Pierre Fallavier | Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (original) (raw)
Books by Pierre Fallavier
Micro-finance aims at providing access to financial services to the poor. The main component of s... more Micro-finance aims at providing access to financial services to the poor. The main component of such services is credit, a service traditionally not extended to the very poor who are deemed credit unworthy because of a perceived high non-repayment risk and significant costs associated with ex-tending tiny loans to borrowers with no collateral. Specifically designed Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) give access to credit to the "unbankable" and provide them with other adapted financial ser-vices (mainly saving, leasing or insurance). The objective is for the poor to invest in profit-generating activities and increase their overall well being. Through their saving component, local MFIs also help members accumulate and protect their capital, and empower the communities to create people-owned, independent saving-and-lending funds. Successful schemes hence not only provide funding to, but also build up the capacity of communities to manage their own development process.
The main contribution of this chapter is to analyse and present how the current institutional and regulatory settings in Vietnam affect the possibility to offer widespread access to sustainable mi-cro-finance, and how those settings could be improved to contribute to co-ordinated efforts of poverty eradication. Most research efforts have focused on understanding the characteristics and needs of mi-cro-finance schemes at the local level (i.e., what determine the success and failure of micro-finance programs) and the definition of sound practices at the project scale in Vietnam. Little has been written on the characteristics of the necessary macro-environment conductive to the successful dissemination of those sound practices. Policies that positively influence those relationships can be used by govern-mental authorities to provide a facilitating environment to integrate micro-and macro-scale efforts, and by MFIs to expand their operations and adapt their activities to reach and empower a more sig-nificant portion of the extreme poor in Vietnam.
(This is a draft version of a book published by VDM Verlag in 2009) Since the 1920s, participa... more (This is a draft version of a book published by VDM Verlag in 2009)
Since the 1920s, participatory approaches to urban upgrading have demonstrated that involving the urban poor in the physical, social, and economic development of their settlements could improve their living conditions. These housing policies and projects have since been central to urban poverty reduction. Yet, while participatory upgrading is still used on a limited scale, it has failed to become a mainstream component of urban development. This work analyzes some reasons for that failure by investigating the trajectory of an urban poverty reduction program that had much potential for success in Cambodia, but whose results yet fell short of expectations. It connects the results to a critical analysis of international experience with policies and programs for urban poverty reduction.
Papers by Pierre Fallavier
Policy implications to set up an enabling environment ... A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLME... more Policy implications to set up an enabling environment ... A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT 0F ... Abstract ................................................................................................................. ...................... iv Important Working Definitions ............................................................ ...
Policy implications to set up an enabling environment ... A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLME... more Policy implications to set up an enabling environment ... A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT 0F ... Abstract ................................................................................................................. ...................... iv Important Working Definitions ............................................................ ...
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, Mar 6, 2019
ABSTRACTWhat began in 2013 as the eruption of a political struggle between forces loyal to Presid... more ABSTRACTWhat began in 2013 as the eruption of a political struggle between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, a member of the Dinka ethnic group, and then–vice president Riek Machar, a Nuer, has splintered into a multifaction conflict. A dizzying array of armed groups have entered the fray, many unmotivated by political leverage that conventionally brings parties to a conflict to the negotiating table. Two years and tens of thousands of deaths after the 2015 signing of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, with no substantive progress toward meetings its terms, it is unrealistic to think that Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s recently announced High-Level Revitalization Forum will be sufficient to address the drivers of this conflict. Current policy proposals are poorly designed to address escalating intercommunal conflict and cattle raiding, both devastating forms of violence. As measures at the international level continue to be pursued, the conflict resolution strategy should also include a more comprehensive approach incorporating local actors in order to build momentum toward long-term stability. In this article, we highlight gaps in the current dialogue around a political solution in South Sudan, as well as domains that must be part of the next push for peace. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:663–671)
Since the 1920s, participatory approaches to urban upgrading in developing nations have demonstra... more Since the 1920s, participatory approaches to urban upgrading in developing nations have demonstrated that involving the urban poor in the physical, social, and economic development of their settlements could improve their living conditions. These housing policies and projects have since been central to urban poverty reduction. Yet, while participatory upgrading is still used on a limited scale, it has failed to become a mainstream component of urban development. This dissertation analyzes some reasons for that failure by investigating the trajectory of an urban poverty reduction program that had much potential for success in Cambodia, but whose results yet surprisingly fell short of expectations. It connects the results to a critical analysis of international experience with policies and programs for urban poverty reduction. Contents CHAPTER 1-INTRODUCTION: BENEFICIARY PARTICIPATION IN URBAN UPGRADING .
Washington, DC: World Bank eBooks, Aug 8, 2016
Social Protection Programs for Africa’s Drylands explores the role of social protection in promot... more Social Protection Programs for Africa’s Drylands explores the role of social protection in promoting the well-being and prosperity of people living in dryland regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Based on a review of recent experience, it argues that social protection policies and programs have an important role in promoting the resilience of the people residing in these areas. Social protection programs, when well designed and carefully implemented at scale, can reduce vulnerability to droughts and other shocks and promote coping capacity. If present trends continue, by 2030 dryland regions of East and West Africa will be home to an estimated 429 million people, up to 24 percent of whom will be living in chronic poverty. Many others will depend on livelihood strategies that are sensitive to the shocks that will hit the region with increasing frequency and severity, making them vulnerable to falling into transient poverty. Social protection programs will be needed in the drylands to provide support to those unable to meet their basic needs. Some of these people will require long-term support, while others will require periodic short-term support because of income losses due to shocks (for example, crop failure following a drought) or as a result of lifecycle changes (for example, loss of a breadwinner). Safety net programs can increase resilience in the short term by improving coping capacity of vulnerable households. Rapidly scalable safety nets that provide cash, food, or other resources to shock-affected households can allow them to recover from unexpected shocks. Scaling up an existing safety net program can be far less expensive than relying on appeals for humanitarian assistance to meet urgent needs. Social protection programs can increase resilience over the longer term by reducing sensitivity to shocks of vulnerable households especially if combined with other development programs. Providing predictable support to chronically poor households and enabling them to invest in productive assets and access basic social services can effectively reduce these households’ sensitivity to future shocks, help them participate in the growth process, and take advantage of the investments made in agricultural and pastoralist activities proposed in the drylands.
The World Bank eBooks, May 9, 2016
The World Bank eBooks, May 1, 2018
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, May 1, 2008
This paper takes stock of the World Bank's risk and vulnerability analysis from FY00 to FY07. It ... more This paper takes stock of the World Bank's risk and vulnerability analysis from FY00 to FY07. It complements recent assessments of Social Protection and Labor (SP&L) sector's lending and analytic activities on labor markets, pensions, social safety nets, and social funds. The review of papers shows how risk and vulnerability have become part of the Bank's understanding of poverty as a "dynamic" concept, which considers not only the characteristics of poor households at a specific point in time but also of those at risk of becoming poor following specific shocks (e.g., from a sickness in the family to the effect of a natural disaster). In terms of policy, the paper highlights the importance of measures to prevent vulnerable groups from falling into poverty and to help them cope with the aftermaths of shocks. The Social Risk Management (SRM) strategy provides a conceptual and methodological framework for the paper, which highlights the richness and diversity of risk and vulnerability practices in the Bank's work by region and presents a variety of best practices. It points to rising levels of insecurity among poor and vulnerable groups despite global progress in reducing poverty, and it identifies strong linkages between extreme poverty and risk in low income countries. Addressing risks for vulnerable groups hence emerges as a key concern for inclusive and sustainable globalization. It concludes by calling for continuously improving the treatment of risk and vulnerability in poverty assessments, for complementing these analyses with freestanding studies of specific risks, for improving the collection of relevant data, and for developing the policy use of the analyses conducted.
The World Bank eBooks, May 1, 2018
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2016
Social Protection Programs for Africa’s Drylands explores the role of social protection in promot... more Social Protection Programs for Africa’s Drylands explores the role of social protection in promoting the well-being and prosperity of people living in dryland regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Based on a review of recent experience, it argues that social protection policies and programs have an important role in promoting the resilience of the people residing in these areas. Social protection programs, when well designed and carefully implemented at scale, can reduce vulnerability to droughts and other shocks and promote coping capacity. If present trends continue, by 2030 dryland regions of East and West Africa will be home to an estimated 429 million people, up to 24 percent of whom will be living in chronic poverty. Many others will depend on livelihood strategies that are sensitive to the shocks that will hit the region with increasing frequency and severity, making them vulnerable to falling into transient poverty. Social protection programs will be needed in the drylands to provide support to those unable to meet their basic needs. Some of these people will require long-term support, while others will require periodic short-term support because of income losses due to shocks (for example, crop failure following a drought) or as a result of lifecycle changes (for example, loss of a breadwinner). Safety net programs can increase resilience in the short term by improving coping capacity of vulnerable households. Rapidly scalable safety nets that provide cash, food, or other resources to shock-affected households can allow them to recover from unexpected shocks. Scaling up an existing safety net program can be far less expensive than relying on appeals for humanitarian assistance to meet urgent needs. Social protection programs can increase resilience over the longer term by reducing sensitivity to shocks of vulnerable households especially if combined with other development programs. Providing predictable support to chronically poor households and enabling them to invest in productive assets and access basic social services can effectively reduce these households’ sensitivity to future shocks, help them participate in the growth process, and take advantage of the investments made in agricultural and pastoralist activities proposed in the drylands.
Confronting Drought in Africa's Drylands: Opportunities for Enhancing Resilience, 2016
The text of this conference edition is a work in progress for the forthcoming book, Confronting D... more The text of this conference edition is a work in progress for the forthcoming book, Confronting Drought in Africa's Drylands: Opportunities for Enhancing Resilience. A PDF of the final, full-length book, once published, will be available at https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/, and print copies can be ordered at http://amazon.com. Please use the final version of the book for citation, reproduction, and adaptation purposes.
Mitigating Drought Impacts in Drylands: Quantifying the Potential for Strengthening Crop- and Livestock-Based Livelihoods, 2018
Cambodia is a predominantly rural society, with 84.3% of its 14 million estimated population livi... more Cambodia is a predominantly rural society, with 84.3% of its 14 million estimated population living in rural areas. The remaining 15.7% urban dwellers live predominantly in Phnom Penh, which has an estimated population of 1.2 million in 2002 and is about 16 times the size of the second largest city, Battambang. The population in Phnom Penh grows at a faster rate than in the country overall, with an estimated 8% per annum made of a 3% in-migration rate and a 5% natural increase (see Table 1). The country has one of the lowest Human Development Index in Asia (a HDI of 0.517 in 2000), with a life expectancy of 54.4 years, an adult literacy of 71.2%, and a yearly gross domestic product per capita of $1,257. Conversely, it scores high on the Human Poverty Index (42.53), with a high level of mortality and child malnutrition, and a limited availability of public services (Ministry of Planning Cambodia 2000:4-7). Although the HDI is 21% higher in cities than in the countryside, cities are a...
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 2019
ABSTRACTWhat began in 2013 as the eruption of a political struggle between forces loyal to Presid... more ABSTRACTWhat began in 2013 as the eruption of a political struggle between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, a member of the Dinka ethnic group, and then–vice president Riek Machar, a Nuer, has splintered into a multifaction conflict. A dizzying array of armed groups have entered the fray, many unmotivated by political leverage that conventionally brings parties to a conflict to the negotiating table. Two years and tens of thousands of deaths after the 2015 signing of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, with no substantive progress toward meetings its terms, it is unrealistic to think that Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s recently announced High-Level Revitalization Forum will be sufficient to address the drivers of this conflict. Current policy proposals are poorly designed to address escalating intercommunal conflict and cattle raiding, both devastating forms of violence. As measures at the international level continue to be pursued, the...
On August 7, 2002, local authorities in Sangkat Tonle Basac displaced 44 shelters so the municipa... more On August 7, 2002, local authorities in Sangkat Tonle Basac displaced 44 shelters so the municipality could excavate some soil to landscape a nearby garden. The families living in these shelters are among the poorest and most vulnerable in the Basac area. The displacement isolated them even more from access to basic services and to job opportunities and pushed them to live in an overcrowded and extremely unsanitary settlement caught between the rising level of the river and dangerously inundated areas. The PME team conducted a short study to clarify the needs of families living in the communities affected – communities Basac AB, Basac 3A and Basac 3B - and see how to organize a potential temporary resettlement nearby their current living area. For this study we mapped the area, tried to count the families, and conducted interviews with households, community leaders and local authorities to document the current situation, and provide directions for emergency and for long-term action. The results are presented in sections II and IV of this report. While conducting this study, we learnt that much planning had recently been conducted in the Basac area by local community-based organizations (CBOs), and representatives from local authorities, the municipality, and UN-Habitat. The main activity of these communities has been to save money and to prepare lists of beneficiaries for a potential resettlement. Although it was not one of its objectives, a main finding of this study is that this planning process may have been extremely biased by the expectation that everyone coming to live in the Basac could soon be resettled and receive a free plot of land. A market has thus developed for people – poor and not-so-poor – to purchase the documents “proving” they are current residents in the Basac: mainly the temporary resident cards delivered by the Sangkat, and the saving books delivered by the community leaders. Each can be used as a proof of residence to claim eligibility for relocation. Speculators are thus bribing community leaders and Sangkat authorities to obtain such documents. It is extremely difficult to assess the extent of such practices, but results from the many interviews we conducted with poor families show that it should be an extremely serious concern to anyone involved in supporting the local development process. The short family case studies in this document illustrate many of the conditions that figures alone cannot describe. This qualitative information is supported by the results of interviews our team conducted on relocation sites since 2001, where many families mention they had to pay to receive plots which they were not always entitled to. Population figures also call for attention: the demographics reported in the communities likely to be relocated differ significantly from these of other low-income settlements in Phnom Penh. Community leaders report an average household size in the three communities threatened by floods between 14.2 and 15.5 persons while the average is 5.7 persons in other settlements. Meanwhile, the reported family size is only 3.4 to 3.8 persons vs. 5.3 elsewhere. A PME survey of 20 households (11% of the houses in the flooded area) estimated that only 4.9 persons living in each house, and that a total of 246 families live in these settlement, against SUPF’s 752. These numbers point to the fact that (1) the reported figures are inflated, and (2) many people currently in the Basac are not “normal” long-term resident families (typically with two parents, three to four children and one grandparent), but merely temporarily living there expecting to obtain a plot. One or two family members live in the Basac while the others stay in their main place of residence. This is reinforced by the results of our survey which shows a much lower number of inhabitants in the area and family sizes significantly smaller than expected. This speculative process has at least three main negative impacts for planning: 1. It excludes from the local planning process (potentially a relocation) some legitimate residents of the area who are too poor to obtain a saving book or a temporary resident card, although the poor are supposed to be the first beneficiaries of such process. 2. It includes on the lists of beneficiaries for compensation people who are not eligible: better-off families who purchase proofs of residence in the Basac, money-lenders who take people’s saving books as collateral on loans with such high interest rates that they cannot be repaid, and families or friends of community leaders and local officials. This again diverts development aid from its intended beneficiaries. 3. It weakens trust in CBOs and in local authorities as most poor people think that their only way to receive support is to bribe the community leader or local officials. This also directly harms the image of CBOs and of their leaders in other parts of Phnom Penh as community members will associate CBOs with the corrupt…
Micro-finance aims at providing access to financial services to the poor. The main component of s... more Micro-finance aims at providing access to financial services to the poor. The main component of such services is credit, a service traditionally not extended to the very poor who are deemed credit unworthy because of a perceived high non-repayment risk and significant costs associated with ex-tending tiny loans to borrowers with no collateral. Specifically designed Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) give access to credit to the "unbankable" and provide them with other adapted financial ser-vices (mainly saving, leasing or insurance). The objective is for the poor to invest in profit-generating activities and increase their overall well being. Through their saving component, local MFIs also help members accumulate and protect their capital, and empower the communities to create people-owned, independent saving-and-lending funds. Successful schemes hence not only provide funding to, but also build up the capacity of communities to manage their own development process.
The main contribution of this chapter is to analyse and present how the current institutional and regulatory settings in Vietnam affect the possibility to offer widespread access to sustainable mi-cro-finance, and how those settings could be improved to contribute to co-ordinated efforts of poverty eradication. Most research efforts have focused on understanding the characteristics and needs of mi-cro-finance schemes at the local level (i.e., what determine the success and failure of micro-finance programs) and the definition of sound practices at the project scale in Vietnam. Little has been written on the characteristics of the necessary macro-environment conductive to the successful dissemination of those sound practices. Policies that positively influence those relationships can be used by govern-mental authorities to provide a facilitating environment to integrate micro-and macro-scale efforts, and by MFIs to expand their operations and adapt their activities to reach and empower a more sig-nificant portion of the extreme poor in Vietnam.
(This is a draft version of a book published by VDM Verlag in 2009) Since the 1920s, participa... more (This is a draft version of a book published by VDM Verlag in 2009)
Since the 1920s, participatory approaches to urban upgrading have demonstrated that involving the urban poor in the physical, social, and economic development of their settlements could improve their living conditions. These housing policies and projects have since been central to urban poverty reduction. Yet, while participatory upgrading is still used on a limited scale, it has failed to become a mainstream component of urban development. This work analyzes some reasons for that failure by investigating the trajectory of an urban poverty reduction program that had much potential for success in Cambodia, but whose results yet fell short of expectations. It connects the results to a critical analysis of international experience with policies and programs for urban poverty reduction.
Policy implications to set up an enabling environment ... A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLME... more Policy implications to set up an enabling environment ... A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT 0F ... Abstract ................................................................................................................. ...................... iv Important Working Definitions ............................................................ ...
Policy implications to set up an enabling environment ... A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLME... more Policy implications to set up an enabling environment ... A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT 0F ... Abstract ................................................................................................................. ...................... iv Important Working Definitions ............................................................ ...
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, Mar 6, 2019
ABSTRACTWhat began in 2013 as the eruption of a political struggle between forces loyal to Presid... more ABSTRACTWhat began in 2013 as the eruption of a political struggle between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, a member of the Dinka ethnic group, and then–vice president Riek Machar, a Nuer, has splintered into a multifaction conflict. A dizzying array of armed groups have entered the fray, many unmotivated by political leverage that conventionally brings parties to a conflict to the negotiating table. Two years and tens of thousands of deaths after the 2015 signing of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, with no substantive progress toward meetings its terms, it is unrealistic to think that Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s recently announced High-Level Revitalization Forum will be sufficient to address the drivers of this conflict. Current policy proposals are poorly designed to address escalating intercommunal conflict and cattle raiding, both devastating forms of violence. As measures at the international level continue to be pursued, the conflict resolution strategy should also include a more comprehensive approach incorporating local actors in order to build momentum toward long-term stability. In this article, we highlight gaps in the current dialogue around a political solution in South Sudan, as well as domains that must be part of the next push for peace. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2019;13:663–671)
Since the 1920s, participatory approaches to urban upgrading in developing nations have demonstra... more Since the 1920s, participatory approaches to urban upgrading in developing nations have demonstrated that involving the urban poor in the physical, social, and economic development of their settlements could improve their living conditions. These housing policies and projects have since been central to urban poverty reduction. Yet, while participatory upgrading is still used on a limited scale, it has failed to become a mainstream component of urban development. This dissertation analyzes some reasons for that failure by investigating the trajectory of an urban poverty reduction program that had much potential for success in Cambodia, but whose results yet surprisingly fell short of expectations. It connects the results to a critical analysis of international experience with policies and programs for urban poverty reduction. Contents CHAPTER 1-INTRODUCTION: BENEFICIARY PARTICIPATION IN URBAN UPGRADING .
Washington, DC: World Bank eBooks, Aug 8, 2016
Social Protection Programs for Africa’s Drylands explores the role of social protection in promot... more Social Protection Programs for Africa’s Drylands explores the role of social protection in promoting the well-being and prosperity of people living in dryland regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Based on a review of recent experience, it argues that social protection policies and programs have an important role in promoting the resilience of the people residing in these areas. Social protection programs, when well designed and carefully implemented at scale, can reduce vulnerability to droughts and other shocks and promote coping capacity. If present trends continue, by 2030 dryland regions of East and West Africa will be home to an estimated 429 million people, up to 24 percent of whom will be living in chronic poverty. Many others will depend on livelihood strategies that are sensitive to the shocks that will hit the region with increasing frequency and severity, making them vulnerable to falling into transient poverty. Social protection programs will be needed in the drylands to provide support to those unable to meet their basic needs. Some of these people will require long-term support, while others will require periodic short-term support because of income losses due to shocks (for example, crop failure following a drought) or as a result of lifecycle changes (for example, loss of a breadwinner). Safety net programs can increase resilience in the short term by improving coping capacity of vulnerable households. Rapidly scalable safety nets that provide cash, food, or other resources to shock-affected households can allow them to recover from unexpected shocks. Scaling up an existing safety net program can be far less expensive than relying on appeals for humanitarian assistance to meet urgent needs. Social protection programs can increase resilience over the longer term by reducing sensitivity to shocks of vulnerable households especially if combined with other development programs. Providing predictable support to chronically poor households and enabling them to invest in productive assets and access basic social services can effectively reduce these households’ sensitivity to future shocks, help them participate in the growth process, and take advantage of the investments made in agricultural and pastoralist activities proposed in the drylands.
The World Bank eBooks, May 9, 2016
The World Bank eBooks, May 1, 2018
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, May 1, 2008
This paper takes stock of the World Bank's risk and vulnerability analysis from FY00 to FY07. It ... more This paper takes stock of the World Bank's risk and vulnerability analysis from FY00 to FY07. It complements recent assessments of Social Protection and Labor (SP&L) sector's lending and analytic activities on labor markets, pensions, social safety nets, and social funds. The review of papers shows how risk and vulnerability have become part of the Bank's understanding of poverty as a "dynamic" concept, which considers not only the characteristics of poor households at a specific point in time but also of those at risk of becoming poor following specific shocks (e.g., from a sickness in the family to the effect of a natural disaster). In terms of policy, the paper highlights the importance of measures to prevent vulnerable groups from falling into poverty and to help them cope with the aftermaths of shocks. The Social Risk Management (SRM) strategy provides a conceptual and methodological framework for the paper, which highlights the richness and diversity of risk and vulnerability practices in the Bank's work by region and presents a variety of best practices. It points to rising levels of insecurity among poor and vulnerable groups despite global progress in reducing poverty, and it identifies strong linkages between extreme poverty and risk in low income countries. Addressing risks for vulnerable groups hence emerges as a key concern for inclusive and sustainable globalization. It concludes by calling for continuously improving the treatment of risk and vulnerability in poverty assessments, for complementing these analyses with freestanding studies of specific risks, for improving the collection of relevant data, and for developing the policy use of the analyses conducted.
The World Bank eBooks, May 1, 2018
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2016
Social Protection Programs for Africa’s Drylands explores the role of social protection in promot... more Social Protection Programs for Africa’s Drylands explores the role of social protection in promoting the well-being and prosperity of people living in dryland regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a specific focus on the Sahel and the Horn of Africa. Based on a review of recent experience, it argues that social protection policies and programs have an important role in promoting the resilience of the people residing in these areas. Social protection programs, when well designed and carefully implemented at scale, can reduce vulnerability to droughts and other shocks and promote coping capacity. If present trends continue, by 2030 dryland regions of East and West Africa will be home to an estimated 429 million people, up to 24 percent of whom will be living in chronic poverty. Many others will depend on livelihood strategies that are sensitive to the shocks that will hit the region with increasing frequency and severity, making them vulnerable to falling into transient poverty. Social protection programs will be needed in the drylands to provide support to those unable to meet their basic needs. Some of these people will require long-term support, while others will require periodic short-term support because of income losses due to shocks (for example, crop failure following a drought) or as a result of lifecycle changes (for example, loss of a breadwinner). Safety net programs can increase resilience in the short term by improving coping capacity of vulnerable households. Rapidly scalable safety nets that provide cash, food, or other resources to shock-affected households can allow them to recover from unexpected shocks. Scaling up an existing safety net program can be far less expensive than relying on appeals for humanitarian assistance to meet urgent needs. Social protection programs can increase resilience over the longer term by reducing sensitivity to shocks of vulnerable households especially if combined with other development programs. Providing predictable support to chronically poor households and enabling them to invest in productive assets and access basic social services can effectively reduce these households’ sensitivity to future shocks, help them participate in the growth process, and take advantage of the investments made in agricultural and pastoralist activities proposed in the drylands.
Confronting Drought in Africa's Drylands: Opportunities for Enhancing Resilience, 2016
The text of this conference edition is a work in progress for the forthcoming book, Confronting D... more The text of this conference edition is a work in progress for the forthcoming book, Confronting Drought in Africa's Drylands: Opportunities for Enhancing Resilience. A PDF of the final, full-length book, once published, will be available at https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/, and print copies can be ordered at http://amazon.com. Please use the final version of the book for citation, reproduction, and adaptation purposes.
Mitigating Drought Impacts in Drylands: Quantifying the Potential for Strengthening Crop- and Livestock-Based Livelihoods, 2018
Cambodia is a predominantly rural society, with 84.3% of its 14 million estimated population livi... more Cambodia is a predominantly rural society, with 84.3% of its 14 million estimated population living in rural areas. The remaining 15.7% urban dwellers live predominantly in Phnom Penh, which has an estimated population of 1.2 million in 2002 and is about 16 times the size of the second largest city, Battambang. The population in Phnom Penh grows at a faster rate than in the country overall, with an estimated 8% per annum made of a 3% in-migration rate and a 5% natural increase (see Table 1). The country has one of the lowest Human Development Index in Asia (a HDI of 0.517 in 2000), with a life expectancy of 54.4 years, an adult literacy of 71.2%, and a yearly gross domestic product per capita of $1,257. Conversely, it scores high on the Human Poverty Index (42.53), with a high level of mortality and child malnutrition, and a limited availability of public services (Ministry of Planning Cambodia 2000:4-7). Although the HDI is 21% higher in cities than in the countryside, cities are a...
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 2019
ABSTRACTWhat began in 2013 as the eruption of a political struggle between forces loyal to Presid... more ABSTRACTWhat began in 2013 as the eruption of a political struggle between forces loyal to President Salva Kiir, a member of the Dinka ethnic group, and then–vice president Riek Machar, a Nuer, has splintered into a multifaction conflict. A dizzying array of armed groups have entered the fray, many unmotivated by political leverage that conventionally brings parties to a conflict to the negotiating table. Two years and tens of thousands of deaths after the 2015 signing of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan, with no substantive progress toward meetings its terms, it is unrealistic to think that Intergovernmental Authority on Development’s recently announced High-Level Revitalization Forum will be sufficient to address the drivers of this conflict. Current policy proposals are poorly designed to address escalating intercommunal conflict and cattle raiding, both devastating forms of violence. As measures at the international level continue to be pursued, the...
On August 7, 2002, local authorities in Sangkat Tonle Basac displaced 44 shelters so the municipa... more On August 7, 2002, local authorities in Sangkat Tonle Basac displaced 44 shelters so the municipality could excavate some soil to landscape a nearby garden. The families living in these shelters are among the poorest and most vulnerable in the Basac area. The displacement isolated them even more from access to basic services and to job opportunities and pushed them to live in an overcrowded and extremely unsanitary settlement caught between the rising level of the river and dangerously inundated areas. The PME team conducted a short study to clarify the needs of families living in the communities affected – communities Basac AB, Basac 3A and Basac 3B - and see how to organize a potential temporary resettlement nearby their current living area. For this study we mapped the area, tried to count the families, and conducted interviews with households, community leaders and local authorities to document the current situation, and provide directions for emergency and for long-term action. The results are presented in sections II and IV of this report. While conducting this study, we learnt that much planning had recently been conducted in the Basac area by local community-based organizations (CBOs), and representatives from local authorities, the municipality, and UN-Habitat. The main activity of these communities has been to save money and to prepare lists of beneficiaries for a potential resettlement. Although it was not one of its objectives, a main finding of this study is that this planning process may have been extremely biased by the expectation that everyone coming to live in the Basac could soon be resettled and receive a free plot of land. A market has thus developed for people – poor and not-so-poor – to purchase the documents “proving” they are current residents in the Basac: mainly the temporary resident cards delivered by the Sangkat, and the saving books delivered by the community leaders. Each can be used as a proof of residence to claim eligibility for relocation. Speculators are thus bribing community leaders and Sangkat authorities to obtain such documents. It is extremely difficult to assess the extent of such practices, but results from the many interviews we conducted with poor families show that it should be an extremely serious concern to anyone involved in supporting the local development process. The short family case studies in this document illustrate many of the conditions that figures alone cannot describe. This qualitative information is supported by the results of interviews our team conducted on relocation sites since 2001, where many families mention they had to pay to receive plots which they were not always entitled to. Population figures also call for attention: the demographics reported in the communities likely to be relocated differ significantly from these of other low-income settlements in Phnom Penh. Community leaders report an average household size in the three communities threatened by floods between 14.2 and 15.5 persons while the average is 5.7 persons in other settlements. Meanwhile, the reported family size is only 3.4 to 3.8 persons vs. 5.3 elsewhere. A PME survey of 20 households (11% of the houses in the flooded area) estimated that only 4.9 persons living in each house, and that a total of 246 families live in these settlement, against SUPF’s 752. These numbers point to the fact that (1) the reported figures are inflated, and (2) many people currently in the Basac are not “normal” long-term resident families (typically with two parents, three to four children and one grandparent), but merely temporarily living there expecting to obtain a plot. One or two family members live in the Basac while the others stay in their main place of residence. This is reinforced by the results of our survey which shows a much lower number of inhabitants in the area and family sizes significantly smaller than expected. This speculative process has at least three main negative impacts for planning: 1. It excludes from the local planning process (potentially a relocation) some legitimate residents of the area who are too poor to obtain a saving book or a temporary resident card, although the poor are supposed to be the first beneficiaries of such process. 2. It includes on the lists of beneficiaries for compensation people who are not eligible: better-off families who purchase proofs of residence in the Basac, money-lenders who take people’s saving books as collateral on loans with such high interest rates that they cannot be repaid, and families or friends of community leaders and local officials. This again diverts development aid from its intended beneficiaries. 3. It weakens trust in CBOs and in local authorities as most poor people think that their only way to receive support is to bribe the community leader or local officials. This also directly harms the image of CBOs and of their leaders in other parts of Phnom Penh as community members will associate CBOs with the corrupt…