Enhanced Country Poverty Assesment Programme Launched
Across the Caribbean, policymakers rely heavily on the availability of timely, accurate and reliable poverty data to support national and regional development initiatives. Despite making considerable progress on how they measure poverty, many countries in the Region do not frequently update or report on key poverty indicators, and are not able to assess the non-income dimensions of poverty and human development.
On Tuesday, July 26, 2016 the OECS Commission and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) launched the Enhanced Country Poverty Assesment Programme. The 5-year Enhanced Country Poverty Assessment (ECPA) programme is designed to provide OECS Member States with relevant and comparable data on labour, poverty and living conditions, using harmonised methodologies, standards and systems. CDB is supporting the Programme in the OECS through a total investment of USD 2.7 million. It will be conducted over a five-year period.
The Programme will enhance the capacity of the participating OECS Member States to conduct multidimensional poverty assessments. Multidimensional poverty measurement considers how poor people experience poverty which goes beyond income considerations, and takes into account other deprivations—of education, health, housing, empowerment, personal security, and more. Through the Programme, some countries will either adopt multidimensional poverty measurement as stand-alone studies or integrate it into existing national surveys.
The OECS Member States to recieve support from the Enhanced CPA Programme include: Anguilla; Antigua and Barbuda; the British Virgin Islands; Dominica; Grenada; Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.