Context
Eradicating poverty and reducing inequality are core objectives of German development cooperation. Considerable advances have been made worldwide in past years – for instance, extreme income poverty has been halved across the globe since 1990. However, in 2015, around 700 million people still had to live on less than 1.90 US dollars per day. In addition, 1.6 billion people live in multidimensional poverty. That means they have either insufficient access to education, health care and necessary basic services such as energy and water, or none at all.
A multidimensional understanding is a preliminary condition for putting poverty and inequality in the right context. Higher per capita income levels alone do not automatically result in improvements to other dimensions of poverty, for example education or health care. Increased average income levels likewise do not inevitably lead to a reduction in inequality. The income gap in many countries has even widened over the past years. Inequality, like poverty, has many dimensions. It encompasses economic factors such as income, access to education and health care, political empowerment and participation, and socio-cultural factors such as status and dignity. Vulnerability in the face of natural disasters is also unevenly distributed. The individual dimensions are mutually dependent – educational inequalities, for instance, cause greater income inequality and vice versa.
This changing environment presents international cooperation with new challenges. Ending extreme poverty as well as reducing inequality within and among countries were included as goals under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Their importance is also reflected in the overarching vision of the agenda, namely to leave no one behind.
Objective
An improved framework is in place facilitating German development cooperation efforts to eradicate poverty effectively and reduce inequality, in the context of realising the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Approach
The sector project advises the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on implementing the cross-sectoral strategy on poverty reduction. Since 2015, the focus of the advisory support has been on realising the 2030 Agenda, particularly with regard to eradicating extreme poverty (Goal 1), reducing inequality within and among countries (Goal 10), as well as the (key) principle of leaving no one behind. In addition, instruments such as country and sector strategies are being adapted and the poverty markers are being revised. Furthermore, the project offers advisory and training services for key German development cooperation actors to equip them with expertise for the implementation of activities.
The sector project is working together with other development cooperation projects and specialised institutions to continue developing approaches for reducing poverty and inequality. It is examining the interaction between inequality and poverty, and is devoting particular attention to investigating how people living in absolute poverty can be better reached in the future. By way of example the project is collating experience gained in innovative areas on the basis of studies and pilot measures. It is advising BMZ on how to improve its international networking and positioning on these topics in order to help shape the corresponding international dialogue. Multidimensiononal poverty measurement is one priority area of the cooperation with international actors.
Results
New instruments and approaches can help to increase the effectiveness of development cooperation projects with a view to eradicating poverty and reducing inequality. To this end, a country study was conducted on how German development cooperation is contributing to reducing inequality in Morocco, and a more in-depth study based on the example of Indonesia is in preparation. The aim is to compile these experiences, taking into consideration the political conditions, and to make these available to BMZ as well as other development cooperation projects.
An international conference was hosted with over 70 participants from 15 countries. Representatives from academia and the scientific community, policy-makers and practitioners discussed the importance of inequality in terms of the future orientation of development cooperation. In workshops the participants drew up sectoral and cross-sectoral recommendations for action. These included placing greater focus on marginalised population groups, improving relevant international frameworks related to trade, taxation and migration, and promoting dialogue between policy-makers and the scientific community.
The sector project maintains a successful cooperative relationship with the international Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN), which facilitates exchange among decision-makers from over 40 partner countries on the Multidimensional Poverty Index. National multidimensional poverty measurements enable more effective focusing of public policies and programmes on the needs of poor segments of the population.