WRITTEN QUESTION E-1927/00

by Fernando Fernández Martín (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(16 June 2000)

Subject: Fight against poverty in the developing world

Given the diverse criteria employed by the various international bodies involved in the fight against poverty in the developing countries and the need to establish uniform criteria in order to make combating poverty more effective, will the Commission say what it understands by the term poverty and what criteria it uses to measure it, so as to enable an assessment to be made of the implementation of Community programmes?

Answer given by Mr Nielson on behalf of the Commission

(27 July 2000)

The definition of poverty has evolved significantly over the years. The Commission has adopted a broad definition of poverty in line with the international debate. Poverty cannot be defined merely as the lack of income or the level of consumption; it includes deprivation of basic capabilities and encompasses non-monetary factors, like lack of access to social services and to all forms of capital. Data collected at household level, for example, do not reveal inequality within the household. The Commission, therefore, does not see the poverty line of USD 1 a day as the only measure of poverty.

It also involves social and political participation, especially for women. On the government side, it involves political responsibility, accountability, good governance and democracy. Reducing poverty therefore implies addressing political, economic, social, environmental and institutional dimensions.

All these elements are present, for example, in the newly concluded EU-ACP partnership agreement, in a coherent framework.

The implementation of the Community strategy will be made, taking into account these elements, in terms of resources allocated to each developing country, of targeting programmes on the poorest groups of population, and of mainstreaming poverty concerns into the different programmes.

The poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) of the World Bank will also give the Community with the Member States the opportunity to focus its programmes on poverty reduction. Several participatory poverty assessments have already been launched by the Community and other donors.

This will also provide an effective tool for improving complementarity between donors. Such complementarity should lead, at the level of each beneficiary country, to a division of tasks between the multilateral and bilateral donors. It would facilitate an accelerated move towards sector-wide approaches.

Intermediary indicators, based on the development assistance committee (DAC) international objectives, will be determined, country by country, with the main objectives of access to basic social services, enabling men and women to achieve sustainable livelihoods, promoting social protection and supporting social integration.

An estimate of the impact of Community aid on poverty is not possible for the time being. The Commission is launching with Eurostat a programme in a few countries directed at improving poverty measurements on the basis of a study already done by the Commission.

Indicators commonly used by all donors, for measurement in a given period of time and for a given country, are, for example, for health: attendance rates at health centres, essential basic vaccination rates, level of user satisfaction, costs of basic services; and for education: gross enrolment rates for boys and girls, success rates for boys and girls at primary school leaving examination, number of books per pupil, and cost of schooling.