National Poverty Reduction Strategies Research Articles

Income diversification and household welfare in Sri Lanka

Income diversification is globally considered as an effective way to reduce income risk and also to enhance household welfare especially in developing countries. However, much attention has not been paid to study the welfare implications of income diversification in Sri Lanka. By taking data of a nationally representative sample of 21,756 households of Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2016, this study attempted to examine the welfare implications of income diversification of households in Sri Lanka while identifying the determinants of income diversification. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, probit regression, and ordinary least square regression. Results suggest that income diversification significantly increased the welfare of Sri Lankan households. More than half of the households from the total population have diversified their income portfolio. Further, we explored that rural and estate households appeared to have a more diversified income portfolio relative to their urban counterparts, and households that depend on permanent employment income were less likely to diversify their income. Results depicted that the major determinants of household welfare and income diversification decision in Sri Lanka are human capital-related factors and regional differences. The study strongly recommends implementing programmes for entrepreneurial development, human capital development, and female empowerment which deserves special attention in the design of national poverty reduction strategies and enhancing the household welfare.

Multidimensional poverty measurement of poverty-stricken counties in China's 14 conti-guous destitute areas considering ecological environment

As an important part of the national poverty alleviation strategy in China, monitoring of poverty-stricken counties is the precondition and guarantee for implementing national precise poverty reduction strategies. Taking 724 poverty-stricken counties in 14 contiguous destitute areas as the study area, we designed a county-level multidimensional poverty measurement index system that reflected the economic state (poverty appearance), social state (living guarantee ability) and ecological environment state (potential capacity of regional development) in fully consideration of the interdependent relationship between ecological vulnerability and economic poverty, and analyzed the poverty degree, poverty type, causes of poverty and the spatial distribution characteristics in multi-scale and multi-angle levels. The results showed that the distribution of poverty level of different counties represented a geometrically olive-shaped pattern that was larger in lower and moderate impoverished counties and smaller in low and high poverty-stricken counties. As far as the distribution of poverty-stricken counties was concerned, the distribution was spatially heterogeneous, presenting a typical stepped structure that was "west-high vs. east-low", where different levels of dotted poverty kernels were scattered. The multidimensional characteristics of poverty-stricken counties represented a wholely strong spatial dependence; however, both High-High areas and Low-Low areas were distributed intensively while both High-Low areas and Low-High areas were distributed discretely. The characteristics of poverty distribution on both sides of the "Hu Line" were obviously different. The number of seven-factor comprehensive poverty-stricken counties was the most, while the location advantages, terrain conditions and poverty alleviation performance were the significant factors affecting the development of poverty reduction. Ecological poverty caused by deterioration of ecological environment and natural endowments is a regional characteristic in most poverty areas of China.

Labour Market, Foreign Employment and Remittance in Nepal

Foreign employment is an important part of Nepalese labour market. The national poverty reduction strategy and the previous plans have given priority to foreign employment as a source of labour absorption and poverty alleviation. This study focuses on Nepalese labour market condition, foreign employment, remittance inflow and their contribution on national economy. In Nepal, foreign employment and remittance inflow have been issues of concern over the last two decades. In this connection foreign employment was estimated to be 4.36 million up to the fiscal year 2016/17 (except India) and 56 percent households had received remittances in the fiscal year 2010/

Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe: 2013 Article IV Consultation and Second Review Under the Extended Credit Facility Arrangement; Staff Report; Informational Annex; Debt Sustainability Analysis; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for São Tomé and Príncipe

This Information Annex highlights that the World Bank and the IMF are providing complementary support to help São Tomé and Príncipe strengthen public financial management and make progress toward debt sustainability. The World Bank’s work program is guided by an Interim Strategy Note approved in 2011 that focuses on accelerating sustainable and broad-based economic growth and on strengthening governance, public institutions, and human capital. A new Country Assistance Strategy for 2013–16 will be completed in 2014, following the recent completion of a Joint Staff Assessment Note on the country’s second National Poverty Reduction Strategy. Regarding debt sustainability, the World Bank and the IMF teams prepared a Joint IMF–World Bank Debt Sustainability Analysis update in 2012.

The politics of success in the fight against malnutrition in Peru

The dramatic reduction in children’s chronic malnutrition in Peru observed in recent years has defied the patterns of stunting reduction worldwide. After nearly a decade of stalled progress, the government reported a reduction in stunting rates of nearly 10 points, from 29.8% in 2005 to 18.1% in 2011. The specialized literature has acknowledged the critical role that immediate (e.g. increasing breastfeeding promotion) and underlying (e.g. investments to improve household food security) interventions have played in reducing stunting (Black et al., 2013), as well as the contributing role of enabling factors related to economic performance. This paper offers an alternative explanation to success by looking at the shift in the government’s nutrition strategy after 2006 with the formation of the Child Malnutrition Initiative (CMI), a civil society working platform, and the adoption of a national poverty reduction strategy prioritizing nutrition interventions (known as CRECER) and conditional cash transfers (JUNTOS). The paper uses veto players theory to explain how these changes effectively contributed to policy change by reducing the effective number of nutrition stakeholders involved and facilitating policy agreements around a common policy platform and established goals. The Peruvian case also highlights the importance of the government’s public commitment to reduce chronic malnutrition in children under five by 5 percent in 5years (“5 by 5 by 5”) and the accompanying role, advocacy and monitoring from civil society organizations.The paper looks at the success of implementing the nutrition strategy in three dimensions. Horizontally, it looks at the coordination between government and non-government agencies to converge around a common policy discourse;vertically, it looks at the implementation of the nutrition strategy across national, regional and municipal governments;and financially, it looks at the coordinated and conditional allocation of nutrition funding and how this created greater incentives for horizontal and vertical coordination. The paper draws some theoretical and policy implications for improving the effective and accountable delivery of nutrition interventions in Peru and other countries outside Latin America.

How well do NEEDS and NPIRD Hang together? – An Essay on Policy Coherence

Nigeria is awash with sector development policies. Virtually every sector of national life – culture, arts, language, environment, education, agriculture, water and sanitation – has its own policy document. A rural development policy, The Nigeria Policy on Integrated Rural Development (NPIRD, for short) also exists. Standing at the apex of all of these, is the national Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS, for short), which ideally, should integrate the broad strategic thrusts and orientations of these policies into one coherent national development policy. This study seeks to examine the level of

Human Rights and National Poverty Reduction Strategies: Conceptual Framework for Human Rights Analysis of Poverty Reduction Strategies and Reviews of Guatemala, Liberia and Nepal

Poverty is an important human rights concern. Human rights are claims that people have for social arrangements to guarantee their substantive freedoms; poverty reflects failures in these social arrangements and in the actions of duty bearers. It is the poorest people in society --- those with low incomes, education, insecure health, and political power --- who are most vulnerable to severe abuse of their human rights in multiple areas. At the same time, it is lack of human rights protection that leaves people vulnerable to falling into economic and social destitution. Poverty is both a cause and consequence of human rights abuse and lack of protection. Yet human rights agendas are rarely explicitly built into national strategies for poverty reduction. This paper is a consolidated report of a study commissioned by OHCHR on developing a conceptual framework for integrating human rights into national strategies for poverty reduction and identifying operational priorities. It builds on and takes further the 2003 OHCHR conceptual framework on human rights and poverty reduction strategies authored by Hunt, Nowak and Osmani. It incorporates a human rights analysis of poverty reduction policies of Guatemala, Liberia and Nepal. The paper argues that human rights perspectives contribute new approaches in normative, analytical and instrumental dimensions of poverty reduction strategies. First, it brings a strong and explicit normative framework legitimized by the backing of international law that emphasize principles of equality, non-discrimination and concern for the most vulnerable, and a social justice agenda to policy priorities. Second, human rights perspectives introduce new analyses to the causes of poverty - focussing on institutionalized discrimination, lack of political voice, institutional failures to guarantee human rights including weak protection for civil and political rights. Third, human rights have instrumental (not just intrinsic) value for poverty reduction; human rights empower poor people through the power of legal protection for human rights --- civil, political, economic, social and cultural --- of poor people as well as through the power of ideas that legitimize the claims of poor people to surmount obstacles in their lives.

Ecosystem Services and Food Security: Economic Perspectives on Environmental Sustainability

Food security in developing countries depends in part on the sustainable use of natural resources. Food security is usually examined through three dimensions, namely the availability, access, and utilization of food. Ecosystems directly and indirectly support each of these dimensions through the provision of critical ecosystem services that facilitate agricultural production, create income-generating opportunities, and provide energy for cooking. However, in some cases, household uses of natural resources undermine particular elements of food security, hindering national poverty reduction strategies and threatening the sustainability of critical ecosystem functions. I examine the role of ecosystem services in rural food security through the lens of its three dimensions, and highlight the tensions that stem from household-level interactions and uses. In some cases, uses of resources and services that support the access and utilization dimensions may undermine the ecosystem functions that support food availability. The conclusions underscore the importance for the integration of ecosystem services into food security plans and poverty reduction strategies in developing countries.

The Impact of World Bank and IMF Programs on Democratization in Developing Countries

This paper proposes a theory on the interference of World Bank and IMF programs with domestic politics by changing the prevailing power balance between pro-democratic and anti-democratic forces. However, World Bank and IMF programs differ in design and impact. Thus, the question arises whether the participation in different types of World Bank and IMF programs also has a different impact on democratization in recipient countries. Therefore, this paper analyzes empirically the separate and joint effects of World Bank and IMF programs on democratization in 76 developing countries in Africa and Asia from 1974 to 2007. Our results show that aid modalities matter. In general, while World Bank and IMF programs do not change electoral accountability mechanisms in recipient countries, they induce changes in civil liberties and domestic oversight of the borrower government. Traditional lending types have significant negative short-term effects on the extent of horizontal accountability and civil liberties in recipient countries, while more flexible policy lending types significantly increase the extent of checks and balances at the domestic level in the long term. Moreover, civil society’s participation in the formulation and implementation of national poverty reduction strategies potentially increases a country’s civil liberties record.

Whither biodiversity in development? The integration of biodiversity in international and national poverty reduction policy

The link between biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation has been the subject of heated debate for the last decade. One thread of this multi-faceted issue has been concerned with a perceived lack of attention to biodiversity conservation within the international development agenda following the prioritization of poverty reduction—particularly, the emphasis on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and on national poverty reduction strategies. In this paper I explore whether biodiversity has indeed “fallen off” the development agenda, as critics claim, by reviewing the policies of official development assistance agencies and national Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs).

National poverty reduction strategies and HIV/AIDS governance in Malawi: A preliminary study of shared health governance

The public health and development communities understand clearly the need to integrate anti-poverty efforts with HIV/AIDS programs. This article reports findings about the impact of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process on Malawi’s National HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework (NSF). In this article we ask, how does the PRSP process support NSF accountability, participation, access to information, funding, resource planning and allocation, monitoring, and evaluation?In 2007, we developed and conducted a survey of Malawian government ministries, United Nations agencies, members of the Country Coordination Mechanism, the Malawi National AIDS Commission (NAC), and NAC grantees (N = 125, 90% response rate), seeking survey respondents’ retrospective perceptions of NSF resource levels, participation, inclusion, and governance before, during, and after Malawi’s PRSP process (2000–2004). We also assessed principle health sector and economic indicators and budget allocations for HIV/AIDS.These indicators are part of a new conceptual framework called shared health governance (SHG), which seeks congruence among the values and goals of different groups and actors to reflect a common purpose. Under this framework, global health policy should encompass: (i) consensus among global, national, and sub-national actors on goals and measurable outcomes; (ii) mutual collective accountability; and (iii) enhancement of individual and group health agency. Indicators to assess these elements included: (i) goal alignment; (ii) adequate resource levels; (iii) agreement on key outcomes and indicators for evaluating those outcomes; (iv) meaningful inclusion and participation of groups and institutions; (v) special efforts to ensure participation of vulnerable groups; and (vi) effectiveness and efficiency measures.Results suggest that the PRSP process supported accountability for NSF resources. However, the process may have marginalized key stakeholders, potentially undercutting the implementation of HIV/AIDS Action Plans.

The Politics of Gender Mainstreaming Poverty Reduction: An Indonesian Case Study

Critical feminist reviews of gender mainstreaming suggest a widespread disillusionment with gender and development. The literature has been dominated, however, by accounts of gender mainstreaming in international development institutions and in Western countries. There is a shortage of studies on how developing countries conceptualize, design and manage gender mainstreaming in development policies and programs in specific political and economic contexts. This paper focuses on Indonesia which made gender mainstreaming a national policy while battling the impacts of the Asian economic crisis and experiencing a political transition from authoritarianism to democracy. This strategic moment created some opportunities and challenges for government, NGO, and international gender and development advocates to integrate gender into the national poverty reduction policy. An analysis of the policy drafts and interviews with key players in the policy process shows that gender expertise, institutional capacity, organizational resistance, and leadership at the national level were important factors. Broader political concerns such as the diminished standing of World Bank and the IMF in post-crisis Indonesia also played a role in the long-winded policy process that produced the Indonesia's National Poverty Reduction Strategy. One important lesson drawn from this case study is the need to indigenize gender mainstreaming, by building gender analysis capabilities in national women's machineries and forging stronger links with national and local gender-concerned NGOs and research institutions. Secondly, translating gender-aware poverty reduction policies into gender-responsive action remains a great challenge not only in Indonesia but elsewhere due to paucity of relevant gender-disaggregated data.

Guinea-Bissau: Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper-Second Annual Progress Report-Joint Staff Advisory Note

This Joint Staff Advisory Note reviews progress in the implementation process of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) for Guinea-Bissau during July 2009–10. It is found that Guinea-Bissau has yielded significant results in the first NPRS, and authorities are taking effective measures for better results in the second NPRS. They are also planning a strategy for strengthening governance, promoting economic growth, and reducing poverty and are also requiring international support and a predictable flow of resources for better implementation of the NPRS. On reviewing the same, the IMF approved a three-year arrangement under the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) for 2010–12.

Gender and Poverty

Since December 1999 all countries wishing to access concessional lending from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank are required to prepare a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The vast majority of PRSP incorporate an analysis of the current level and profile of poverty that relies on the unitary model of the household. This article argues that by doing so, policy analysts may receive a distorted view of the relationship between gender and poverty. Using the 2003 Tajikistan Living Standard Survey the article shows how, by modifying the assumption of equal sharing of household resources, gender differentials in the experience of poverty may vary. The article also illustrates how those gender analyses that simply use a dichotomy based on the gender of the head of household may also be misleading. The findings have implications for mainstreaming gender into the PRSP process, and for the priority of policy and programme interventions supported under national Poverty Reduction Strategies.

Are current aid strategies marginalising the already marginalised? Cases from Tanzania

Engaging with and assisting marginalised communities remains a major challenge for governments of developing countries, as many national development strategies tend in practice to further marginalise chronically poor communities. Development aid strategies, including poverty-reduction initiatives, have focused primarily on economic development. As a result they have contributed to the erosion of the asset base of these communities, and in particular their access to natural resources. While questioning the impact of aid arrangements on the poorest and most vulnerable communities in society, this article recognises that current aid arrangements, such as national poverty-reduction strategies, have created an environment in which chronic poverty can be addressed by national governments and other stakeholders. The authors emphasise the need for greater sensitivity in the processes of planning and managing national development strategies that seek to reduce poverty, as well as a commitment to institutional arrangements that include marginalised groups in the country's political economy.

A gender analysis of national poverty reduction strategies

abstract This Review offers a broad gender analysis of South African national poverty reduction strategies, with an emphasis on the years 2000–2008. It is suggested that while the economic plight of poor black women has been an integral part of both government rhetoric and government programming, through various departments, a full understanding of gender dynamics (as opposed to women's poverty) has never been integrated into national strategy. This creates a core blindness within national discourse on poverty reduction: the role of unpaid care work is continually misunderstood, and plays a central role in perpetuating stereotypical and non-transformative relationships for both ‘masculinities’ and ‘womanhood’.

Spatial Analysis of Agricultural Finance and Microfinance: The Case of India

With 70% of poor Indians working in agriculture, this sector is one of the pillars of the national poverty reduction strategy. Given it represents 20% of GDP and 60% of employment; it is difficult to imagine how India could strive for equitable growth without revitalizing the agricultural sector. Microfinance, defined as the provision of financial services (loans, savings, insurance and money transfers) to people excluded from the banking sector, is often invoked as the solution for financing rural India. But financing of small farms and, more broadly of the agricultural sector, is difficult for numerous reasons. Banking institutions must face a variety of obstacles: insufficient infrastructure resulting in high transaction costs; covariance risks related to climate, price fluctuations and markets; lack of experience in evaluating the value of produce they are asked to finance; low education levels of farmers and farm laborers; and difficulties securing guarantees, to name but a few. Our research addresses the financing of Indian agriculture. It describes the localization and evolution of financing in this sector while attempting to determine the role of microfinance. The objective is to advance knowledge of both agricultural finance and microfinance by integrating the spatial element. Cartographic analysis and symbol maps cross several variables and permit us to better visualize the extremely heterogeneous situation in this country, which concentrates one-sixth of humanity. Our results show that the supply of rural and agricultural finance is subject to considerable territorial inequalities. Supply tends to concentrate in richer regions with two consequences: i) reinforcement of existing territorial inequalities; ii) and the risk of saturation and client overindebtedness. Following the reforms of the banking sector in the 1990's, the Indian bank network contracted, causing a part of the population to see their access to banks cut off. While the liberalization of the sector favored urban and semi-urban zones, agricultural and rural finance have suffered. Even more alarming is that zones already underserved prior to the 1990's reforms seem to be particularly affected by this debancarization phenomenon. Furthermore, the spatial comparison of the supply of microfinance and bank services with agricultural activity shows that microfinance covers very few of the least banked zones in the country.

Mainstreaming fisheries in development and poverty reduction strategies in the Asia-Pacific region

This paper offers an assessment of the mainstreaming of fisheries in national development plans and Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers within the Asia-Pacific region. Fisheries and aquaculture in the region make a significant contribution to world fisheries production. Importantly, those directly involved in the sector are predominantly small-scale artisanal producers, a group traditionally regarded as extremely vulnerable in poverty terms. Therefore, mainstreaming – integrating a sector into every stage of the national policy process – may have important welfare implications for those drawing livelihoods from the industry. This paper examines the significance of fisheries and aquaculture to developing Asia-Pacific economies, and evaluates the extent to which the sector has been mainstreamed in national development and poverty reduction strategies using a content analysis framework. We conclude that the representation of fisheries issues, the recognition of sectoral poverty, policy responses, and stakeholder representation, is typically greater than in other fish producing regions, and there are many examples of best practice.

Who Benefits from Social Expenditures in Chad? An Incidence Analysis Using Survey Data

This study analyzes the incidence of public expenditures on the sectors of education and maternal and infantile health at the household level in Chad. The standard of living has been captured by a composite indicator of poverty. The results show that there is a very strong social selectivity in the way health and education transfers are used in Chad. Moreover, the analysis reveals that the most underprivileged groups might not benefit from an expansion in health and education transfers, unless it is accompanied by pro-poor reforms in the allocation of these resources to decentralized health and education facilities, on the one hand, and their use, notably at this decentralized level, in favor of the facilities frequently visited by the poorest groups on the other hand. The study also revealed that there is an insignificant relationship between the public resources used and the results achieved in terms of accessibility to basic social services. It is therefore necessary to condition or focus the management of these public resources on the achievement of better performances, particularly in a context where the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) are in the process of being implemented.

Family poultry, food security and the impact of HPAI

Most rural households have poultry cared for by women, children and vulnerable people – the aged and physically challenged. Family poultry generate 19–50% of rural family income, make up about 77% of the national flock and contribute about 98% of poultry products consumed in the villages of developing countries. Households that accept innovation for semi-scavenging poultry production usually increase weekly consumption of eggs and meat. The importance of family poultry in assisting the landless poor and the destitute is reflected in many national poverty reduction strategy programmes which identify family poultry as one of the keys to accomplishing the millennium development goal of reducing the number of poor by half before 2015. There are few other alternatives in the livestock sector that can be used to reach so many poor people in rural areas.Wherever HPAI occurs in family poultry, it will wipe out the contribution of family poultry to family food security and to family income. While compensation and restocking are important, the greatest need of smallholder poultry producers faced with the challenge of HPAI is for information, knowledge and training for HPAI-safe family poultry production.