Technology and Global Development
15-502
Instructors:
M. Bernardine Dias and Yonina Cooper
TA: Aysha Siddique
Spring 2009
Lecture 5
Capacity Building I
Outline
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Logistics
Guest lecture
Measuring poverty
Poverty in Qatar
Capacity building
Your assignments for
next class
Logistics
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New student(s)
Any questions/comments?
Research assignment reminder
2 new assignments
Guest Lecture
Measuring Poverty II
Measuring Poverty
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To compute a poverty measure, three
ingredients are needed:
1. One has to define the relevant welfare measure.
2. One has to select a poverty line – that is a
threshold below which a given household or
individual will be classified as poor.
3. One has to select a poverty indicator– which is
used for reporting for the population as a whole
or for a population sub-group only.
www.worldbank.org/poverty/
Welfare Measure
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There are qualitative and quantitative measures
Most efforts focus on monetary dimensions of well-being
Consumption vs. income as a poverty indicator
Adjustments:
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differences in needs between households and
intra-household inequalities
differences in prices across regions and at different points in time
input and investment expenditure
missing price and quantity information
rationing
under-reporting
Non-monetary dimensions of poverty: health poverty,
education poverty, etc.
Composite indices
www.worldbank.org/poverty/
Subjective perceptions
Poverty Line
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Relative poverty lines
Absolute poverty lines
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Food-energy intake method
Cost of basic needs method
Other methods are possible
Ultimately, the choice is somewhat arbitrary
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Must resonate with social norms for acceptance
Common understanding of what represents a minimum
Stability and consistence important for comparisons
over time
Qualitative data can also be useful
www.worldbank.org/poverty/
Poverty Indicators
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The poverty measure itself is a statistical function which translates the
comparison of the indicator of well being and the poverty line which
is made for each household into one aggregate number for the
population as a whole or a population sub-group.
Many alternative measures exist but following 3 measures are most
commonly used:
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Incidence of poverty (headcount index)
Depth of poverty (poverty gap)
Poverty severity (squared poverty gap)
Depth and severity might be particularly important for the evaluation
of programs and policies.
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A program might be very effective at reducing the number of poor (the
incidence of poverty) but might do so only by lifting those who were
those closest to the poverty line out of poverty (low impact on the
poverty gap).
Other interventions might better address the situation of the very poor
but have a low impact on the overall incidence (if it brings the very
poor closer to the poverty line but not above it).
www.worldbank.org/poverty/
What are GDP and PPP?
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GDP
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Gross Domestic Product
Total cost of all finished goods and services produced
within the country in a stipulated period of time (usually
a 365-day year)
GDP = consumption + gross investment + government spending
+ (exports − imports)
PPP
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Purchasing Power Parity
Uses the long-term equilibrium exchange rate of two
currencies to equalize their purchasing power
Equalizes the purchasing power of different currencies
in their home countries for a given basket of goods
HDR Indicators
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Human Development Index (HDI) value
Life expectancy at birth (years) 2005
Adult literacy rate (% aged 15 and above) 1995-2005
Combined gross enrolment ratio for primary, secondary and
tertiary education (%) 2005
GDP per capita (PPP US$)
Life expectancy index
Education index
GDP index
GDP per capita (PPP US$) rank minus HDI rank
http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_20072008_Tech_Note_1.pdf
Problem Solving
• Identify the problem
• Understand the problem
– Start with the big picture
– Drill down for details
– Different perspectives?
• Potentially decompose the problem
into smaller parts
– Always keep in mind how the component
problems relate to the larger one
• Identify the requirements and
constraints of the problem
• Define your role in solving the problem
• Design a solution
– Research related work
– Don’t reinvent the wheel
• Test and validate the solution
• Deploy the solution
Poverty in Qatar
Qatar MDGs
http://www.gsdp.gov.qa/portal/page/portal/GSDP_Vision_Root/GSDP_EN/GSDP_News/GSDP%20News%20Files/MDG_2REPORT_EN.pdf
Dialog on Poverty Prevention
in Qatar
http://www.gsdp.gov.qa/portal/page/portal/GSDP_Vision_Root/GSDP_EN/GSDP_News/GSDP%20News%20File
s/Poverty%20Prevention%20Seminar%20Summary_FinalReport.pdf
Capacity Building I
Video Discussion
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What were some of the problems with the way water was supplied to the
villagers at the beginning of film?
How was clean water brought to the village?
What problems (and for whom) arose with this solution?
Why did this solution fail?
Who initiated finding out why the project failed (i.e. why the pumps were
not repaired)?
What were the problems? Why was there no resolution to these problems?
Who initiated a possible solution to broken pumps in Ayole? What were the
attitudes (initially) of the workers sent in to facilitate helping the villagers
have clean water? What were the attitudes of the villagers?
Identify the stakeholders in the second solution. What was the role of each?
Why was this solution successful?
What were other benefits resulting (than clean water) from this solution?
CBPR
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Community Based Participatory Research
Not just a set of methodologies, but an attitude or
approach to working in developing communities
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Humility
Respect for the community’s knowledge and
ways of knowing
CBPR is reflexive, flexible, and iterative, not rigid
and linear
Focus on “knowledge for action” rather than
“knowledge for understanding”
Shifts location of power from researcher to
community (hopefully power becomes
equally dispersed)
Principles of CBPR
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Truly collaborative—all parties equal
Research is relevant to community
Direct benefits will be seen, hopefully in the
form of social change
Enhances capacity of participants
Everybody learns
Knowledge is disseminated within community
Community members receive credit for work
Steps taken to ensure that research is “ethical”
Modes of Participation
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Contractual - people are contracted into the
researcher’s project
Consultative - people are asked for their
opinions
Collaborative - researchers and local people
work together on projects designed, initiated, and
managed by researchers
Collegiate - researchers and local people work
together as colleagues with different skills to
offer, in a process of mutual learning where local
people have control over the process
Difficulties of CBPR
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CBPR is very hard to do well, especially under
time and resource constraints in the communities
you will be working in
Also may be seen by the organization that
contracted you as unnecessary because they
already “know” the solution to the problem
Must get Institutional Review Board (IRB)
approval for any research that involves “human
subjects” (people).
Potential Pitfalls
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Vapor-Participation: The CBPR methods are
done mechanically without the attitude of
participation such that you merely do what you
planned to do in the first place
CBPR can become a feel-good exercise that has
no practical value
CBPR can reproduce existing power relations
Marginalized peoples are not necessarily
empowered to speak their minds
Towards CBPR
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Decide to work collegially
Network to build partnerships
Look for “hybrids” or cultural translators
Work with existing organizations
– Community organizations
– Government agencies
– NGOs
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Take building relationships seriously
Other References
• 15502 lecture slides from 2006 and 2007 –
jointly prepared by Rahul Tongia, Joe
Mertz, Jay Aronson, and Bernardine Dias
• Most images are from TechBridgeWorld
(www.techbridgeworld.org)
Media Assignment
Campaign Assignment
What Next?
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More about capacity building
Media Assignment
Campaign Assignment
Reading/viewing assignments:
– Due Thursday
• Read pp 117-123 of “Banker to the Poor” by Muhammad
Yunus (available on reserve at the library)
• Turn in research assignment before midnight
– Preparation questions on all reading and viewing
assignments are available on the course website in the
“assignments” section.
• Special note: first do the reading/viewing and then look at the
questions and come prepared to discuss them in class.