How do you measure the concept of poverty?

BRAC Experiences

Syed Masud Ahmed MBBS, PhD

BRAC Research and Evaluation Division

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Discussion topics

Introduction

Setting the context: BRAC

BRAC’s concept of poverty

Measuring the concept of poverty

Summing up

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Tubeculosis: Bangladesh Scenario(WHO estimates per 100,000

population, 2004)

Ranks 5th among world’s 22 high-burden disease (WHO)

Incidence of all TB cases: 221 Incidence of new smear+ve cases:

99 Prevalence of smear+ve cases: 188 TB mortality of all cases: 52 MDR among new cases of TB: 1.4%

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BRAC

Indigenous NGO working with the twin objectives of

•Alleviation of poverty and

•Empowerment of the poor

http://www.brac.nethttp://www.bracresearch.org

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BRAC”s TB Programme

Community based DOTS programme with CHWs at the nucleus

Partnership with GoB and NGOs Recipient of GFATM since July 2004 Coverage: 82 million (2/3rd of the

population) Average case detection rate: 44% (2004) Treatment success rate for new

sputum+ve cases: 89% (2003)

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• Cost-effectiveness of community health workers in tuberculosis control in Bangladesh.Bull World Health Organ. 2002;80(6):445-50.

• Success with the DOTS strategy.Lancet. 1999 Mar 20;353(9157):1003-4.

BRAC”s TB Programme

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Relevance of poverty measurement in TB control

programme

Poor are more vulnerable Equity: ‘inverse care law’ Making DOTS pro-poor Income-erosion effect of illness Poverty reducing effect of TB

control programme

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BRAC’s concept of poverty: “Lack of an enabling environment”

“Minimum” income and employmen

t

Entitlement to food & “safety

net”

Access to

housing

Institutional mechanism for savings

and credit

Enabling environment

Investible surplus

Power (to fight

exploitation)

Human rights and

their

enforcement

Access to appropriate technology

Gender equity

Access to health

care

Institutions of the poor

Access to education

Entitlement to assets (such as

land)

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Dimensions of poverty measurement

Economic Lack of income or employment

Non-economic Lack of entitlement to basic

necessities of life

Poverty is increasingly seen as a multi-dimensional phenomenon

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BRAC’s targeting criteria for identifying the poor households

Households possess ≤50 decimals of land

Sells manual labour for at least 100 days a year for subsistence Labour-selling HHs represent low SES

given their dependence on variable seasonal employment

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Self-rated poverty status of HH

Respondent’s perception about the state of HH’s annual expenditure in relation to income during the referral period (say, past one year) Always deficit Occasional deficit No deficit

a valid indicator of HH stratification in rural Bangladesh, used by poverty researchers

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Challenging the MC/MF paradigm

Empirical evidence (from BRAC’s own and other development practitioners) showed that micro-credit programmes failed to reach the ‘poorest of the poor’/’ultra-poor’ for various reasons

Heterogeneity of the poor Customized programme needed

for different sections of the poor

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CFPR/TUP (Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction/Targeting the Ultra-Poor) Programme of BRAC

”To enable ultra-poor attain a level of sustainable development so that they can participate in and benefit from mainstream (including microcredit-based) development interventions”

Grants-based productive asset transfer

Subsistence allowance and skill-training

Health inputs to mitigate income-erosion effect of illnesses

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How to target the ultra-poor households ?

Based on experiences of working with the poor/review of poverty literature and empirical evidence

Inclusion criteria

Exclusion criteria

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Inclusion indicatorsIndicators Rationale

Land owned by household ≤ 10 decimals including homestead land

Landlessness and extreme poverty highly correlated, though not all landless are extreme poor

No adult working man in household

Absence of able bodied male labour power is an important characteristic of extreme poor households

School-going aged children working

Child labour is predominant in extreme poor households

Adult woman selling labour Adult woman selling labour is more prevalent in extreme poor households; signals desperation and motivation of the household

No productive assets Extreme poor households tend not to own any productive assets

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Exclusion indicators

Indicators Rationale

Any member of the household has current NGO participation

Targeting those extreme poor who do not/cannot participate in existing NGO programme

Any member of the household receives benefit from GoB programmes

Targeting those extreme poor who do not/cannot participate in existing GoB programme

No physically able adult woman in household

This is a women-targeted enterprise programme

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Poverty measured as shortfall in fulfillment of basic needs: Basic needs approach

Basic needs Food Clothing Shelter Health Education Social involvement

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Basic needs approach: steps

Items representing various dimensions selected

Four items per dimension All items have three answers

3 for highest level 1 for lowest level

Total poverty score range: from 24 to 72 The higher the score, the poorer the HH

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An example: lack of health

How frequently do the HH members on average suffer from illness or ill health?

In case of illness of the HH members, how often an allopathic doctor is contacted?

In case of diarrhoeal illnesses of the HH members, how frequently ORS is administered

How common it s to wash hands with soap after defaecation among the HH members?

Scoring:1=quite frequently/most of the time (more than half); 2=sometimes; 3=once in a while/never

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Conclusion:

It’s possible to conceptualize poverty from non-economic dimension

Very simple, easy to use and valid indicators can be developed to measure the concept of poverty

Useful approach for targeting particular poverty group