Post 2015: Global Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future

CHApTER FIvE
The MDGs
already reflect the
multidimensional
understanding of
poverty in their
focus on income,
health, nutrition,
education, gender
equity and the
environment.
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ends of development with the means of achieving
it and assumes the existence of markets for goods
and services. In practice, low incomes do not tend
to correlate well with other objective and subjective
markers of deprivation. For these and other reasons,
thinking on poverty has evolved from conceiving
it as a state defined by low income or consumption
to one involving deprivations in multiple aspects
of wellbeing.
the mDGs already reflect the multidimensional
understanding of poverty in their focus on income,
health, nutrition, education, gender equity and the
environment. In the years since their adoption
however, the understanding of multidimensionality
and how to translate it into practice has deepened.
First, there has been considerable debate on the
need to include new dimensions to obtain a fuller
picture of wellbeing and how to measure these
dimensions. Second, a new emphasis on poor
people’s experiences of deprivation provides one
way to prioritise the multiple dimensions that
matter to wellbeing and casts light on aspects such as
the importance of relationships and of being treated
with dignity. third, there have been advances in
measurement to focus on the ‘joint distribution’ of
deprivation (given that people often face multiple
dimensions at the same time), and to understand
the intra-household distribution of resources.
Finally, research has cast new light on inequalities
in multiple dimensions and their correlates. these
four developments all have implications for the
form and content of any new post-2015 agreement.
5.3.1 An increasing focus on multiple
dimensions
amartya Sen’s fundamental critique of welfarebased
measures (Sen, 1992, 1999, 2009) proposed
that development should centre on capabilities – on
what people can do or be, rather than what they have;
EuropEan rEport on DEvElopmEnt 2013
on the ends of development rather than the means;
and taking into account people’s differing abilities
to convert resources into outcomes. this thinking
underpins the human development approach
embodied in the annual Human Development
report (HDr), first published in 1990. this broader
view suggests that in addition to income, it is
important to take into account other outcomes that
have both intrinsic and instrumental value.
research over the past decade has sought to
advance this multidimensional notion by focusing
on what constitutes wellbeing – notable initiatives
include oEcD’s measuring the progress of Societies
and the 2008 Stiglitz-Fitoussi-Sen commission on
the measurement of Economic performance and
Social progress (2009), which sought to identify
the limits of GDp as an indicator of economic
performance and to recommend alternative
measures that would provide a broader picture of
human wellbeing. the commission recommended
including material living standards and seven other
dimensions: health, education, personal activities
including work, political voice and governance,
and social connections and relationships. In so
doing, it echoed a broader consensus regarding
the dimensions of wellbeing that people across
countries consistently identify (alkire 2002, 2007;
chambers, 2004) 55 . moreover, it recommended that
any attempt to measure the quality of life should be
based both on objective criteria and on subjective
perceptions.
a key final point is that this focus on the social
aspects of poverty also highlights the two way
interaction with sustainability: poor people are
more likely to experience the effects of climate
change and environmental degradation on their
circumstances and livelihoods, while these
processes in turn deepen poverty and increase their
55 For instance, alkire and Sumner (2013) suggest that a global multidimensional poverty Index (mpI) could complement the $1.25-a-day income
poverty measure in a post-2015 framework, which could also be used to monitor inclusive growth and/or highlight the relationship between
poverty and sustainability.