mechanism is individual or family characteristics. Some characteristics are closely associated with poverty and suggest the types of assistance, which would mainly benefit the poor. Nearly all households, that draw their water from wells are poor. Other housing characteristics closely associated with poverty include the use of latrines and the absence of household lighting or sanitation facilities.

The magnitude and seriousness of the poverty in Pará call for the active participation of all resources, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs). NGOs have several strengths. They can mobilize and utilize substantial levels of resources, and they are also able to reach underserved populations effectively. NGOs are a strong constituency for the promotion of poverty alleviation goals and programs. There are many NGOs in Pará covering different fields, sectors and areas of the state. One NGO worth of mentioning is _Saude-Alegria_ in Santarém working with _Riberinho_ communities on reducing infant mortality, hunger, and other health related issues.

NGOs also have some weaknesses. They are often vulnerable and have difficulty formulating policy proposals. Collaboration with the government is constrained by real and perceived barriers. The dispersion of government responsibilities over a broad range of state agencies makes NGO entry difficult. Also, NGOs differ as to their management and administrative capacities. Some government agencies view NGOs as competitors instead of potential executing agencies. Mistrust hinders collaboration. The government should establish clear and efficient mechanisms for NGO collaboration. Emerging NGO consortia provide one mechanism, which should be explored for fostering greater coordination, dialogue, and joint planning with the government.

# **7.  Poverty Correlates**

The previous sections examine the disparities in key assets between poor and non-poor. This section takes the analysis a step further and analyzes the relative importance of these and other correlates of poverty in a multivariate setting, and investigates the marginal impact of each individual attribute on the likelihood of a household falling below the indigence poverty line, taking into account other characteristics. The section analyses the impact of experience, labor market association, different levels of education, etc. on the likelihood of being poor for: (1) urban and rural dwellers in Pará, and (2) urban Pará and urban Brazil as a whole. Given the way the regression model is specified, findings reveal when impacts for: (1) rural dwellers are different from impacts for Pará as a whole, and (2) urban Pará is different from urban Brazil as a whole. The status of the household—poor or non-poor—is regressed on relevant individual and household characteristics using the probit-regression technique. The analysis presented in this section is based on the Census 2000 data and PNAD 2001.

The analysis of poverty correlates reveals a conditional correlation between poverty and characteristics of household heads and indicates groups that are particularly vulnerable. The probability of a household being poor is analyzed based on relevant individual and household characteristics. The main conclusion emerging from the analysis is that disparities in assets – education and labor – are indeed strongly correlated with poverty in Pará.

Other poverty studies for Brazil as a whole such as Ferreira, Lanjouw, and Neri (1998), show that in 1996 education was the central personal attribute determining the 44