POVERTY: THE CURRENT CONTEXT

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

Until 1996, the number of poor people was on the decline, but by 1998 it was on the rise again

Today there are more than 1.3 billion chronically poor people in the world

Human poverty remains persistently high— higher than income poverty in some regions, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

What is the international response?

Donors are reducing levels of aid and failing to focus what remains on poverty

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

Trends in World Aid as a Percentage of GNP

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

Debt burdens have grown among least developed countries and remained high in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative aims for faster, deeper debt relief

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

External Debt as a Percentage of GNP

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

But the indebted countries are wary of new conditionalities and reductions in development assistance to finance debt relief

Many rich country markets remain closed to exports from indebted countries — a major reason why they are unable to pay off their debt

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

UNDP Poverty Report 2000

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY

1. ORIENTATION

Takes stock of progress by countrieson Social Summit commitments

Draws policy lessons from UNDP’ssupport to poverty reduction activities

Pays special attention to the role ofgovernance in poverty reduction

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

2. SCOPE

Draws on 23 special assessments of national poverty programmes

Benefits from input on poverty policies from 134 UNDP country offices

Covers 140 countries on poverty estimates, targets and plans

1. ORIENTATION

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

Two ways of measuring poverty

The $1 per day is an income measure of poverty: it measures the percentage of people who live on less than $1 per day

The Human Poverty Index (HPI)

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

The HPI measures deprivation in basic human development. It takes into account

– % of people expected to die before age 40

– % of adults who are illiterate

– % of population without access to health services

– % of population without access to safe water

– % of children under five who are underweight

The following maps compare Income and Human Poverty

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

Population living on less than US$1 Per Day (per cent)

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

Countries that may not be very poor in terms of income poverty may suffer from high levels of human poverty — for example, when a large percentage of the population is illiterate or malnourished.

Human Poverty Index for Developing Countries

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

World Summit for Social Development

In 1995, all countries committed to:

• Estimate overall and extreme income poverty

• Set time-bound goals and targets

• Implement national anti-poverty plans

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

World Summit for Social DevelopmentProgress in Last 5 Years

Of the 140 countries surveyed by UNDP:

• 77% have nationally recognized estimates for poverty

• 69% have some form of planning for poverty reduction but only 29% have explicit stand-alone poverty plans

• And only 31% have set targets for eradicating extreme poverty or substantially reducing overall poverty

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

3. CENTRAL THEMES

A. Progress against both income and human poverty

B. Developing national anti-poverty plans

C. Governance for poverty reduction: the missing link

1. ORIENTATION2. SCOPE

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

A. Progress against Income and Human Poverty

A major shortcoming of current anti-poverty planning::The lack of achievable time-bound goals and targets

Where new initiatives are needed:Countries should explicitly adopt human poverty targets

– Malnutrition– Shortened life span– Illiteracy

How to make a monitoring system workable:Supplement large income and expenditure surveys with

– Rapid monitoring surveys– Participatory assessments

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

B. Developing National Anti-Poverty Plans

Anti-poverty plans need to be comprehensive:

• Much more than a few projects “targeted” at the poor

• Poverty — a multidimensional problem — should be addressed by a multisectoral approach

• Move beyond the traditional social-sector focus

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

Anti-poverty plans should be nationally owned and determined — not donor driven

External donors provide much of the funding

– but outside regular government channels

– and for a disconnected array of individual projects

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

Linking poverty to national-level policies

A new generation of poverty programmes is neededPoverty can no longer be addressed

– after the fact (in response to structural adjustment)– as a residual social issue

Merely supplementing rapid growth with social spending and safety nets has proved inadequatePoverty programmes should be formulated to

– focus on making growth more pro-poor– target inequality– emphasize empowering poor people

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

Linking poverty to international economic policies

This is a connection that is rarely made

– External debt is now clearly linked to poverty through the Enhanced HIPC Initiative

– Hopefully the link will not involve new conditionalities

– Trade policies are still not connected, however, as witnessed in the Seattle WTO meeting

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

If trade expansion is to benefit the poor, the international rules of the game must be made fairer

Where to start:

With rich-country protectionism biased against developing country exports

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

C. Governance for Poverty Reduction: the Missing Link

The vital link between anti-poverty efforts and poverty reduction is a responsive and accountable governance system

• Having regular elections — free and fair

• Accountability in the use of public funds

• Devolving authority and resources to local government

But democratic forms are no vaccination against poverty and decentralization is only a partial solution

Poor communities must organize themselves to advance their interests

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

The Neglected Reforms

Campaigns against poverty have bypassed local government, hampering the campaigns’ effectiveness

• local governments need to be strengthened

• a long-term project — taking time, resources and capacity-building

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

The Foundation of Poverty Reduction

Self-organization of the poor at community level

What the poor most need:

– Not so much resources for safety nets as for building their own organizations

– This is the best antidote to powerlessness, a central source of poverty

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000

How to effectively “target” benefits to the poor

– Effective “targeting” follows from empowerment, not the other way around

– Do not treat the poor as passive beneficiaries

– It is better to talk about “focusing poverty reduction resources” than about “targeting”

OVERCOMING HUMAN POVERTY UNDP Poverty Report 2000