News 33 of 211

IDRC Photo: Yves Beaulieu

For more than two decades, governments and development agencies around the world have focused on reducing poverty. There have been advances, but progress has been uneven and nearly a quarter of the world’s population still lives below the World Bank’s international poverty line.

IDRC and its developing-country partners and researchers are collaborating on innovative solutions to some of the core causes of poverty. Below are a few examples of how IDRC addresses poverty:

Research that Matters

in_focus: Fighting Poverty with Facts: Community-Based Monitoring Systems
The Community-Based Monitoring System brings together communities and local authorities to gather and monitor locally obtained, verifiable information about actual living conditions, and to use this information for planning and policy-making.

IDRC on Microfinance and Poverty
IDRC research was at the forefront of harnessing the potential of microfinance to lift millions out of poverty. Current research is taking the ideas behind this concept and applying them to areas such as insurance and inputs for farming.

Feature Articles

Harnessing the Power of Enterprise to Reduce Poverty and Conflict
Innovative research supported by IDRC shows that entrepreneurship in impoverished and conflict regions can help individuals and communities rebuild their societies after war.

Finding India’s Missing Middle
The middle is missing in India's labour markets and Dipak Mazumdar knows why. In truth, says the University of Toronto professor, it was never really there.

New Policy Challenges on a Changing Economic Landscape
The current era of economic globalization has brought high expectations — but also some profound disappointments — to people in the developing world.

IDRC Books

THE POLICY PARADOX IN AFRICA: Strengthening Links between Economic Research and Policymaking While there seems to be a consensus on increasing aid to Africa, donors favour democratic countries that adopt sound development policies. For development policies to be sound, however, they must not only meet short-term political expediencies, they must also tap the broad knowledge base of policy research in Africa. What role does economic research, particularly by African economic researchers, play in the existing process of policy development in Africa?




COMMUNITIES, LIVELIHOODS AND NATURAL RESOURCES: Action Research and Policy Change in Asia This book synthesizes results from seven years of applied research on community-based approaches to natural resource management in Asia. The 11 case studies illustrate how local innovations in participatory natural resource management can strengthen livelihoods, build capacity for local governance, and spark policy change.




GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN POVERTY ERADICATION AND THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS: A Handbook for Policy-makers and Other Stakeholders Naila Kabeer brings together a diverse set of arguments, findings, and lessons from development literature that help to explain why gender equality merits specific attention from policy-makers, practitioners, researchers, and other stakeholders committed to the pursuit of pro-poor and human-centred development.




POVERTY AND EQUITY: Measurement, Policy, and Estimation with DAD This book addresses the understanding and alleviation of poverty, inequality, and inequity using a unique and broad mix of concepts, measurement methods, statistical tools, software, and practical exercises.




SEASON OF HOPE: Economic Reform under Mandela and Mbeki When the African National Congress won the first democratic elections in 1994, South Africa was one of the most unequal societies in the world. How could an organization with no previous experience of governing and little history of economic policy development accomplish both a peaceful transition to democracy and set South Africa on a path toward sustained economic growth and development? This book is an insider's account of the way in which the ANC government addressed the enormous economic task it faced upon taking office.




ANALYSIS OF MULTIDIMENSIONAL POVERTY: Theory and Case Studies This book presents a new method for measuring multidimensional poverty. The author critically analyzes various statistical approaches, and proposes a new way of applying a factorial technique, Multiple Correspondence Analysis, to poverty analysis. The core of this new approach rests on the identification of poverty types and on the construction of a Composite Indicator of Poverty, which objectively weights the multiple categories of poverty.

IDRC Programs

Globalization, Growth and Poverty
Consolidating and building on past IDRC investments in the fields of global economic relations and macroeconomic policy and poverty, GGP enables developing countries to design appropriate domestic policies and international integration strategies for promoting more inclusive and equitable growth.

Rural Poverty and Environment
RPE is a global program that supports research to meet the needs of the rural poor who live in fragile or degraded ecosystems. Its goal is to strengthen institutions, policies, and practices that enhance food, water, and income security.
Urban Poverty and Environment
UPE funds research and activities in developing countries that apply integrated and participatory approaches to reducing environmental burdens on the urban poor and enhancing the use of natural resources for food, water, and income security.

2009-10

News 33 of 211