Panama and the Dominican Republic presented their National MPIs

Photo: David Alvarez Veloso

Panama and Dominican Republic presented their new Multidimensional Poverty Indices as a complement to their income poverty measure and as a tool for improved social policy and targeting of resources. Both governments have worked with OPHI in the development of their MPI.

The Government of Panama launched its new official measure of poverty on the 26^th of June, in a formal ceremony presided by the President of Panama, Juan Carlos Varela. Also present were, among other dignitaries, the Minister of Social Development, Alcibíades Vásquez Velásquez and the Director of OPHI, Sabina Alkire. The Panama MPI consists of 5 dimensions and 17 indicators. The National Statistics Office gathered the data, a technical team did the analysis, and the Ministry of Social Development, led by Vice Minister Michelle Muschett, acting also as Technical Secretary to the Social Cabinet of Panama, spearheaded the year-long effort.

The Government of the Dominican Republic launched its MPI on the 27^th of June in an official ceremony led by the Vice President of the country, Margarita Cedeño Fernández and attended by a number of Government Ministers and Sabina Alkire, Director of OPHI. The Dominican Republic MPI also has 5 dimensions, but with 24 indicators. Among them are the digital divide, discrimination and participation—all highly innovative. The data comes from a new instrument, the MPI Questionnaire, designed specifically to capture the different dimensions that had been identified through a participatory process.

Both measures help to identify the multiple dimensions of poverty that batter peoples lives at the same time. Their individual measures give each government information that can be used for more effective and efficient social policy and allow better governance of poverty resources.