| I.
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
1. This paper focuses on initiatives that the
ESCAP secretariat has taken to contribute towards
measuring progress in achieving the Millennium
Declaration Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations
Millennium Summit of 2000, which called inter
alia for the proportion of people living in
extreme poverty to be halved by the year 2015
(using 1990 as the base year). The discussion
is centred on issues in compiling and reporting
poverty statistics, as envisaged in the secretariat's
'Concept Paper on Reduction of Poverty' and
in the activities of the joint UNDP-ESCAP Poverty
Centre/Unit, which constitute part of the overall
effort of the secretariat to assist countries
in reducing poverty. Annexed to the paper
is the agenda for the Fourth Meeting of the
Expert Group on Poverty Statistics (Rio Group),
which was held in Rio de Janeiro from 15-17
October 2001. The highlights of the recommendations
made by the Rio Group will be provided to the
Working Group when they become available.
2. This paper complements the contents of the
paper on ' Issues and Recommendations for Improving
Statistics on Poverty' (STAT/WGSE.12/3), which
highlights the methodological and practical
aspects of poverty measurement and offers some
suggestions and recommendations for better measurement
of poverty. It is expected that the discussion
on this paper would give guidance to the ESCAP
secretariat about the direction its efforts
towards compiling and reporting poverty statistics
should take, and to the countries as to how
concepts and methodologies might be improved
and harmonized.
3. The United Nations Millennium Summit of
September 2000 declared poverty in all forms
as the greatest challenge for the international
community. At the Summit, leaders from
over 180 countries pledged their commitment
to halving world poverty by the year 2015.
This goal has been unanimously accepted in General
Assembly Resolution A/RES/55/2.
4. Because of the measurement difficulties
that statisticians are acutely aware of, the
dimensions and characteristics of poverty are
hard to quantify. Yet there can be no
disagreement that the poverty challenge is especially
daunting in the Asia-Pacific region. According
to World Bank figures, approximately 800 million
of the estimated 1.2 billion people in the world
existing on less than $ 1 per day live in the
ESCAP region.[1]
Of this two-thirds of the world's poor population,
a majority are in South Asia. The region
includes 12 least developed countries (LDCs);
in these LDCS, on average, 16 per cent of all
children die before their fifth birthday, average
life expectancy is 51 years, and average growth
rate in GDP per capita was only 1.9 per cent
between 1990 and 1999.[2]
II.
OVERALL STRATEGY OF THE UNITED NATIONS SYSTEM
5. The ACC[3]
High-Level Committee on Programmes (HLCP) is
the body which gives overall direction to programmes
of all organizations within the United Nations
system. In its meetings in Vienna, February
2001 and in Geneva, September 2001, it urged
all United Nations agencies to make an effective
and concerted impact on poverty eradication.
It was suggested that the Millennium Declaration
Goals (MDGs) should become the driving force
of the work of the United Nations system as
a whole, and that United Nations country teams
should provide status reports on progress made
towards reaching the target of reducing poverty.
HLCP stated that since the campaign against
poverty should have regional as well as global
and national components, the contribution of
the Regional Commissions will be crucial.
[1]
Selected World Development Indicators, World Development
Report 2000/2001, World Bank. As mentioned in
the technical notes, full comparability of data
can not be assured because of differences in the
methods and conventions used by the primary data
collectors. This gives rise to significant discrepancies
over time both among and within countries. Hence,
care must be taken in interpreting the indicators.
[2] The Least Developed Countries 2000
Report, UNCTAD, United Nations.
[3]
Administrative Committee on Coordination, now
renamed the United Nations System's Chief Executives
Board (C.E.B.)
6. The HLCP further recommended a number of
mutually reinforcing actions in the areas of
policy analysis, monitoring and data collection.
It stressed that the poverty paradigm would
need to be broadened beyond the numerical target
of reducing the number of people living below
$1 per day, to encompass social, educational,
nutritional health, cultural and empowerment
dimensions. The Committee recommended
that as an integral part of the global campaign,
each organization should prepare an analysis
of the contribution of its programmes to the
Millennium Declaration's goal of reducing extreme
poverty. These analyses would enable each
organization to internalize the poverty eradication
goals embodied in the Millennium Declaration.
The HLCP stressed that the Regional Commissions
should be key elements in the regional efforts.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
was also invited to provide a first draft of
a 'common advocacy campaign' with clearly identified
goals.
7. As a further integral part of the campaign,
the HLCP recommended that the statistical capacities
of the system should be mobilized for improving
poverty-related data as well as indicators and
means of measuring poverty, so as to provide
a common basis for analysing poverty and for
developing targeted interventions.
III.
ESCAP'S RESPONSE
8. In line with the ACC HLCP's recommendation
that each organization prepare an analysis of
the contribution of its programmes towards the
achievement of Millennium Declaration Goals,
the Executive Secretary identified the following
three thematic focus areas for ESCAP:
(a) poverty alleviation, (b) managing globalization,
(c) emerging social issues. The Commission
at its fifty-seventh session in 2001 acknowledged
that these three areas were pertinent.
For each of these areas, concept papers have
been prepared in which the direction and focus
of each of these priority areas is iterated,
and an overall concept paper 'Focusing ESCAP's
Programme' has been drafted.[4]
[4]
The latest version of the overall concept paper
is available to the Working Group as STAT/WGSE.12/CRP.1.
9.
In addition, a joint effort has been initiated
by ESCAP and UNDP to establish a Poverty Centre/Unit
to monitor the progress of the region in meeting
the targets set by the Millennium Summit, and
at the same time assist the countries in designing
appropriate policies for reducing poverty.
Discussions between the two organizations are
going on in order to determine the exact mechanism
through which this major task is to be accomplished.
10. The summary of the concept paper on reduction
of poverty and highlights of the project document
on the Poverty Centre/Unit as they relate to
statistical aspects of poverty measurement and
reporting are discussed below. It is hoped
that the discussions in the Working Group will
give direction and focus to the ESCAP secretariat's
efforts to compile and report poverty statistics.
A.
Concept Paper on Reduction of Poverty
11. As stated in the concept paper, a principal
objective of ESCAP would be to assist and contribute
to national efforts of poverty reduction.
In view of the multidimensional nature of poverty,
ESCAP will adopt a multifaceted approach in
supporting its developing member countries.
ESCAP will focus on two types of activities.
The first set of activities will be essentially
analytical and policy-oriented in nature, while
the second set will focus on the development
of best practices in poverty reduction.
12. It is recognized that analysing and monitoring
poverty are essential first steps in understanding
its root causes and in developing policies and
strategies aimed at reducing the number of people
affected.
13. Effective monitoring of poverty calls for
selecting poverty indicators and measuring their
values, which requires coordinated effort between
national governments and international organizations.
Since poverty is a complex phenomenon, its measurement
involves a variety of areas and statistical
techniques. These include (a) improvement
and harmonization of methodologies for income
poverty measurement; (b) reconciliation of data
from micro and macro-economic sources; (c) generation
of more accurate purchasing power parities (PPPs)
that more accurately reflect the expenditure
pattern of the poor; (d) the development and
refinement of poverty maps and other analytical
tools; and (e) improved coverage and accuracy
of poverty-related indicators. With respect
to the latter, there is a need to broaden poverty
income related statistics to encompass economic,
social, educational, nutritional health, environment
and cultural dimensions.
14. The intended tangible outputs in the area
of statistics are expected to be:
- Strengthened statistical
capacity in constituent member and associate
member countries to enable them to design
appropriate poverty reduction strategies and
measure their own progress towards the MDGs
in a sustainable and accurate manner, and
- Cross-country data which
are sufficiently comparable across time and
space to permit the region's achievements
as a whole to be reliably assessed.
15. Hence, the strategic thrust of the statistical
programme is to develop common statistical methodologies
for inter-country comparison of poverty levels
as well as to strengthen the capacities of governments
to collect, analyse and use data for measuring
and monitoring poverty. It is envisaged
that this would facilitate the analysis of causes
of poverty and of possible remedies.
16. ESCAP's comparative advantage in this area
is that its statistical expertise is oriented
not only towards direct measures of poverty
and related indicators but also in the vital
adjunct areas of national accounts and purchasing
power parities. This expertise could be
utilized to improve the comparability of national
poverty data and thus better track poverty incidence
and severity for the region as a whole.
17. Expected results by the end of 2005 are
to make available reasonably reliable estimates
of poverty incidence and of poverty related
development indicators for most countries in
the region, and to enhance the comparability
of these estimates. As far as long-term
results are concerned, it is expected that by
the end of the decade, statistical capacity
would have been created in most countries to
monitor the Millennium Declaration Goals.
B.
Joint UNDP-ESCAP Poverty Centre/Unit
18. This project is intended to enable ESCAP
and UNDP to respond to the Millennium Declaration
and fulfil their respective special responsibilities
within the United Nations system for monitoring
and assisting countries in achieving the Millennium
Declaration Goals (MDGs). The two organizations
aim to meet this objective through the following:
- Based on available
country MDG reports, the Poverty Centre/Unit
will prepare a regionwide report provisionally
entitled 'State of Progress Towards Achievement
of Millennium Goals in Asia-Pacific'.
The report would undertake comparative analyses
and identify certain common issues and obstacles
faced by countries of the region in achieving
MDG targets. It is envisaged that the
report would facilitate exchange of information
and highlight best practices undertaken by
countries in these efforts. The first
such regional report is scheduled to be completed
by the latter part of 2002 to coincide with
the first global report of the Secretary-General
to the General Assembly on the Millennium
Declaration.
- The Centre/Unit will also
prepare documentation, and disseminate successful
'downstream' community development practices
in poverty alleviation such as the Saemaul
Undong (New Community Movement) of the Republic
of Korea and Grameen Bank of Bangladesh.
This should be seen as part of a learning
spiral in which lessons learned could be fed
back into national efforts and strategies
for poverty reduction. The project will
rely on cultivating a network of regional
and subregional policy and statistical institutions
that already or potentially could support
ongoing poverty reduction strategies and processes.
It is expected that these institutions would
be the backbone in the process of the development
and strengthening of national and regional
capacity to collect and analyse data and to
monitor MDG reports.
19. The long-term output of the Poverty Centre/Unit
would include:
- Two reports on the
'State of Progress toward Achievement of Millennium
Goals in Asia-Pacific' (September 2002 and
August 2004).
- At least three regional
seminars/consultations on assessing progress
towards MDGs including the launching of each
report.
- Comparative study of successful
'downstream' community development practices
such as the Saemaul Undong (New Community
Movement) of the Republic of Korea and Grameen
Bank of Bangladesh and others with a view
to assessing their influence at the macro
level.
The project is expected to get off the ground
before the end of this year.
20. One responsibility of ESCAP Statistics
Division is to assist the Poverty Centre/Unit
in its work related to poverty and other relevant
statistics. In this connection, a P-4
statistician of the Statistics Development Section
has been assigned to work at the Poverty Centre/Unit
from November 2001.
IV.
RIO GROUP
21. The Fourth Meeting of the Expert Group
on Poverty Statistics (Rio Group) was held in
Rio de Janeiro, 15-17 October 2001. The
agenda of the meeting is annexed for the Working
Group's information. The report and summary
of discussions of the meeting are expected to
be available shortly, and will be provided to
participants as soon as possible.
V.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
22. The purpose of this paper is to inform
the Working Group about the initiatives taken
by the ESCAP secretariat to contribute towards
measuring progress in achieving the Millennium
Declaration Goals (MDGs). The Statistics
Division would like to seek the opinion and
advice of the Working Group on the following
questions:
- How congruent is
the ESCAP response with the overall strategy
of the United Nations System?
- How realistic and achievable
are the goals related to poverty statistics
as stated in the Concept Paper on Reduction
of Poverty?
- What is the best strategy
to be adopted by the Statistics Division for
achieving those goals?
- What is the best way for
the Statistics Division to contribute to the
work of the joint ESCAP-UNDP Poverty Centre/Unit?
- What (if anything) should
Statistics Division do in the area of poverty
statistics in addition to the work of the
Poverty Centre/Unit?
- What approximate percentage
of resources (both regular budget and extrabudgetary)
should the Statistics Division devote to poverty
statistics?
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