Having helped coordinate the international programme of collaborative research that culminated in the publication of The Hidden Dimensions of Poverty report, I can attest the great lengths to which the researchers went in order to ensure that the results were of the highest quality, despite the difficulties they sometimes faced. For three years, university professors, professional practitioners and people living in poverty worked extremely hard together, in five languages, to produce a report of which they are justifiably proud and which they very much hope will be genuinely useful in the fight against extreme poverty.

The highly collaborative research method has encouraged the participants to think carefully about how they operate and about the nature of their relationships with those who live in the greatest poverty. What in reality is the best way of involving them in projects so that no-one is left behind? How can we gain their confidence rather than do their thinking for them? How can we – before we ask them to share ideas with others – give them time to formulate their thoughts with their peers, thus increasing their “power to act”? “This report helps us to position ourselves. Let’s make it our bible”, wrote one practitioner.