UN

Sabina Alkire responds to the previous posts by Martin Ravallion and me on her new ‘Multidimensional Poverty Index’.

Martin Ravallion is Director of the World Bank’s research department, the Development Research Group. These are the views of the author, and need not reflect those of the World Bank.

Ask poor people what poverty is like, and they typically talk about fear, humiliation and ill health, at least as much as money. But can the non-income dimensions of poverty be measured in a way that allows policy makers to weigh priorities and allocate resources? If not, the danger (as often happens) is that decision makers and documents initially nod towards the many dimensions of poverty, but by paragraph two, you’re back in $ per day territory. And all too often, in policy terms, if it can’t be measured, it gets ignored.

One of the things undermining the effectiveness of the UN’s work on gender issues has been the lack of a single agency with responsibility for the subject. Now, after years of difficult negotiations, the U.N. General Assembly has voted to set up a body that will seek to improve the situation of women and girls around the world. The new body will be known officially as the U.N. Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women,  although thankfully officials say it will be referred to as U.N. Women (website here).

Last year Oxfam supporters called on the government to help make healthcare free in a number of developing countries. Ian Sullivan looks at the impact of this in Sierra Leone.

During the last eight weeks, while I’ve been in Niger, I’ve often been overwhelmed by the scale of the problems people face here. It’s not just the current food crisis and the number of people who are going hungry now but also the future and what this has in store.

The G8 summit has now drawn to a close and the Deerhurst resort in Muskoka will be getting back to normal. The world leaders flew back to Toronto by helicopter with Obama and Cameron flying together to start their bilateral meeting. Apparently Cameron and Merkel will be watching the England v Germany World Cup match together tomorrow and the press are invited can't imagine he'll look anything other than awkward!

International aid agency Oxfam welcomes the European Commission’s new aid package of 24 million euros (USD$30 million) for Niger and other countries in the Sahel region of Westread more

Agency reacts to renewal of the peacekeeping mandate

Each and every peacekeeper is still needed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, aid agency Oxfam said today (28 Mayread more

International aid agency Oxfam called for additional funding for the 2008 Cyclone Nargis survivors in Myanmar today, saying the upcoming monsoon season is posing a serious threat toread more