This policy brief looks at the two key challenges for a pro-poor private sector development strategy: the creation of decent jobs; and the promotion of (formal and informal) micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) with the potential for growth and transformation.
Read MoreChallenge Paper 3: Poverty focus in selected Swedish bilateral aid portfolios
This paper analyses 12 Swedish bilateral country programmes of development cooperation and the extent to which they are focusing on interventions assessed to be effective in fighting poverty, according to the Chronic Poverty Report (CPR) 2014-2015 and other research findings.
Read MoreStrengthening social justice to address intersecting inequalities post-2015
The people most likely to be left behind by development are those facing ‘intersecting inequalities’, or economic deficits intersecting with discrimination and exclusion on the grounds of identity and locational disadvantage.
The experience of seven countries (Brazil, Ecuador, Bolivia, India, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Nepal) shows that key ingredients for addressing intersecting inequalities are: social movements demanding changes in the ‘rules of the game’; political trajectories and processes of constitutional change that facilitate and actualize these changes; social guarantees, opportunity enhancements and developmental affirmative actions as well as specific policies and programmes which show commitment to reduce intersecting inequalities over time.
The post-2015 agenda can help establish global norms which will support and encourage mobilisation to tackle intersecting inequalities, including a strong commitment to universal quality basic services, and the development of country-specific frameworks of targets and indicators monitoring intersecting inequalities
Authors: Veronica Paz Arauco, Haris Gazdar, Paula Hevia-Pacheco, Naila Kabeer, Amanda Lenhardt, Syeda Quratulain Masood, Haider Naqvi, Nandini Nayak, Andrew Norton, Nidhi Sadana Sabharwal, Elisa Scalise, Andrew Shepherd, Deepak Thapa, Sukhadeo Thorat, D. Hien Tran, Leandro Vergara-Camus, Tassew Woldehanna, Chiara Mariotti.
Click here to download the Report
The following background papers prepared for the report are also available:
Pakistan (Gazdar, Masood and Naqvi)
Latin America (Hevia and Vergara-Camus)
Translating Growth into Poverty Reduction.Beyond the Numbers
Edited by Flora Kessy, Oswald Mashindano, Andrew Shepherd & Lucy Scott
Tanzania is a politically stable, much aided country that has consistently grown economically during the first decade of the millennium, while also improving its human development indicators. However, poverty has remained persistent, particularly within rural areas. This collaborative work delves into the reasons why this is so and what can be done to improve the record.
The book is the product of both Tanzanian and international poverty experts, based on largely qualitative research undertaken within Tanzania by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC). The authors highlight and discuss the importance of macro- and micro-level causes of the persistence of poverty. The latter, on which the book is focused, centre around a negative dynamic affecting a large number of poor households in which widespread failure to provide household food security undermines gender relationships and reduces the possibility of saving and asset accumulation which is necessary for escaping poverty. This results in very low upward mobility. Vulnerability is widespread and resilience against shocks minimal, even for those who are not absolutely poor. Through an in-depth and broad analysis of poverty in Tanzania, the book provides alternative conclusions to those often repeated in the poverty discourse in international and local arenas.
The conclusions were reached with the specific aim of informing political and policy debates within Tanzania.
Financial inclusion and chronic poverty: access to savings and insurance services in Tanzania
This brief examines the current extent of financial inclusion in Tanzania – focusing particularly on the chronically poor – and also specifically on access to savings and insurance services. This is because of the increasing body of evidence about the role which the two services can play in helping households to escape poverty and, by implication, to manage shocks and build their resilience.
Authors: Lucy Scott and William Smith
Photo Credit: Panos Pictures
Read MoreA place for panel data in the 'data revolution'?
This paper argues that panel data provides important insights to measure progress towards zero poverty, including through identifying who is getting 'left behind'.
Authors: Lucy Scott and Chiara Mariotti
Read MoreMiddle-income Countries Policy Guide: Addressing chronic poverty in middle-income countries: getting close to zero
Middle-income countries (MICs) are home to the majority of the world’s extremely poor people. However, some have also achieved remarkable success in reducing chronic poverty, and have been a source of inspiration for developing countries as a whole.
This Policy Guide is targeted to policymakers in middle- and lower-income Countries (MICs and LICs) who would like to be inspired and learn lessons from the countries that have reduced chronic poverty as part of their efforts to accelerate structural transformation and achieve a higher growth path. The Guide provides recommendations on how countries can replicate this achievement using lessons learnt from ten selected MICs with greatest poverty reduction record since 1990 (Cape Verde, Indonesia, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Senegal, Viet Nam, Brazil, China, Thailand and Tunisia). Evidence is analysed to identify the policies, strategies and political trajectories that have characterised their route out of extreme poverty.
Authors: Dominik Bulla, Abdou Salam Fall, Haris Gazdar, Medhi Krongkaew, Amanda Lenhardt, Sami Mouley, Alina Rocha Menocal, Andrew Shepherd and Chiara Mariotti
Click here to download the Middle-income Countries Policy Guide
Why poverty persists
Read the first chapter of 'Why Poverty Persists: Poverty Dynamics in Asia and Africa', which brings together the findings from panel survey analysis to increase insights into what traps people in poverty, causes them to fall into poverty or enables them to escape from poverty.
Author: Bob Baulch
Read MoreFindings from the Chronic Poverty Research Centre
A summary of the influence and impact of ten years of research into chronic poverty conducted by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre
Read MorePanel data
This is a list of available panel datasets (as of June 2014).
Read MorePro-poorest economic growth: Employment and social assistance contributions to the eradication of extreme poverty
This policy brief highlights the importance of making poverty eradication an overarching goal of the post 2015 process, with other goal areas such as employment, education and social assistance all making a contribution towards it, rather than focusing on poverty eradication policies alone.
Authors: Andrew Shepherd, Lucy Scott and Chiara Mariotti.
Read MoreInvestigating resilience thresholds in sub-Saharan Africa
This paper explores whether there is a 'resilience threshold' or a line that, once people are living over, means that they are highly unlikely to live in poverty in the future. The research explores these questions for several countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Authors: Lucy Scott, Debbie Hillier and Helen Underhill
Read MoreNational Policy Brief: Improving poverty dynamics in Senegal - the importance of building resilience to shocks
This National Policy Brief focuses on the importance of building poor people's resilience to shocks in Senegal, to prevent them from falling into poverty.
Author: Abdou Salam Fall
Read MoreNational Policy Brief: Addressing chronic poverty in Tanzania through rural industrialisation
Poverty reduction in Tanzania has not occurred at the rate that would be expected, given the recent high levels of economic growth. This National Policy Brief advocates for addressing chronic poverty in the country through rural industrialisation.
Authors: Flora Kessy and Oswald Mashindano
Read MoreNational Policy Brief: Rethinking lessons in tackling chronic and extreme poverty in Bangladesh
This National Policy Brief highlights the improvements that have been made in the poorest people's incomes, levels of education and health in Bangladesh and sets out the policies that need to be focused on in order to sustain and expand this progress.
Authors: Binayak Sen and Zulfiqar Ali
Read MoreThe Chronic Poverty Report 2014-15: The road to zero poverty
This report demonstrates that escaping from poverty is not a one-way street – many families slide back below the poverty line because of factors such as ill-health, job loss and natural disasters.
Authors: Andrew Shepherd, Lucy Scott, Chiara Mariotti, Flora Kessy, Raghav Gaiha, Lucia da Corta, Katharina Hanifnia, Nidhi Kaicker, Amanda Lenhardt, Charles Lwanga-Ntale, Binayak Sen,
Bandita Sijapati, Tim Strawson, Ganesh Thapa, Helen Underhill, Leni Wild.
Challenge Paper 2: How resilient are escapes out of poverty?
This paper uses panel data analysis to assess whether people that have escaped poverty have remained above the poverty line or have fallen back below it. It suggests a range of policies that can ensure that poverty escapes are more resilient.
Authors: Lucy Scott, Katharina Hanifnia, Andrew Shepherd, Milu Muyanga and Elsa Valli.
Read MoreIndia Chronic Poverty Report: Towards Solutions and New Compacts in a Dynamic Context
The report has looked at the large numbers of programmes and schemes in various forms that over the years aimed at poverty alleviation in India, some targeting specific groups, to try and identify why they have not succeeded to the desired extent. Design flaws, weak implementation, inadequate provision of funds, and the inability of the poor to access scheme benefits, are amongst many factors identified and analyzed.
Read MoreThe 2nd Uganda Chronic Poverty Report: Is anybody listening?
The overall message of the second Uganda Chronic Poverty Report is that chronically poor people are hardly on the policy radar. It emphasises the need for more political commitment in Uganda to address the issue of chronic poverty.
Authors: Development Research and Training (DRT) and the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC).
Read MoreThe geography of poverty, disasters and climate extremes in 2030
This report, The geography of poverty, disasters and climate extremes in 2030, examines the relationship between disasters and poverty. It concludes that, without concerted action, there could be up to 325 million extremely poor people living in the 49 countries most exposed to the full range of natural hazards and climate extremes in 2030.
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