Editorial – Dimensions 10

How can the COVID-19 pandemic be tackled when there are limited resources? This issue of Dimensions is aimed at trying to answer this question.

In the interview that opens this issue, Sabina Alkire gives us some guidelines for dealing with the pandemic, and calls for taking this moment of crisis as an opportunity to distribute resources better and reduce poverty in all of its aspects.

Luis F. López Calva analyses the impact of COVID-19 in Latin America, a region middle-income region but not a middle-class society, where the majority of the population is vulnerable to falling into poverty in the face of this shock. Therefore, identifying those who are in a vulnerable situation will be fundamental to mitigating the effects of COVID-19.

How can we identify vulnerable populations? Multidimensional indicators can be an effective tool for addressing the pandemic, as is shown by the variety of country examples we publish in this issue. Countries are using the MPI and the multidimensional vulnerability indices to detect those populations that are at the greatest disadvantage, which allows for the creation of effective and evidence-based public policies. Here, we highlight two cases in depth: Afghanistan and Colombia.

We also appeal not to neglect the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the SDGs. In their article, Gonzalo Hérnandez-Licona and Mónica Pinilla-Roncancio maintain that today it is more important than ever for countries to focus on the SDGs using a multidimensional approach.

And we must do this together. Networks are fundamental to creating better and informed solutions, as Gonzalo Hernández-Licona and Felipe Roa-Clavijo argue in their article. The Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN) is sharing ideas and experiences through a series of activities. You are all invited to participate in them.

OPHI and UNDP have just published the 2020 global MPI data, showing progress in multidimensional poverty reduction over the last few years. However, that progress is at risk due to the pandemic.

We invite you to read Dimensions, a new perspective for understanding poverty.

Carolina Moreno, editor.

 

This article was published in Dimensions 10.