Photo: ©UNICEFAfghanistan/2019/Fazel
Afghanistan launches its first national MPI
In March, Afghanistan launched its first official national Multidimensional Poverty Index (A-MPI). The results show that more than half of the population (51.7%) are multidimensionally poor, of whom 58% are children under 18. Among the nomadic Kuchi population, 89% are multidimensional poor and in rural areas 61.1% live in multidimensional poverty.
The A-MPI uses innovations including indicators for gendered education, and new indicators for employment and security. On average, Afghanistan’s multidimensionally poor are deprived in 52.5% of the 18 weighted indicators, which are grouped under five dimensions: Health, Education, Living Standards, Work and Shocks. The indicators for school attendance, assisted delivery for mothers and food security showed the greatest levels of deprivation.
The A-MPI complements the traditional measurement of monetary poverty: while 36.3% of Afghans are both income and multidimensionally poor, results show that 18.2% are income poor only and 15.4% are multidimensionally poor only, at risk of being left behind without the support of integrated policies.
The A-MPI was developed by the Afghanistan National Statistics and Information Authority (NSIA) in collaboration with OPHI, with funding from UNICEF. It is an official permanent statistic of multidimensional poverty which links evidence with policy to improve policy design, budget allocation and monitoring, and to support the Afghanistan National Peace and Development Framework (ANPDF) 2017–21.
Read more here.
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Introducing sOPHIa! Groundbreaking spinout launched to help businesses fight poverty
The University of Oxford’s first social enterprise spinout, sOPHIa Oxford, launched in March. sOPHIa Oxford will provide businesses with tools to measure and respond to poverty amongst their employees, contractors, and elsewhere in their supply chains. Building upon the work and experience of OPHI, sOPHIa Oxford aims to expand the use of multidimensional poverty measurement to the private sector.
sOPHIa Oxford has an exclusive worldwide licence for the Business Multidimensional Poverty Index (bMPI). The licence was developed by OPHI in partnership with the business association Horizonte Positivo, which has pioneered the implementation of the bMPI in Costa Rica. The first company in Costa Rica to make use of the bMPI, BAC Credomatic, used the platform in 2017 to reveal that 12% of its employees were living in poverty. The bank has subsequently rolled out a series of initiatives to help its employees. In Costa Rica, Horizonte Positivo has already successfully implemented the bMPI with 42 businesses.
sOPHIa Oxford was created by OPHI with the support of the Oxford Department of International Development and the University’s innovation arm, Oxford University Innovation (OUI).
Read more here.
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Dasho Tshering Tobgay (Photo: Greg Smolonski | Photovibe, for OPHI)
Bhutan discusses Gross National Happiness in Oxford
On 9 January OPHI hosted an afternoon of two Distinguished Public Lectures on Bhutan, by the former Prime Minister of Bhutan, His Excellency Dasho Tshering Tobgay, and the President of the Centre for Bhutan Studies and Gross National Happiness, Dasho Karma Ura. The event was part of the inaugural conference of the International Society of Bhutan Studies (ISBS) which promotes academic exchange between Bhutanese and foreign scholars. His Excellency Dasho Tshering Tobgay shared his reflections on what makes Bhutan ‘special, different, unique, extraordinary’. Dasho Dr Karma Ura spoke about Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index with comments afterwards by Martine Durand, Chief Statistician at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and James Foster, Professor of Economics and International Affairs at George Washington University and Research Associate at OPHI.
Videos and more here.
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Photo: Felipe Roa-Clavijo | OPHI
Side Event at 50th United Nations Statistical Commission
On 5 March, OPHI and the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN) hosted a well-attended side event at the 50th United Nations Statistical Commission in New York. Chaired by the Statistician-General of Statistics South Africa, Risenga Maluleke, Heads of Statistics from 17 countries spoke and discussed progress and issues with developing and implementing multidimensional poverty measures to reduce poverty and encourage policies that leave no one behind in the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Read more here.
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Photo: Panama Ministry of Social Development
OPHI in Panama
On 25-29 March the Panama Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) hosted a training in ‘Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis’ with support from UNDP-Panama. A total number of 38 participants from 14 Latin American and Caribbean countries came to understand and learn about the Alkire-Foster method and its use for academic research and policy advice. The training took place entirely in Spanish and was led by OPHI’s team of instructors: Fedora Carbajal, Corinne Mitchell, Ricardo Nogales and Monica Pinilla-Roncancio.
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Christian Oldiges and Monica Pinilla-Roncancio (Photo: Private collection)
OPHI staff news
We are delighted to congratulate several members of the OPHI team on their new appointments. Both Monica Pinilla-Roncancio and Christian Oldiges have been appointed Co-Directors of Metrics and Policy. Sophie Scharlin-Pettee and Fanni Kovesdi have been appointed MPI Data Analysts and Supervisors. Maya Evans has also joined the team as Research Communications Officer.
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Usha Kanagaratnam (Photo: Maarit Kivilo | OPHI)
OPHI Awards
OPHI is proud to announce that three members of its team have been recognized by the University of Oxford with awards of recognition for their outstanding performance over the past year. They are: Usha Kanagaratnam for leading the revision of the Global MPI, which she formally presented in September 2018 with the senior leadership of UNDP; Corinne Mitchell for her work on writing the global MPI report; and Cristina Hernandez for administering complex funding and contractual arrangements. OPHI thanks them for their work and for their exceptional commitment.
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Dimensions No. 6
This new issue features an interview with the former President of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, a special section on the 2018 global MPI, an article on multidimensional poverty in Germany by Nicolai Suppa, and an article on two key aspects to tackle poverty by John Hammock.
Read more here.
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