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ID: 2688Added: 2002-05-28 13:13Modified: 2003-04-07 8:56Refreshed: 2010-02-08 11:09 
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Impact Prerequisites Potential users Future outlook Related projects Contact(s) Resources IntroductionIn any country, access to adequate information is key to designing economic policies that will have a more favourable impact on the poor and vulnerable. Unless governments understand the dynamics of poverty, the less fortunate are likely to lose out when new economic policies are implemented.In 1989, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) created the MIMAP program to help countries in the South develop alternatives to traditional macroeconomic policies by meshing policy analysis with poverty monitoring. The goal is to help developing countries minimize the negative impact of structural adjustment programs on the poor — currency devaluation, public expenditure reductions, trade liberalization, and other policies designed to improve the long-term economic outlook. The Micro Impacts of Macroeconomic and Adjustment Policies (MIMAP) may be a mouthful, but the program's aim is fairly simple: to increase the understanding of poverty and promote dialogue among researchers, politicians, government officials, and NGOs so more equitable policies can be developed. Access to poverty-related information has generally been poor in the South. In Bangladesh, for example, there has traditionally been only one source — the Household Expenditures Survey. But the survey was of little use to policy makers because it was only done every 5-to-10 years, and was limited to information on income and expenditures. MIMAP projects involve poverty monitoring that goes beyond collecting conventional income- and consumption-based indicators to include health, access to drinking water and land, the quality of housing, and a myriad of other factors. Secondly, MIMAP is fostering the development of economic models that link household welfare to the national economy. Thirdly, the program is encouraging the development of special, multidisciplinary studies. For example, researchers in Bangladesh and the Philippines are looking at links among how adjustment policies, poverty, and the environment. There are now MIMAP projects at the country level in Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, India, Lao PDR, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. MIMAP also supports thematic networks that bring countries without full country-level projects into the fold to undertake comparative study of the relationships between macroeconomic and adjustment policies and specific areas of study. There is a global network that examines the impacts of macroeconomic and adjustment policies on health systems and a regional network on gender.
PrerequisitesFor a program such as MIMAP to be effective, four features should be present in the countries where it operates or intends to operate:
Second, there must already be an adequate level of indigenous research capacity (individual and institutional) to serve as a foundation. Links with the senior MIMAP research teams andwith the MIMAP Program Advisory Group (PAG) can guide the work plan of a group or groups in a given country, but cannot substitute for it. Third, the country should have a minimum statistical base on which MIMAP can build. This is especially important in many African and Indo-Chinese countries where relatively good socioeconomic data are collected, but the capacity to analyze them and expand or refine the data collection does not exist. Finally, there has to be an adequate level of interaction between the researchers and policy makers to ensure the MIMAP results will be used. Potential usersPolicy makers and other groups concerned with poverty.Future outlookMIMAP's work in Asia during the 1990s has shown that countries with experience in managing economic stabilization and adjustment programs benefited from a regional network and a common framework for analyzing the impact of the measures they introduced. Building upon this experience, MIMAP is now testingand adapting theMIMAP approach in the African context. To add to on-going MIMAP research in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Morocco, new projects are being developed in Ghana and Senegal. In terms of thematic issues, a new network is emerging onthe social and economic impacts of the Asian Financial Crisis.Related projectsAntecedents to the MIMAP initiative include the UNICEF "Adjustment With a Human Face" studies; the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Survey and Social Dimensions of Adjustment programs; and the Organization for Economic Co-operation's (OECD) "Adjustment and Equity" series of country case studies. Together, these endeavours have pursued many of the same goals as MIMAP, and it would be difficult to conceive of MIMAP without them. While not a substitute for this important body of work, MIMAP advances the debate on micro-macro linkages by emphasizing the need for continuity, and a commitment to building indigenous capacities for policy analysis in a coordinated manner.PartnersAll MIMAP projects are undertaken in collaboration with governments and research institutes in the South. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) have participated as co-funders in MIMAP projects, and some projects have been undertaken in cooperation with other agencies such as the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). IDRC is exploring newpartnerships that would allow it to deepen and expand this work.ContactAt IDRC:Marie-Claude Martin, Senior Program Specialist - Economics, Programs Branch IDRC, P.O. Box 8500 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA K1G 3H9 Tel: (613) 236-6163 ext. 2331 Fax: (613) 567-7748 E-mail: mmartin@idrc.ca Gerett Rusnak Global Network on Health Care and MCLEOD, Kari MIMAP - Bangladesh MUJERI, Mustafa K. MIMAP - Benin/Burkina Faso ADEGBIDI, Anselme DECALUWÉ, Bernard WETTA, Claude MIMAP - Ghana SOWA, Nii Kwaku MIMAP - India PRADHAN, Basanta Kumar MIMAP - Lao PDR SISOUPHANTHONG, Bounthavy MIMAP - Morocco ABDELKHALEK, Touhami MIMAP - Nepal SHARMA, Shiva MIMAP - Pakistan Qureshi, Sarfraz Khan MIMAP - Philippines REYES. Celia M. MIMAP - Sri Lanka GUNATILLEKE, Neranjana MIMAP - Vietnam (Poverty Monitoring) ANH, Vu Tuan MIMAP - Vietnam (Economic Modeling) CHAN, Nguyen Van South Asian Network on Gender and Macroeconomic & Adjustment Policies MUKHOPADHYAY, Swapna ResourcesMIMAP working site |
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