Other Poverty Study
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Publication
Inequality in Southern Africa: An Assessment of the Southern African Customs Union
(Washington, DC, 2022)The Southern African Customs Union (SACU) is the most unequal region in the world. While there has been some progress in recent years, inequality has remained almost stagnant in the most unequal countries. Using an innovative framework, this report provides a systematic and comprehensive analysis of inequality in the region. The main conclusions are as follows: first, inherited circumstances over which an individual has little or no control (i.e., inequality of opportunity) drive overall inequality, and their contribution has increased in recent years. This is an important concern particularly because this type of inequality is not the result of people’s efforts. Second, lack of access to jobs and means of production (education, skills, land, among others) by disadvantaged populations slows progress towards a more equitable income distribution. In a context where jobs are scarce, having post-secondary or tertiary education is key to both accessing jobs, and obtaining better wages once employed. Third, fiscal policy helps reduce inequality through the use of targeted transfers, social spending, and progressive taxation, but results are below expectation given the level of spending. Fourth, vulnerability to climate risks and economic shocks makes any gains towards a more equal society fragile. Looking ahead, accelerating inequality reduction will require concerted action in three policy areas: (a) expanding coverage and quality of education, health, and basic services across subregions and disadvantaged populations to reduce inequality of opportunity; (b) strengthening access to and availability of private sector jobs. It is important to accompany structural reforms with measures that facilitate entrepreneurship and skills acquisition of disadvantaged populations, and to improve land distribution and productivity in rural areas; and (c) investing in adaptive social protection systems to increase resilience to climate risks and economic vulnerability, while enhancing targeting of safety net programs for more efficient use of fiscal resources. -
Publication
COVID-19 in Nigeria: Frontline Data and Pathways for Policy
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-11)The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and its economic and social effects on households have created an urgent need for timely data to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis and protect the welfare of Nigerian society. To monitor how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the economy and people of Nigeria and to inform policy interventions and responses, the National Bureau of Statistics with technical support from the World Bank implemented the Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (NLPS) from April 2020 to April 2021. This report draws on NLPS and other relevant data to analyze COVID-19 impacts in Nigeria’s human capital, livelihoods and welfare. It also looks ahead to the broad challenges of building back better in Nigeria and summarizes priorities for policymaking and implementation. -
Publication
Monitoring COVID-19 Impact on Refugees in Ethiopia, Report No. 2: Results from a High-Frequency Phone Survey of Refugees
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-03-03)The World Bank Group, the Ethiopia Agency for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the World Bank-UNHCR Joint Data Center on Forced Displacement (JDC) collaborated to integrate refugees in the ongoing High-Frequency Phone Surveys (HFPS) . The World Bank-led HFPS of households seek to monitor the economic and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic among Ethiopian nationals and refugees. The main objective is to inform timely and adequate policy and program responses. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ethiopia, two rounds of data collection of refugees were completed between September and November 2020. The first round of the joint national and refugee HFPS was implemented between the 24 September and 17 October 2020 and the second round between 20 October and 20 November 2020. -
Publication
Monitoring Social and Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Refugees in Uganda: Results from the High-Frequency Phone Survey, First Round (October-November 2020)
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-02-24)The High-Frequency Phone Survey for refugees in Uganda (URHFPS) tracks the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 on refugees. The World Bank (WB) in collaboration with the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) launched and conducted the URHFPS. The URHFPS tracks the impacts of the pandemic on a monthly basis for a period of three months. Data collection for the first round of URHFPS took place between October 22 – November 25, 2020. This brief discusses results from the first round of the URHFPS. Where possible and appropriate, results for refugees are compared to nationals by using the national High-Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19 (HFPS). The survey sample includes respondents with active phone numbers that were selected randomly from the Profile Global Registration System (ProGres) of UNHCR, and the refugee household survey carried out by UBOS and the World Bank in 2018. The targeted sample includes 2,100 households and is representative at seven strata constructed as a combination of regions and different countries of origin: Kampala-Somalia, Kampala-other (Burundi, DRC, South Sudan), South West-Burundi (SW-Burundi), South West-DRC (SW-DRC), South West-South Sudan (SW-South Sudan), South West-Somalia (SW-Somalia), and West Nile-South Sudan (WN-South Sudan). In terms of population size, the largest strata are South West-DRC and West Nile-South Sudan. Both strata account for more than 85 percent of refugees in Uganda in 2020. The realized sample after the first round was 2,010 households. In order to reduce the bias related to only interviewing households with phone numbers and non-response, the data from the 2018 representative refugee household survey was used to produce and calibrate the weights for the phone survey. -
Publication
Monitoring COVID-19 Impact on Households in Zimbabwe, Report No. 2: Results from a High-Frequency Telephone Survey of Households
(World Bank, Harare, 2020-12-29)The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic created an urgent need for timely information to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis. This information is essential to inform policy measures for protecting the welfare of Zimbabweans. Responding to this need, the Zimbabwe Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), together with the World Bank and UNICEF, designed a high-frequency telephone survey of households to measure the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe. The survey builds on the Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (PICES) of 2017 and 2019 and used a sample of 1747 households in round 1 and 1639 households in round 2 from all ten provinces of Zimbabwe. The sample is representative of urban as well as rural areas. This survey is referred to as the Rapid PICES Monitoring Telephone Survey and is jointly funded by the Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund (ZIMREF) and UNICEF, and implemented by ZIMSTAT with technical support from the World Bank and UNICEF. This brief report summarizes the results of the second round of the Rapid PICES, conducted from August 24th to September 23rd, 2020, and compares them to the findings of the first round conducted between July 6th and 24th, 2020. Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) was used for data collection. An overview of the findings of the key indicators for both rounds is provided at the end of this note. -
Publication
Monitoring COVID-19 Impact on Households in Zimbabwe, Report No. 1: Results from a High-Frequency Telephone Survey of Households
(World Bank, Harare, 2020-11-19)The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic created an urgent need for timely information to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis. This information is essential to inform policy measures for protecting the welfare of Zimbabweans. Responding to this need, the Zimbabwe Statistical Agency (ZIMSTAT), together with the World Bank and UNICEF, designed a high-frequency telephone survey of households to measure the socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 in Zimbabwe. The survey builds on the Poverty, Income, Consumption and Expenditure Surveys (PICES) of 2017 and 2019 and uses a sample of 1747 households from all ten provinces of Zimbabwe. The sample is representative for urban as well as rural areas. This survey is referred to as the Rapid PICES Monitoring Telephone Survey and is funded by the Zimbabwe Reconstruction Fund (ZIMREF), and implemented by ZIMSTAT with technical support from the World Bank and UNICEF. This brief report summarizes the results of the first round of the Rapid PICES, conducted between 6th and 24th July, 2020. The telephone interview lasted for 25 minutes on average and covered topics such as knowledge of COVID and mitigation measures, access to and participation in educational activities during school closures, access to basic necessities, employment dynamics, income losses, food security and assistance received. The plan is to repeat the interviews every 4-6 weeks. Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) was used for data collection. -
Publication
COVID-19 Impact Monitoring: Nigeria Round 6
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10-24)The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and social effects on households have created an urgent need for timely data to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis and protect the welfare of Nigerian society. To monitor how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the economy and people of Nigeria and to inform policy interventions and responses, the National Bureau of Statistics with technical support from the World Bank implemented the Nigeria COVID-19 National Longitudinal Phone Survey (COVID-19 NLPS). This brief presents findings from the sixth round of this survey which was conducted between October 9 and 24, 2020. -
Publication
COVID-19 Impact Monitoring: Uganda, Round 1
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06-20)In June 2020, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics, with the support from the World Bank, has launched the High-Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19 to track the impacts of the pandemic on a monthly basis for a period of 12 months. The survey aimed to re-contact the entire sample of households that had been interviewed during the Uganda National Panel Survey 2019/20 round and that had phone numbers for at least one household member or a reference individual. This report presents the findings from the first round of the survey that was conducted during the period of June 3-20, 2020. -
Publication
Assessment of Development Needs of Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in Eastern Sudan
(Washington, DC, 2011-02-11)East Sudan has received a continuous influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees over the last forty years. Mass influxes were witnessed during years when the region experienced natural catastrophes as droughts and floods, or an escalation of tensions and conflict in neighboring countries, mainly Eritrea and Ethiopia. Presently there is still a steady but smaller in numbers influx of refugees, mostly from Eritrea, but with an apparent change in their social composition and expectations. Present day internal population movements relate to more conventional forms of migration within Sudan, that is, households in search of work and economic opportunities. Still, the situation of the large number of IDPs that moved to the area over 15 years ago and are living in camps is precarious and needs urgent attention. Presently there are not the basic conditions required to provide a durable solution to the refugees in a protracted situation in eastern Sudan. To a large extent that also applies to IDPs with long permanence in camps; there are not conditions to achieve self-reliance by most of the displaced population given the situation of their locations in eastern Sudan in terms of natural environment and its capacity to support sustainable agriculture and other urban and rural economic activities. Within the overall mission of the World Bank, its strategic objective in contributing towards the durable solution of forced displacement situations is to bring the affected countries and displaced population back to the path of peace and development, enabling the application of pro-poor policies and fostering economic growth. Under these conditions, the World Bank will be in a better position to engage the affected countries through its regular operations. -
Publication
Gambia, The - Youth Employment and Skills Development Study : Improving Youth Employment Outcomes Through Enhanced Skills Development
(World Bank, 2010-08-01)Despite substantial improvements in access to basic education and steady economic growth, The Gambia still faces considerable challenges in respect to reducing poverty. As the result of its narrow economic base and its reduced internal market, the country will continue to rely heavily on the productivity of its citizens to reverse the cycle that keeps families in poverty generation after generation. Poverty reduction is a complex equation that involves improvements in job creation, especially for high-skilled and productive employment, as well as improvements in human capital levels to ensure that citizens are able to take advantage of employment opportunities. Currently, however, low human capital levels greatly limit the productivity and employment outcomes of the population, as evidenced by the fact that a majority continues to work in subsistence agriculture, especially in rural areas. The Second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II (2007-2015, PRSP II) recognizes the need to focus on improving youth employment outcomes. It states that 'The Gambia has a problem of youth unemployment especially those that have limited skills. Consequently, a big proportion of the youth are part of the people categorized as poor in The Gambia. PRSP II will focus on the problem of youth unemployment through various approaches including supporting private sector investment that creates jobs for the youth, increasing access to productive assets particularly credit by the youth, and retooling and training the youth to increase their employability.'