Multidimensional Poverty Working Group activities report: 2005/06
Poverty reduction has never been so high on the policy agenda globally. The growing international consensus around the MDGs coupled with the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) process demonstrate the new centrality of poverty in development research and policy making. The Multidimensional Poverty Working Group was established in Bonn at the EADI General Conference in September 2005. The Group was formally launched in Poland in Dec. 2005 at the Warsaw School of Economics. Twenty people from different countries in Europe and UK attended the launch. The purpose for the meeting was to review the state of understanding multidimensional poverty and set a research agenda for the group. The meeting was held in collaboration with the Poverty Study Group of the Development Studies Association, UK and Ireland. Papers spread over two days – 15-16 December focused on methodology and policy on multidimensional poverty.
The conceptualization/methodological strand delved into topics such as: Where do the MDGs fit, Poverty as a Basic Capability Deprivation, Knowledge and Identification of the Poor. The policy strand complemented the emergence of ideas grounded in case studies from India, Rwanda and China about the ‘Different faces of rural poverty,’ through works about ‘Chronic Poverty and Entitlement Theory’ and onto frameworks with tools.
The meeting culminated in an evening seminar at the end of the 2nd day. Based upon the excellent discussions from the time spent together, natural synergies in research emerged into sub-groups of common interest:
- Policy making (epistemology), knowledge creation
- Global challenges and growth: cross country comparisons
- Livelihoods
- Capabilities
- Gender
- Environmental
- Aid
- Structure and Processes
The group thus moved beyond initial two strands to a system that can grow organically to support a much larger working group in the future.
The success of the event and knowledge gained encouraged the group to make the meeting an annual event. The second annual conference of the group is planned for Spring 2007 in London (dates tbc). The aim of the conference is to bring policy makers and researchers together. The theme of the conference ‘Policy making for poverty reduction: Different poverties, different policies?’ is thus linking poverty research and policy making and in particular whether different understandings of poverty imply different policies. In the interim, the MDP working group will be part of a multi-group meeting in London in June.
For more information about the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Working Group please contact on of the convenors:
Andrew Sumner: sumnerap(AT)lsbu.ac.uk
Andrew Crabtree: ac.ikl(AT)cbs.dk
David Durkee: durkee(AT)sgh.waw.pl
Meera Tiwari: m.tiwari(AT)uel.ac.uk
