Stories of change

Where ODI makes a difference

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Our Stories of Change, first published in the 2009 Annual Report, span a wide range of our work: from policy work at the highest level around the global financial crisis, to laying out the real issues around post-conflict reintegration.

They highlight how ODI has made a difference in international development and humanitarian issues.

Growth: Seeing where the shoe pinches

Child with cocoa basket	Flickr	publik15	http://www.flickr.com/photos/publik15/ How we have tracked the negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements for more than a decade to ensure that governments are aware of the implications of the '‘small print'.

The future of aid: Telling the truth about aid

Residents of a slum in the heart of Manila enjoys free rice porridge from Non Governmental agencies during a feeding program in the area May 2008.	IRIN	© VJ Villafranca/IRIN	http://www.irinnews.org/PhotoDetail.aspx?ImageId=200805075How ODI's work supports the case for a shift to a virtuous circle of aid effectiveness, based on country ownership and the strengthening of national service delivery systems.

Global financial crisis: Staying ahead of the crisis curve

poor children on Mumbai beach	Flickr	thebigdurian	http://www.flickr.com/photos/94416001@N00/358272270How we have highlighted the potential implications of the financial crisis for the world’s poorest countries, in work that has been drawn upon by development agencies and highlighted by the world's most influential economic media.

MDGs: Shifting the debate on poverty reduction

Scavenging for scrap metal, near Hyderabad, this man and his wife make enough to get by selling iron onto the open market.	Flickr	ODI/Antony Robbins	http://www.flickr.com/photos/overseas-development-institute/2677489425/A story of a high-level partnership that is moving a crucial debate forward. The emphasis is on chronic poverty, leading to a shift in poverty policies in, for example, India and Uganda.

Risk: The long road home in Sudan

Women returning to an internally displaced persons camp in Darfur after collecting firewood, Sudan, 17 August 2006.	IRIN	Derk SegaarThe story of how an ODI study in Southern Sudan changed policy debate on reintegration at the national and international levels.

Climate change: Poor people, forests and climate change mitigation

Forest-dwelling tribal girls, India	Flickr	basoo!	http://www.flickr.com/photos/basoo/2034353484/in/set-72157594466809456/How we have built on years of environmental research and network-building to reinforce the need to include the forest-dependent poor in the climate change debate.

The 21st century think tank: How major change happens

Change is complex and seldom, if ever, linear ('Blowhole' sculpture/art piece at the Docklands, Melbourne )	Flickr	NatalieTracy	http://www.flickr.com/photos/natalietracy/3230178020/How we work with partners in developing and developed countries to help them infuse complex policy processes with sound evidence.

Communications: Changing the development story

Women refugees speaking about the problems they face at local radio station in Cote d'Ivoire.	Flickr	Ami Vitale / World Bank	http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldbank/1196394152/How changes in the way ODI communicates and are putting us in good shape to mark our 50th anniversary in 2010.