The IPPG Programme is the shorthand name for the inter-disciplinary Research Programme Consortium on Improving Institutions for Pro-Poor Growth. The DFID-funded IPPG supports innovative scholarly research, and seeks to influence development policy and practice that contributes to the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). IPPG supports innovative scholarly research, and seeks to influence development policy and practice that contributes to achievement of the MDGs. Our inspiration comes from:

• The recognition that 'institutions' are best understood as relatively stable social and political arrangements, which include informal norms and conventions as well as formal rules and laws.
• Critically, however, we go well beyond the widely accepted view that 'institutions matter'. We explore and illustrate the consortium's 'big idea' that political and social institutions and practices – both formal and informal – have a profound effect on the form and functioning of economic institutions and hence influence growth outcomes decisively.
• It follows that while economic growth is a necessary condition for the sustainable reduction of poverty, it is not enough. If the MDGs are to be accomplished, we must think of ways in which growth can be made distinctly pro-poor and political processes will enhance and not hinder appropriate institutional development.

IPPG Programme partners are based in South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.