Anti-Poverty Programs — Definition

Definition

Anti-poverty programmes are public interventions designed to reduce inadequate resources, deprivation and vulnerability to shocks. They may protect consumption, provide essential services, support employment or strengthen the ability to earn.

The appropriate instrument depends on the cause of deprivation: a temporary income loss and a persistent lack of productive assets need different responses. A programme's enrolment list is not a poverty measure, and receiving a benefit does not establish a permanent exit from poverty.

Evaluation must examine access, adequacy, timeliness and sustained changes in people's circumstances, while separating the programme's contribution from other changes in the economy.