CPRC report reveals

Desk Report

Up to 30 million people of Bangladesh live in chronic poverty and have not benefited from economic growth, economists said Thursday at the launch of The Chronic Poverty Report 2008-09 by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC).

Various reasons including bias in poverty mapping and disproportionate resource allocation by the government, donors and NGOs were behind the phenomenon, according to the report.
 
"Growth is helping reduce poverty in Bangladesh. However, 25 to 30 million people are trapped in poverty and have not been benefited from the country's economic growth," said co-author of the report Prof David Hulme of CPRC and the Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester at BRAC auditorium.
 
Hulme made the remark at the South Asia launch of the study in the city's BRAC Centre Inn.
 
The study finds that up to 400 million people across the world are trapped in chronic poverty.
 
"They are poor and their children will remain poor unless there are big changes," he said.
 
Prof Tony Addison of the CPRC, Prof Atiur Rahman of Samunnay, Prof Baqui Khalily of Institute of Microfinance and Dr Sajjad Zohir of Economic Research Group spoke among others at the launching ceremony organised by the BRAC Development Institute.
 
Speakers focused on the need for a proper mapping and study of the chronic poor and introduce policies to assist them.
 
It was agreed that engaging politicians in poverty reduction strategies implementation process was an important tool to poverty alleviation.
 
They also said the educated and the middle class should push the government into helping the extreme poor.
 
Economist Sajjad Zohir said that biases in poverty mapping exercise and resource allocations by the government, donors and NGOs had resulted in the worsening of poverty in the southern coastal belt.
 
"It came as a surprise that none of the important actors registered any awareness of the problem," said the ERG executive director citing a study conducted by the research organisation.
 
Regional allocation had been biased and needed immediate revisions, he added.
 
Atiur Rahman of Samunnay said that people in various parts of the country such as the chars lived in chronic poverty.
 
"We need to work to reduce poverty in our own interests. Otherwise, the country's overall welfare will remain neglected."
 
Independent monitoring was essential for assessing implementations of poverty reduction initiative, said Rahman.

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