These are a list of articles published in external media.

Ending Chronic Poverty by 2030: What is Required for Implementation?

This post was originally published on The Povertist.

Do we ‘still’ have 15 years to 2030? No. We have ‘only’ 15 years. In order to eliminate extreme poverty, we need to take immediate actions to tackle chronic poverty. What are the potential challenges? How can they be overcome?

For the past decade, policy makers and researchers have paid great attention to pro-poor growth, focusing in particular on what types of growth would decrease poverty. With the post-2015 era approaching and with smaller poverty headcounts compared to the past, debates surrounding poverty have started seriously considering the elimination of extreme poverty in the coming decades, rather than just its decrease.

The paradigm shift from reduction to elimination requires future growth to be aware of whose poverty counts. High growth and consumption increases are likely to benefit many of the poor, but what of the chronic poor who structurally remain in long-term poverty. The chronic poor are chronically poor because they could not benefit enough from the past growth. We need to think about specific measures that aim to remove their structural constraints. The latest Chronic Poverty Report calls for the implementation of a comprehensive set of protective and preventative measures for those living in chronic poverty, or those moving in and out of poverty over time.

Implementation is a key. At the country level, it is necessary to understand how many people are chronically poor, what their characteristics are, how they would be targeted, and what sort of measure they need. The answers must be realistic and practical. We do not have much time left. Getting zero poverty by 2030 requires immediate actions now that provide adequate environment for all the children living in long-term poverty to have good health and education, so that they will have income generation capacity to feed their families in 15 years’ time.

For implementation, data is another challenge. The use of panel data is certainly useful to estimate chronic poverty. However, most developing countries cannot rely on panel data as they simply do not have one to estimate a national figure. The reality is without panel data they often need to fight chronic poverty. In such case, only measure left for policy makers is to use existing sources to identify those kept in a vicious cycle of poverty.

In my recent research, I attempted to estimate a chronic poverty incidence and characteristics in rural Cambodia without panel data. Applying a blend of nationally representative qualitative (participatory poverty assessment) and quantitative sources (household survey), I primarily estimated chronic poverty headcount rates, based on multidimensional criteria defined by the poor.

Surprisingly, despite the excellent progress in economic development and the significant drop in consumption poverty by 40 percent, the chronic poverty headcount ratio little improved from 11 percent between 2004 and 2010. The result implies that rapid economic growth has successfully raised the consumption of chronically poor households but done little to help them accumulate productive assets and human capital to break a vicious cycle of poverty. Structural constraints are identified in their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, including: limited asset ownership, low human development, female-heads of household, high child dependency, fewer economically active members, small household size and many young members.

From a policy perspective, one striking finding is that consumption measurements based on the current national poverty line cannot be used to identify a majority of the chronic poor. This is not merely a matter of different measurement applications because the chronically poor identified in this study are just as deprived as the consumption-based poor in some other attributes like human development. The evidence suggests that poverty reduction programmes should take into consideration the multidimensional criteria identified here to avoid leaving the chronically poor behind in the country’s development. This policy implication is particularly important for targeting mechanisms of social protection instruments implemented under the National Social Protection Strategy, which are key measures in ending poverty in Cambodia.

In the paper above, I demonstrated one practical way to better understand chronic poverty using widely available data, and illustrated characteristics that could be potential targeting criteria for social assistance and other targeted interventions. To design a tangible programme, development practitioners and policy makers will need such analysis, which does not require additional data collection, and begin interventions to combat chronic poverty sooner. We do not have much time left by 2030.

Why does Japan not Tweet? Compliance and Public Relations

This post was originally published on The Povertist.

In development communities, it is often said, ‘we don’t know what Japan does’. People in the world think Japan is invisible. There are a lot fewer practitioners, researchers and leaders who have public accounts on Twitter, Facebook or other social media in Japan, compared to Europe and the rest of the world. I personally believe this is why Japan is invisible. But the question is, ‘why is that?’

Why do they not use SNS more actively in their public relations? Before getting into this question, let me review an interesting post from Institute of Development Studies (IDS), which is one of the most successful organisations in using SNS to disseminate activities and research works with 140,000 followers on Facebook.

James Georgalakis, Director of Communications, explains how IDS has made this outstanding achievement.

We have never restricted ourselves to corporate news and IDS led research activities and regularly promote the news and content of others, drawing in particular upon the research centres, consortiums and hundreds of global partnerships to which we belong.

So the IDS top tips for success on social media are as follows:
1. Systematically and promptly broadcast across all your channels using devices such as BufferApp
2. Share partner content as well as your own
3. Identify those with shared interests and follow them
4. Reply to messages from your followers and fans promptly
5. Target specific communities within your fan base
6. Implement a social media policy that protects you and your staff from social media meltdowns

As I manage this website, I can fully agree with these tips and values. The question here is, ‘What can Japanese organisations implement, and what cannot?’ Looking back into my experience, I would say they have a conflict of interest between compliance and public relations.

From my view, Japanese organisations have the following constraints.

  1. Use of New Services: Large organisations tend to have a lot of internal discussions before making a new decision. Compliance and responsibility are always an issue. Who will take responsibility if something bad or unexpected happens using new service? It leads to a long discussion and complicating administrative process to get approval. I can imagine how big decision such organisations make just to create the first Twitter account.
  2. Risk of interaction: Japanese firms tend to be more afraid of ‘bad’ user on SNS. Bad users are people who make unfavourable and unproductive comments or discourage other users. If corporate staff try to interact users on SNS, how can they behave, and whose responsibility for that? They do not like to take such risks even though they might have more advantage of using SNS.

Due to these risks, Japanese organisations may not be able to take an advantage of using SNS. They tend to restrict themselves to corporate news and limit to share other’s posts, because they are afraid to show agreement with someone’s opinions, because again, it will then become a matter of whose responsibility, if something bad happens.

Solution is there. Japan’s development communities can learn from Tips No. 6 of James Georgalakis. Implement a social media policy that protects staff from social media meltdowns. I really hope Japan will learn from his post to become more publicly visible.

Can Graduation Programmes End Child Poverty?

This post was originally published on The Povertist.

Can social protection lift up and sustain households out of poverty? The keyword of this sentence is ‘sustainability’. Social protection commonly and theoretically aims to cut a vicious cycle of poverty, which also refers to long-term poverty or intergenerational transmission of poverty. Nevertheless, social protection in practice tends to focus on short- and medium-term impacts. How can social protection address long term poverty?

Tackling child poverty is one of possible approaches. Taking the moment that graduation has become increasingly more popular topic in debates on poverty and social policy, Institute of Development Studies (IDS) has recently published articles on graduation. One of the articles attempts to conceptualise children and their role in sustainable graduation.

Keetie Roelen, Research Fellow at IDS, argues that graduation programmes should consider ‘twofold investment trap’ to cut intergenerational process of poverty.

As a result of graduation programme’s failure to acknowledge and engage with an intergenerational time frame of graduation, households with children participating in graduation programmes are required to perform a balancing act between meeting investment requirements for short- to medium-term intergenerational graduation.

According to her conceptual framework, with twofold investment traps, households have to make choices including:

1. The distribution of resources to children

  • The competition for monetary resources: Households face a distribution issue when they receive cash transfers, how they will spend. In this regard, there is a lot of evidence on the positive impact of cash transfers on children.
  • The competition for time: There is a potential conflict between productive activities and unpaid care works.

2. The contribution by children to the household

  • Productive activities: There are trade-offs between household well-being and child well-being. When households spend more time in productive activities, time for child care would decrease.
  • Household chores and care: Children might directly contribute to household activities to increase their productivity.

I share the same view that social protection debates need to take into account a hock between social protection and how to stop an intergenerational process of poverty. In the post 2015 agenda, the development community is aiming to eradicate extreme poverty during the coming decades, and also recognises social protection as a key player for poverty and vulnerability reduction. In order to bridge the issue and the means, the approach of twofold investment traps particularly for child poverty is an useful framework.

I believe that operationalising this approach may be the next step both for researchers and practitioners.

Reference

Keetie Roelen (2015) The ‘Twofold Investment Trap’: Children and their Role in Sustainable Graduation.

Civil G8 Dialogue

On April 23rd and 24th, “Civil G8 Dialogue” took place in Kyoto, to put forward civil society perspectives on the issues on the official agenda of the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit. I worked part time and joined it as well. That was my first international conference ever.

Japan Starts Emergency Assistance to Nepal over the Great Earthquake

This post was originally published on The Povertist.

The great earthquake hit the Nepali capital Katmandu at 11:56, April 25 in local time. Within only half day, Japanese organisations have already started emergency assistance.

It is time for Japan to support those who are affected by the earthquake. We remember March 11, 2011. We all know how hard the earthquake is, and our experts know what will happen next and what people therefore will need. The following is a list of organisations that have announced starting their assistance.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is sending 70 experts departing April 26 from Narita Airport. They will serve in Nepal fro 7 days. The team includes experts from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The National Police Agency, JICA, rescuers, search and rescue dog handlers,  communication specialists, doctors and field coordinators. Press release is only available in Japanese.

Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA) and Shapla Neer also announced on SNS that they had started coordination towards their emergency assistance.

Author: Ippei Tsuruga is the Editor-in-Chief and the founder of The Povertist. He has extensive experience and knowledge in poverty and social protection in Asia and Africa.

Facebook Starts Safety Check for Nepal Earthquake

This post was originally published on The Povertist.

Facebook has just launched a safety check service for people affected by the great earthquake in Nepal. If you have family, friends and people who you know in Nepal, you should visit the Facebook page. If you already have a Facebook account, the page is accessible immediately at https://www.facebook.com/safetycheck/nepalearthquake.

As I experience the great earthquake in Japan in 2011, I could not recommend this wonderful service more. In 2011, we experienced mobile network and internet crashed due to heavy traffic. I hope people in Nepal have an access to mobile network to use this service.

This morning we activated Safety Check for people affected by the earthquake in Nepal. It’s a simple way to let family…

Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Saturday, 25 April 2015

Author: Ippei Tsuruga is the Editor-in-Chief and the founder of The Povertist. He has extensive experience and knowledge in poverty and social protection in Asia and Africa.

Cash Transfers Boost the Local Economy in Cambodia

This post was originally published on The Povertist.

Cambodia has social protection at the centre of poverty reduction strategy. The government has tested several designs of social protection instruments for future scale-up. What components or types of social protection programmes most effectively reduce poverty and vulnerability in the country’s context? It is often an important question at the pilot phase to assess impacts on household’s consumption or income. But what about impacts on a local economy?

Levy and Robinson conducted empirical analysis to answer this question. Their findings imply that an effective combination of cash transfers and other public interventions boost more efficiently than cash transfers alone. The followings are some more details.

Recent studies on social protection commonly assess economic impact of social transfers at the level of households, but few studies analyse impact on local economy. In order to fill a gap, their paper attempts to analyse the potential economic impact that social protection policies might have on an economy. Taking a case study of Cambodia and employing a commutable general equilibrium (CGE) model, it simulates conditional cash transfers (CCT) and unconditional cash transfers (UCT). The model allows analysis of social policy impacts on prices, production, employment, wages and trade in an ex-ante context.

Result shows:

  • Cash transfers seem to promote recipient households’ investment in productive assets, which  will potentially reduce their vulnerability in the long run.
  • UCTs alone could fail to reduce poverty more than cash transfers themselves.
  • CCTs beneft substantially rural labour markets and wages although these impacts are relatively lower than existing empirical estimates. The productivity effect potentially boosts supply and mitigate the risk of price increases in domestic markets and increased trade.
  • Combined with productive public investment, cash transfers are less likely to increase domestic market prices.
  • Domestic supply is not elastic enough to respond to an increased demand with cash transfers. It theoretically leads to a price increase in goods and services in a local economy. However, productivity improvement from health and education components of CCTs likely eases price effects of cash transfers.
  • Combining social protection and rural development policies potentially generate more poverty reduction effect than cash transfers alone.

Reference

Levy, S. and Robinson, S. (2014) Can Cash Transfers Promote the Local Economy? A Case Study for Cambodia.

Author: Ippei Tsuruga is the Editor-in-Chief and the founder of The Povertist. He has extensive experience and knowledge in poverty and social protection in Asia and Africa.

Urban Poor in Phnom Penh Lack Titles, Doubling Rice Exports to China

This post was originally published on The Povertist.

Newspaper cuttings from The Phnom Penh Post and The Cambodia Daily cover issues of poverty and development between April 6 and 12.

Japan spans the Mekong River in Cambodia

The 2.2-km Tsubasa Bridge—built with $127 million in Japanese grants—was officially inaugurated by Prime Minister Hun Sen here Monday morning. Spanning the Mekong River, it will connect Phnom Penh by road to the provinces of Svay Rieng and Prey Veng, and to neighboring Vietnam. (ADB’s efforts to make good off to shaky start, audit finds)

An ADB’s railway project fails to provide compensation and resettlement

A review of the Asian Development Bank’s actions to remedy “major” failings in its provision of compensation and resettlement to thousands of families affected by a $143 million railway project it funded has found the bank failed to meet a number of its commitments. (ADB’s efforts to make good off to shaky start, audit finds)

Urban poor in Phnom Penh lack titles

Cambodia’s land-titling review process lacks transparency and clarity and is in danger of leaving behind Phnom Penh’s urban poor, according to a new report. (Urban poor more likely to lack titles: report)

Request to double rice exports to China

The Ministry of Commerce is working with its Chinese counterparts to renew a rice trade agreement, which will likely expire this month, and has requested to double the existing 100,000-tonne quota of rice Cambodia is currently able to export to China, a ministry spokesman said yesterday. (Gov’t requests to double rice exports to China)

Farmers will have better access to information and technologies

The policy will be implemented using a five-pronged approach: strengthening the regulatory framework on agricultural extension; increasing the capacity of officers and agents; incorporating affordable and practical farming techniques; improved information and messaging; and better delivery systems for this information. (Farmers to reap info flow: gov’t)

Remembering April 12 in 1975

For those living in Phnom Penh on April 12, 1975, the U.S. Embassy helicopters that took off on a one-way journey that day, carrying a few hundred foreigners and Cambodians to safety, signaled the end of civil war and the victory of the Khmer Rouge. (Remembering ‘Operation Eagle Pull’ 40 Years On)

Author: Ippei Tsuruga is the Editor-in-Chief and the founder of The Povertist. He has extensive experience and knowledge in poverty and social protection in Asia and Africa.

Is Social Protection Ready for Ageing ASEAN?

This post was originally published on The Povertist.

ASEAN countries are enjoying a rapid economic growth. However, most of them are likely vulnerable to some changes that would happen in the post-2015 era, as increasingly exposed to the global economy, and ageing with a relative lower level of income. The challenges that ASEAN countries will have are what the world has never seen in the history. As ageing, lowering fertility rates, changing family sizes, and shrinking labour force participations, researchers suggest strong social security system is crucial for sustaining economic and political stability.

The latest research discusses a role of pensions or old-age income arrangements as a component of social protection among the region. What will the ASEAN member countries encounter, and how can they cope with those challenges?

The demographic trend suggests that most countries in ASEAN will age at a relatively low income level, except for Thailand and Brunei. The aged population will become double in most countries within such a short time.

In most economies there will be marginal improvements in labour force participation rates in both economic active age groups and those above age 65. The data suggest that there might be different scaling up challenges for each country as the ageing progress differs by country. For instance, Singapore and Malaysia will have additional 1 to 3 million entering retirement, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam will have 5 to 10 million, and Indonesia will have 20 million during the next decades.

That is not only a matter of financing social protection and services for the ageing era, but also implementation capacity. Institutions are not ready yet in terms of labour market, public finance management, infrastructure, and social services for the elderly.

The study also points out a potential blind spot. As the table shows, there is universal legal healthcare coverage in all economies except Indonesia and Vietnam. But the thing is, when it comes to ‘coverage’, it literally means legal coverage but not actual. The figure implies that social security systems do not provide sufficient benefits to individuals as most of health care spending is financed out of pocket.

The paper provides overview of ASEAN’s ageing and surrounding challenges. Having discussed the current and projected trends, it provides some policy implications on pensions and other social services mainly from both socio-economic and political economic perspectives.

Reference

Asher and Zen (2015) Social Protection in ASEAN: Challenges and Initiatives for Post-2015 Vision

Author: Ippei Tsuruga is the Editor-in-Chief and the founder of The Povertist. He has extensive experience and knowledge in poverty and social protection in Asia and Africa.

Scholarships for Poor Students, Disaster Response Service Starts

This post was originally published on The Povertist.

Newspaper cuttings from The Phnom Penh Post and The Cambodia Daily cover issues of poverty and development between March 30 and April 5.

New scholarship programme for poor students

Primary and lower secondary students will receive 240,000 riel ($60) a year and upper secondary students will receive 360,000 riel ($90), according to a March 17 decree from Prime Minister Hun Sen, released by the Ministry of Education this week. (Gov’t offers bursaries for poor)

Inclusive learning for people with disability is necessary

However, though the ministry itself acknowledged room for improvement, observers yesterday were uncertain whether it appreciated just how much improvement was required, while also noting that 2014’s achievements still fell well short of what the Kingdom’s disabled children need. (Disabled education lacking)

School budgets lacking

The Cambodian Independent Teachers Association (CITA) demanded in a letter sent on Monday to the Ministry of Education that all Cambodian secondary schools be paid their full yearly program budget after complaints were lodged by some teachers that the funds had not yet been received. (Teachers call for school budgets)

KOICA starts an $8 million project

The New Village Movement, which is funded by an $8 million grant from South Korea, is starting as a pilot project in Takeo, Kampong Speu and Tbong Khmum provinces, project director Song Joo Kim said. (KOICA aid program under way)

Disaster response calling service starts

Starting today, residents of Banteay Meanchey, Pursat and Kampong Thom provinces can enroll in a disaster-response calling service through their phones in anticipation of the impending rainy season. (Disaster alert system begins)

Measles-free declared

The World Health Organization has declared Cambodia measles-free, having not registered a confirmed case in over three years, marking a success in combating what was once the country’s most deadly communicable disease. (Cambodia ‘measles free’, WHO reports)

Savings-led community-lending model alternative to MFIs

Similar to community banks, saving groups are composed of rural communities who pool their cash together and take out loans from the group, paying interest back to the pool or individual members rather than to a microfinance institution (MFI). (A lending alternative to MFIs)

Protect indigenous people and their forests

And then there is the reality. These legal instruments have gone almost entirely unenforced and unimplemented in the existing culture of impunity and corruption. (Government Should Protect Indigenous Peoples and Their Forests)

Author: Ippei Tsuruga is the Editor-in-Chief and the founder of The Povertist. He has extensive experience and knowledge in poverty and social protection in Asia and Africa.