Linking ODA to the MPI: A Proposal for Latin America

Abstract

El artículo parte de la metodología del Índice de Probreza Multidimensional y la para comparar la actual distribución de la Ayuda Oficial al Desarrollo en América Latina.

The article starts from the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) methodology and measures ( Santos et al. 2015) available, and uses them to compare the current disbursements of Official Development Aid (ODA) with MPI-related deprivations and indicators. In particular, the six deprivation dimensions are matched with the current sectorial classifications contained in the OECD-CRS database. This empirical exercise allows making a comparison between ODA donors current disbursements (priorities) and normative disbursements, if the MPI were taken as the rule in order to attain the objective of real poverty eradication. Important political consequences of this counterfactual exercise are deduced: Latin American development agencies (ministries or departments) should start to register ODA flows using the multidimensional poverty dimensions (housing, basic services, standard of living, education, and employment, and social protection); donors (both North-South and South-South Cooperation) should focus their resources and priorities on the MPI structure, increasing recipients ownership of development strategies and interventions.