The Islamic Development Bank Institute (IsDBI) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) have launched a series of reports assessing multidimensional poverty in IsDB Member Countries. The launching took place during the 15th IsDB Global Forum on Islamic Finance held virtually on 28 August 2021, on the sidelines of the 2021 IsDB Group Annual Meeting.
Entitled “IsDBI – OPHI Briefs”, the series aims to explore multidimensional poverty in IsDB Member Countries and highlight the nuances of countries’ multidimensional poverty situations through a systematic analytical framework.
The Briefs are issued under an agreement signed in December 2020 by the IsDB Institute, on behalf of the IsDB, and OPHI to build and advance a more methodological and economic framework for reducing multidimensional poverty, grounded in people’s experiences and values.
The Briefs will go beyond assessing poverty through a monetary lens to offer a more comprehensive story of the different deprivations of people living in poverty. The aim is to provide data-driven evidence and contribute towards the formulation of well-targeted interventions and efficient mobilisation of resources to have a larger impact on the lives of poor people.
In a joint message on the issuance of the first brief in the series, IsDB Institute’s Acting Director-General, Dr Sami Al-Suwailem, and OPHI Director, Dr Sabina Alkire, said the brief “brings to light multidimensional poverty as experienced at the national and subnational levels, providing a basis by which IsDB country programmes and government policies can be crafted.
“The Brief highlights the nuances of countries’ multidimensional poverty situations through a systematic analytical framework, bringing out, for example, variations across sub-regions, between urban and rural populations, and across age groups.”
The first two Briefs in the series, released on 28 August, cover the potential relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and multidimensional poverty in the various regional groupings. They also track and emphasise the success stories of Bangladesh, Gambia, Mauritania, and Sierra Leone, which made exemplary progress in reducing multidimensional poverty.
The series will provide policymakers and development institutions with useful information on the nature and extent of poverty and vulnerability while motivating them that reducing poverty remains possible, despite high initial levels of poverty and other challenges.
