Plan Co-Hosts Launch of 2008 Chronic Poverty Report

Strong action must be taken to tackle chronic poverty

Gathered in Brussels’ International Press Centre, only a stone’s throw away from the seat of the European Commission, representatives of the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) called upon donors, NGOs and the press to focus more on the critical issue of chronic poverty which is key to understanding poverty and elaborating efficient poverty reduction strategies. Compiled by the CPRC, an international partnership of universities, research institutes and NGOs, the 2008 Chronic Poverty Report is meant to provide policy-makers and development actors with a detailed analysis of chronic poverty’s root causes and intricacies. Moreover it aims at sensitizing all development actors to the fact that « despite the emergence of global frameworks for reducing poverty, there is a distinct danger that the chronically poor are left behind ».

An eye-opener on the state of chronic poverty

Organised on 17 July 2008 at the initiative of the CPRC, Plan and several other international NGOs, the launch of the report was attended by a mixed audience. Chairing the launch, Plan UK Board Member Angela Penrose insisted on the importance of analyzing and documenting chronic poverty to be able to better combat it. Ms. Penrose congratulated the CPRC for the good combination of scientific methodology, macro and micro perspectives as well as concrete exemples contained in the report, which make it useful for decision-makers but still accessible to the general public. Ms. Penrose commented that while being an alarming eye-opener on the state of chronic poverty in the world, the report also conveyed a message of hope as it proposed credible solutions to this grave problem.

Chronic poverty is not a fatality

In order to combat chronic poverty, the report advises to prioritize social protection and public services for the hard to reach. It also calls for policies and legislation suppressing discriminations, favouring gender empowerment, allowing the building of individual and collective assets as well as planning strategic urbanisation and migration. Dr. Shepherd, Director of the CPRC and coordinator of the report, insisted on the fact that in most societies plagued by chronic poverty, there was a need for a just social compact which would combine policies in all these fields and make the chronically poor feel more included. While acknowledging the positive effects of mass schooling and appreciating the efforts made in this field in several countries, Dr. Shepherd explained that primary schooling was unsufficient to fight poverty effectively. « Chronic poverty can be eradicated in my lifetime », he concluded, « if courageous and appropriate policies are implemented, that is ».

Plan welcomes the Report

Welcoming the findings of the report, Ms. Deepali Sood, Head of Plan’s EU Office commented, « the Chronic Poverty Report is a very useful source of inspiration for our advocacy work here in Brussels but also for our work in the field. It is a great satisfaction for us to see that the findings of this collaborative report made by researchers from both North and South present the fulfilment of human rights, access to education and gender empowerment as essential factors in the eradication of chronic poverty. »

Download the full report here (164 pages, 5 Mb)
http://www.chronicpoverty.org/pubfiles/CPR2_whole_report.pdf 

Download the summary here (12 pages, 1.47 Mb)
http://www.chronicpoverty.org/pubfiles/Summary_web_version.pdf