Chronic Poverty Research Centre

Chronic Poverty Report 2008-09: Escaping Poverty Traps

 

Four years ago, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre published the Chronic Poverty Report 2004-05. This was the first major international development report to focus on the estimated 320 to 445 million people who live trapped in chronic poverty – people who will remain poor for much or all of their lives and whose children are likely to inherit their poverty. These chronically poor experience multiple deprivations, including hunger, under-nutrition, illiteracy, lack of access to safe drinking water and basic health services, social discrimination, physical insecurity and political exclusion. Many will die prematurely of easily preventable deaths. If the first report examined the dimensions of the problem of chronic poverty, the Chronic Poverty Report 2008-09 looks at possible solutions. Through our research we identify five main traps that underpin chronic poverty –  insecurity, limited citizenship, spatial disadvantage, social discrimination and poor work opportunities – and outline key policy responses to these. We argue that the development of a ‘just social compact’ between citizens and states must be the focus for poverty eradication. Development actors can nurture such a compact through social protection, public services, effective anti-discrimination action, gender empowerment, economic growth and fiscal policy, and the management of migration and urbanisation processes.

To show the human face behind the statistics and policies, we intertwine the life stories of seven chronically poor people from across Asia and Africa into the report. The descriptions of the lives of Angel, Moses, Txab, Vuyiswa, Bakyt, and Maymana and Mofizul, help the reader to better appreciate the complex and varied causes of chronic poverty.

Most people in chronic poverty strive and work to improve their livelihoods, and to create a better future for their children, in difficult circumstances. They need real commitment matched by actions and resources, to support their efforts and overcome the obstacles that trap them in poverty.

We argue that tackling chronic poverty is the global priority of our time and that eradicating poverty by 2025 is a feasible goal – if national governments and international organisations are willing to make the necessary political commitments and resource allocations.

It is our hope that this report will inspire deeper reflection on how to tackle chronic poverty effectively and – most of all – will stimulate action to make it happen.

Comments from readers of advance copies of the Report

"Once again, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre have issued a timely reminder that chronic poverty is a global emergency that we cannot afford to ignore. World leaders, NGOs, faith groups, the private sector and civil society as a whole must heed this warning as we work together to achieve the Millenium Development Goals by 2015. The report reminds us that alleviating chronic poverty is not merely a question of economics. It is a moral imperative"
Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, UK Prime Minister

"No person should live without hope: their loss is a loss for us all. We must go forward together, and this report shows us how." 
John Sulston, Nobel Laureate

"As we hit the mid-point for the 2015 Millennium Goals and world leaders meet to review progress on 25 September 2008 at the United Nations in New York, this report presents timely and valuable policy recommendations on what needs to be done to overcome poverty"
Salil Shetty, Director, UN Millennium Campaign

"This is cutting edge thinking, seeking to match rigorous analysis of the causes of chronic poverty with both the politics and the policies required to address it. An invaluable contribution to the global effort to eradicate poverty, and reshape aid practices to support the combination of active citizenship and effective states that lies at the heart of development."
Duncan Green, Head of Research, Oxfam

"Chronic poverty remains pervasive, and this report sets out concrete steps to ensure that those who live in poverty, together with their children, will see justice done"
Professor Joseph Stiglitz,  Nobel Laureate in Economics 2001

 

Download the Report

The report was launched on July 8th 2008, together with its associated Policy Briefs and Background Papers. Further launch events will be held around the world over the rest of the year.

 
Full report (opens in new window)

Please note that this is a very large file (5MB, 164 pages), and will take a long time to download over slow, dial-up connections. Annexes F-L are not included in this file but can be downloaded separately - see below.

Front cover / Back cover

Report Summary

Annexes F-L

Download individual chapters (smaller files)

Introduction and Overview (including acknowledgements, acronyms, foreword, contents)

 PART A – Chronic poverty as a key policy issue

Chapter 1 – Foundations for understanding and challenging chronic poverty

Chapter 2 – The policy and political challenge

PART B – Four sets of policies for poverty eradication

Chapter 3 – Addressing insecurity through social protection

Chapter 4 – Economic growth and chronic poverty

Chapter 5 – Transformative social change

Chapter 6 – Ending violent conflict and building a social compact

PART C – Conclusion

Chapter 7 – Eradicating chronic poverty

References

Index

PART D - Annexes

Annexes A-E

(Background papers for The Chronic Poverty Report 2008-09, Glossary of key terms, Summary of selected social protection programmes in low(er) income countries, Summary information on selected conditional cash transfer programmes in developing countries, Estimates of regional and global numbers).

Annexes F-L

(Chronic poverty statistics, Figures and trends in chronic poverty indicators, Methodological note for demographic and health survey data analysis, Trends in US$1/day poverty estimates and trends in the rural share of the poor, CPR2 country classification (1970-2003), Comparison of country classifications, Life history summaries).

 

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