Expected to help planners introduce pro-poor projects

Kathmandu, September 26 :

The World Food Programme (WFP), in collaboration with the National Planning Commission, the Central Bureau of Statistics, and the World Bank, today released a report titled ‘Small Area Estimation of Poverty, Caloric Intake and Malnutrition at the Sub-district Level’.

“The report illustrates poverty and malnutrition levels across Nepal and gives a better understanding of how people in the most remote parts of the country live,” the WFP said in a press release issued today.

“As applied in Nepal, the small area estimation technique incorporates national income information, and malnutrition estimates such as stunting, under-weight and uses the information to produce maps that illustrate the severity of poverty and malnutrition in Nepal. The estimates are based on information collected from the National Population Census 2001, Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2001, the National Living Standard Survey of 2003, and various GSI information like access to roads and local geography.

“Small area estimations techniques are particularly useful in countries that have high variances in geography, climatology, and economics such as Nepal. Other countries that have utilised this tool for poverty mapping include Vietnam, Thailand, and the Philippines,” it said.

“The strong collaboration between WFP and the Central Bureau of Statistics, and the World Bank is an excellent example of how partnerships can work to create innovative methods for addressing poverty and nutrition issues in Nepal,” the release said, adding hoping that these techniques would be a core component of WFP’s future programme design for Nepal. Terming the report a “groundbreaking” one for Nepal, WFP country representative, Richard Ragan, said, “Hopefully, policy-makers and development workers will be able to use it to better plan their programmes for the most needy people in the country who are unfortunately often out of reach.”