“Sustainable and Targeted Poverty Solutions: Using the Multidimensional Poverty Index”

High-Level Side Meeting at the UN General Assembly

Conference Room 2, UN Headquarters, New York
24th September 2024, 11:00 – 13:00 (New York)

 

 

Eradicating poverty in all its dimensions is the greatest global challenge, threatening and jeopardising sustainable development for all, with a greater impact on the most vulnerable. The Political Declaration of the 2023 UN General Assembly restated the vital importance of accelerating progress to reduce poverty in all its forms, prioritizing those experiencing interconnected deprivations and reversing widening inequalities.

Member countries and agencies have taken action by implementing and using multidimensional poverty indices to guide effective policies that make a significant shift in the fight against poverty. This commitment has seen the rise in permanent official Multidimensional Poverty Indices (MPIs) that make visible the interconnected deprivations in multiple SDG indicators experienced by the poorest members of society, such as health, education, work, living standards and social protection. Official national MPIs are increasingly used for targeting, for shaping integrated policies and social protection packages, and for coordinating whole of government efforts to end poverty. Bespoke national Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) are complemented by the UNDP-OPHI global MPI and by regional MPIs that serve to compare poverty levels and trends across countries. Both national and comparable MPIs serve as a tool that can target poverty reduction efforts as well as identify and celebrate locations of strongest progress.

This high-level side meeting, co-hosted by the Federal Republic of Somalia and the MPPN, will bring together global leaders, senior government officials and international organisations. The countries and institutions represented will include Egypt, Dominican Republic, Mauritania, Somalia and the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM).

The event offers platform for leaders to share their experiences and commitments to using MPIs to accelerate poverty reduction and inform and develop innovative policy actions, especially in the wake of the pandemic, and given the uncertainties that are endemic to current times, plus fiscal constraints. It will underscore the significance of political leadership in achieving these goals during this crucial time. The time has come to end poverty hand-in-hand with strategies that address social needs and guarantee well-being for all.

This event addresses a fast-growing community of practice at a time of heightened innovation. Already 84 countries report against SDG indicator 1.2.2 on multidimensional poverty, and 43 countries home to 3 billion people report national MPIs as this indicator with over 20 countries shortly to report. Existing National MPIs are disaggregated by 7,222 subnational units to track progress and tailor policy to precise needs, so that no one is left behind. While country experiences vary greatly, most official MPIs are used as a diagnostic tool to reveal who is poor, in what way, and to what degree, as a monitoring tool and to shape policy. This session offers space for creative exchange of experiences, experiments, and challenges. In addition, some countries have also developed multidimensional well-being measures, such as Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Index. These measures use the same methodology as the MPI and provide information on the overall well-being of society across a wider range of valuable dimensions.

 

Agenda

Opening Remarks: Sabina Alkire, OPHI Director

Leadership Panel:

• Yussuf Hassan Isaak, Director General of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, Somalia on behalf of Minister Mohamed Elmi Ibrahim
• E. John Briceño, Prime Minister of Belize
• Michelle Muschett, UN Assistant Secretary-General & Director of the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean
• José Wellington Barroso de Araújo Dias, Minister of Social Development, Brazil
• Sidi Ahmed Ould Bouh, Minister of Economy and Finance, Mauritania
• Javiera Toro Cáceres, Minister of Social Development and Family, Chile
• Lyonpo D. N. Dhungyel, Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Royal Government of Bhutan
• Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Egypt
• Marie-Céline Zialor, Minister for Youth, Sports and Family of Seychelles
• Beatriz Carles de Arango, Minister of Social Development, Panama
• Obeth Kandjoze, Director General of the National Planning Commission of Namibia
• Pável Ernesto Isa Contreras, Minister of Economics, Planning and Development, Dominican Republic
• Yanchun Zhang, Chief Statistician, United Nations Development Programme on behalf of Achim Steiner, Administrator of United Nations Development Programme
• Augustino Ting Mayai, Statistician General, National Bureau of Statistics of South Sudan, on behalf of the Minister Marial Dongrin Ater, Minister of Finance and Planning
• Fatima Haram Acyl, Deputy Minister of Economy, Planning and International Affairs, Chad
• Alejandra Botero Barco, Planning and Development Impact Manager, CAF Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean
• Betilde Muñoz-Pogossian, Director of the Department of Social Inclusion at the Organization of American States (OAS)

 

Interventions from the floor:

• Hon Ambassador Marie-Antoinette Rose Quatre, Chief Executive Officer, Africa Peer Review Mechanism
• Jamie Coats, CEO of Wise Responder
• Ana María Marín Morales, OPHI Global Engagement and Events Manager, on behalf of the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network
• James Foster, Professor of Economics and International Affairs at The Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University

 

Closing Remarks: Sabina Alkire, OPHI Director

 

Format

This high-level event will have the form of a dynamic discussion between senior government officials, and high-level representatives from international organisations. The discussion will have an eminent panel of speakers and will be moderated by Dr. Sabina Alkire, Director, Dr Ricardo Nogales, Senior Researcher and Ana Maria Marin Morales, Global Engagement and Events Manager at the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

 

*Note on registration

Please note all attendees, both UN Ground Pass holders that require a secondary ticket and non-UN Ground Pass Holders should collect the ticket for this event at 46th St and 3rd Ave tomorrow (24th September) from 9:30 – 10:30. The pass collection inside the UN Headquarters is no longer available.

A member of our team, with a banner of the event (see banner here), will have your ticket ready and will be able to escort your through the 46th St gate / 2nd Ave checkpoint to the 27th St gate entrance.