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Sub-Saharan Africa's turnaround over the past couple of decades has been dramatic. After many years in decline, the continent's economy picked up in the mid-1990s. Along with this macroeconomic growth, people became healthier, many more youngsters attended schools, and the rate of extreme poverty declined from 54 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015. Political and social freedoms expanded, and gender equality advanced. Conflict in the region also subsided, although it still claims thousands of civilian lives in some countries and still drives pressing numbers of displaced persons. Despite Africa's widespread economic and social welfare accomplishments, the region's challenges remain daunting: Economic growth has slowed in recent years. Poverty rates in many countries are the highest in the world. And notably, the number of poor in Africa is rising because of population growth. From a global perspective, the biggest concentration of poverty has shifted from South Asia to Africa. Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa explores critical policy entry points to address the demographic, societal, and political drivers of poverty; improve income-earning opportunities both on and off the farm; and better mobilize resources for the poor. It looks beyond macroeconomic stability and growth—critical yet insufficient components of these objectives—to ask what more could be done and where policy makers should focus their attention to speed up poverty reduction. The pro-poor policy agenda advanced in this volume requires not only economic growth where the poor work and live, but also mitigation of the many risks to which African households are exposed. As such, this report takes a "jobs" lens to its task. It focuses squarely on the productivity and livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable—that is, what it will take to increase their earnings. Finally, it presents a road map for financing the poverty and development agenda.

This report is an important step in the efforts of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support its developing member countries (DMCs) more effectively in achieving prosperity and freedom from poverty. Greater scrutiny of the results of ADB's development efforts began in 2004 with a review of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and the adoption of a reform agenda anchored in managing for development results (MfDR). A periodic assessment of ADB's progress in improving its development effectiveness and its implementation of the PRS is a crucial part of these efforts. It involves examining systematically the results of ADB's own contributions to the development outcomes of its DMCs, the quality and effectiveness of its operations, and the efficiency with which it deploys its resources to meet its objectives.

This report is an important step in the efforts of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to support its developing member countries (DMCs) more effectively in achieving prosperity and freedom from poverty. Greater scrutiny of the results of ADB's development efforts began in 2004 with a review of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and the adoption of a reform agenda anchored in managing for development results (MfDR). A periodic assessment of ADB's progress in improving its development effectiveness and its implementation of the PRS is a crucial part of these efforts. It involves examining systematically the results of ADB's own contributions to the development outcomes of its DMCs, the quality and effectiveness of its operations, and the efficiency with which it deploys its resources to meet its objectives.

The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) was established in May 2000 and provides direct grant assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable groups in developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) while fostering long-term social and economic development. The grants target poverty reduction initiatives with the direct participation of nongovernment organizations, community groups, and civil society. In 2009, the Government of Japan and ADB expanded the scope of JFPR to include provision of support to DMCs through capacity development, policy and advisory, research and development, and project preparatory technical assistance.

The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction (JFPR) was established in May 2000 and provides direct grant assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable groups in developing member countries (DMCs) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) while fostering long-term social and economic development. The grants target poverty reduction initiatives with the direct participation of nongovernment organizations, community groups, and civil society. In 2009, the Government of Japan and ADB expanded the scope of JFPR to include provision of support to DMCs through capacity development, policy and advisory, research and development, and project preparatory technical assistance.

In November 1999, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) adopted poverty reduction as its principal objective. The Poverty Reduction Strategy that resulted from that decision committed ADB to host an international forum on poverty issues every three years. In February 2001, the Asian Development Bank hosted the first-ever Asia and Pacific Forum on Poverty (the Forum), one of the largest international meetings ever undertaken exclusively by ADB: more than 300 delegates from all over the world met in Manila, Philippines, for a week of presentations and discussions of poverty issues.

In November 1999, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) adopted poverty reduction as its principal objective. The Poverty Reduction Strategy that resulted from that decision committed ADB to host an international forum on poverty issues every three years. In February 2001, the Asian Development Bank hosted the first-ever Asia and Pacific Forum on Poverty (the Forum), one of the largest international meetings ever undertaken exclusively by ADB: more than 300 delegates from all over the world met in Manila, Philippines, for a week of presentations and discussions of poverty issues.

A careful review of the literature in political science and neighboring social science disciplines shows that prevailing assumptions in the international development policy community about improved governance as a principal mechanism to reduce poverty in Africa rests more on faith than science. Conventional policy models for tackling poverty fail to take into account the peculiar socioeconomic and political conditions in Africa, where the vast majority of those living on one dollar a day or less are only marginally captured by market and state institutions and instead rely on solving their problems "outside the system." Poverty reduction through formal institutions therefore becomes ineffective. Although political science and other neighboring social science disciplines offer insights into these peculiarities, these contributions have been largely ignored to date. One reason is that economists continue to dominate the international development policy agenda. Another is that political scientists have typically looked at how economic variables shape political ones, rather than the other way around, as implied in the current governance agenda. Governance remains an undertheorized area of research held back by two chasms, one between economists and other social scientists and another between the scientific and the policy communities, to the detriment of gaining a better understanding of how it may help reduce poverty in Africa.

Poverty remains one of the greatest problems of our time, causing starvation and humiliation in poor countries and contributing to problems of conflict, migration and environmental degradation effecting also richer countries. This study provides a systematical analysis of today's donor strategies for development cooperation, which unite around the goal of poverty reduction. The most recent strategies of the World Bank and the German, British and Swedish official development agencies are compared and evaluated. Their broad consensus on goals and conceptual elements is comprehensively presented. Differences in accentuations regarding beneficiaries and implementation methods are highlighted. An empirical study of the poverty focus in project evaluations of the German Financial Cooperation rounds off the analysis by exemplarily pointing at the practical implications of the new strategies.

This paper reviews the links between property rights and poverty reduction. Poor people not only lack current income, but also assets with which to generate incomes. Billions of poor people have access to land which may not be legally recognized. While legislation may provide more secure land tenure for the poor and thus reduce poverty, this outcome is not guaranteed. Policies that do not recognize the complexity of property rights have backfired, reducing poor people's security of tenure. Finally, understanding legal pluralism can lead to more effective policies and interventions to strengthen poor people's control over assets. ; IFPRI5; CAPRi ; EPTD ; Non-PR ; 7 pages

In the "efficient" allocation of aid, aid is targeted disproportionately to countries with severe poverty and adequate policies. For a given level of poverty, aid tapers in with policy reform. In the actual allocation of aid, aid tapers out with reform. Aid now lifts about 30 million people a year out of absolute poverty. With a poverty-efficient allocation, the same amount of aid would lift about 80 million people out of poverty. Collier and Dollar derive a poverty-efficient allocation of aid and compare it with actual aid allocations. They build the poverty-efficient allocation in two stages. First they use new World Bank ratings of 20 different aspects of national policy to establish the current relationship between aid, policies, and growth. Onto that, they add a mapping from growth to poverty reduction, which reflects the level and distribution of income. They compare the effects of using headcount and poverty-gap measures of poverty. They find the actual allocation of aid to be radically different from the poverty-efficient allocation. In the efficient allocation, for a given level of poverty, aid tapers in with policy reform. In the actual allocation, aid tapers out with reform. In the efficient allocation, aid is targeted disproportionately to countries with severe poverty and adequate policies - the type of country where 74 percent of the world's poor live. In the actual allocation, such countries receive a much smaller share of aid (56 percent) than their share of the world's poor. With the present allocation, aid is effective in sustainably lifting about 30 million people a year out of absolute poverty. With a poverty-efficient allocation, this would increase to about 80 million people. Even with political constraints introduced to keep allocations for India and China constant, poverty reduction would increase to about 60 million. Reallocating aid is politically difficult, but it may be considerably less difficult than quadrupling aid budgets, which is what the authors estimate would be necessary to ...

In this volume, world-renowned contributors, including Martin Ravallion, Michael Kremer and Robert Townsend, deal with the institutional characteristics of poverty resulting from the time pattern of aid, the nature of financial systems and the political economy of budgetary decisions. Going beyond the traditional literature on poverty, this original book deals with themes of broad interest to both scholars and policymakers in a clear yet technically sophisticated manner. Departing from conventional methods employed in poverty studies, these innovative essays enquire into the institutional characteristics of poverty, and using current case studies, they examine the crucial idea that periods of crises seriously affect poverty.

I never expected my first experiences with course content related to my majors to be so traumatic. A young 19 year old, it seemed that every class I attended accosted me with the existence of yet another problem. War, government, education, climate change… The problems were massive and all seemed intractable. One particular "problem" that plagued me was global poverty; how could one billion people in this world live on less than one dollar a day? The theories were numerous, and the classroom discussion seemed a far cry from the reality of so many people living in extreme poverty. I came to realize that the theories help formulate the solutions, but I still wondered, what was life like out there in the real world; how do we solve these problems on the ground level? Microfinance looked like the perfect bridge between the academic world and the real world. Microfinancial institutions (MFIs) offer small loans free of collateral, which are meant to help small-scale entrepreneurs break the cycle of poverty. Staff and/or volunteers work in communities, building relationships with the borrowers. The microfinancial scheme seemed an ingenious solution of global change achieved by local action. On a trip to Oaxaca, Mexico in January 2012, I viewed how a small MFI (Fundación en Vía) operates and I visited the borrowers' businesses and heard their future plans and goals. Inspired by the personal interaction, I was eager to continue studying the topic. The goal of my study was to gain an in-depth knowledge of microfinance and how it has performed since its inception. This project is an assessment of microfinance as a development tool. After a brief history, I will review the goals of microfinance as formulated at the Microcredit Summit of 1997 and examine the progress that has been made. The first section will analyze how microfinance has performed as a poverty reduction tool. The second section will discuss the profit-aspect of MFIs and the question, should MFIs be fiscally self-sustainable? The third section will look to see whether women, the primary recipients of microfinance loans, have been empowered through their participation in MFI programs. This review has helped me enhance my research and writing skills. It has also provided me valuable knowledge of the microfinance world and its institutions; which has translated into knowledge of other issues such as moral dilemmas faced by non-government organizations and self-described social businesses, women's empowerment, and poverty. Critically, I gained a relatively unbiased view of microfinance.

This paper analyses these links and outlines the different ways in which improvements to water management can advance the cause of poverty reduction. Indeed, improving access to water is in some cases an essential pre-condition to the attainment of other MDG targets: there is little prospect of many health, environmental or income targets being achieved unless action is taken to address water problems. The paper also gives a clear and optimistic message for the future. It illustrates that improving the contribution of water management to poverty reduction is not just achievable: it is affordable. In many cases, it is a good investment that generates growth and gives rates of return comparable with investments in any other sector. And these benefits are directly targeted to the poor, and especially to women who bear many of the burdens that a lack of investments in water creates. Investing in water, in reforms to the institutions that govern water management and creating more effective partnerships to focus international support to water and environmental sustainability are all essential. The agencies that have worked together to prepare this paper are all committed to supporting these changes. The paper demonstrates that affordable and sustainable actions are 12 possible, and in many places are already happening. The international community faces a critical challenge in building on and supporting these actions so that the existing role that water management plays in poverty reduction can be enhanced in the future.

This paper analyses these links and outlines the different ways in which improvements to water management can advance the cause of poverty reduction. Indeed, improving access to water is in some cases an essential pre-condition to the attainment of other MDG targets: there is little prospect of many health, environmental or income targets being achieved unless action is taken to address water problems. The paper also gives a clear and optimistic message for the future. It illustrates that improving the contribution of water management to poverty reduction is not just achievable: it is affordable. In many cases, it is a good investment that generates growth and gives rates of return comparable with investments in any other sector. And these benefits are directly targeted to the poor, and especially to women who bear many of the burdens that a lack of investments in water creates. Investing in water, in reforms to the institutions that govern water management and creating more effective partnerships to focus international support to water and environmental sustainability are all essential. The agencies that have worked together to prepare this paper are all committed to supporting these changes. The paper demonstrates that affordable and sustainable actions are 12 possible, and in many places are already happening. The international community faces a critical challenge in building on and supporting these actions so that the existing role that water management plays in poverty reduction can be enhanced in the future.