Participatory Poverty Assessment: incorporating poor people's perspectives into poverty assessment work

This paper makes the case for conducting Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) and sets out a methodology for conducting them. PPAs have the following principal elements: a poverty profile (which analyses the depth, social and cultural nature, gender disparities and geographic spread of poverty); a review of current government policies relating to poverty; an overview of NGOs and community-based organisations working towards the alleviation of poverty; an analysis of the safety nets (both government programs and sociocultural mechanisms) in place; and, based on the above, a suggested country strategy of priority measures the government should take to reduce poverty. The section on methodology discusses interviews, focus groups, participant observation, institutional assessment, mapping, ranking and triangulation as important techniques. The paper concludes with a timetable for setting up and conducting a PPA.