(11 May 2010) International and national experts will examine proposals for measuring poverty in the region from a multidimensional perspective during a seminar at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) in Santiago on 13-14 May.
The International Seminar "Multidimensional poverty measurement in Latin America" will analyze approaches and methodologies for measuring poverty that go beyond considering merely income levels and study their empirical application in several countries.
The seminar is organized by ECLAC, the Ministry of Planning and Cooperation of Chile (Mideplan), the Foundation for Overcoming Poverty (FSP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
Measuring and characterizing poverty appropriately is crucial to designing effective public policies to address it. In Latin America, the "poor" have been traditionally defined as those whose income is not enough to satisfy their basic needs.
In recent years there has been increasing interest in measuring poverty from a multidimensional perspective that takes into account not only the lack of resources, but also deprivations in other areas of human life, including non-material ones, like the deprivation of capabilities, loss of freedom and lack of access to fundamental rights.
The seminar will be inaugurated on Thursday, 13 May at 9 a.m. by ECLAC Executive Secretary Alicia Bárcena, Mideplan Minister Felipe Kast, OPHI Director Sabina Alkire and FSP President Rodrigo Jordán.
Speakers include James Foster, of George Washington University, Conchita D'Ambrosio, of the University of Milán, and ECLAC experts on social development and statistics.
The media is welcome to attend the seminar.
Raúl Prebisch Conference Room, ECLAC headquarters.
Av. Dag Hammarskjöld 3477, Vitacura, Santiago - Chile.
For enquiries, please contact ECLAC's Public Information and Web Services Section. Email: dpisantiago@cepal.org; telephone: (56-2) 210-2040/2149.
