The Children of the Millennium Project, internationally known as Young Lives (www.younglives.org.uk), is a study which covers three developing countries — India (the state of Andhra Padresh), Ethiopia and Vietnam — resulting in new, reliable information that provides a better understanding of the causes, correlations and consequences of children’s poverty and examines how policies affect children’s well-being. This study is designed to provide input into the development and implementation of policies and practices to help reduce poverty among children.

In each participating country, the project is following the development of two groups of children. The first consists of about 2,000 children who were between 6 and 17 months old in 2002, when the data were first gathered. The second consists of about 750 children who were between 7 and a half and 8 and a half years old in 2002. The research involves surveys of the children, their parents and key members of their communities.

The study’s research component includes quantitative and qualitative investigation, analysis and monitoring of policies benefiting children, as well as communication and policy advocacy. The project is part of an international effort to develop social policies based on empirical evidence, in this case a rigorous longitudinal study.

Children of the Millennium is the first longitudinal study in developing countries carried out over such a long time frame in several countries simultaneously, covering a great variety of topics and using various research methods.

The study is funded by the British Department for International Development, DFID (www.dfid.gov.uk). Addition funding for specific research on topics stemming from the main investigation has come from the International Development Research Centre, IDRC (www.idrc.ca) for Ethiopia, UNICEF (www.unicef.org/spanish) for India and the Bernard van Leer Foundation for India and Peru (www.bernardvanleer.org).

The project has a 15-year time frame in all the countries. By then, the children in the youngest group will be 14 years old and those in the oldest groups will be 21 years old.