Poverty Reduction that Works

This groundbreaking book tackles one of the most important issues in successful poverty reduction: Why do some local poverty reduction initiatives work while others fail? And why can some be replicated and scaled up to the national or wider level to achieve a massive impact and help millions escape the 'œpoverty trap'�? This book looks at twenty of the most innovative case studies of poverty reduction and MDG localization from 15 countries'”Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Paraguay, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam'”covering diverse issues ranging from housing and tourism to socio-economic empowerment of women to health insurance to markets for livestock produce. Many of the cases started as small-scale interventions by NGOs, donors or government pilots but now they are being scaled up to form part of national policy or replicated across their respective countries. Yet, why do some work while others do not? What are the obstacles and how can they be overcome? And what lessons and principles are there for replicating and scaling up poverty reduction initiatives worldwide? This book tackles these questions and more and presents a wealth of knowledge, evidence and ideas for all practitioners and researchers working to reduce poverty at the local level but who want to have a global impact. The authors all work at the United Nations Development Progamme Asia and Pacific Regional Centre in Colombo, Sri Lanka.