Designing a Multidimensional Poverty Index

I am really to complete a course organised by UNDP and OPHI, University of Oxford. As outlined in the course brochures, UNDP and OPHI are pleased to offer a FREE six-week Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Designing a Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) in English, French, and Spanish. This course draws on the handbook, How to Build a National Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI): Using the MPI to inform the SDGs” launched by UNDP and OPHI in July 2019. The MPI complements traditional monetary poverty measures by capturing severe deprivations in education, health, living standards, employment, safety, and many other dimensions of poverty. Using country and sub-national examples, this course offers detailed practical guidance for policymakers, technical experts, and other stakeholders on how to design an MPI at the national and local levels.

 

Module-1 in Week 1: Introduction to a multidimensional approach to poverty elimination

This module provides the background for undertaking the multidimensional approach to poverty eradication. It explains the difference between monetary and multidimensional poverty, outlines motivations for the multidimensional approach to poverty eradication, defines a national MPI and explains its objectives and value.

 

Module-2 in Week 2: Generating support for the national MPI

This module discusses the process of engagement with different actors and how institutional arrangements facilitate the process of designing, computing and using national MPIs. It also explains the relevance of a solid communications strategy to guarantee the sustainability of the measure over time.

 

Module-3 in Week 3: The technical process of creating a national MPI – Part 1

This module presents the Alkire-Foster method and discusses the process of building the multidimensional poverty measure, from the definition of the unit of identification to the selection of the poverty cut-off. The module also presents real examples of how countries have made these decisions and provides technical and normative arguments to validate each of them. Finally, the module's content discusses the different sources of information that can be used when developing a national MPI.

 

Module-4 in Week 4: The technical process of creating a national MPI – Part 2

Module 4 explores how to analyze candidate measures, how to select the final version of the national MPI, and what additional analyses should be conducted. The module's content also discusses how to analyze changes over time and track progress in the MPI, and provides a summary of how the national MPI could be presented to the public.

 

Module-5 in Week 5: Using national MPIs as policy tools

Module 5 presents examples of how countries have used their national MPI as a policy tool to reduce multidimensional poverty.

 

Module-6 in Week 6: Applying the MPI towards a COVID-19 recovery

Module 6 presents the uses of the Multidimensional Poverty Index for policy interventions for a COVID-19 recovery.