Poverty Focus in Middle Income Countries
Abstract
MICs are estimated to be home to approximately 140 million people living on less than $1 a day, and 600 million people living on less that $2 a day. However, the allocation of EU aid allocation across MICs is not highly correlated with measured levels of poverty. For instance six MICs, received in 2002 large volume of assistance from the EU, despite low measured levels of poverty. The correlation between aid allocations to MICs and poverty levels if higher for some EU donors than others, but in no case can it be said to be high.
The report consists of three main components. 3. Cross-country statistical analysis. This assesses whether EC and Member States' (MS) aid allocations are targeted on those MICs with greater proportions of poor people. 4. Detailed literature review. This identifies the special features of MICs compared to low-income countries (LICs), and their implications for the appropriate amount and form of development assistance. 5. Analysis of four case-study MICs: Brazil, the Philippines, Morocco, and South Africa. This will identify the main features of EC and MS Country Strategy Papers (CSPs) in those countries, the channels through which aid is thought to benefit poorer groups, and an analysis of the extent to which EU and MS aid commitments to each country, as reported in the Creditor Reporting System (CRS) of the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD, are sufficiently targeted on poorer groups. Based on the results of these research components, the report ends by providing an assessment of the extent to which, and how, EC and MS development assistance could be improved to better target the poor in MICs.
Citation
Poverty Focus in Middle Income Countries, Overseas Development Institute (ODI), London, UK, 45 pp.
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