Working Papers 126 - 130: Defining, targeting and reaching the very poor

Slum dweller living in Zenebe Work, Addis Ababa

The research project 'Defining, targeting and reaching the very poor' has resulted in five Working Papers. These volumes are field reports on Bangladesh (pdf; Working Paper 126), Benin (pdf; Working Paper 127), Jeldu, Ethiopia (pdf; Working Paper 128), Addis Ababa (pdf; Working Paper 129) and finally a Synthesis (pdf; Working Paper 130).

Please note that Working Paper 126 on Bangladesh is a co-production with the International Institute of Asian Studies IIAS in Leiden.

PADEV
From 2007 onwards, the PADev (Participatory Assessment of Development) research project started to focus on the assessment of development interventions from the perception of recipients in Burkina Faso and Ghana. One of the most important and striking conclusions of this study was its failure to reach the poor and the very poor, meaning that the bulk of interventions were not reaching these groups. Development organizations thus have to struggle with the question about whether to adjust their current targeting practices or to redefine their target groups.

Author(s) / editor(s)

Anika Altaf

About the author(s) / editor(s)

Anika Altaf is currently working on her PhD on how to target the ultra poor in poverty-alleviation initiatives. Her research aims to discover how extremely poor people can benefit on a long-term basis from such actions. In addition, she is attempting to find out who the ultra poor are and the struggles they face. Her research is being carried out in Bangladesh, Benin and Ethiopia using the PADev methodology and she is trying to connect Asian experiences (in a country where NGOs are experimenting with and developing methods to reach the ultra poor) with African experiences.

Posted on 11 February 2016, last modified on 24 February 2016