POVERTY PROFILE OF THE GAMBIA Expert Group Meeting on Enhancing National Capacities of OIC Member Countries in Poverty Statistics on August 2014 in Ankara, Turkey BY LAMIN L DIBBA GAMBIA BUREAU OF STATISTICS

 - Poverty Studies / Assessments  - Poverty Levels / Trends  - Poverty and active population  - Challenges  - Way Forward OUTLINE

Four main such studies/assessments  1998 Food Poverty Study  2003 Integrated Household Survey  2008 Poverty Assessment  2010 Integrated Household Survey Poverty studies/assessments

 From the 1998 Food Poverty study, 69% of the population were registered to be poor.  Food poverty fell by 11 percentage points to 58% in 2003 (IHS 2003).  Overall poverty was 55.5% in 2008 (Poverty Assessment 2008).  In the IHS 2010, two thresholds were used:  <$1.00 per person per day, incidence of poverty was 36.7% and  <$1.25 per person per day, incidence of poverty was 48.4% Poverty Levels/Trend

 Depth of poverty increased for both thresholds between 2003 and 2010 (the two IHSs).  For the <$1.00 threshold, depth of poverty increased from 20.8% in 2003 to 21.8% in 2010  The corresponding figures for the upper poverty line are 25.1 per cent and 27.9 Poverty Levels/Trend

 According to the 2010 IHS, the incidence and depth of poverty is lower for female headed households.  38% of female headed households live under less than 1.25 dollar per day compared to 50.9% of male headed households  For <$1.00 threshold, the corresponding figures are 28.2% and 38.8% respectively Poverty Levels/Trend

Proportion of the active population living below the $1.25 poverty line MaleFemaleTotal Age group Total Poverty and the active population

Key challenges of poverty measurement are:  Data problem (Quality)  Finance  Human capacity CHALLENGES

 Data availability  Data collection issues  Coverage issues  Content issues  Responses about income are inaccurate  Data management issues Data Problem

 No set budget for conducting poverty studies  Done only when requested, usually within work programs of UNDP  Expansion of the scope and coverage of future poverty studies i.e Increase sample size.  Lack of funds for specialized training of local persons in poverty studies and analysis.  Improve incentive for sustenance of highly trained and qualified persons. Financial issues

 There is no capacity within the system for poverty analysis  The previous studies/assessments were done by outside experts  No proper transfer of knowledge  Attrition of the few with some sort of skills Human capacity issues

 Internal efforts are required for:  Improving the data quality  Improving data availability  Improving the understanding level of respondents on the need for accurate data  External efforts are required for:  Short term capacity improvement in poverty analysis  Long term training of personnel in poverty measurement and analysis  Assisting in maintaining the capacity: retention Way forward