Lessons Learnt and New Opportunities

Message from Dr. John J. Otim, Senior Advisor to President Museveni of Uganda
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A global conference on “ Taking Action for the World’s Poor and Hungry People” organized jointly by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and the Government of China has just ended in Beijing with a call on new types of [...]

Participant Reactions: Tom Arnold

Tom Arnold, Chief Executive Officer, Concern Worldwide
“The ultra poor are a category that need particular policy interventions…and building on that insight and working out the policy implications of that is of crucial importance.”

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Putting a Spotlight on “Invisible” Groups

Marginalized people—disabled people, women, minorities, and indigenous peoples—are among those who are most entrenched in poverty, but they often don’t show up in poverty statistics and analysis. Frances Stewart pointed out that discrimination based on group identity reduces people’s well-being (it has been associated with depression, for instance), leads to inefficiency, is highly associated with [...]

Ban Ki-Moon: “The proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day has fallen”

Message from UN Secretary-General delivered by Mr. Khalid Malik, UN Resident Coordinator in China
I am delighted to send warm greetings to all participants in this conference on “Taking Action for the World’s Poor and Hungry People”. I commend the organizers for addressing this theme as we work to step up our efforts to reach the [...]

Microfinance Programs Help Poorest of the Poor

At the parallel session, “Creating and Enhancing Assets of the Rural Poor,” Fazle Abed, founder and chairperson, BRAC, Bangladesh highlighted his 30 years of experience with microfinance programs. BRAC was started with a $30,000 USD grant, and funding has expanded as the programs have had great success. As the conference is [...]

Opening Ceremony Panel Takes Stock of Progress, Challenges for Reducing Poverty and Hunger

Khalid Malik, reading a statement on behalf of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, declared “(o)ur global scorecard is mixed. The proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day has fallen, and we remain on track to meet the MDG target of halving extreme poverty. But progress has been uneven, and some regions [...]