Which Indicators Will Define Poverty Come 2021?

Monica Pinilla-Ronconcio

A number of public and private sector reps, including members of the national assessment team overseeing the next country poverty assessment, were present at today’s session. But to help with the process, the ministry has sought the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, who are leaders in poverty assessment methodology. Monica Pinilla-Ronconcio says the programme will help to identify persons who are multi-dimensionally poor and why.

Monica Pinilla-Ronconcio, Co-Director, Metrics and Policy, Oxford Human Development

“To prioritize what are the dimensions and indicators that need more policy actions in that case you are going to be able to reduce the incidents and the intensity of poverty and reduce poverty in general. There are different multi-dimensionally poverty index. We have those that are aimed to compare poverty around the world and with this we include indicators related to health, education and living standards. Other MPIs include indicators related to similar dimensions but also they consider dimensions like employment, environment, social security. So it depends on the context what you are including. So in the case of Belize, we don’t have a list, but they conducted a quality report about the voices of the poor and they identified different dimensions and indicators that people living in multi-dimensionally poverty are saying. Things relating to crime, with access to education, with access to food, healthy food and nutritious food were the dimensions that multi-dimensionally poor people living in Belize mentioned.”