Poverty in a Rising Africa

Poverty in a Rising Africa PDF

Author: Kathleen Beegle

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2016-03-10

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13: 1464807248

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Perceptions of Africa have changed dramatically. Viewed as a continent of wars, famines and entrenched poverty in the late 1990s, there is now a focus on “Africa rising†? and an “African 21st century.†? Two decades of unprecedented economic growth in Africa should have brought substantial improvements in well-being. Whether or not they did, remains unclear given the poor quality of the data, the nature of the growth process (especially the role of natural resources), conflicts that affect part of the region, and high population growth. Poverty in a Rising Africa documents the data challenges and systematically reviews the evidence on poverty from monetary and nonmonetary perspectives, as well as a focus on dimensions of inequality. Chapter 1 maps out the availability and quality of the data needed to track monetary poverty, reflects on the governance and political processes that underpin the current situation with respect to data production, and describes some approaches to addressing the data gaps. Chapter 2 evaluates the robustness of the estimates of poverty in Africa. It concludes that poverty reduction in Africa may be slightly greater than traditional estimates suggest, although even the most optimistic estimates of poverty reduction imply that more people lived in poverty in 2012 than in 1990. A broad-stroke profile of poverty and trends in poverty in the region is presented. Chapter 3 broadens the view of poverty by considering nonmonetary dimensions of well-being, such as education, health, and freedom, using Sen's (1985) capabilities and functioning approach. While progress has been made in a number of these areas, levels remain stubbornly low. Chapter 4 reviews the evidence on inequality in Africa. It looks not only at patterns of monetary inequality in Africa but also other dimensions, including inequality of opportunity, intergenerational mobility in occupation and education, and extreme wealth in Africa.

Social and Poverty Analysis in Conflict-Affected Countries

Social and Poverty Analysis in Conflict-Affected Countries PDF

Author: Vincent Fruchart

Publisher:

Published: 2011-03

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9780821376430

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Violent conflict adds daunting challenges to social and economic analysis in poor countries: weak data, difficult access, fluid demographics, unsettled social patterns, insecurity, and political sensitivity. 'Social and Poverty Analysis in Conflict-Affected Countries' examines the interplay of violent conflict, poverty, and social dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa. It discusses qualitative and quantitative tools and presents case studies that shed new light on how violent conflicts disrupt lives, derail development, distort societal relations, and sow the seeds of new conflicts. With insights from recent studies of the economic causes of civil war, this volume focuses on how violent conflict leads to new forms of poverty, chronic deprivation, and fragile situations. It is a valuable resource for development practitioners, academic researchers, and government officials in fragile and conflict-affected countries.

Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa

Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa PDF

Author: Kathleen Beegle

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2019-10-09

Total Pages: 451

ISBN-13: 1464812330

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Sub-Saharan Africa's turnaround over the past couple of decades has been dramatic. After many years in decline, the continent's economy picked up in the mid-1990s. Along with this macroeconomic growth, people became healthier, many more youngsters attended schools, and the rate of extreme poverty declined from 54 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015. Political and social freedoms expanded, and gender equality advanced. Conflict in the region also subsided, although it still claims thousands of civilian lives in some countries and still drives pressing numbers of displaced persons. Despite Africa’s widespread economic and social welfare accomplishments, the region’s challenges remain daunting: Economic growth has slowed in recent years. Poverty rates in many countries are the highest in the world. And notably, the number of poor in Africa is rising because of population growth. From a global perspective, the biggest concentration of poverty has shifted from South Asia to Africa. Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa explores critical policy entry points to address the demographic, societal, and political drivers of poverty; improve income-earning opportunities both on and off the farm; and better mobilize resources for the poor. It looks beyond macroeconomic stability and growth—critical yet insufficient components of these objectives—to ask what more could be done and where policy makers should focus their attention to speed up poverty reduction. The pro-poor policy agenda advanced in this volume requires not only economic growth where the poor work and live, but also mitigation of the many risks to which African households are exposed. As such, this report takes a "jobs" lens to its task. It focuses squarely on the productivity and livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable—that is, what it will take to increase their earnings. Finally, it presents a road map for financing the poverty and development agenda.

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018

Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018 PDF

Author: World Bank

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2018-12-10

Total Pages: 198

ISBN-13: 1464813604

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The World Bank Group has two overarching goals: End extreme poverty by 2030 and promote shared prosperity by boosting the incomes of the bottom 40 percent of the population in each economy. As this year’s Poverty and Shared Prosperity report documents, the world continues to make progress toward these goals. In 2015, approximately one-tenth of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty, and the incomes of the bottom 40 percent rose in 77 percent of economies studied. But success cannot be taken for granted. Poverty remains high in Sub- Saharan Africa, as well as in fragile and conflict-affected states. At the same time, most of the world’s poor now live in middle-income countries, which tend to have higher national poverty lines. This year’s report tracks poverty comparisons at two higher poverty thresholds—$3.20 and $5.50 per day—which are typical of standards in lower- and upper-middle-income countries. In addition, the report introduces a societal poverty line based on each economy’s median income or consumption. Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2018: Piecing Together the Poverty Puzzle also recognizes that poverty is not only about income and consumption—and it introduces a multidimensional poverty measure that adds other factors, such as access to education, electricity, drinking water, and sanitation. It also explores how inequality within households could affect the global profile of the poor. All these additional pieces enrich our understanding of the poverty puzzle, bringing us closer to solving it. For more information, please visit worldbank.org/PSP

State Fragility and Resilience in sub-Saharan Africa

State Fragility and Resilience in sub-Saharan Africa PDF

Author: John Idriss Lahai

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-02-18

Total Pages: 235

ISBN-13: 1000025594

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This book focuses on the indicators of fragility and the resilience of state-led interventions to address them in sub-Saharan Africa. It analyzes the ‘figure’ of fragile states as the unit the analysis and situates the study of fragility, governance and political adaptation within contemporary global and local political, economic and socio-cultural contexts. The chapters offer an indispensable, econometrically informed guide to better understanding issues that have an impact on fragility in governance and nation-building and affect policy-making and program design targeting institutions in various circumstances. These issues, as they relate to the indicators of fragility, are the contexts and correlates of armed conflicts on statehood and state fragility, the poverty-trap, pandemics and household food insecurity, and child labor. Case studies from across 46 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries are assessed to offer clear, broad and multidisciplinary views of what the future holds for them and the international donor communities at large. Regarding state-led interventions, the authors utilize insightful statistical methods and epistemologies to explain the correlates of behavioral language frames and conflict de-escalation on battle-related deaths across the conflict zones within the sub-region, the regional and country-level interventions to end child labor, the institutional frameworks and interventions in the advancement of food security and health. This book will be of interest to scholars of economics, development, politics in developing countries, Area and African Studies, peace, conflict and security studies.

Development Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa and Post-conflict Countries

Development Challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa and Post-conflict Countries PDF

Author: United Nations. Economic and Social Council. Committee for Development Policy. Session

Publisher: United Nations Publications

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13:

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Far from the widespread hope for peace and harmony at the end of the Cold War, over one hundred armed conflicts have taken place since 1989 in sub-Saharan Africa. The present report contains the main findings and recommendations of the seventh session of the Committee for Development Policy. The Committee addressed the ways to achieve the internationally agreed development goals; reconstruction, development and sustainable peace in post-conflict countries; and improvements in the criteria for the identification of the least developed countries.

Decentralisation in Africa

Decentralisation in Africa PDF

Author: Gordon Crawford

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 9053569340

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'Decentralisation in Afrika' is een sobere beoordeling van wat decentralisatie precies kan bereiken. Decentralisatie van overheden in Afrikaanse landen en elders in de derde wereld krijgt de laatste tijd een impuls, vaak gedreven door Multilaterale en bilaterale instanties (de 'donoren'). Maar worden de voordelen hiervan wel gerealiseerd? In dit boek worden vraagtekens gezet bij de kwestie of decentralisatie wel een gunstige uitweg biedt voor de armoede en het conflict in Afrika.

Democratic Peace

Democratic Peace PDF

Author: Cage Banseka

Publisher: Universal-Publishers

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 116

ISBN-13: 1581122519

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This text marks a little milestone in the understanding of the democratic peace theory in transitional states. It brings in a much needed perspective on the achievements and limitations of democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the role it plays or could play in the search for solutions to conflicts in the sub-region. The author provides a differentiated view of the traditional Western notions of democracy and its role in the search for political stability and nation-building. A series of fragile democratic developments in contemporary politics in the continent have set in processes of change in governance patterns and understandings about the idea of a nation state. However, these processes have been unable to stem the tide of conflicts that continue to raise their bloody heads in the continent. The author takes a critical look at the reasons for this limitation, while probing into the necessity for alternative ways of thinking about the causes and solutions to the conflicts. This text offers students and researchers a quick glance at the sources of conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa and an assessment of the implications of attempting to use democracy alone as a solution.

The Economic Consequences of Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa

The Economic Consequences of Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa PDF

Author: Xiangming Fang

Publisher: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND

Published: 2020-10-30

Total Pages: 29

ISBN-13: 9781513559667

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Sub-Saharan Africa has been marred by conflicts during the past several decades. While the intensity of conflicts in recent years is lower than that observed in the 1990s, the region remains prone to conflicts, with around 30 percent of the countries affected in 2019. In addition to immeasurable human suffering, conflicts impose large economic costs. On average, annual growth in countries in intense conflicts is about 2.5 percentage points lower, and the cumulative impact on per capita GDP increases over time. Furthermore, conflicts pose significant strains on countries’ public finances, lowering revenue, raising military spending, and shifting resources away from development and social spending.