With the
debate on the post-2015 development framework in full swing, the third
international Chronic Poverty Report addresses one key
question: what needs to be done to get to (or close to) zero extreme poverty by
2030 – the new goal for global poverty reduction?
The report
is the first produced by the Chronic Poverty Advisory Network (CPAN), the
successor to the Chronic Poverty Research
Centre (CPRC), which produced the first two Chronic Poverty Reports. Drawing on
ten years of research by the CPRC and others,
and on recent policy guides from CPAN, it presents new analysis of what it
takes to sustain escapes from poverty; of
countries that have succeeded in tackling chronic poverty; and new projections
of poverty in 2030.
It presents
a tripartite challenge to the world: to get close to zero extreme poverty
countries need to tackle chronic poverty,
stop impoverishment and ensure that those who manage to escape from poverty
sustain their escapes (the poverty ‘tripod’).
It also raises the spectre that there may remain a billion people living in
extreme poverty in 2030 unless existing policies
are implemented robustly and new policies and political commitments are up and
running by 2020.
The bulk of
the report focuses on the policies needed to get to zero. While there are many
such policies, any country could and
should be able to generate a selection of the key policies that will work with
the national grain, and the report offers a device –
the impoverishment index – to help countries determine the priorities that will
carry their citizens out of poverty.
