Reducing poverty is a complex and difficult challenge. Poverty has many dimensions. It certainly involves lack of human and physical assets and inadequate material means to acquire food and other necessities. But it also means vulnerability to ill-health, drought, job loss, economic decline, violence, and societal conflict. And it often means a deep condition of disempowerment, even humiliation. The history of poverty during the past few decades is diverse: great advances in some dimensions in some regions, but stagnation, even reversals, in others. Progress requires effective public action at both the national and local levels, but this action is in turn profoundly influenced by how a society functions and by the public, private, and nongovernment institutions within a country. And action within a country is powerfully affected by international conditions. The programs and projects presented in this book were selected by a team representing the staff association, the poverty reduction and economic management network, and the external affairs department of the World Bank. To be included, activities had to show poverty impact. Activities still under way had to hold the promise of enhancing the well-being of the poor and contain effective monitoring and evaluation mechanisms so that changes could be made along the way if needed. The country cases presented also include methods for monitoring and evaluation. Impact is what counts. This volume not only shows that effective public action can make a difference to poverty in all its complexity
it also highlights the importance of understanding the impact of development measures on the poor.