Targeting Context Specific Reasons for Reducing Poverty Faster: Utilizing the Stages-of-Progress Methodology Anirudh Khrishna Sanford Institute of Public Policy Duke University, Durham, NC Email: ak30@duke.edu Click here to download working paper

Abstract
Poverty is inherently dynamic: large numbers of people are escaping from poverty at any given time, but large numbers are also falling into poverty simultaneously. Achieving faster poverty reduction requires speeding up the pace of escapes while concurrently slowing down the rate of descents into poverty. Critical for this purpose will be targeting the reasons that are responsible for escaping poverty and falling into poverty.

A new methodology combining qualitative an quantitative aspects – termed the Stages-of-Progress methodology – was developed to help investigate reasons for escape and descent. It was applied over the past five years within 234 diverse communities of India, Kenya, Uganda, Peru and North Carolina, USA, examining the experiences of over 25,000 households. The Stages-of-Progress methodology can, reliably and at relatively low cost, help relevant actors keep current their knowledge about key reasons for escape and descent. The steps in this methodology and results from investigations in five countries are briefly presented.