• The case for focusing on the very poor

The case for focusing on the very poor

This Powerpoint presentation, produced by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre, explores the issues surrounding basic services for the severely poor (those who are far below a poverty line) and the chronically poor (those below a poverty line for all or much of their lives). It asks who and where are the poorest people in the world, what are their social characteristics, why is service delivery important for them, why they don’t get services, and what can be done to improve the situation. Examples are given from Bangladesh, rural Nepal, Thailand, and India.

Considering what can be done to improve services for the poorest, the presentation identifies three overarching issues: creating knowledge about service delivery that benefits the poorest; increasing financing of basic services for the poor and poorest by rich countries; and fostering socio-political change to achieve social inclusion. Specific lessons include that: much of pro-poor policy generally will be good for the poorest; geographical targeting can be used; social protection and livelihood promotion can be linked; services can be packaged for the poorest, as in the Progresa project in Mexico; and user-charge exemption fees can target the poorest.

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