Today poverty is a major challenge for the governments the world over The international institutions and decision makers are increasingly concerned by poverty alleviation. The aim of this paper is to ...give an overview of the notion of poverty in Tunisia, its evolution and forms and the policies adopted to improve the standard of living of the local populations
Social programs are often designed under the assumption that individuals make rational decisions that improve their welfare. Yet, informational and behavioral constraints limit the extreme and ...chronic poor's access and participation in social programs. This paper reviews the implementation and performance of two "social intermediation services" that were designed to address these constraints, improve beneficiaries' access to social programs, and help the poor surmount poverty: Chile Solidario, the first such service in Latin America, and Red Unidos, implemented later in Colombia. The analysis provides insights on key factors influencing performance, cost effectiveness, and the impacts that such services can be expected to have.
The financial crisis that hit the global market in the middle of 2008 gave way to the sharpest contraction of the European economies since the Great Depression. In 2009 the economic output in the ...countries of the European Union shrank 4.5 percent, the largest reduction in GDP since its creation. Since then, the economies have slowly recovered, but unemployment has continued to rise, reaching 11 percent in 2013, up from 7.1 percent in 2008. The economy of the European Union shrank 4.5 percent, the largest reduction in its GDP since the Union s creation. Furthermore, for the European Union as a whole, long-term unemployment among 15- to 64-year-olds has increased from 37.2 percent in 2008 to 47.5 percent of total unemployment in 2013. In several countries more than half of those unemployed are long-term unemployed, that is, they have been looking for jobs for more than 12 months. In Greece and Bulgaria the share of long-term unemployed in 2013 was 67.5 percent and 57.3 percent, respectively. Youth unemployment, on the other hand, has increased almost 8 percent since 2008, reaching 23.3 percent in 2013 in the EU-28 countries. In Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary, around a fourth of 15- to 24-year-olds are unemployed; in Greece close to 60 percent of youth were unemployed in 2013. Long spells of unemployment expose individuals to impoverishment. They can also lead to deterioration of skills and detachment from the labor market. Youth unemployment is particularly concerning as it risks damaging longer-term employment prospects for young people, leading them to face higher risks of exclusion and poverty. Youth unemployment also has growth implications as a generation of educated and productive people are not working at their potential. Finally, very high levels of youth unemployment for long periods of time can become a threat to social stability.
Burkina Faso's Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS) of the 2000s, which were implemented as annually rolled-over Priority Action Programs, focused on four pillars: a) accelerating broad based growth; ...b) expanding access to social services for the poor; c) increasing employment and income-generating activities for the poor; and d) promoting good governance. Increased public expenditure and targeted social service provision also led to improved access to basic services. In the area of education, progress has been made in terms of school infrastructure. Over the period of 2003-2008, substantial expansion (around 40 percent) of both the number of schools and the number of classrooms was achieved. Controlling and treating epidemic diseases also had good results, thanks to prevention and public awareness efforts and improved hygiene. Meanwhile, the country has been through several exogenous shocks and crises likely to have affected the pattern of poverty outcomes. In the past two decades, Burkina Faso's income per capita growth has been positive and less volatile relative to the past. Recent growth trends appear to be anchored by a general recovery in the primary sector. Household consumption was just as volatile as income per capita in the 1980s, but recovered substantially after the country gained competitiveness in the latter half of the 1990s following devaluation. However, since then, consumption has exhibited much more volatility than output. Finally, most the social indicators show an improvement in Burkina Faso since the early 1980s. Burkina Faso has kept pace with the overall positive trends observed in Sub-Saharan Africa and low income countries.
This document presents the recently elected Colombian administration with a set of policy notes meant to enrich the debate around critical issues affecting the country's development. These notes ...build mostly upon existing research and represent the Bank's independent view on topics which are either at the crux of ongoing policy discussions or merit a more prominent place in this dialogue. This window of opportunity provides a very favorable setting for advancing aggressive interventions to further alleviate poverty and inequality. Even as a country with a long history of solid growth and stable democratic institutions, poverty remains a critical issue for Colombia. Years of consistent economic growth throughout the 1980s and early 1990s lifted many out of poverty, but the macroeconomic crisis at the end of the 1990s eradicated more than a decade of progress. The notes have been grouped around four strategic issues: challenges and constraints for the reform process, investing in people, laying the foundations for competitiveness, and reducing vulnerabilities. To this end, a national strategy for comprehensive peace, reconciliation and equitable development needs to be strengthened with the following elements: (i) a continued national level effort to create incentives for the demobilization of illegal armed groups, (ii) attention to the internally displaced population, who are the most visible and numerous victims of the conflict, (iii) mainstreaming inequality reduction interventions into key sectors, and (iv) local and regional community-led economic development and social capital building plans, inclusive of vulnerable and demobilized populations, all of which would contribute to prevent the recurrence of the armed conflict.
This report profiles 52 business women, representing countries where IFC works across the Pacific region, in 30 case studies. Women in the report share lessons in starting their businesses, and ...describe the obstacles and opportunities they encountered in their pursuit of growth. By revealing their future plans, the women provide inspiration for current and future business women of the Pacific to pursue greater entrepreneurial ventures. In the Pacific region, women's ability to access and control income, and exert decision making power is yet to be fully realized. The Gender and Investment Climate Reform Assessments for Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tonga and Vanuatu examines this issue by analyzing the constraints women in business face and provides recommendations for IFC to incorporate into its investment climate reform programs to reduce the gender specific obstacles.
Land tenure security is crucial for women's empowerment and a prerequisite for building secure and resilient communities. Tenure is affected by many and often contradictory sets of rules, laws, ...customs, traditions, and perceptions. For most rural women, land tenure is complicated, with access and ownership often layered with barriers present in their daily realities: discriminatory social dynamics and strata, unresponsive legal systems, lack of economic opportunities, and lack of voice in decision making. Yet most policy reform, land management, and development programs disregard these realities in their interventions, which ultimately increases land tenure insecurity for rural women. This paper seeks to further develop the evidence base for access to and control over land.
The importance of gender equality is reflected not only in the Millennium Development Goals, but also in the World Bank's Gender Action Plan launched in 2007 as well as in other treaties and actions ...undertaken at regional and international levels. Unlike other work on gender and poverty, which is mostly based on monetary measurement, the present study makes use of a counting approach to examine gender issues in Burkina Faso and Togo using household surveys. Focusing on six dimensions (housing, basic utilities, assets, education, employment, and access to credit) largely recognized as Millennium Development Goal targets, the main findings of the study indicate that overall individuals are the most deprived in education in Burkina Faso, while the reverse situation is true in Togo. Gender inequality is observed in all dimensions since women always seem to be more deprived than men. The situation is also marked by regional disparities. Moreover, the assessment of dimensional contributions shows different patterns for each country. While employment proves to be the main contributor of gender inequality in Burkina Faso, three dimensions (assets, access to credit, and employment) account together for most of the total contribution to gender inequality in Togo. There is also a positive correlation between multidimensional deprivation and women's age in Burkina Faso, whereas both measures seem to be uncorrelated in Togo.
Osnovna ideja ovoga rada je da se posljednjih godina vrlo malo radi na planu borbe protiv siromaštva u hrvatskom društvu. O problemu siromaštva na političkom planu se raspravlja pretežno na nivou ...političke fraze, a ne na način zbiljskog nastojanja da se taj fenomen značajnije smanji. U nastojanju da se doprinese takvom pristupu, u prvome dijelu ovoga rada se na sustavan način iznose rezultati svih značajnijih istraživanja siromaštva kod nas u posljednjih desetak godina. Istovremeno se ukazuje i na metodološke razlike u tim istraživanjima te iznosi stav da problem rasprostranjenosti siromaštva u hrvatskom društvu još nije dovoljno istražen. U drugome dijelu rada iznosi se teza da postojeće mjere socijalne politike nisu dovoljno efikasne u pogledu njihovog utjecaja na smanjivanje stope siromaštva. Da bi se stopa siromaštva značajnije smanjila potrebno je učiniti bitne promjene na makro planu društva kao što su:ubrzati smanjivanje regionalnih razlika u stupnju razvijenosti između pojedinih regija u Hrvatskoj, poreznim i drugim mjerama smanjiti prevelike razlike u plaćama između pojedinih sektora gospodarstva, ostvariti godišnje stope rasta BDP-a između 5 i 7 % uz povećanje stope zaposlenosti, uvesti sustav progresivnog oporezivanja koji bi se primijenjivao prema tvrtkama koje ostvaruju kroz duže razdoblje ekstraprofite.
A rather unique panel tracking more than 3,300 individuals from households in rural Kagera, Tanzania during 1991/4-2010 shows that about one in two individuals/households who exited poverty did so by ...transitioning from agriculture into the rural nonfarm economy or secondary towns. Only one in seven exited poverty by migrating to a large city, although those moving to a city experienced on average faster consumption growth. Further analysis of a much larger cross-country panel of 51 developing countries cannot reject that rural diversification and secondary town development lead to more inclusive growth patterns than metropolitization. Indications are that this follows because more of the poor find their way to the rural nonfarm economy and secondary towns, than to distant cities. The development discourse would benefit from shifting beyond the rural-urban dichotomy and focusing instead more on how best to urbanize and develop the rural nonfarm economy and secondary towns.
