This paper presents a new Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for 104 developing countries. It is the first time multidimensional poverty is estimated using micro datasets (household surveys) for such a large number of countries which cover about 78 percent of the world´s population. The MPI has the mathematical structure of one of the Alkire and Foster poverty multidimensional measures and it is composed of ten indicators corresponding to same three dimensions as the Human Development Index: Education, Health and Standard of Living. Our results indicate that 1,700 million people in the world live in acute poverty, a figure that is between the $1.25/day and $2/day poverty rates. Yet it is no $1.5/day measure. The MPI captures direct failures in functionings that Amartya Sen argues should form the focal space for describing and reducing poverty. It constitutes a tool with an extraordinary potential to target the poorest, track the Millennium Development Goals, and design policies that directly address the interlocking deprivations poor people experience. This paper presents the methodology and components in the MPI, describes main results, and shares basic robustness tests.

Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries

https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(06)69744-4.pdf

Effect of a structural intervention for the prevention of intimate-partner violence and HIV in rural South Africa: a cluster randomised trial

Household food security is an important measure of well-being. Although it may not encapsulate all dimensions of poverty, the inability of households to obtain access to enough food for an active, healthy life is surely an important component of their poverty. Accordingly, devising an appropriate measure of food security outcomes is useful in order to identify the food insecure, assess the severity of their food shortfall, characterize the nature of their insecurity (for example, seasonal versus chronic), predict who is most at risk of future hunger, monitor changes in circumstances, and assess the impact of interventions. However, obtaining detailed data on food security status—such as 24- hour recall data on caloric intakes—can be time consuming and expensive and require a high level of technical skill both in data collection and analysis. This paper examines whether an alternative indicator, dietary diversity, defined as the number of unique foods consumed over a given period of time, provides information on household food security. It draws on data from 10 countries (India, the Philippines, Mozambique, Mexico, Bangladesh, Egypt, Mali, Malawi, Ghana, and Kenya) that encompass both poor and middle-income countries, rural and urban sectors, data collected in different seasons, and data on calories acquisition obtained using two different methods. ....[D]ietary diversity would appear to show promise as a means of measuring food security and monitoring changes and impact, particularly when resources available for such measurement are scarce.

https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACQ758.pdf

Dietary diversity as a food security indicator

Impact evaluation of a conditional cash transfer program :the Nicaraguan Red de Proteccion Social , Impact evaluation of a conditional cash transfer program :the Nicaraguan Red de Proteccion Social , مرکز فناوری اطلاعات و اطلاع رسانی کشاورزی

Impact Evaluation of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program: The Nicaraguan Red de Proteccion Social

How rapidly will child malnutrition respond to income growth? This article explores that question using household survey data from 12 countries as well as data on malnutrition rates in a cross-section of countries since the 1970s. Both forms of analysis yield similar results. Increases in income at the household and national levels imply similar rates of reduction in malnutrition. Using these estimates and better than historical income growth rates, the article finds that the millennium development goal of halving the prevalence of underweight children by 2015 is unlikely to be met through income growth alone. What is needed to accelerate reductions in malnutrition is a balanced strategy of income growth and investment in more direct interventions.

/pdf/reducing-child-malnutrition-how-far-does-income-growth-take-4hqk8hvfxx.pdf

Reducing child malnutrition : how far does income growth take us?

Development institutions and projects frequently seek to target poorer segments of the population. Yet, existing methods for evaluating their outreach are generally unsuited to most operational settings, since they are either too costly and cumbersome (e.g., detailed income or household surveys), or they produce results that are not comparable between villages or regions within a country (e.g., participatory poverty appraisals). This paper presents a new and operationally suitable method to measure the poverty of clients of development projects in relation to the general population of nonclients. The method was developed in response to demands by donors and development practitioners for a low-cost evaluation instrument that could be used as a regular operational tool for assessing the poverty outreach of a development project or institution. While the method was originally developed for the purpose of assessing the poverty outreach of microfinance institutions (MFIs), we believe the method can be used for any development policy or project that pursues an explicit objective of reaching poorer people. The paper begins by discussing existing methods of poverty assessment. Next, the paper presents heuristic steps for identifying indicators of poverty to be tested in the case studies, including the questionnaire that was field tested in four countries with large differences in poverty-level, socioeconomic, and cultural contexts, and with MFIs that worked either in urban, rural, or mixed areas with different target clientele and financial products. The authors then describe the method of principal component analysis used to construct a poverty score as the measure of relative poverty. The paper concludes with a summary of results from four country case studies (two in Sub-Saharan Africa, one in South Asia, and one in Central America).

An operational tool for evaluating poverty outreach of development policies and projects

An operational method for assessing the poverty outreach performance of development policies and projects: Results of case studies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

Development institutions and projects frequently seek to target poorer segments of the population Yet, existing methods for evaluating their outreach are generally unsuited to most operational settings, since they are either too costly and cumbersome (eg, detailed income or household surveys), or they produce results that are not comparable between villages or regions within a country (eg, participatory poverty appraisals) This paper presents a new and operationally suitable method to measure the poverty of clients of development projects in relation to the general population of nonclients The method was developed in response to demands by donors and development practitioners for a low-cost evaluation instrument that could be used as a regular operational tool for assessing the poverty outreach of a development project or institution While the method was originally developed for the purpose of assessing the poverty outreach of microfinance institutions (MFIs), we believe the method can be used for any development policy or project that pursues an explicit objective of reaching poorer people The paper begins by discussing existing methods of poverty assessment Next, the paper presents heuristic steps for identifying indicators of poverty to be tested in the case studies, including the questionnaire that was field tested in four countries with large differences in poverty-level, socioeconomic, and cultural contexts, and with MFIs that worked either in urban, rural, or mixed areas with different target clientele and financial products The authors then describe the method of principal component analysis used to construct a poverty score as the measure of relative poverty The paper concludes with a summary of results from four country case studies (two in Sub-Saharan Africa, one in South Asia, and one in Central America)

Currently, no rigorous tool exists to measure the poverty level of microfinance institution (MFI) clients In order to gain more transparency on the depth of poverty outreach, CGAP collaborated with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to design and test a simple, low-cost operational tool to measure the poverty level of MFI clients relative to nonclients This tool is a companion piece to the CGAP Appraisal Format; donors should not use the poverty assessment tool without also conducting a larger institutional appraisal The concept of poverty is complex and strongly influenced by local cultural and socioeconomic conditions The poverty assessment approach presented in this manual supports a flexible definition of poverty that can be adapted to fit local perceptions and conditions of poverty The tool is intended neither as a means to target new clients nor to assess the impact of microfinance services on the lives of existing clients It may provide a useful means to verify-both for the donor and the MFI-the extent to which an existing strategy results in poor clients joining the MFI The tool assesses the poverty levels of MFI clients compared to nonclients within the operational area of an MFI Using available data or expert opinion, the tool also relates local poverty levels to poverty measured at larger regional and national levels

Carla Henry

Papers

An operational tool for evaluating poverty outreach of development policies and projects

An operational method for assessing the poverty outreach performance of development policies and projects: Results of case studies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America

An operational tool for evaluating poverty outreach of development policies and projects

Microfinance Poverty Assessment Tool

Assessing the Relative Poverty of Microfinance Clients