EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES, REDUCING POVERTY

This in_focus website assembles a variety of resources on community-based poverty monitoring. Including slide presentations, short stories, case studies, research reports, books, etc., the site presents an overview of CBMS, results of IDRC-supported research, and the important lessons that have been learned.

Informed public investment is key to reducing poverty and addressing inequalities within society. That requires timely and accurate data to measure progress and plan for investment, as well as for good analysis and policy application. This website demonstrates that good public policy choices for empowering and uplifting the poor are best made when local authorities and communities work together and are guided by sound data and evidence-based analysis. This is key to ensuring effective public spending and greater public accountability.

THE ISSUE
For more than two decades, governments and development agencies around the world have focused on reducing poverty. But although tremendous strides have been made, approximately one in four people in developing countries continues to live below the World Bank’s international poverty line.

THE RESEARCH
As the various country experiences show, real benefits quickly accrue to communities as well as to their governments, from new crucial services such as schools and sanitation facilities to health and employment programs. CBMS gives communities a voice in decision-making.

THE LESSONS
Good public policy choices for empowering the poor and fighting poverty are best made when local authorities and communities work together and are guided by sound data and evidence-based analysis. This is key to ensuring effective public spending and greater public accountability.

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-136872-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html