Other Poverty Study

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    Inequality in Southern Africa: An Assessment of the Southern African Customs Union
    (Washington, DC, 2022) World Bank
    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.
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    COVID-19 Impact Monitoring: Malawi, Round 5
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-01) World Bank
    In May 2020, the National Statistical Office (NSO), with support from the World Bank, launched the High-Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19, (coronavirus) which tracks the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic on a monthly basis for a period of 12 months. The survey aimed to recontact the entire sample of households that had been interviewed during the Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) 2019 round and that had a phone number for at least one household member or a reference individual. This report presents the findings from the fifth round of the survey that was conducted during the period of October 29 - November 16, 2020.
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    COVID-19 Impact Monitoring: Nigeria, Round 7-8
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-12-21) National Bureau of Statistics ; World Bank
    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 (COVID-19 NLPS). This brief presents findings from the seventh and eighth rounds of this survey which was conducted between November 7-23, 2020 and December 5-21, 2020 respectively.
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    Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Households in South Sudan, Report No. 1: Results from a High-Frequency Phone Survey of Households
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10-22) Finn, Arden ; von der Goltz, Jan ; Fatima, Freeha ; Nichanametla Ramasubbaiah, Rakesh Gupta
    There is an urgent need for timely data to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and protect the welfare of the South Sudanese citizens. To respond to this need, the World Bank designed and conducted a rapid phone-based Household Monitoring Survey (HMS). This brief summarizes the results of the first round of the HMS, implemented between June 9 and June 25, 2020.
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    COVID-19 Impact Monitoring the the Household Level: Burkina Faso, Bulletin No. 2
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-10) World Bank
    This note presents the results of the second round of a nationally representative telephone survey (HFPS). Data collection took place between July 20 and August 14, 2020. The 1,968 households that were successfully interviewed during the first round were called and 1,860 (94.5 percent of the 1,968) were interviewed with success in the second round. In addition, 242 additional household were sampled in the rural strata during the second round, in order to increase representativeness in this area. Of the 242 households in the sample, 177 households (73.14 percent of 242 attempts) were contacted and interviewed successfully. The entire sample of the second round includes 2,037 households. For this second round, the questionnaire includes two key modules that were already administered in the first pass, namely, access to food and basic services (health, education, etc.), and employment and income. Four new modules are added, covering the following themes : food security, shocks, fragility, conflict and violence.
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    COVID-19 Impact Monitoring: Nigeria, Round 5
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-09-21) National Bureau of Statistics ; World Bank
    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 fifth round of this survey which was conducted between September 7 and 21, 2020.
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    COVID-19 Impact Monitoring: Nigeria, Round 3
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-07) World Bank
    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 (coronavirus) 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 third round of this survey which was conducted between July 6 and 20, 2020.
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    How Much Will Poverty Rise in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2020?
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-05) Montes, Jose ; Silwal, Ani ; Newhouse, David ; Chen, Frances ; Swindle, Rachel ; Tian, Siwei
    The ongoing coronavirus pandemic is expected to drastically slow 2020 GDP per capita growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by about 5 percentage points compared to pre-pandemic forecasts. This note presents results from an analysis of a comprehensive database of surveys from 45 of 48 SSA countries to examine the effects of the project fall in growth on poverty in the region. An additional 26 million people in SSA, and as much as 58 million, may fall into extreme poverty defined by the international poverty line of 1.90 US Dollars per day in 2011 PPP. The poverty rate for SSA will likely increase more than two percentage points, setting back poverty reduction in the region by about 5 years.
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    Is the Sudan Cash Transfer Program Benefiting the Poor? Evidence from the Latest Household Survey
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-03) Etang Ndip, Alvin ; Hassan, Fareed ; Osman, Eiman
    The objective of this note is to assess the extent to which the CT program is benefiting intended poor households and the appropriateness of the benefit level under the current inflation situation for poverty reduction. This assessment is needed now more than ever as the impending reforms will require having an appropriate system in place for social safety net delivery for the poor and vulnerable. If CT programs are to reach and aid the poor, then ensuring a correlation between poverty and program beneficiaries must be prioritized. Are current beneficiaries of the Sudan CT program, poor households? If targeting is weak, and the answer to the question is no, then scaling up the existing CT program may not achieve its poverty reduction objective. The note proceeds as follows. Section two presents an overview of Sudan’s CT program, including background details, targeting approach used, the number of beneficiaries and the cash transfer amount. Section three shows the extent to which the CT program is benefiting intended poor households based on evidence from the latest household survey data. Section four evaluates the value of the cash transfer, proposing a correct amount required to lift households out of poverty. Section five concludes this note, and additionally, proposes a number of policy recommendations.
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    Informing Durable Solutions for Internal Displacement in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan: Country Case Studies
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-04-18) World Bank Group
    Understanding forced displacement and developing effective solutions requires closing several critical gaps in the data. With forced displacement rising worldwide, the body of work on displacement is growing rapidly. Data on internally displaced persons (IDPs) are particularly problematic, as the distinction between IDPs and internal migrants are not consistent across countries, and as the presence and number of IDPs is often politicized. While efforts have been made to create standardized frameworks for collecting quantitative data on forced displacement, important data gaps persist. This study helps to close data gaps by using micro-level data to profile IDPs. The report uses micro-data, defined as individual and household-level data that is collected directly through personal interviews. Comprehensive micro-data surveys cover IDP populations in four countries in Sub Saharan Africa: Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan. The micro-data surveys represent IDPs, refugees, and non-displaced populations. The analysis is guided by the durable solutions indicator framework while the policy insights focus on overcoming displacement-induced vulnerability. The analysis examines the demographic structure of IDP and resident populations and draws on reasons triggering displacement.