On Tuesday 8 July ‘The Chronic Poverty Report 2008-09: Escaping Poverty Traps’ was officially launched at The Foreign Press Association, London in association with the UK Parliament’s International Development Select Committe.
The report identifies five main traps that underpin chronic poverty: insecure environments; lack of political voice; disadvantage of location, which can also apply to an entire country; social discrimination; and limited work opportunities.
A map, representing countries by the numbers of people living on less than a dollar a day, shows where these traps are most acute. The report also tells the story of the lives of seven chronically poor people in countries from Bangladesh to Zimbabwe.
The presentation of the report in London brought together a panel of speakers included Malcolm Bruce MP, Chair of the International Select Committee on Development; Salil Shetty, Director of the UN Millennium Development Goals Campaign; Tony Addison, Chronic Poverty Research Centre; Margaret Kakande, Ministry of Finance, Uganda; Simon Maxwell, Director, ODI. The launch was attended by representatives of bilateral and multilateral agencies, research institutions, non-governmental organisations, and representatives from developing country governments.
Anyone who would like a paper copy of the report can address an email to cprc@manchester.ac.uk or alternatively download the electronic version from the CPRC website
Comments on The Chronic Poverty Report 2008-09:
“Once again, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre have issued a timely reminder that chronic poverty is a global emergency that we cannot afford to ignore. World leaders, NGOs, faith groups, the private sector and civil society as a whole must heed this warning as we work together to achieve the Millenium Development Goals by 2015. The report reminds us that alleviating chronic poverty is not merely a question of economics. It is a moral imperative”
Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, UK Prime Minister
“No person should live without hope: their loss is a loss for us all. We must go forward together, and this report shows us how.”
John Sulston, Nobel Laureate
“This is cutting edge thinking, seeking to match rigorous analysis of the causes of chronic poverty with both the politics and the policies required to address it. An invaluable contribution to the global effort to eradicate poverty, and reshape aid practices to support the combination of active citizenship and effective states that lies at the heart of development.”
Duncan Green, Head of Research, Oxfam
