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In mainstream economic thinking, it is common to find a simplistic relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction. Two decades ago, a paper titled "Growth is Good for the Poor" purported to have established a strict one-to-one relationship between economic growth at the national level and growth of income among the poor. In this note we explain the methodological, modelling, and analytical shortcomings of the exercise. Using simulations based on random numbers we show that the data did not support the arguments and that, consequently, the policy conclusions were not warranted by the analysis. The lessons are important in the current context when addressing growing poverty in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last two decades, UNICEF has led efforts to measure Child Poverty globally as well as in various regions and countries. These efforts have been explicitly grounded on a human rights perspective and guided by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In this paper, some of the issues raised by these endeavours are analysed. The paper explicitly uses, and expands, Sally Engle Merry's framework of vernacularisation to assess these efforts. Thus, it is organised in three sections. First, a review of criticisms to the broader project of 'human rights measurement' is offered. This includes aspects of vernacularisation, paradoxes of measurement, and the tension between universal standards and particular specificities. Secondly, a brief description of Child Poverty measurement is provided, with a focus on developments and debates of the last 20 years. This is the case study on which Merry's framework is applied. This is done in the third section. Based on this analysis, practical recommendations for future research on Child Poverty measurement based on human rights are discussed in the concluding section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the debates on poverty measurement among experts as well as the discussions about Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) an interesting shift has taken place in recent years, away from uni-dimensional measurements (based on a poverty line) and towards multi-dimensional approaches. Any multi-dimensional approach is, by definition, dealing with the complexity of poverty across a range of aspects which need to be assessed separately before they can be combined (weighted) to produce an overall, synthetic measure. This measure, in turn, if it is going to be more than a theoretical curiosum, must be translated for and presented to the public at large and decision-makers in order to impact programs and policies to reduce and eliminate poverty. In this paper, all the steps involved in the last two sentences are explored. This is done in the context of the measurement of Child Poverty that was initiated over a decade ago by UNICEF. After a brief review of the history and evolution of the measurement of Child Poverty, three consecutive sections dealing with the issues raised above are introduced. First, based on the experience of over 70 countries from all developing continents, the selection of indicators is discussed. This is followed by a simple simulation showing the pitfalls of endogenous weights. The third of these sections explores the challenges in presenting these results to a wide, lay audience which are shown to be less intractable than the issues faced by weighted composite indexes and the ''dollar-a-day'' uni-dimensional metric. An additional section deals with the problem of embedding the Child Poverty measurement within the larger poverty picture of the country (i.e. comparing and complementing metrics of adult and overall poverty). The final section summarizes the main results and conclusions of the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors advise to hasten slowly in defining the successor framework to the MDGs. The review of progress in 2010 should not be intermingled with the intergovernmental discussions about the post-2015 framework. The latter should not start until a UN panel of Eminent Persons has prepared a set of thoughtful options and suggestions. The worst decision would be to keep the same MDGs and add new Goals and more Targets. The panel will have to address the following topics: (a) new structure; (b) new Targets; (c) collective nature of global Targets; (d) type of benchmarks; (e) new time horizon; and (f) disaggregated monitoring. The world will miss the MDGs largely because disparities within the majority of countries have grown to the point of slowing down national progress. In order to overcome the 'tyranny of averages', this article proposes a method of incorporating equity in national statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the first ever estimate of the number of children living poverty in developing countries was undertaken. The incidence of child poverty was estimated by establishing how many children suffer severe deprivation in at least one out of seven indicators which are internationally recognized as their rights as well as constitutive of poverty. This is a major step forward in the analysis of poverty. In this paper, we generalize these findings on the incidence of children living in poverty by exploring how to estimate the depth and severity of child poverty. Two countries can have the same proportion of children living in poverty, however, the actual plight of children could be very different depending on how many deprivations, on average, children suffer. In addition, even if they suffer from the same average number of deprivations, these deprivation could be the same for all children or be very unevenly distributed. We show how these considerations can be used to estimate the depth and severity of poverty. We use regional data to provide applied examples of this methodology. The method proposed in this paper is similar to the one used to estimate the incidence, depth and severity of income poverty. The paper also offers some possible generalizations and ways forward for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most significant developments in the 1990s in social policy in developing and transition countries has been the growth of privatization in health, education and water services — three basic services, which involve most of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Welfare pluralism was very much a core element of the Washington Consensus. Despite the talk of the Washington Consensus being 'dead for years', the international financial institutions have pushed for welfare pluralism in social services since the 1990s. This article critically scrutinizes the arguments and evidence that have been made in favour of greater private sector participation in these services. The article addresses what role the private sector could or should play in these services and is, thus, driven by practical policy concerns. For reasons of space, this article does not address the non-profit or non- governmental organization (NGO) provision of basic social services (which, in most countries, is quite small in size). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses trends in coverage of three doses of diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus vaccine (DPT3) by wealth groups in selected countries. It discusses the depth of disparities in coverage by wealth and changes during the 1990s. Complete assessment of equity in income and its trends have been discussed in other papers, however issues related to children's well-being have often been brushed aside because the comparable data needed to fully understand and rectify inequalities is lacking. A focal point of this paper pertains to gathering any and all information recorded about the immunization of children and then transcribing these data so that it is applicable to all countries. We analyse the technical difficulties and methodological solutions that would enable comparisons to be made between various measures of inequity taken from different surveys at two or three points in time among a variety of subpopulations in order to obtain disaggregated data. This paper argues for a simultaneous analysis of changes in averages and disparities in immunization coverage along variables of interest, such as wealth, gender and place of residence in order to achieve a better understanding of trends. We also focus on measurement issues and describe trends in immunization by wealth. We conclude with a brief discussion of issues related to monitoring equitable outcomes and offer suggestions for further research. In addition, the paper presents some lessons that can be drawn about monitoring and policies. We hope that this analysis of patterns of disparities will help policy-makers in devising, proposing and executing efficient policies and interventions. INSET: Indicators from the Demographic Health Surveys used to.... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1990, a target of universal access to basic education by the year 2000 was set by two global conferences. Ten years later, however, it was clear that the target had not been met. Too many countries had made insufficient progress, and although many of the reasons for this inadequate progress were country-specific, one factor stood out in virtually all countries: inadequate public finance for primary education. In 2000, the Millennium Summit set a new target date for achieving ‘education for all’ of 2015. This article updates the global and regional cost estimates for reaching that target. The estimates are based on the most recent country-by-country data on budgetary expenditure, population and enrolment trends, and unit cost. The annual additional cost of achieving ‘education for all’ in developing countries by 2015 is estimated at US$ 9.1 billion. Although this is affordable at the global level, individual countries will need considerably more resources than are currently available. However, official development assistance (ODA) has been declining, and the share of ODA allocated to basic education has changed little over the past decade. Therefore, although affordable, the target of universal basic education by 2015 is likely to be missed, just as it was in 2000, without a major change both in ODA and national budgets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In parallel to the substantial expansion in global economic transactions and growth during the 1990s, there is evidence that the number of poor has increased and that income disparity among and within countries grew as well. There is, however, considerably less evidence about the situation of children related to these matters. Within this context, this paper explores the evolution of social disparities by analysing the trends in the Under-5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) by wealth level. It is common knowledge that child mortality is higher among the poorest than the richest. However, the size of this mortality gap or the way it varies in relation to the absolute level of child mortality is not as well known. This paper shows, based on a sample of 24 developing countries with comparable surveys, that the U5MR of the bottom quintile of the distribution of wealth is, on average, 2.2 times bigger than that of the wealthiest quintile. This means that, taking into account the greater fertility of poorer households, a child from a family belonging to the bottom quintile of the wealth distribution is three times more likely to die before age 5 than a child belonging to the top quintile. The trends over time show that U5MR differentials remained constant over time in a few countries, but worsened in the majority of them. Only two countries with relatively small populations were able to achieve both a reduction in average U5MR and a decline of U5MR disparities. The implications of this finding for achieving the U5MR Millennium Development Goal is discussed. Under the top-down approach, extrapolating past trends, only six of the 24 countries would reach the goal. However, under the egalitarian approach, 16 of them would attain the two-thirds required reduction. The relation between changes in U5MR differentials and changes in income inequality does not seem to be pronounced, thus suggesting that social policy may play an important role in reducing U5MR disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Novel digital data sources and tools like machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) have the potential to revolutionize data about development and can contribute to monitoring and mitigating humanitarian problems. The potential of applying novel technologies to solving some of humanity’s most pressing issues has garnered interest outside the traditional disciplines studying and working on international development. Today, scientific communities in fields like Computational Social Science, Network Science, Complex Systems, Human Computer Interaction, Machine Learning, and the broader AI field are increasingly starting to pay attention to these pressing issues. However, are sophisticated data driven tools ready to be used for solving real-world problems with imperfect data and of staggering complexity? We outline the current state-of-the-art and identify barriers, which need to be surmounted in order for data-driven technologies to become useful in humanitarian and development contexts. We argue that, without organized and purposeful efforts, these new technologies risk at best falling short of promised goals, at worst they can increase inequality, amplify discrimination, and infringe upon human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the methodological work behind production of the UNICEF Remote Learning Readiness Index, a composite indicator to assess the resilience of education sector against crises and emergencies. The index is composed of demand-side factors, such as readiness for remote learning observed at the household level, supply-side factors that are approximated by the education policy response of the governments to the COVID-19 outbreak, and systemic factors that refer to the overall preparedness of education sector to crises and emergencies. The major novelty of the adopted methodological approach to measure how national education systems can ensure every child learns refers to the emphasis put by the index on the weakest parts of the system. The adopted "weakest link" approach allows the index to guide policy-making and be sensitive to a country improvement in time. The work also accentuates the importance of the index application beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, as disruptions to education supply are not unique to the current health crisis and can happen due to the conflicts, natural or men-made disasters, or other factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective This analysis seeks to set the stage for equity-sensitive monitoring of the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Methods We use data from international household-level surveys (Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)) to demonstrate that establishing an equity baseline is necessary and feasible, even in low-income and data-poor countries. We assess data from six countries using 11 health indicators and six social stratifiers. Simple bivariate stratification is complemented by simultaneous stratification to expose the compound effect of multiple forms of vulnerability. Findings The data reveal that inequities are complex and interactive: inferences cannot be drawn about the nature or extent of inequities in health outcomes from a single stratifier or indicator. Conclusion The MDGs and other development initiatives must become more comprehensive and explicit in their analysis and tracking of inequities. The design of policies to narrow health gaps must take into account country-specific inequities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jan Vandemoortele, Santosh Mehrotra and Enrique Delamonica argue that children have the right to basic social services and that poverty reduction must start with ensuring that children have a good start in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]