Egypt stresses need for national indicator to eradicate poverty
A national indicator of multidimensional poverty should be formulated that reflects the Egyptian situation, based on realistic data and accurate indicators, according to Deputy Minister of Planning And Economic Development Ahmed Kamali.
He was speaking during a remote technical session attended by the working group of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), represented by Khaled Abu Ismail, and representatives from UNICEF and Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics to discuss the formulation of the multidimensional poverty index (MPI) in Egypt. Kamali highlighted the cooperation between international bodies and efforts made over recent months to eradicate poverty.
The ESCWA team gave a presentation on how to use the MPI Assist Tool (MAT) to present the results in a simplified manner to decision-makers, which would also facilitate the process of measuring the MPI for countries.
This session marked the conclusion of a number of meetings and workshops that started during November 2020 between the Egyptian Ministry of Planning and Economic Development’s task force, ESCWA, and the Oxford University’s Poverty and Development Initiative Humanity’s task force.
The meetings discussed ways to measure the MPI in Egypt and the factors affecting the formulation of this indicator, as well as relying on it in formulating policies related to combating poverty.
‘A national indicator of multidimensional poverty should be formulated that reflects the Egyptian situation, based on realistic data and accurate indicators.’