Beijing-More than 100 policymakers and development experts from across Africa, Asia, and Latin America are meeting in Beijing to examine the dramatically different poverty reduction experiences of developing countries over the past two decades.
The international conference, "Poverty Reduction Strategy in the New Millennium: Emerging Issues, Experiences and Lessons," takes place on May 23 and 24, and is co-organized by the International Poverty Reduction Center in China (IPRCC) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
For the past two decades, progress in reducing poverty throughout the developing world has been significant, but largely uneven. Between 1981 and 2001, the number of people in developing countries living on less than U.S. $1 a day fell from 1.5 billion to 1.1 billion, or from 40 to 21 percent of the world's population. However, nearly all this progress took place in China, and to a lesser extent, India.
"In just twenty years, millions of the world's poor have been lifted out of poverty, particularly in rural areas," said Joachim von Braun, director general of IFPRI. "The remarkable gains achieved by some countries-and the profound loses made by others-offers invaluable lessons about which poverty reduction strategies worked, which did not, and why."
While several East Asian countries, such as Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and particularly China, made great strides in eradicating large-scale poverty, countries in South Asia achieved modest success by comparison. Since 1960, the percentage of the population living under the poverty line in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal fell by half, yet the total number of poor actually grew in this region due to rapid population growth. In Africa, poverty has steadily increased over the past two decades.
"Investments and policies in support of agriculture have helped to catalyze this transformation," said Shenggen Fan, director of the development strategy and governance division at IFPRI. "IFPRI research has found that China and India's investments in agricultural research, education, and rural roads reduced poverty more than any other type of investment."
At the conference, researchers, policymakers, and representatives from non-governmental organizations and the donor community from China, India, Ethiopia, Ghana, and several other Asian, African, and Latin American countries will exchange experiences and lessons in reducing poverty, explore why outcomes have varied so dramatically across developing countries, and identify strategies that can help promote growth and improve the livelihoods of the poor.
"China has made enormous progress in poverty reduction, but more challenges remain," said Liu Jian, director of the People's Republic of China's State Council Leading Group Office of Poverty Alleviation and Development. "We will contribute our experience to advancing global efforts on poverty reduction, and will draw on the expertise and methodologies from other countries to promote China's domestic agenda."
Even within successful developing countries, such as China, some regions still lag behind in reducing poverty, and the poor are increasingly concentrated in these areas. In western China--a region marked by poor agricultural land and weak infrastructure--rural poverty accounted for 13 million in 2004, compared to 4 million in the eastern coastal region of the country.
Conference participants will discuss the role of the state, private sector, and other stakeholders in addressing poverty reduction; the impact of central and local governance structures on poverty alleviation and economic growth; the importance of targeting investments and policies to less developed regions within countries; and approaches that ensure social safety nets effectively reach those in need.
"Since we at IPRCC are mandated with disseminating poverty reduction experiences, we will take this opportunity to share best practices with other countries and bring about mutual learning among decision-makers in the developing world," said Zhang Lei, managing director of IPRCC.
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For more information, please contact:
- Jia Zhao, 86-10-65389496
zhaojia@cpad.org.cn
Additional information available at: http://www.ifpri.org/media/20060519China.asp