Chronic Poverty Research Centre

Despite the renewed commitment over the past 15 years to poverty reduction as the core objective of international development discourses and policies, progress to this end remains disappointing. This is particularly evident in the extent to which the world is off track to achieve most of the Millennium Development Goals, globally and in most regions and countries (UNDP 2003; UN Statistics Division 2004). This inadequate progress raises important questions about the policies and strategies (centred around economic growth and human development) that have been adopted to achieve poverty reduction, as well as about key international issues including aid, debt, trade and conflict reduction. It also raises important questions about our very conception and understanding of poverty. While perspectives on poverty have evolved significantly over this period, with widespread acceptance of the multidimensional nature of poverty, and of the importance of considering the depth and severity of poverty, there has been slower progress in recognising and responding to the persistence of poverty over time (Clark and Hulme 2005); in other words, the phenomenon of chronic poverty.