This project is part of a larger evaluation exercise aimed at assessing the 'Cross Cutting Theme Approach' adopted by UNESCO to promote intersectoral cooperation among its own departments, as well as with other agencies and partners at national level. The twenty interdisciplinary projects on poverty eradication funded by UNESCO have a clear focus on poverty as a human rights issue and share a common objective of influencing policy at national and of contributing to achieving MDG1 by 2015.

The purpose of the evaluation is to assess the relevance, usefulness and success of the intersectoral approach in tackling poverty. The research will focus on a selection of case studies on UNESCO work on poverty eradication, including a country study in Mali.