"Progress has been less than hoped"

Critics resulted with three World Bank Reports, which Urge Broader Approach to Reducing Poverty World Development Report (WDR) 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty

At the start of a new century, poverty remains a global problem of huge proportions.

Of the world’s 6 billion people, 2.8 billion live on less than $2 a day, and 1.2 billion on less than $1 a day.

8 out of every 100 infants do not live to see their fifth birthday. 9 of every 100 boys and 14 of every 100 girls who reach school age do not attend school.

Deprivation is also evident in poor people’s lack of political power and voice as well as in their extreme vulnerability to ill health, economic dislocation, personal violence, and natural disasters. The scourge of HIV/AIDS, the frequency and brutality of civil conflicts, and rising disparities between rich countries and the developing world have increased the sense of deprivation and injustice for many.

http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty/index.htm.

Voices of the Poor

A research study in 3 volumes, background material to the WDR 2000/2001.

-"Can Anyone Hear Us?" analyzes the voices of over 40,000 poor women and men in 50 countries from participatory poverty assessments carried out by the World Bank in the 1990s;

- "Crying Out for Change" pulls together reports on fieldwork conducted in 1999 in 23 countries involving over 20,000 poor men and women; and

-"From Many Lands" offers regional patterns and country case studies.

http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/voices/index.htm

Poverty Reduction Strategy Sourcebook Draft - for Comments!

Despite modest reductions in poverty in recent decades, progress has been less than hoped, especially in low-income countries.

This disappointment has led to a critical search for policies that best promote economic growth and reduce poverty in low-income countries, as well as a realization that the delivery of external support should be changed.

The purpose of the book is to provide guidance and analytical tools for developing poverty-reduction strategies. An "Energy Chapter" is also included!

http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/strategies/.
Comments are welcome to the draft:
e-mail: prsp_sourcebook@worldbank.org

"Poverty is pain; it feels like a disease.
It attacks a person not only materially but also morally.
It eats away one’s dignity and drives one into total despair."
- a poor woman in Moldova

"Poverty is like heat you cannot see it, so to know poverty you have to go through it"
- Adaboya, Ghana