OPHI - Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative

08/10/2026

Launching next week: ‘Lines of Sight: Three ways to compare monetary and multidimensional poverty’ — OPHI’s new report on different ways to measure and recognise success in poverty reduction.

We are delighted to launch this report with a session at the upcoming ADB Institute and United Nations ESCAP policy dialogue in Bangkok. Across Asia and the Pacific, many countries have made significant progress reducing poverty, but persistent challenges remain. What are the key drivers of quality and inclusive development?

Join us on 14 October in Bangkok, where OPHI Director Sabina Alkire will present OPHI’s new research, and a high-level panel will discuss the findings and policy implications.

Register here: https://bit.ly/4jICbw6

07/10/2026

07/10/2026

[𝗟𝗢𝗢𝗞] Policy Roundtable on Using the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for Resource Allocation

UNDP Philippines is convening a Policy Roundtable to explore how the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) can support development planning, resource allocation, and policy formulation. Bringing together leaders from government, the United Nations system, and development partners, the dialogue aims to discuss practical pathways for mainstreaming MPI data to strengthen long-term resilience and promote inclusive development.

Featuring:
▪️Romeo Balanquit, Assistant Secretary, Department of Budget and Management
▪️Sabina Alkire, Director, OPHI - Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative,University of Oxford

Moderator: Mohamed Shahudh, Country Economist, UNDP Philippines

07/10/2026

From dirt floors to concrete floors: an intervention which has been transformative in Guatemala.

Mano a Mano — ‘Hand in Hand’ — is an intersectoral strategy from the government of Guatemala, which coordinates public action to tackle poverty and malnutrition.

Inadequate housing materials were identified through Guatemala’s National MPI as a priority deprivation to tackle for those living in poverty. Equipped with this information, the country’s social registry was used to identify the families most in need. As a result, more than 100,000 households have been reached by this intervention over the last two years.

In a new article from Dimensions, Mano a Mano’s Ana Sofía Rivera Delgado, Steffany Figueroa and Isabel Castillo explore how Guatemala’s National MPI is being used through the social registry and Mano a Mano to guide tailored interventions tackling poverty in all its complexities.

Read more: https://www.mppn.org/mano-a-mano-coordinated-action-against-multidimensional-poverty-and-malnutrition-in-guatemala/

02/10/2026

Violence threatens poverty eradication efforts, with greater impact on the most vulnerable. These two goals — SDG1, ending poverty and SD16, building peace — go hand in hand.

This International Day of Non-Violence, we look back on the MPPN’s recent UNGA side event, where Nobel Peace Laureates and Heads of State shared the importance of integrating poverty eradication and peace efforts.

As President Santos said earlier this year in Oxford, reflecting on 10 years of Colombia’s Peace Agreement: ‘Conflict is not only caused by weapons, but by inequality, exclusion and lack of opportunity.’

01/10/2026

Children in living in poverty don't necessarily face the same deprivations as other children in their household.

OPHI's new report on child poverty, nutrition, and schooling examines whether all children within the same household are all disadvantaged or whether all are not disadvantaged.

It finds glaring intrahousehold disparities. Over one-third of poor children under five live in a household where at least one child is undernourished, and another is not. Similarly, over one-third of poor, school-aged children live in households where some school-aged children are going to school and others are not.

These findings point to a poignant need for integrated programmes that recognise how poverty may be experienced unequally within the home. As we work towards eradicating poverty, we must make sure no child is left behind.

Read more in the full report: bit.ly/OPHIchildreport

30/09/2026

Poverty is a joint priority, now and beyond 2030.

We're grateful to United Nations ESCAP and Bhutan for co-hosting last week's high-level UNGA side event with the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network, making key conversations possible and bringing momentum to the commitment to SDG 1 — 'No Poverty' — as an international priority.

Read more about what H.E. Tshering Tobgay, Prime Minister of Bhutan, and H.E. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, Executive Secretary of UN ESCAP, had to say about the renewed commitment to poverty reduction ⬇️

30/09/2026

Nearly one in twelve children in developing countries are first generation learners, or 'pioneer children’: they have completed six years of schooling where no adult in their household has done so yet.

New research from OPHI finds that across 108 developing countries, 71 million children aged 10–17 are pioneer children. Half of them – 35 million – live in South Asia, where one in nine children are pioneer children. South Asia is in a rapid phase of educating the current generation of families at risk of being left behind.

This is a milestone achievement for these families. Education is a key avenue for giving children the opportunity to break cycles of intergenerational poverty. Indeed, among pioneer children globally, poverty is lower. Across 108 countries, 23% of children aged 10–17 are poor, compared to 20% of pioneer children.

A different pattern emerges in upper-middle-income and high-income countries. Here, the apparent poverty advantage of pioneer children largely disappears. Where basic schooling has become nearly universal, households in which adults have not completed six years of education may potentially represent particularly marginalised groups facing persistent forms of social and economic exclusion.

A pioneer child in the household is not a guarantee against intrahousehold inequality: 9% of pioneer children live with another school-aged child who is out of school. It is vital to look beyond household averages to understand children’s individual experiences and make sure that no one is left behind.

Read more in the full report, available now: bit.ly/OPHIchildreport

23/09/2026

Over three-quarters of school-aged children in Afghanistan (8.4 million) live in multidimensional poverty, are out of school, or both. They face being left behind in basic education — and simultaneously experience multiple other disadvantages like inadequate sanitation, unclean water, and limited assets.

Gender disparities persist in access to education in Afghanistan, with 67% of girls out of school compared with 47% of boys. This is the highest gender disparity of the 108 developing countries included in OPHI’s new analysis. Afghanistan is also home to the one of the highest levels of out-of-school children living in a household where no woman has achieved six years of school — 89%. Education for girls is a clear priority in Afghanistan.

The deprivations and gender disparities faced by children vary across regions and country income groups. Programmes which work towards gender equality in school access and poverty reduction need context-specific data to understand where and how children are left behind.

Read more in the full report, available now: bit.ly/OPHIchildreport

22/09/2026

For children living in poverty, adult education matters. Especially women’s.

OPHI’s new report brings individual and household level data together to better understand how poverty impacts household members differently across 108 developing countries. The new findings trace how a child's deprivations relate to other children and adults in the same household.

Over two-thirds of poor children live in a household where no woman has completed six years of school. When we look at children who are both poor and out of school, this percentage rises to 82%. By contrast, only 27% of non-poor, school-going children live in a household where no woman has completed six years of schooling. And it’s not just women – 62% of poor and out-of-school children lack an educated male, while 47% lack any adult with even one year of completed schooling.

Children’s opportunities are closely associated with women’s education. Patterns of education access and poverty are at risk of being perpetuated across generations. To invest in girls’ education, or indeed any child’s education, is to invest in the opportunities of future generations.

Read more in the full report, available now: bit.ly/OPHIchildreport