Study suggests different approach to fight poverty
ANEW study argues that using a different approach to social protections by offering agricultural equipment or livestock and vocational training, on top of cash payments, to the extreme rural poor in Cambodia could not only reduce poverty, but boost the economy as well.
The United Nations Development Programme yesterday released the report, which used a unique formula developed by researchers to simulate the effects of offering the so-called “social protection graduation packages” to around one million extremely impoverished Cambodians.
Dr Stephanie Levy, with the London School of Economics and Political Science and one of the researchers, said the findings indicate that these services could enable the participants to permanently graduate from poverty, and no longer have to depend on social protections.
The study shows that the potential of applying the “graduation” approach in Cambodia is “substantial and promising”.
“Evidence from this research shows that there are unique benefits from the graduation approach, which combine a poverty impact with long-lasting economic effects at a scale that other interventions often fail to generate,” she said.
Richard Marshall, country economist for UNDP Cambodia, said these “packages tend to pay for themselves”.
How long it might take for the programs to reach the point on financial sustainability is unknown, but they are seen as a return on investment, measured by an increase in the GDP and agricultural productivity, Levy said.
“The simulation results also reveal that both poverty and economic growth impacts were likely to last beyond the programme implementation period,” the study reads.
Researchers say that there’s evidence that supports a growing recognition of this kind of approach as an effective tool to eradicate extreme poverty - something that traditional cash transfers programs alone might not be able to accomplish.
According to Maki Kato, Chief of Social Policy with Unicef Cambodia, however, “experiences of cash transfer programs implemented at large scale in other countries also demonstrate that if the program is designed properly . . . cash transfers can have a positive impact on human development outcomes”. She pointed to improved nutrition and overall health, school attendance and other outcomes.
“In the long run, this will also impact inclusive economic growth of the country,” Kato said.