Combating Persistent Poverty in Africa

Washington, DC on November 15-16, 2004

The BASIS Policy Conference “Combating Persistent Poverty in Africa” will bring together leading researchers and key development professionals and policymakers through a multi-meeting format designed to result in a set of crisp, well-grounded policy and programming recommendations.

Prior work has shown that there is a significant amount of turnover amongst the poor as households exit and enter poverty. Some of this mobility can be attributed to regular movement back and forth in response to exogenous variability in climate, prices, health, etc (“churning”) . Other crossings reflect permanent shifts in long-term well-being associated with gains or losses of productive assets. Distinguishing true structural mobility from simple churning is important because it clarifies the factors that facilitate such important structural change. Conversely, it also helps identify the constraints that may leave other households caught in a trap of persistent, structural poverty.

The goal of this BASIS Policy Conference is to distinguish the types of poverty and deepen understanding of the structural features and constraints that create poverty traps. This knowledge will allow proactive steps to be taken by communities, local governments and donors to effectively combat persistent poverty in Africa.