Philippines : Poverty Assessment, Volume 2. Methodology

Abstract

This report is intended as an input into
 the Philippine Government's poverty eradication
 strategy. The report aims to update our understanding of the
 nature of poverty and the recent progress in poverty
 reduction in the Philippines. It examines the extent to
 which growth in the nineties has translated into poverty
 reduction and analyzes how well publicly-provided social
 services reach the poor and whether redistributive policies
 attain their objectives. The report also focuses on the
 social impact of the recent financial/El Nino crises and
 explores policies to reduce vulnerability in the
 Philippines. The report comprises two volumes. The main
 volume starts with a summary of the profile of the poor and
 trends in poverty. It then proposes a framework for
 attacking poverty built on three pillars: 1) promoting
 opportunity for poor people through generating broad-based
 growth and building up the assets of the poor; 2) enhancing
 security of poor people through reducing vulnerability and
 helping the poor manage risks; and 3) facilitating
 empowerment of poor people to ensure accountable
 institutions. Finally, the main report examines the
 information base for pro-poor policies and offers
 suggestions for future work. The second volume provides the
 detailed analytical basis for many of the findings presented
 in the main report.