In mid-2010, The SMERU Research Institute and UNICEF initiated a collaboration to promote issues concerning the child, vulnerability, and poverty. As some of our readers may already know, the Institute has been in the forefront of conducting studies and producing analyses on a wide range of areas related to poverty, e.g., social protection, health, and education, for over a decade. Considering Indonesia’s commitment to the MDGs, working with UNICEF to look at specific groups, in this case children, is a timely step forward for SMERU.

In line with SMERU’s mission, this collaboration with UNICEF includes four facets: a study on child poverty and disparity, conference on child issues to invite recommendations for policy responses and development, the publication of joint policy papers to influence policies on children and women, and institutional capacity building to support government institutions and NGOs. This edition of SMERU’s newsletter is a follow-up to last year’s Conference on Research on Child Issues in Indonesia, which was a collaboration between UNICEF, Bappenas, and SMERU. This edition presents the four best research papers selected from the conference.

As a research institute promoting evidence-based policymaking, SMERU hopes that this initiative will help narrow the gap between research, policy, and practice.