Editorial – Dimensiones 4

The latest global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) update, which analysed 103 countries, reveals a shocking fact: half of the people living in multidimensional poverty are children. By disaggregating information by age, the MPI demonstrates that life for young people is extremely fragile.

This statistic calls for urgent action from the international community. The MPI can be a key tool for supporting action as it allows governments and other actors to monitor poverty over time and to assign resources to those most in need. This is already happening in some countries. In this edition, we explore the case of Costa Rica, where the MPI is being used to define social sector budgets. We also speak with Ana Helena Chacón, Vice President of Costa Rica, who stresses the need to involve the private sector in the fight against poverty.

Recently, Panama and the Dominican Republic launched their national MPIs. In this issue we introduce a new column that will offer first-hand accounts of how multidimensional measures are implemented. In this month’s inaugural column, Michelle Muschett, the Vice Minister of Social Development of Panama, writes about the key aspects of her country’s process of establishing a national MPI.

Publicizing a new way of measuring poverty is a challenge. A short article in this issue outlines a workshop in Colombia that was designed to teach media editors about the concepts and results of multidimensional poverty measurement. This course has also been offered in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Panama.

Finally, in this issue we present a new feature to complement our Data of the Month section in which we share the stories of people living in multidimensional poverty around the world in order to illuminate the situation of those most in need and reveal the human lives behind the data.

We invite you to read Dimensions.

 

 

*Original in Spanish. Translated by Alexander Cavan, United Nations Volunteer. Revised by Diego Zavaleta and Ann Barham.