Creating a Poverty Map for Azerbaijan

"Poverty maps"-that is, graphic representations of spatially disaggregated estimates of welfare-are being increasingly used to geographically target scarce resources. But the development of detailed poverty maps in many low resource settings is hampered because of data constraints. Data on income or consumption are often unavailable and, where they are, direct survey estimates for small areas are likely to yield unacceptably large standard errors due to limited sample sizes. Census data offer the required level of coverage but do not generally contain the appropriate information. This has led to the development of a range of alternative methods aimed either at combining survey data with unit record data from the census to produce estimates of income or expenditure for small areas or at developing alternative welfare rankings, such as asset indices, using existing census data. This paper develops a set of poverty maps for Azerbaijan that can be used by different users. Two alternative approaches to the measurement and mapping of welfare are adopted. First, a map is derived using imputed household consumption. This involves combining information from the 2002 Household Budget Survey (HBS) with 1999 census data. Second, an alternative map is constructed using an asset index based on data from the 1999 census to produce estimates of welfare at the rayon level. This provides a unique opportunity to compare the welfare rankings obtained at the regional level under the two alternative approaches. In order to visually present the spatially disgaggregated estimates of welfare in Azerbaijan, this paper has also produced a digital census map of Azerbaijan. This involved matching the census enumeration areas to a digital settlement map of Azerbaijan. Therefore, it is now possible for the State Statistical Committee of Azerbaijan to display graphically the results of the 1999 census of Azerbaijan along with other data.Rural Poverty Reduction,Economic Theory&Research,Poverty Lines,Poverty Diagnostics,Technology Industry

From box suppers and card games to vineyards and viewscapes : community discourse in the exurban American west

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on December 28, 2009).Thesis advisor: Dr. Soren C. Larsen.M.A. University of Missouri--Columbia 2009.Generalizing to the process of creating meaning amid exurbanization, this study considers how residents of Fremont County, Colorado have constructed community meaning as amenity-driven migration has given rise to local social and economic reorganization. I use a nested discourse analysis, first at the single-valley scale of Garden Park and second at the countywide scale, to explore how residents define what it means to live in their dynamic landscape. Results suggest that residents from across "traditional" old-timer/newcomer divides often share meanings of community and that these meanings are layered within discursive interactions that occur above and below the scale of inquiry. Residents respond to their social and physical environments, their (often contested) construction of them, and act from within multiple discursive understandings. By focusing on a single example - the exurbanization of Fremont County, Colorado - this study explores the face of the exurban community in the American West and suggests that multi-layered local discourse analysis of the dynamics of exurban community interaction might provide insight for future community well-being.Includes bibliographical references

Spatial associations between household and community livelihood capitals in rural territories : an example from the Mahanadi Delta, India

Community-level assets, such as environmental conditions (elevation, rainfall, soil quality), distance to natural resources (forest, wetlands) and distance to services (markets, hospitals) are a significant component of rural livelihoods. This paper argues that common-pool resources (community capitals) should be differentiated from private goods (household capitals) within the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, as they operate under different dynamics of decision-making and management. It presents methods for differentiating household capital from community assets, identifies patterns in their spatial distribution and analyzes their interactions. Results of the project show that households trade their natural assets to cope with environmental shocks such as cyclones and flooding.UK Department for International Development (DFID

An investigation of the evidence of benefits from climate compatible development

Climate change is likely to have profound effects on developing countries both through the climate impacts experienced, but also through the policies, programmes and projects adopted to address climate change. Climate change mitigation (actions taken to reduce the extent of climate change), adaptation (actions taken to ameliorate the impacts), and on-going development are all critical to reduce current and future losses associated with climate change, and to harness gains. In the context of limited resources to invest in climate change, policies, programmes, or projects that deliver ‘triple wins’ (i.e. generating climate adaptation, mitigation and development benefits) – also known as climate compatible development – are increasingly discussed by bilateral and multilateral donors. Yet there remains an absence of empirical evidence of the benefits and costs of triple win policies. The purpose of this paper is therefore to assess evidence of ‘triple wins’ on the ground, and the feasibility of triple wins that do not generate negative impacts. We describe the theoretical linkages that exist between adaptation, mitigation and development, as well as the trade-offs and synergies that might exist between them. Using four developing country studies, we make a simple assessment of the extent of climate compatible development policy in practice through the lens of ‘no-regrets’, ‘low regrets’ and ‘with regrets’ decision making. The lack of evidence of either policy or practice of triple wins significantly limits the capacity of donors to identify, monitor or evaluate ‘triple wins at this point in time. We recommend a more strategic assessment of the distributional and financial implications of 'triple wins' policies

Agricultural shocks and drivers of livelihood precariousness across Indian rural communities

Spatial factors, such as environmental conditions, distance to natural resources and access to services can influence the impacts of climate change on rural household livelihood activities. But neither the determinants of precarious livelihoods nor their spatial context has been well understood. This paper investigates the drivers of livelihood precariousness using a place-based approach. We identify five community types in rural regions of the Mahanadi Delta, India; exurban, agro-industrial, rainfed agriculture, irrigated agriculture and resource periphery by clustering three types of community capitals (natural, social and physical). Based on this typology, we characterise the associations between precarious livelihood activities (unemployment or engagement in agricultural labour) with agricultural shocks and household capitals. Results demonstrate that, the type of community influences the impact of agricultural shocks on livelihoods as four of the five community types had increased likelihoods of precarious livelihoods being pursued when agricultural shocks increased. Our research demonstrates that the bundle of locally available community capitals influences households' coping strategies and livelihood opportunities. For example, higher levels of physical capital were associated with a lower likelihood of precarious livelihoods in agro-industrial communities but had no significant impact in the other four. Results also indicate that agricultural shocks drive livelihood precariousness (odds ratios between 1.03 and 1.07) for all but the best-connected communities, while access to household capitals tends to reduce it. Our results suggest that poverty alleviation programmes should include community typologies in their approach to provide place-specific interventions that would strengthen context-specific household capitals, thus reducing livelihood precariousness

Developing socio-ecological scenarios:A participatory process for engaging stakeholders

Deltas are experiencing profound demographic, economic and land use changes and human-induced catchment and climate change. Bangladesh exemplifies these difficulties through multiple climate risks including subsidence/sea-level rise, temperature rise, and changing precipitation patterns, as well as changing management of the Ganges and Brahmaputra catchments. There is a growing population and economy driving numerous more local changes, while dense rural population and poverty remain significant. Identifying appropriate policy and planning responses is extremely difficult in these circumstances. This paper adopts a participatory scenario development process incorporating both socio-economic and biophysical elements across multiple scales and sectors as part of an integrated assessment of ecosystem services and livelihoods in coastal Bangladesh. Rather than simply downscale global perspectives, the analysis was driven by a large and diverse stakeholder group who met with the researchers over four years as the assessment was designed, implemented and applied. There were four main stages: (A) establish meta-framework for the analysis; (B) develop qualitative scenarios of key trends; (C) translate these scenarios into quantitative form for the integrated assessment model analysis; and (D) a review of the model results, which raises new stakeholder insights (e.g., preferred adaptation and policy responses) and questions. Step D can be repeated leading to an iterative learning loop cycle, and the process can potentially be ongoing. The strong and structured process of stakeholder engagement gave strong local ownership of the scenarios and the wider process. This process can be generalised for widespread application across socio-ecological systems following the same four-stage approach. It demands sustained engagement with stakeholders and hence needs to be linked to a long-term research process. However, it facilitates a more credible foundation for planning especially where there are multiple interacting factors

Making SDGs work for climate change hotspots

The impacts of climate change on people's livelihoods have been widely documented. It is expected that climate and environmental change will hamper poverty reduction, or even exacerbate poverty in some or all of its dimensions. Changes in the biophysical environment, such as droughts, flooding, water quantity and quality, and degrading ecosystems, are expected to affect opportunities for people to generate income. These changes, combined with a deficiency in coping strategies and innovation to adapt to particular climate change threats, are in turn likely to lead to increased economic and social vulnerability of households and communities, especially amongst the poorest

A promising Start? The Local Network Fund for Children and Young People: Interim Findings from the National Evaluation

This is a summary of the interim evaluation report of the National Evaluation of the Local Network Fund (LNF) for Children and Young People. It is based on data gathered during the first phase of the evaluation (between October 2002 to December 2003). A final report of the National Evaluation will be available early in 2005. A consortium of research organisations, led by the University of Hull and including BMRB Social Research, The University of York and the University of Sheffield were commissioned in August 2002 by the-then Children and Young People’s Unit (CYPU) to carry out the evaluation

Choices:Future trade-offs and plausible pathways

Policy development and management of deltas in the Anthropocene involves the consideration of trade-offs and the balancing of positive and negative consequences for delta functions and the societies that rely on them. This assessment outlines policy-driven and spatial trade-offs that dominate the landscape of choice. It highlights examples of such trade-offs using plausible delta futures and the governance choices associated with them. The analysis is based on modelling broad-scale processes and individual adaptive actions. It highlights how policy choices to maximise economic growth can, for example, have unforeseen consequences such as diminished well-being for some populations. Hence the chapter concludes that trade-offs are a crucial governance challenge for future sustainability of deltas