Poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa CALS Impact Statement

This project examines the demographic aspects of poverty reduction in developing countries. Poverty reduction is the cornerstone of current development efforts by the World Bank and the United Nations (UN). Under the aegis of the Millennium Development project, development institutions seek to halve the current poverty rates by the year 2015.

Much of the scientific work guiding existing policy interventions has been carried out by economists and there is a growing need at the World Bank to incorporate insights from other disciplines including sociology and demography. I have been contacted by the World Bank`s Poverty Reduction Unit to draft a series of four papers that outline the conceptual and empirical insights of demography to the understanding of poverty reduction in developing countries.

I began with a draft of a conceptual paper, which summarizes the main demographic processes that are likely to affect efforts to reduce poverty. This concept paper combines ideas from demography, economics and sociology. The papers were presented to the World Bank, with a series of discussions in from December 2005 through late 2006. Based in part on this work, I have been invited by private foundations or non-governmental organizations to guide new research funding in this area of research.
Now I am doing some empirical research based on these previous discussions. The work will be included in special volumes that will guide the Bank`s work in combating poverty.

This work will add to what is already known about ways to fight poverty. If well done, this work can make a difference in four areas, (a) guiding investments in secondary versus higher education, (2) understanding and strengthening the informal safety nets that many African societies rely upon in assisting the poor; (3) understanding the effects of family planning programs, and (4) evaluating how much international migration and remittances make a difference.

Overview