home > conference - November 24-25, 2003

Enterprise Development Impact Assessment Information Service (EDIAIS)

NEW DIRECTIONS IN IMPACT ASSESSMENT FOR DEVELOPMENT: METHODS AND PRACTICE

Young, Stacey - USAID

USAID's Project on Developing Poverty Measurement Tools

Link to full paper (forthcoming)

ABSTRACT

Microenterprise development programs have been among the most promising forms of donor-sponsored poverty reduction programs in recent years, and they have arguably improved the lives of millions of poor people. In 2000, the US Congress passed the Microenterprise for Self-Reliance Act, which mandated that half of all USAID microenterprise funds go to the very poor. This legislation was amended in 2003, and now defines the very poor as those living on less than $1 a day, or those living in the bottom 50% below their country's poverty line. The lack of widely applicable, low-cost tools for poverty assessment makes it difficult to determine whether USAID is meeting these mandated targets. Therefore, the law also requires USAID to develop and certify at least two tools for assessing the poverty level of its microenterprise beneficiaries. To implement this work, USAID's Microenterprise Development division has selected the consortium led by the IRIS Center under the Enabling Environment component of the Accelerated Microenterprise Advancement Project (AMAP). This presentation will address some of the practical challenges associated with measuring poverty, the operational challenges to implementing the tools, and the relationship between this work and impact assessment.

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