutions worldwide
Countries where the fieldwork is conducted:
Africa: Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana,
Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Togo
Asia: Asia: India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Vietnam
Latin America: Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Haiti, Mexico, and Peru
Source: Nopoor Document of Work (internal document)

Teodora VIRBAN
16
some people fall into poverty, and how and why others break out of poverty is relevant to the
efficient design of anti-poverty policies.
Nopoor aims at filling knowledge gaps in different contexts. It considers measurement
and methodological issues, exploring new dimensions of poverty and pointing up some
methodological pitfalls. Methodological progress takes the shape of a number of innovative
surveys in several project countries.
The research carried out by Nopoor is grounded in empirical work. Great emphasis is
placed on data collection and work on databases. Data collection consists of both quantitative
and qualitative surveys in partner countries and in some other relevant countries. Most of
these operations have started and some have been completed. Databases of secondary data are
also being built. This new knowledge will be systematically stored in the “data warehouse” so
that it can first be shared among partners and later be made available to the general public.
Several analyses use comparative approaches, including case studies, to identify which (and
why) poverty alleviation strategies have worked in some countries and not elsewhere.
Comparisons of the policy outcomes of more successful countries may be very useful to
identify relevant poverty alleviation strategies. Rather than conducting just cross-country
comparisons, we fully take interdependencies in a globalised world into account.
Globalization increases interdependence between countries via the growth of
international trade, the increase in foreign direct investments and the higher mobility of
workers. Whether or not globalisation impacts on poverty in developing countries is still a
debated issue. Nopoor investigates the impact of globalisation by means of a number of case
studies, taking into account the effect of trade, international migration, technology transfers,
etc. In this respect, the changing architecture of international aid is also investigated.
The role of politics, at both national and local levels, is key to understanding poverty
reduction policy successes and failures. The quality of institutions, good governance and
public service efficiency are necessary conditions for successful policy reduction policies.
Nopoor emphasizes the importance of politics in understanding poverty and policy evaluation.
2.4.3. THE SIX OBJECTIVES OF NOPOOR
In addition to the general objective of contributing new knowledge, six objectives
have been proposed. First, taking stock of the latest poverty measurement developments, we
consider what the shortcomings of these methods are and try to improve poverty measurement
by conducting new types of surveys and data analyses.

17
A second objective of Nopoor is to take into account the changing international
environment by evaluating how globalisation and international aid have transformed the
poverty issue in an interdependent world.
Nopoor will build on the wealth of knowledge among participating countries to
achieve its third objective, which is to examine and draw lessons from the past and from
different experiences to improve the effectiveness of domestic policies. Fourth, Nopoor has
the objective of assessing the role of local interactions between poverty and politics looking
also at how political systems and institutions interfere with poverty reduction policies.
Nopoor is forward looking, and its fifth objective is to develop scenarios for the
future, based on research findings.
Lastly, Nopoor places a special emphasis on policy recommendations and
dissemination, targeting academics and policymakers, stakeholders, international
organisations, civil society, the business community and the public at large via the relevant
media.
Each Work Package (WP) has specific objectives that are summed up in the
description of activities per Work package.
2.4.4. PROJECT CONSORTIUM PARTNERS
The project consortium is built by 10 international institutions, either research centres,
either university either other types of specialized organisations. Below, the list is presented
completed by an illustrative map:
 Institut de recherche pour le développement - IRD, France
 Giga german institute of global and area studies - GIGA, Germany
 Institut fur weltwirtschaft - IfW, Germany
 The chancellor, masters and scholars of the university of Oxford - UOXF, United
Kingdom
 Universidad autonoma de Madrid - UAM, Spain
 Faculté universitaire Notre-Dame de la paix de Namur - UNamur, Belgium
 Ceps Centre d’études de populations, de pauvreté et de politiques socio-économiques -
CEPS, Luxembourg

Teodora VIRBAN
18
 Oikodrom-Forum nachhaltige stadt, verein fur neue stadtebaukultur - OIKODROM,
Austria
 Grupo de analisis para el desarrollo Asociacion - GRADE, Peru
 Universidade federal do Rio De Janeiro - UFRJ, Brazil
 Universidad de Chile - UCHILE, Chile
 Instituto tecnologico y de estudios superiores de monterrey - ITESM-EGAP, Mexico
 Consortium pour la recherche économique et sociale - CRES, Senegal
 The Ghana center for democratic development Lbg - CDD, Ghana
 University of Cape Town – UCT SALDRU, South Africa
 University of Antananarivo - UA, Madagascar
 Vien Khoa hoc Xa hoi Viet nam – VASS (Vietnam academy of social sciences)
 Centre for development economics society - cde, india
 Centre national de la recherche scientifique - CNRS, France
Figure 2. The map of the consortium members (Source: Nopoor internal documents)

19
As the Document of Work of the Nopoor project mentions in the section discussing
the Overall strategy of the work plan that “Partners associate scientific excellence and
capacity to be integrated into a coherent and pertinent program dealing with all the
dimensions of the tender and fostering a close cooperation between partners.”9 Moreover, the
presentation discusses also the collaboration with the partners from the South, thus “The
Southern partners have been chosen in countries in line with the chosen strategy: experienced
researchers that are invested into the poverty issues, data availability, national experiences
which can feed relevant case studies.”10
In conclusion, we can observe the variety of partners, each from different countries,
as the Call demanded, carefully chosen to integrate and to respond to all the objectives above
mentioned.
2.4.5. STRUCTURE OF THE PROJECT
The project is composed by 12 Work packages, from which 8 of pure Research areas
and 4 different others such as for management issues, political involvement, dissemination of
the results and training activities. Each Work package is characterized in having a leader
(Head of the Work package) and a number of tasks that propose a number of deliverables,
conducted by different consortium members, always in a collaborative way.
Below, the description of the Work packages and the specific tasks is illustrated for a
better understanding of the project composition and expectations from the European
Commission (the Work packages in which I brought my contribution during my internship are
here presented in more details, namely WP1, WP2 and WP11.
9. Information retrieved from the DoW, Section B1.3.1., p. 22.
10. See footnote 10.

Teodora VIRBAN
20
My position in Nopoor project was determined mostly by the tasks I was in charge of
in the Management department (WP1), but I have also offered my support to the scientific
coordinator (WP2) in reviewing some aspects related to the scientific papers. Moreover, my
responsibilities have eventually extrapolated in the Work package for Dissemination of results
and awareness raising, consistent with my work for the European development days and the
other development of the communication channels. Finally, regarding my research work
outside the daily duties, I had the chance to examine in detail the political aspects of the
Nopoor project and to directly collaborate with the members of the WP10, Policy
recommendations and beyond.
WP 1: Management of the consortium - IRD
Operational, administrative, financial and contractual issues
WP 2:
Scientific
coordination
Coordinate scientific and
financial activities; Monitor the
results; Risk management
WP 10:
Policy
recommendations
Summarise the research
findings and provide executive
briefings for policymakers,
stakeholders and NGOs; use
the findings of previous
comparative studies on
poverty in different countries to
draw the main lessons from
them; generate policy briefings
to tackle poverty at EU,
national and international
levels.
WP 11:
Dissemination and
awareness raising
Dissemination strategy
throughout the project; Involve
Southern countries in
dissemination; ensure that the
disseminated results and
policy inputs explicitly include
and respect Southern
countries’ specific points of
view.
WP 12:
Training and
capacity building
Consolidate a training network
between partners; Diffuse new
knowledge in a capacity
building perspective; use the
Nopoor programme as an
engine of inclusion of young
researchers and professionals;
associate the Southern
partners to the training and
capacity building actions
WP3:
Poverty:
dimensions,
processes and
interactions
WP 4:
Impact of
international
aid on
poverty
WP 5:
Impact of
globalization
and
international
migration on
poverty
WP 6:
Inclusion/
exclusion in
social
networks,
work and
cities
W7:
Education and
Social
Protection to
alleviate
poverty
WP 8:
States and
political
systems
WP 9:
Emerging
issues &
Poverty
Scenarios in
XXI Century
Figure 2. Nopoor project work packages
Source: Nopoor Document of Work (internal document)

21
3. RESPONSIBILITIES, LESSONS LEARNED AND ADDED VALUE FOR THE
ORGANIZATION
This section of the report represents the core element, showcasing my entire activity
during the professional formation, including both what I have gained and what I have
provided while assisting my team.
3.2. JOB DESCRIPTION
The great majority of the tasks demanded from my part were exemplified and decided
upon primarily on the terms of reference of the internship proposal, and secondly during the
preliminary discussion with the coordinator and the manager of the project. Moreover, some
unpredictable tasks were announced as well. Some extra activities were anticipated,
depending on the rate of success of some propositions from the part of the NOPOOR
consortium.
The main tasks were to accompany the NOPOOR manager in its activities to:
 Support to the coordination and daily management of the project (including financial
assessment)
 Assist in the preparation of the Annual General meeting of the project in Hanoi,
Vietnam: communicating with partners; designing and realization of the poster / banner;
correspondence with the partners of the project; identification of Vietnamese stakeholders for
their participation in the seminar; preparation and dissemination of papers etc.
 Follow the organization and animation of briefings in the unit on the progress of the
project
 Monitor contractual receivables (deliverables, reports, policy brief)
 Participate in the dissemination of the results strategy by delivering report to the
European Commission representatives
 Participation in activities related to the political aspects of the project.
3.2.1. NOPOOR GENERAL ASSEMBLY (JUNE 10TH–12TH 2015, HANOI, VIETNAM)
NOPOOR project organizes each of the five years of life a General meeting with all
the partners in one of the four continents (different each year), as initially decided in the

Teodora VIRBAN
22
Document of Work. This General Assembly, as it is called, has a very high importance for the
well-being of the project. Firstly, it brings together, for face to face interactions, a large
number of members from all the partner institutions to discuss many aspects such as their
research findings, the progress of their work in general, the involvement of new members
(Ph.D. students, research assistance, interns), the feedback got from presenting their work in
progress in numerous circumstances. Secondly, from a managerial point a view, this meeting
is crucial for presenting the actual state of the project, to underline the interfered issues and to
brainstorm to resolve them. Finally, as an ongoing research project, a very important aspect is
the notoriety of its progress in the stakeholder’s branch. Thus, during these global reunions,
many relevant stakeholders are invited to attend, in order to raise their interest and their
awareness of NOPOOR actions and to receive from them a coherent feedback to employ it in
the next period.
In the case the General Assembly in Hanoi, Vietnam I was the contact person for the
IRD partner, in Paris, mostly for the logistic part. In Vietnam, described by a communist
system that leads the country, the interventions from exterior were very limited.
The main tasks were to intermediate the change of documentation between the
worldwide partners and the responsible partner, in Vietnam, VASS (Vietnamese Academy of
Social Science). Thus, I have coordinated the collective VISA demand.
Secondly, I made sure to have in hand, when needed, a list of all the interested parties
to attend at the General Assembly, as stakeholders.
Thirdly, I have prepared some of the dissemination objects such as the Practical
Information Brochure that aimed to offer all the necessary information to the meeting
participants. In the same direction, I have intermediate the dialogue between VASS and the
participants to establish the logistical aspects such as accommodation, meals and the
sightseeing cruise at the end of their staying in Vietnam. All other support in the
dissemination process was also offered in useful time.
Finally, together with the management team and with the advices from the project
coordinator, I have drafted the Agenda for the 3 days meeting, in Hanoi.
3.2.2. NOPOOR SUMMER SCHOOL (26 JUNE JULY 1ST 2015, PARIS, FRANCE)
NOPOOR Summer School entitled “Methodology for identifying poverty on a
multidisciplinary basis” will be hosted by the Paris Dauphine University and will take place
during June 26th and July 1st. The existence of this Summer School is determined by one of

23
the NOPOOR Working Papers entitled “Training and Capacity building”, where one of the
tasks is to “The establishment of a network among the universities involved in the project will
contribute to offer special training to students, young researchers and professionals”11
by
organizing two summer schools, on in Paris and the other one in a South country, not yet
identified.
The first intention was to provide the access to the Summer School only to the partners
of the consortium, thus to all the collaborative parties with each and every member of the
NOPOOR consortium. Thus, my first task was to realize list of such collaborators for each
partner. The exercise was beneficial, since the databases that we have had before that moment
was incomplete and contained old or incorrect information.
The second task was to communicate the Summer School Event through our
communication channels, thus I have published the information on the NOPOOR official site,
Facebook and Twitter accounts, designing also the presentation poster for the event.
Intense parallel discussions are taking place between the head of the related Work
Packages and the project manager and coordinator, in order to decide and invite the speakers
for the event.
The head of the Work Package, a Work package attributed to Training and Capacity
Building, Professor Ms. Hélène Lenoble, finalized the list of speakers as follows:
Training sessions
 Hai-Anh H. Dang (World Bank)
 Maia Green (University of Manchester)
 Mario Negre (World Bank)
 Suman Seth (OPHI, Oxford)
Round table
 Hai-Anh H. Dang (World Bank)
 Maia Green (University of Manchester)
 Tomoki Fujii (SMU, Singapore)
 Vijayendra Rao (World Bank)
 + Speakers invited by Unesco (to be determined on advanced stages)
11. Information retrieved from the project « Description of Work », p. 55 of 64.

Teodora VIRBAN
24
The Summer School will have seven lectures and the final Roundtable at Unesco on the last day, June 1st.
The Agenda of the Nopoor Summer School can be found in the Appendix 3.
My attributions consisted of:
 Logistic organization for the speakers (travel, accommodation, meals, transportation)
 Gathering the candidatures and registering the future scholars to the Summer school programme
 Logistic organization for the participants (travel, accommodation in partner student chambers
with Dauphine University, daily meals, visiting Paris, evening events)
 Making a leaflet of “Practical information” about Paris to be of help during the period of the
School (the weather in Paris, the public transportation, the main touristic attractions, useful advices, etc.)
 During the Nopoor Summer School, I will assist the courses and make sure everything goes as
scheduled, by being od service both to speakers and participants, together with the Dauphine and IRD
involved persons.
3.2.3. DISSEMINATION TASKS
In a complex international project such as NOPOOR, where the main feature is
represented by the collaboration between world-spread partners, the dissemination of results
is a very important action.
NOPOOR official website
I have been trained to manage the specific technical aspects of NOPOOR official
website. The next stage was to restructure the entire content, to verify the authenticity of
publications, to upgrade the interface to the current status of the project and to propose
improvements. An added value for this task was that I have skilled in the HTML codification,
thus the upgrading of the website had nevertheless advanced.
A technical dysfunction was noticed, a situation that needed assistance from a
professional. The period to come was characterized by several legal steps in contracting
professional for offering us maintenance service. I can appreciate the fact that I have learned a
lot from this process on how the French public institutions function.
Moreover, additional to the technical aspects linked with the Nopoor website, some preliminary
work needed accomplished. This is the case where a direct intervention from the scientific coordinator
was needed. In order to make public the results of the work of the Nopoor researchers, a re-categorization
needed to be establish and discussed directly to the Head of the WP2. I have covered the next steps:
 I have collected all the exiting papers, in all the formats and from all the drives
available in the Nopoor devices;

25
 I have compared made a coherent folder, dividing them by their extension, either
Presentations, either standard Deliverable PDF files; simultaneously I have established
a same denomination for all the formats for an easy search;
 Once I had all the document, I compared them with the existing already published
ones;
 In the end, I went through the conclusive comparative list with the scientific
coordinator to decide upon the next steps – which papers should remain published,
what papers do we lack, etc.;
 Finally, I applied the modification on the Nopoor official Web site, as demanded by
the European commission.
This exercise, as demanding and time consuming as it was, helped me to build up the
relationship with the project coordinator and enrich my knowledge about the types of
documents that the Nopoor delivers (working papers, deliverables etc.) and also helped the
Nopoor team to have more organized and clear documentation regarding the status of the
research work, either published either ongoing.
The communication channels
With regard to the communication related tasks, my actions were focus on raising the
public awareness on the NOPOOR activities. In this direction, I have started to animate our
communication channels (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) before, during and after the actual
events have taken place. Additionally, the dissemination materials (flyers, newsletters and
presentation roll-up) were also illustrated or distributed on site, for each relevant event.
My efforts were rewarded, a statement confirmed by the higher number of followers
on the communication channels and also by an increase in the frequency of direct contacts
with the project partners.
Collaboration with EU Nopoor related project coordinators
The project coordinator attributed a more specific task to me, as a suggestion received
from the European commission project officer for NOPOOR project. The suggestion was to
continue a strong collaborative incentive by directly contacting the coordinators of similar
NOPOOR projects. The NOPOOR similar projects are pjects financed by the European

Teodora VIRBAN
26
commission through the 7th
Framework Programme and focus on topics related to those of
NOPOOR project.
The task was realized in two steps; first I divided the possible collaborators into two
categories: EU NOPOOR Related Networks and EU NOPOOR Related Project; then I have
created a list and a template letter for inviting the latter category coordinators to connect with
us. The same pattern can be found on one of the NOPOOR website pages.
The dissemination strategy
After almost three month of actively being involved in the NOPOOR management
team, I have had the chance to be present to some scientific events, to participate at internal
meetings between some of the researchers and the management and coordination teams and
also, I was delegated to write the summary for a meeting between the Project Officer from the
part of the European Commission and the partners responsible for policy recommendations
and dissemination of results. I can state that all of those experience made me aware of the
current situation and also on the flows in delivering the results in a productive way. Thus, I
have taken the liberty to draft a consistent document about the “Dissemination strategy” that I
propose. One of the strongest actions that I proposed to them was to give permanent voice to
all the partners, because this is the only way a good collaborative relationship can be built and
also can be sustainable.
3.3. SPECIFIC MISSIONS
The category of specific missions has been mentioned before the start of the
internship period, and it was based on the unpredictable mission that appeared. Some of the
most important are presented below.
3.3.1. THE “EUROPEAN YEAR FOR DEVELOPMENT” PLATFORM
The year of 2015 has been declared by the global development actors to be “The
European Year for Development”, mainly because of the strong discussion on the POST15
Agenda, “2015 is the year when countries will shape and adopt a new development agenda
that will build on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” (United Nations
Development Programme). With this opportunity in hand, some actions have been taken in
order to reach a certain arrangement where the worldwide development efforts could be
brought in a single place, easily reachable by everyone.

27
This platform is maintained by the European Union and it proposes a thematic each
month, where the most relevant actions will be presented on their website.
The different subjects proposed by the organizers are: Europe in the World (January),
Education (February), Women and Girls (March), Health (April), Peace and Security (May),
Sustainable Green Growth, Decent Jobs and Businesses (June), Children and Youth (July),
Humanitarian Aid (August), Demography and Migration (September), Food Security
(October), Sustainable Development and Climate Action (November), Human Rights and
Governance (December)
My task was to go over the entire Document of Work of the NOPOOR project, to
make of list of all the different topics on which more than 100 research work on and decide
how to distribute their result for each month. The chosen months were February, May, July,
September and December. After this stage, the actual papers needed to be summarized in
order to submit to the EYD organizers to publish on their wealthy online platform.
The job was a success and the direct coordinator from the part of the European
Commission was our Project officer form the DG RTD. He was the person in charge with the
successful involvement of the NOPOOR project in the EYD platform.
3.3.2. ASEAN-EU STI DAYS
The SEA-EU-NET 212
represents also a FP7 EU funded cooperation project in
Science, Innovation and Technology, with a funding scheme of Coordination (or networking)
actions. “SEA-EU-NET 2 will focus on three societal challenges: Health, Food security and
safety, and Water management, where the greatest opportunities can be leveraged from joint
EU-SEA research.” (European Commission)
The SEA-EU network organizes each year an international conference called “the
ASEAN-EU Science, Technology and Innovation Days. The forum style event, initiated by
the European Commission’s 7th Framework Programme funded SEA-EU-NET II project
bring together researchers, scientists, science policy makers, innovative companies, and other
stakeholders from ASEAN and EU countries for a yearly three-day conference on science,
technology, and innovation issues and bi-regional co-operation in these fields.” (ASEAN-EU
STI Days)
12. For more information, follow the link to the official website: www.sea-eu.net

Teodora VIRBAN
28
The NOPOOR project coordinator was invited to the forum in order to present the
research done by the NOPOOR group in the Asian area. We were appointed to a workshop
entitled “Multidisciplinary Research for Development and Networking in SEA” 13
. My
supervisor, the project manager, Ms. Delia Visan, has taken the lead in presenting the
NOPOOR activity in Asia, on a panel with Bernard Moizo, Director of the Governance, Risk,
Environment and Development research unit, socio-anthropologist (IRD), Dr Hervé Tissot-
Dupont, Director of the Human Health Department, Hospital doctor, (IRD) and Christian
Valentin, deputy director of the Institute of Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IRD).
My tasks consisted of actions encountered before, during and after the event.
Before the event – I was responsible with retrieving all the necessary information on
the project, the partners, the organization of the forum, and the registration formalities for the
NOPOOR management team. I have also offered my input over the presentation format that
my manager was to showcase in front of the audience.
During the event – I was the media responsible during the entire event, raising the
awareness on out project activity in front of the vast audience compose by worldwide
researchers, scientists, policy makers etc..
After – I have started to draft a short press release about NOPOOR’s participation at
the ASEAN-EU STI Days in March 2015, in Paris. This document contained of publications
that I have created on the NOPOOR website, appearances on the communication channels,
photos and other comments from the conference itself, triggering the presentation during our
workshop and the brokerage meetings between NOPOOR’s managers and other interested
parties.
3.3.3. THE OECD GLOBAL FORUM ON DEVELOPMENT
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) represents a
global economic partnership between 34 country members that has as mission the “promotion
of policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the
world”14
.
13. See the description here: www.stidays.net/workshops/multidisciplinary-research-development-
networking-sea
14. For more information, follow the link to the official website: www.oecd.org

29
The OECD organizes each year “The Global Forum on Development” where great
leaders come and debate on global issues, trying to find proper solutions. This year the forum
was held at the OECD headquarter in Paris and the main discussion was focused on the Post-
2015 Financing for Sustainable Development. Some of the questions raised are:
 “How do developing countries interpret the global policy agenda—as set out by the
United Nations (UN), the OECD and others—on the ground?
 How can goals and their financing be realistically tracked?
 What national constraints and conditions govern development finance policy and
practice?
 What does the state of play reveal about national development financing realities vis-
à-vis the overarching financing for development discussions?
 What are the views and roles that non-state actors (such as private sector, foundations,
institutional investors) can play in the SDGs’ implementation?”15
.
My participation at the Forum was important for two reasons, first because I had the
chance to participate in the various debates and to integrate their proposed solutions in the
NOPOOR documentation and, secondly, because the interactions between policy makers and
the other actors present there was of great interest for my research study conducted during the
master programme. Nevertheless, the mission encompassed also the aim to raise the
awareness of the NOPOOR project to the audiences, by employing social media tools during
the forum.
3.3.4. THE DURBAN WORLD SOCIAL SCIENCE FORUM
The World social science forum (WSSF) is a global event of the International social
science council (ISSC) that brings together researchers and stakeholders in international
social science co-operation to address current topical global issues and future priorities for
international social science. The Forum promotes innovative and cross-disciplinary work,
cross-science collaborations in the natural and human sciences, and engagement with donors
15. See the description here: www.oecd.org/site/oecdgfd

Teodora VIRBAN
30
and decision makers in the science community worldwide.16 The 3rd WSSF will take place in
Durban, South Africa between the 13th and September 16th 2015. The generic title
“Transforming Global Relations for a Just World” will cover a large variety of global aspects,
whereas the call for abstracts all over the world was well responded.
For the Nopoor project, we have submitted 3 abstracts entitled “Mapping Trajectories
of Difference: Education and Socioeconomic Mobility in India” (by Ashwini Deshpande),
“Aspiration failure. A poverty trap for indigenous children in Peru?” (by Laure Pasquier–
Doumer) and “Residential segregation and education outcomes: the case of Lima” (by Martin
Benavides), which have been combined in one 90 minute panel session and has been accepted
for inclusion in the programme.
The Nopoor project was first invited to submit the abstracts required for participation
at the WSSF by the representative of the MOST Unesco project.17
My roles in the Nopoor participation at the WSSF 2005 were:
 Gathering all the necessary information in order to be transmit tem to the interested
partners of the Nopoor project;
 Brainstorming with the project manager on who should be best suited to present their
papers at the WSSF;
 Contacting and presenting our strategy to the researchers;
 Creating the required abstracts in the demanded formats for the submission;
 Submitting the abstracts after creating the specific account;
Making the necessary steps in the registration and fees payments of the participants listed
below to the WSSF:
1. Delia Visan (project manager, IRD, Paris, France)
2. Xavier Oudin (project scientific coordinator, IRD/VASS, Hanoi, Vietnam)
3. Laure Pasquier – Doumer (researcher, IRD/VASS, Hanoi, Vietnam)
4. Javier Herrera (senior researcher, IRD, Paris, France)
16. For more information, follow the link to the official website: www.wssf2015.org
17. For more information, follow the link to the official website: www.unesco.org/most/projects.htm

31
5. Martin Benavides (senior researcher, GRADE, Peru)
6. Ashwhini Deshpande (senior researcher, CDE, India)
Because of the request of not having a 90 minutes panel session with all the Nopoor
researchers, but more mixed, collaborative sessions, the envisaged shape will need to be
discussed and further constructed with both the project manager and the coordinator.
The entire process of submitting our participation at the WSSF and going through the
registration process, made me more familiar with the aim of the WSSF itself, with the diverse
registration procedures and most importantly, I have had the chance to rest in contact with the
researchers and read more carefully their work, aspects that enriched my knowledge on the
subjects and improved my skills in working with multiple organisational systems. Moreover, I
captured information also about the MOST Unesco project, about which I had so little
knowledge before.
3.3.5. THE EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENT DAYS
The 8th edition of one of the biggest worldwide development events, the European
development days (EDD), will be held as usual in Brussels, Belgium, but this time in the
month of June, between the 3rd and the 4th of the month (different from the other editions in
the end of the year, in order to make place for the biggest event of the 2015, the United
Nations Conference on Climate Change18—COP21—that will be held between 30 November
– 11 December in Paris, France).
Each year, European Development Days attract about 7,000 participants from over
140 countries, representing 1,200 organisations from the field of development cooperation,
human rights and humanitarian aid. In bringing together the global development community,
the European Union also engages political leaders, development practitioners, the private
sector and civil society in shaping the EU’s policies for tackling poverty worldwide. Everyone
is given a voice in this open, collaborative and inclusive platform. The forum thus
demonstrates the willingness of the European Commission to create a true spirit of
partnership with all development professionals and foster a sense of community.19
18. For more information, follow the link to the official website: www.cop21.gouv.fr/en
19. For more information, follow the link to the official website: www.eudevdays.eu

Teodora VIRBAN
32
Ever since the start of my traineeship within the Nopoor project, I have brought into
attention the importance of the upcoming EDD 15 event in Brussels, Belgium. Furthermore,
during the internal Nopoor reunion with the European Commission official in February, more
precisely with the DG RTD (Directorate General Research and Innovation) project officer, we
were been presented with the latest request and expectations of the EC, namely to bring the
Nopoor result at the EDD15. The long and complex submission process had then began, and
my responsibilities consisted in:
 Gathering all the information about and for the European development days
submission and making brief summaries and guidelines for the involved team to follow
 Making a central account with my professional information, from which point I
became the focal point of the Nopoor project with the European development days organizers
 I was the communication responsible between the management team and the
dissemination team in Austria (Oikodrom)
 I have reviews together with both the project manager and the coordinator the content
of the submission of proposal to the European development days
 After we were accepted for a Stand and a 75 minutes Brainstorming sessions at the
European development days, our involvement to the European development days became my
daily responsibility
The EDD 2 days long stand
The stand entitled “Research for change” will showcase three Nopoor research
results:
a). The nationwide Brazilian social programme “Bolsa Familia”
The nationwide Brazilian social programme “Bolsa Familia” is a Conditional Cash
Transfer Programme (CCT). Such programmes provide direct monetary benefits to poor
families, in exchange for children attending school, medical check-ups, to promote the social
development of families, and particularly of children. CCTs have taken a focal role in poverty
alleviation and, in many Latin American countries, are the main governmental strategy for
breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty. After 10 years of its launch in Brazil,
multiple evaluations of the »Bolsa Familia« have shown that the programme has improved the
conditions of those who live in extreme poverty in Brazil. It has helped to slightly narrow
gaps in income distribution, to reduce child labour, and to improve the nutritional and

33
educational status of children, especially in rural areas. However, two main challenges
remain: One, to improve the quality of social services provided in several communities. In
many cases, children who receive the monetary benefit attend low quality schools and receive
questionable health care, making them remain in a disadvantaged position, in contrast to
children who live in better-off households. Secondly, the challenge was to improve the
coordination between CCTs and labour market policies. If CCTs do not go hand-in-hand with
labour market policies, many of the investments in children´s health and education will not be
translated into better employment opportunities in the future. In that sense, CCTs would not
be fulfilling their purpose of breaking the cycle of poverty from one generation to the next
one (Lead researchers from NOPOOR project: Lena Lavinas, Joao Saboia (UFRJ, Brazil))20
b). The Aadhaar Unique Identification Scheme and The Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment
Guarantee Program: two mega-programmes for better governance of public policies in India.
In the last two decades, India has experimented with many large programs that enable
better subsistence, access to goods and services or mobility for the rural and urban poor. One
of the essential instruments needed for better governance is the necessity of proper
identification in a systematic and modern manner, as neutral identity markers are the principle
basis of citizenship. With this objective, the government of India created the Aadhaar
identification scheme in 2009 through the Unique Identification Authority of India, a
governmental agency. This scheme would give each person an unique identity card and
replace a multiplicity of methods and instruments (ration cards of the public distribution
system, school leaving certificates, attestation letters of public authorities, tax identification
cards (called PAN cards), passports, bank pass books) as identification proofs for any
purpose, that used to make overall governance and proper identification very difficult. There
are still many legal problems surrounding the AAdhaar program, especially on the content of
the information and right to privacy issues that surround the card. But the scheme has the
merit of existing and already covers a large part, almost half the Indian population, and is
expanding.
Identification is the first step towards the design of programs for different purposes.
The Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Program is the largest scheme of
20. For more information, the article is available on the Nopoor official website:
www.nopoor.eu/wp/education-protection

Teodora VIRBAN
34
publicly provided employment in the world, with the objective of providing India’s rural
poor, who number according to different estimates between 30% to half of India’s rural
population, a self selecting universal scheme to obtain up to 100 days of guaranteed
employment per year with a minimum salary set a realistic level in terms of costs of living in
India. The program has been a success for many sections of the Indian population in rural
areas, even though it is also criticized for leakage, corruption and wastage, and its inability to
create deep-seated change in the lives of the rural poor.
It has to be said that the successes and failures of these two programs have important
lessons on public policies and governance programs in many developing and emerging
countries. India’s experience and ability to manage very large programs of public policy is
well documented. An honest and realistic appraisal of the relationship between identification
processes, universal coverage, and the nature of public policy programs that contain poverty
(but without necessarily attacking its root causes) should be useful in terms of generating new
knowledge on poverty reduction. (Lead researchers from NOPOOR project: Basudeb
Chaudhuri, Himanshu and Abhiroop Mukhopadhyay (CNRS India) 21
c). Informal Sector in Vietnam
In the recent years, more emphasis has been put on labour issues for the
understanding of poverty and for the search of appropriate policies to reduce it. Poor labour
conditions, instability of work and difficult access to decent jobs and salaries are widespread
in developing countries, especially in the informal sector. In Vietnam, three quarters of the
labour force have an informal job, i.e. poorly paid and with no social safety net. In the non-
farm sector, more than half of the jobs are informal.
Development policies usually do not pay much attention to the informal sector. It is
supposed that this sector will disappear as the economy "modernizes". Yet, this sector has
resources of entrepreneurship, it produces a lot of useful goods and services and it has the
capacity to improve the life of people. Recognizing its utility and taking provisions to
improve the environment and raise the hurdles for its development would certainly contribute
to an alleviation of poverty.
21. For more information, the article is available on the Nopoor official website:
www.nopoor.eu/wp/inclusionexclusion

35
Vietnam is an interesting case study as it has a buoyant economy and is experiencing
rapid social changes due to the growth and the decline of the farm sector. It also has set up
policies targeting the poor and tries to extend social insurance to most of the population. Yet,
the informal sector remains vigorous and is one of the main outlet for job seekers. (Lead
researchers from NOPOOR project: Xavier Oudin (IRD France, VASS team Vietnam)22
The Nopoor Stand
B. THE EDD 75 MINUTES BRAINSTORMING SESSION
The session entitled “Research for change: New Knowledge on Poverty
Eradication” will be a very interactive session where 7 Nopoor researchers will be
presenting their outcomes in specific research areas, when will be attributed to one of the 5
existing discussion tables with the session audience.
The goal of this session is to have an interaction between nopoor researchers and
stakeholders on the ways research influences policy making based on 5 key current topics
related to poverty alleviation. The setting of the discussion will be the EU Post-2015 Agenda
and the Sustainable Development Goals’ (SDGs).
There will be 5-discussion tables (one per topic), 8 people on each table. The Nopoor
researcher will introduce the topic and ways the research can influence policy making, in
order to start a discussion with the stakeholders.
There will be three rounds and a concluding section, based on the topics and format
below. The session ends with concrete policy implications for EU and for the nopoor project
based on the feedback from stakeholders.
Table 1: Decent Work (Dr. Kirsten. Sehnbruch)
SDG 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment and decent work for all
Nopoor research: compares the parallel development of quality of employment
measures in the European Union with the ILO’s Decent Work agenda. Concludes that the
22. For more information, follow the link on the Nopoor official website:
www.nopoor.eu/wp/inclusionexclusion

Teodora VIRBAN
36
former has advanced much further but that Decent Work remains a very broadly defined
concept, which is impossible to measure across countries.
Table 2: Trade (Dr. Fatou Cisse)
SDG 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and
productive employment and decent work for all.
Nopoor research: Pursues to contribute to the understanding of the impacts on West
African countries (ECOWAS) of this Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on Merchandises. The
project assesses the short, medium and long-term impacts for WA of the FTA on economic
growth, external trade, public finances and poverty.
Table 3: Empowerment (Dr. Heidi Dumreicher)
SDG 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
Nopoor research: identifying the major facts for empowering women and structures
supporting empowerment, including the social context. The empirical work shows
beneficiaries of aid projects as actors of their present and future lives, developing scenarios in
a medium and long-term perspective, including domestic violence, environmental burdens,
informal work, caring for the environment and for the next generation.
Table 4: Inequality (Dr. Xavier Oudin)
SDG 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries.
Nopoor research: One of the questions that nopoor addresses is: Why does policy fail
to reduce poverty significantly among the ethnic minorities that are in most need of support?
One of the case studies for this issue is Vietnam, where there is a gap between those working
in the formal and the informal sector.
Table 5: Employment subsidy scheme (Basudeb Chaudhuri)
SDG10. Reduce inequality within and among countries.
Nopoor research: This project discusses the topic of alleviation of inequality through
exploring the debate between targeted versus universal policies. It concentrates on the case of
the NREGA employment subside scheme in India and highlights the debate between the idea
of targeting poverty with specific measures, as opposed to universal measures, such as public
goods of uniform quality.
Conclusion: Policy Implications for EU and the Nopoor project (Edgar Aragón)
Furthermore, as the focal point of the Nopoor participation at the EDD15, I am
responsible for all the exchange of input between us and the European development days,

37
while keeping a fast track on the progress does by the Dissemination team, more precisely
making sure that they respect the deadlines requested by the EDD organizers.
Moving on, I am also in charge with the communication of the event on our channels,
before, during and after the event, being of assistance at the Stand during the European
development days.
Logistically, I will make sure all the Nopoor team will be registered in time for the
event and I will also arrange the accommodation and travel for all the participants.
As the European development days event will take place just when my Internship
report has to be submitted, the lessons learned and the added value will be emphasized during
the oral defence of the report.
3.4. THE POLICY BRIEF WRITER RECRUITMENT
With respect to the European Commission expectations, the Nopoor project must
deliver the research finding of the 100 researchers involved in the project in the shape of
“policy briefs”. These documents, viewed at the beginning of the project as “policy
recommendations” and not mandatory for the researchers to create, have changed their format
into a certain demanded template with a number of exact expectations.
The Part 3 of the report will make the topic of my research, namely the issues in the
delivery of such papers in the Nopoor project.
After the reunion in Brussels, Belgium with the EC project officer, this issue was
raised and the expectations became more demanding. It was asked to be able to deliver at
least one policy brief per Work Paper, and not per topic. Taking everything in consideration,
further discussing with the group of researchers and adding my own research on the subject,
the project manager together with the coordinator decided to make a call for hiring an intern
that will assist the researchers in writing the policy briefs, as demanded by the EC.
The period that followed in my work was characterized by:
 Analyzing a large number of guidelines in how to write policy briefs, issued by
international organizations in order to draw some lines of action in this direction
 Observing the content and format of already published policy briefs by the similar EU
FP7 funded projects, in order to have a comparative point of view on the modalities of writing
such papers

Teodora VIRBAN
38
 Creating the “Policy brief writer profile” after investigating the background of a
number of policy brief writers and by demanding professional opinions; in respect to this task,
I have integrated in my questionnaires the question about the perfect match for the person
having to assist the researchers in the creation of the political documents
 Reviewing and publishing the job proposition on the Nopoor website and within our
networks
 Receiving and assessing the documents (cover letter and resume) of the candidates
 Ranking the candidatures for being able to advance in the second stage of the
recruitment process, namely for the direct interview with the project manager and one of the
leading researchers
 Responding the candidates after the recruitment process was over.
With a 3 years experience in the Human Resources department, in the Reward and
Recognition division, the recruitment process in the Nopoor project had brought me an insight
on the procedures done in a French public institution. The result was that after a 3 weeks
process, we have chosen what we think to be a person that corresponds to all the criteria that
we establish in the beginning of the brainstorming session on this subject. Nevertheless, I
have seen some flows in creation and distribution of the job proposal, in two aspects. First,
the offer did not specify that we were looking more precisely fro students in the Second year
of master that have had the possibility to obtain an internship convention accepted by the
French administration (we were obliged not to consider a number of candidatures). Secondly,
the profile characteristics were not that closely followed, finalizing by hiring a student in
Economic/ Econometrics major with no experience in journalism.
In addition, I would like to add here the expert advises as a response to my research
for the best candidate profile in the writing of policy briefs:
Best profile for a policy briefs writer?
Who is most likely to deliver such succinct and appealing briefs?
This person needs to have the skills for synthesizing complex information into a
concise format – ideally no more than a page of A4 if it is going to a Minister or DG. The key
is to pick out the most important information and use plain nontechnical language in a clear
layout. Ideally this process should involve a member of the project team who has a deep

39
understanding of the research and a communications expert that is able to interpret findings
into appropriate communication tools. So in short, this process may not simply incorporate
skills and expertise of a single writer, instead draw upon skills of a number of practitioners to
ensure the correct message is captured and conveyed succinctly.
Are we talking about communication studies graduates or professionals or about economists?
As I mentioned above, a communication expert is a valuable resource to draw upon,
but will bring additional cost if not part of the original project team. It is also important to
consider your communications strategy early on in the project so that as the research develops
you can be thinking of audiences and appropriate media or communication vehicles in which
to disseminate your key findings.
Most importantly, the research may have a number of findings that will not necessarily
be of interest to all of your stakeholders. Therefore you may need to draw upon different
expertise to understand your audience and tailor different communication products to
different audience interests. For example, technical audiences may want to know the in-depth
analysis, methods etc., whereas business sector stakeholders may only be interested in results
that they can of use in designing strategies that will benefit their business and make their
business model more profitable.
About writers themselves or about persons who understand best the political stage (graduates
from political science universities)?
If you’re writing for Politicians then it is imperative to draw upon expertise that
understand the current political landscape, in particular what is in the forefront of Politicians
minds, what will gain traction, and ensure you convey your message in this context. If you
talk about “Biodiversity Loss” then Politicians may not really understand the concept, if you
talk about “Loss of Nature”, “Decreasing value in the services nature provides” or “loss of
natural capital” then the language may be more familiar. 23
23. The written response to my questions were received from Mr. Matt Smith, Biodiversity Information
Advisor, Biodiversity Information and Advice Programme.

Teodora VIRBAN
40
Furthermore, after interviewing the researchers for my own study on the delivery of
policy briefs in the Nopoor project, I got some strong opinions on the background of the best
candidate. Below, I made a collection of all the opinions:
The policy brief writer should:
 Have experience in journalism (thus high writing skills)
 Have economic knowledge and political awareness
 If still a student, he/she should be at least in doctoral studies
 Have already experience in writing policy briefs or political summaries from
scientific papers
 Be familiar with the research topics that he/she will be involved in
 Have a little know-how in the Social Media demands
In my opinion, such a complex and broad profile, with such high expectations is very
hard to find, and because of the time constraint and pressuring demand, we will take the
option in hiring an intern, train him and assist to the first policy brief that we need to deliver
and move forward in hiring a full-time professional for the hard work and high amount of
policy brief production for the remaining period of the Nopoor project.
3.5. LESSONS LEARNED AND ADDED VALUE FOR THE ORGANIZATION
This section proposes to summarize the totality of lesson learned and added value
brought to the organization after the 6 months of internship. The purpose is to underline the
skills used and the new capacities achieved after a period composed by many different
activities realized and responsibilities needed, in the European project manager trainee
position, inside the Nopoor management team.
3.5.1. LESSONS LEARNED:
 Overall capacity in collaborating with diverse type of partners, within and outside the
Nopoor project
 Became acquainted with a number of global development actors
 Gained tools in how to intermediate exchanges od information and documentation
between the consortium members

41
 A specific gathering of information about Vietnam after the creation of the “Practical
information” guide to be used during the GA
 A high level of familiarity considering the financial and logistics aspects of the French
administration (consistent with the organization of the Summer School arrangements and also
during the recruitment process)
 A thorough formation on how to develop the website content and formats
 Know-how on the usefulness of the Twitter communication tool
 A certain level of understanding on how the other Nopoor EU related projects conduct
their activities and also about their deliverables
 Information about the world-wide topic specific Nopoor stakeholders that could make
the subject of the participants to our dissemination events
 Build an understanding on what has been done and what is expected in the future with
respect to the dissemination activities
 Build a productive relationship between the management team and the dissemination
of results team
 Became familiar with handling of different platforms (European Year of
Development, World Social Science Forum, European Development Days etc)
 Built a pattern to make people aware of the deadlines and thus, to respect them
 Achieved a background knowledge on the process of submitting a proposal from
scratch until the approval (in the case of European development days) – who should be
involved, what aspects should first be assessed, how should the proposition be written, which
content will be used, how many people revise the entire documentation
 I learned to listen and to accept different advices when wrong and also to prioritize the
tasks in order to firstly respond to the most important needs
 I studied a large number of development aspects, by reading the research papers
 I appropriated the quality of being able to make clear distinctions on where I need the
assistance of the Project manager and where I could find the information by myself
 I learned to summarize my speech and my written content
 I improved by French oral and written skills

Teodora VIRBAN
42
3.5.2. VALUE ADDED FOR THE ORGANISATION:
 Facilitated the communication channel between diverse types of partners, within and
outside Nopoor project
 Raised awareness of the Nopoor activities throughout the communication channels,
thus having more followers or interested parties tailing our progress
 Establish a fast communication pattern with our direct collaborators for a number of
the events (e.g. European development days)
 Initiated and proposed some tools to facilitate the fruitful organization of the General
Assembly and other events (Doodle pool to be used for the registration of participants for
extra-curricular activities or the Facebook event for the stakeholder invitation to the European
development days)
 Creation of the poster image for the Summer School and for other dissemination
materials, such for the “Practical information” both for the GA and for the Summer school
 Good coordination of the logistical aspects for the Summer School participants,
speakers and scholars
 Experience in the recruitment process
 Knowledge of the HTML coding for the completion of the Nopoor website content
 Good organisational skills do achieve a coherent classification of all the
documentation produced during the 3 years of Nopoor project
 Used the communication skills to connect with the EU Nopoor related project
coordinators and to establish a clear taxonomy on the existence of stakeholders for the
Vietnam AG
 Created and distributed a list of dissemination strategy to be conducted for the two
remaining years of project existence
 Follow up the status of registration for all the events (STI Days, WSSF, EDD etc.)
 Centralized the information on the European development days guidelines and
deadlines to be easily reachable by all the partners involved
 Became the focal point in the organization of the STAND + BRAINSTOMING
session for the European development days, thus intermediated the communication and

43
sharing of documentation between the European development days organizers, the
management team and the dissemination team
 Thanks to my previous experience in the participation at European development days,
I proposed a detail list of proposition of dissemination activities to be realized before, during
and after the event
3.5.3. GAINED AND DEVELOPED SKILLS:
 Management and leadership skills (assisting the project manager to the daily tasks and
having to coordinate some activities with my colleagues from the management team)
 Technical skills (website, different platforms etc.)
 Coordination and organization skills (the variety of events that I was involved in)
 Political skills (know-how on the political demands from the EC)
 Administrative skills (logistic and financial aspects)
 Communication and dissemination of results abilities (focal point in the process of
participation at the European development days)
 Language skills (use of French and English on a daily basis)
 Soft skills: team work spirit, listening capacity, adaptability in different types of
cultures
 Collecting and summarizing data (handling the different abstracts and reviewing the
different summaries to be submitted to different events)

Teodora VIRBAN
44
4. THE RESEARCH STUDY: “INTERFACE BETWEEN RESEARCHERS AND
POLICY MAKERS IN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS.
STUDY CASE: THE PRODUCTION OF POLICY BRIEFS IN THE FP7 EU
FUNDED NOPOOR RESEARCH PROJECT”
The current report is composed by two main parts, the activity and achievements realized
during the internship period of the author at IRD, presented in the Second Part of the Report
and the research work, that can be find in its totality in the Third Part.
Consequently, this section will emphasize the background context, which determined the
inceptive of such a research, the methods applied, the results retrieved and also the
recommendations and conclusions of the research study.
Moreover, the study aims to illustrate the specificities of a very controversial aspect in
the field of research and the dissemination of results in the political arena for large
international projects, namely the delay in the submission or the lack of policy briefs
produced from the work of researchers. The Nopoor project represents the case study chosen
to be analyzed.
4.1. THE BACKGROUND CONTEXT
The Nopoor project it finds itself in the 3rd
year of activity, quickly advancing to its
completion. My involvement in the Nopoor team was to commence in the month of January
2015 2 months after the middle assessment reunion, namely the Mid-term Conference held in
the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. This meeting represented a contractual
obligation within the grant agreement signed in the beginning, where the Nopoor team ought
to present to a larger audience composed by important key stakeholders and members of the
EC, their half-a-road results of the research. The purpose of this reunion was to receive a
feedback on the work done, in order to improve the next steps of the project: “The
Consortium will have to emphasize the extent to which the work done tends towards
achieving the objectives written in the DoW (description of work). With this occasion, several

45
scientific programmes will be presented to the audience, in order to expose the current state of
the research.”24
Following the curricula of the master in Paris, I was presented with the possibility to
be introduced earlier to the management team at the DIAL offices, in order to understand the
context and also to offer some advices in the preparation of the Mid-term meeting. For this, in
the month of November 2014 I have spent an entire preparatory day with the management
team in the DIAL office. It was then when I was introduced to the main objectives, the
structure and the composition of the Nopoor project. Most importantly, the project manager
explained the purpose of the upcoming Mid-term Conference in the premises of the
Directorate General Research and Innovation of the European Commission. The only aspects
that I could revise were the English contents in the dissemination materials (website, flyer,
poster and newsletter) that were about to be distributed during the Mid-term Meeting. In
addition, I offered some templates in which I worked in my previous collaborations that have
helped them in the logistical part.
Some examples of research results presented in the Mid-term Meeting, in the
Assessment day can be seen below:
 How the quality of employment in Chile affects social outcomes? (Kirsten Sehnbruch,
Universidad de Chile – Uchile)
 Living conditions after the Haiti’s earthquake: challenges, results and lessons (J.
Herrera, F. Roubaud, C. Saint-Macary, C. Torelli and C. Zanuso)
 Recipient governance and the delivery of aid through non-state actors, (Rainer Thiele
- IfW)
 Industrial Regional Decentralization and Poverty in Brazil (Joao Saboia - UFRJ)
 Migrants' Home Town Associations and Local Development in Mali (Lisa Chauvet,
Flore Gubert, Marion Mercier, Sandrine Mesplé-Somps - IRD-DIAL)
 The contextual and individual level effects on domestic violence in poor neighborhood
(Martín Benavides - GRADE)
24 Citation retrieved from the official website of the project: http://www.nopoor.eu/events/nopoor-mid-
term-conference-20-november-2014-brussels

Teodora VIRBAN
46
The second day of the meeting represented, for the current research, a clear proof of
the will and efforts of the Nopoor members to showcase their results also from a political
orientated perspective. The title for the second day of the event was “Nopoor Policy
Workshop”, where two European Commission officers opened the discussion and session
such as “How to make multidimensional vision of poverty contribute to poverty
reduction?” or “Post 2015 development agenda: can better indicators improve the
elaboration of poverty reduction policies?” have attracted a great audience, that finalize in
debating on different aspects.
The meeting was a complete success for the Nopoor team; many debates and remarks
were hold and offered during the presentations by the experts from the European
Commission. Nevertheless, as I will add in later on, no concrete feedback was offered to the
researchers after the finalization of the meeting.
From January 2015 my internship period had officially started and I found myself
going to a 2 weeks period of intense analysis on everything that was done in the Nopoor
project until the moment I arrived. The understanding off all the aspects offered me the tools
to propose some improvements or to raise questions as for some irregularities observed, while
having all the data. It was then that I first noticed the approaching deadline of delivering a
collection of so called “policy recommendations”, the creations of which have not even yet
started.
In February 2015, an internal meeting entitles “Dissemination meeting” with the
Nopoor Project Officer from the European Commission was scheduled in Brussels, Belgium
in the DG RTD premises. At this meeting the project manager and the project coordinator
were meeting three representatives of the POLDISS team25
(Appendix 4). The details of the
Two Working Packages are essential to the research and will be described later on in this
section.
In order to prepare for this meeting, I have taken again all the Nopoor documents
consisting of dissemination materials: their classification or their recommendations and
remarks received by different entities on their content or format, previous summaries of the
25 The POLDISS team is composed from the leaders of two Working Packages (WP10 - Policy
recommendation and WP11 - Dissemination and awareness raising) plus other task leaders willing to be
part of this group.

Master thesis M2 PRO - Teodora Virban

Master thesis M2 PRO - Teodora Virban

Recommandé

Recommandé

Contenu connexe

En vedette

En vedette (8)

Similaire à Master thesis M2 PRO - Teodora Virban

Similaire à Master thesis M2 PRO - Teodora Virban (20)

Master thesis M2 PRO - Teodora Virban