In this issue:
1. On-line Resources on the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings 2000
2. September Feature: World Development Report 2000/2001 Urges Broader
Approach to Reducing Poverty
3. Voices of the Poor, Volume II: "Crying Out for Change": Final
Version Hot Off the Press
4. New Impact Evaluation Web Site
5. Poverty Dimensions of Fiscal Year 1999 World Bank Lending
6. Information and Communication Technology: A New Poverty Reduction
Strategy Sourcebook Chapter
7. Social Cohesion Nexus Newsletter
8. Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Poverty Briefings
Welcome to the twenty-third issue of the PovertyNet electronic newsletter from the World Bank! This newsletter provides an update of new resources about understanding and alleviating poverty available from PovertyNet, http://www.worldbank.org/poverty , and other web sites. You can read previous issues of this newsletter at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/newsl.
1. On-line Resources on the IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings 2000
This year's Annual Meetings of the joint World Bank-IMF Development Committee and the IMF's International Financial and Monetary Committee will take place in Prague September 26-28. If you want to know more about what is going to be discussed, visit the Annual Meetings 2000 official web site at http://www.imf.org/external/am/2000/prague.htm, the Development Committee web site at http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/dcs/devcom.nsf, and the Prague Briefing Center at http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/pb. For more information on those that oppose the Annual meetings, check out the protest organizers' web site at http://www.inpeg.org/homepage.htm.
2. September Feature: World Development Report 2000/2001 Urges Broader Approach to Reducing Poverty
The World Development Report 2000/2001 on "Attacking Poverty" was released on September 12, 2000. According to the report, major reductions in poverty are possible but achieving these will require a more comprehensive approach that directly addresses the needs of poor people in three areas: opportunity, empowerment, and security. The new study also adds that economic growth is crucial but often not sufficient to create conditions in which the world's poorest people can improve their lives.
The entire report is available on-line at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty/report/index.htm; for more on the WDR 2000/2001 see http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty/index.htm.
Note: To receive information on obtaining "World Development Report 2000/2001: Attacking Poverty" via email, send a message to povdocuments@forumone.com with http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty/report/mailback.pdf in the body.
3. Voices of the Poor, Volume II: "Crying Out for Change": Final Version Hot Off the Press:
"Crying Out for Change", the second volume in the three-part Voices of the Poor series, finds that voicelessness and powerlessness permeate poor people's experiences, making it difficult for them to escape poverty. The study is organized around ten interlocking dimensions of powerlessness and illbeing, including poor people's struggles with precarious livelihoods, illness, unequal gender relations and disempowering institutions; and it is based on small group discussions conducted in 1999 with 20,000 poor people from 23 countries.
See http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/voices/reports.htm#crying to read the final edition. To purchase the book from the World Bank, see http://www.worldbank.org/html/extpb/voices.htm.
Note: To receive information on obtaining the final version of "Crying Out for Change" via email, send a message to povdocuments@forumone.com with http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/voices/reports/crying/mailback.pdf in the body.
4. New Impact Evaluation Web Site
We are proud to announce the launch of a new Impact Evaluation web site on PovertyNet, at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/impact. The new site aims at disseminating information and providing resources for people and organizations working to assess and improve the effectiveness of projects and programs aimed at reducing poverty. Resources include an introductory section to impact evaluation concepts, at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/impact/overview/whatisie.htm, a section on impact evaluation methods and techniques, at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/impact/methods/designs.htm, a list of key readings and learning materials, at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/impact/resources/keyread.htm, and highlights of some of the recently completed and ongoing World Bank impact evaluation initiatives at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/impact/practice/introevl.htm.
Comments, suggestions, and requests for further information are welcome and may be addressed to impact_evaluation@worldbank.org.
5. Poverty Dimensions of Fiscal Year 1999 World Bank Lending
Virtually all World Bank activities have a bearing on poverty. The World Bank Poverty-focused Activities web site at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wbactivities/index.htm includes a subset of what the Bank does, namely poverty assessments, investment operations that are part of a program of targeted interventions, poverty-focused adjustment operations, and lending to selected sectors. The site has just been updated with overviews and data about the poverty dimensions of World Bank fiscal year 1999 lending. Fiscal year 2000 data will be posted shortly.
6. Information and Communication Technology: A New Poverty Reduction Strategy Sourcebook Chapter
Few would argue that lack of access to information and communications technologies (ICTs) is a dimension of poverty in the same way that insufficient nutrition or inadequate shelter are. But ICTs are seen as increasingly central in the effort to escape poverty: by providing access to information, they can create earnings opportunities, improve access to basic services, or increase the impact of education and health interventions. ICTs also have the potential of giving the poor a voice to demand government support and reform. The poor, however, have almost no access even to the most basic forms of ICT. Read a new chapter of the Poverty Reduction Sourcebook devoted to ICTs at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/strategies/sourctoc.htm.
Note: If you would like to receive the draft chapter on ICTs as an email attachment (a 242kb PDF file) send an email message to povdocuments@forumone.com with the following URL in the body of the email, http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/strategies/srcbook/ict0829.pdf. To receive information on obtaining all Sourcebook chapters via email, send a message to povdocuments@forumone.com with http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/strategies/mailback.pdf in the body.
7. Social Cohesion Nexus Newsletter
The Family Network of the Canadian Policy Research Network has recently launched the Social Cohesion Nexus newsletter, which will help researchers, policy makers, and interested members of the general public keep track of and further explore the concept of social cohesion.
To subscribe to the Social Cohesion Nexus newsletter, go to http://www.cprn.org/cprn-n.html.
8. Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Poverty Briefings
The ODI Poverty Briefings series, on-line at http://www.oneworld.org/odi/pubs98/poverty.html summarizes contemporary debate, insights and experience on ways of more effectively reaching and benefiting the poor. ODI is a British independent think-tank on international development and humanitarian issues.