What Works for the Poorest?

Poverty reduction has become the central goal of development policies over the last decade but there is a growing realization that the poorest people rarely benefit from poverty reduction programs. Microfinance programs can help poor people improve their lives but generally do not reach the extremely poor and the chronic poor: casual laborers in remote rural areas, ethnic and indigenous minorities, older people, widows, migrants, bonded laborers and others. To counter this, governments, NGOs and donors have started to mount programs explicitly targeting the poorest. This book is the first attempt to examine such initiatives and identify what works for the poorest. It asks the questions: What are the characteristics of extreme poverty? How can we target the very poor? How can we ensure that women are not excluded? Through a set of carefully selected and well-integrated papers, this book analyzes innovative ultra-poor programs from around the world and explores the lessons that emerge from this new and important body of knowledge. What Works for the Poorest?should be read by staff of donor agencies and NGOs, students of development studies and interested readers who are concerned about chronic poverty.

David Lawson is Lecturer in Development Economics, Institute for Development Policy and Management University of Manchester. He specializes in poverty dynamics in African countries. David Hulme is Professor of Development Studies and founder-Director of the Chronic Poverty Research Centre and the Brooks world Poverty Institute, School of Environment and Development, University of Manchester. Imran Matin is Research Director and Africa Programme Director, BRAC, Bangladesh. He has worked for the World Bank and specializes in designing and managing ultra-poor programmes in Bangladesh, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. Karen Moore is Policy Analyst with the Education for All Global Monitoring Report team, UNESCO.