OPHI Director in Pakistan ~ Associated Press

14th Dec 2011, Associated Press Pakistan

Keynote Speaker, Dr Sabina Alkire of the Oxford University’s Poverty and Human Development Initiative said the measurement of poverty needs to take into account multi-faceted nature of deprivations faced by the poor.
She shared the salient findings of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2011 with particular reference to South Asia, which was earlier launched by the UNDP Human Development Report Office. Read more

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Middle-income countries leave their poorest behind ~ Reuters

7th Dec 2011, by Alex Whiting, Reuters Alert Net

The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is the first international measure to look at the intensity of poverty – the number of deprivations that each person faces at the same time. “The MPI reveals some dramatic disparities in the rates and intensity of poverty within countries, usually hidden by national averages. Hopefully, these findings will help policymakers to focus on delivering some benefits of growth to the poorest.” Jose Manuel Roche, research officer at OPHI, said. Read more

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Gap between rich and poor is still growing, study finds ~ The Independent

7th Dec 2011, by Nina Lakhani, The Independent

The Oxford University study, analysed data from 109 countries with a combined population of 5.3 billion – 72 per cent of the planet’s total and found “startlingly wide” disparities within some nations. Read more

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Igual de desiguales ~ or “Equally unequal”

10th September 2011, Igual de desiguales (“Equally unequal”)

Colombia’s influential magazine Semana has written on the new Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI-Colombia), launched by the country’s President, Juan Manuel Santos, in August 2011. Developed using an innovative adaptation of a technique for measuring poverty and wellbeing created by OPHI, the MPI-Colombia is tied to firm targets to close the country’s poverty gaps. Read more.

The groundbreaking new measure was also covered by Reuters (AlertNet) “Colombia adopts new poverty index measure” and by Jonathan Glennie in the UK’s Guardian newspaper “Colombia’s new index to measure poverty merits a cautious welcome“. Corrections to some factual errors in the piece appear below in the comments section.

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Why we need new measures of progress

19th May 2011, by Sabina Alkire, OPHI Director in The Economist

Sabina Alkire, OPHI’s Director, has contributed to an Economist online debate on the need for new measures of economic and social progress. Joining the discussion begun by Richard Layard and Paul Ormerod, her post puts forward OPHI’s view of why new – multidimensional – measures of wellbeing are not only necessary, but also long overdue. The comment is on the right-hand side of the page – just scroll down a little to see it: Economist Happiness debate.

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Two OPHI publications in top 10 reads for 2010

22nd December, by Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Staff, Development Horizons by Lawrence Haddad

Sabina Alkire and Emma Maria Santos “Acute Multidimensional Poverty: A New Index for Developing Countries,” OPHI Working Paper 38, is described by Keetie Roelen as ‘mindboggling’. Martin Greeley in turn lists Sabina Alkire’s OPHI Working Paper 36 “Human Development: Definitions, Critiques, and Related Concepts” (Development Research Paper 2010/01) as one of the top reads for the year. Read more

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Happiness is a key indicator, but it’s not the only one

7th December 2010, by Sabina Alkire, The Guardian

Sabina Alkire’s article engages on the current debate on the formulation of a UK Happiness Index. Happiness, she says, is a key indicator but it’s not the only one. A serious measure of well-being would also need to include health, education and other factors. Read more

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Good ideas for bad times

1st December 2010, by Charles Kenny, New America Foundation

In what sometimes looked like the worst of times, it was actually the best of times for ideas — and these ideas will shape how the world recovers in the years to come. This year produced a serious contender, the Multidimensional Poverty Index developed by Sabina Alkire, Maria Emma Santos, and James Foster for the UNDP. Read more

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The Foreign Policy’s Top 100 Global Thinkers

29th November 2010, Foreign Policy

Foreign Policy presents a unique portrait of 2010′s global marketplace of ideas and the thinkers who make them. OPHI Director Sabina Alkire has been listed as one of the top 100 thinkers for her work on multidimensional poverty. Read more

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Poverty is about more than a lack of money

5 November 2010, The Globe and Mail, by Rohinton Medhora

When is the person with more money poorer than the person with less money? This isn’t an ancient Greek riddle or the beginning of an African folk tale. It’s a question the United Nations Development Program has tried to answer in this year’s Human Development Report, released Thursday. In trying to understand what being poor really means, the report uses a new index that Canada helped create – the Multidimensional Poverty Index – to gather data on 10 indicators, ranging from child mortality and nutrition levels to years of schooling and access to electricity, clean water and proper flooring. Read more

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OPHI Director interviewed by The Economist

30 July 2010, The Economist

Sabina Alkire on poverty indexes. The director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative discusses a new tool to measure poverty. Listen to audio interview with Sabina Alkire. See also Economist article ‘Many headed beast.’

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Oxford economists draw up poverty meter

2 July 2010, Financial Times, by Jude Webber

Economists have quarrelled for centuries about the true definition of wealth. Perhaps a more pertinent question, in these globally troubled times as more people risk sliding into poverty, is the one they are asking now: what is the best measure of poverty? Read more

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