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OAS Publishes Compendium on Experiences and Lessons Learned in the Measurement of Multidimensional Poverty in the Americas

The Organization of American States (OAS), through its Inter-American Committee on Social Development (CIDES), presents the "Compendium on experiences and lessons learned in the measurement of multidimensional poverty in the Americas," an innovative tool that promotes the exchange of knowledge to close technical capacity gaps in the design and implementation of strategies to measure and address the multiple dimensions of poverty, appropriate to each local context.

The Compendium highlights common aspects among countries in the region in their efforts to reduce poverty in all its forms and dimensions, among which the following promising practices stand out:

• Transparency
• Coordination of actors
• Constant monitoring
• Availability of quality information
• Regulatory framework
• Communication of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI)

The main recommendations addressed in the compendium are:
• Establish poverty reduction in all its forms and dimensions as a shared priority among all the countries of the Americas.
• Strengthen the capacities of decision-makers so that they are aware of the potential offered by the MPI to guide public policy actions to fight poverty, which are efficient and adequately coordinated.
• Strengthen institutional mechanisms to constantly update the MPI and really use it as a public policy tool.
• Institutionalize multidimensional poverty measures to give them greater stability and promote the continuity of efforts.
• To provide more opportunities to discuss the experiences, both good and bad, of the different countries.

The compendium was prepared by a CIDES Working Group of the OAS called "Multidimensional poverty measurements and the design of public policies aimed at guaranteeing well-being and enjoyment of a good quality of life." This Working Group is made up of Mexico, Canada, Guatemala and Paraguay and aims to strengthen national processes for the creation, implementation and applicability of multidimensional poverty measurements. In addition, this unpublished publication has contributions from the Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) of the University of Oxford, through technical staff: senior policy advisor Michelle Muschett and research associate Ricardo Nogales.

The compendium has been built collaboratively through inputs provided by the 14 participating OAS member states (Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grenada, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Peru, Panama, Paraguay and the Dominican Republic), who shared how multidimensional poverty is measured in their countries, how these measurements translate into the improvement of their public policies, and what challenges they have face and what lessons they have learned in the process of building and implementing these measurements. The compendium was developed thanks to the technical support of the Department of Social Inclusion of the OAS Secretariat for Access to Rights and Equity.

The compendium is available here in Spanish and here in English.

Reference: E-076/22