Deliberating towards development: A framework for co-constructing policies with people in poverty

This paper builds on the results of an international participatory research project that identified nine dimensions of poverty, including six that are “hidden” and typically overlooked in research and policy. Drawing on these dimensions and original case studies conducted in France, Mauritius and a West African country, we propose an approach to policy co-construction and evaluation that includes people experiencing poverty as partners. We offer a methodological framework that is sensitive to hidden dimensions of poverty and provide guidance to navigating the challenges of deliberation in contexts where strong power asymmetries are likely to translate into epistemic injustice. The framework requires four shifts in thinking about participation in development policies: (1) it broadens the definition of poverty to include dimensions beyond deprivation; (2) it acknowledges people in poverty as knowers and agents of change; (3) it relies on a stronger form of participation that goes beyond consultation, where people deliberate as equals and learn from one another; and (4) it transfers part of the policy ownership and decision-making power to people in poverty themselves.