Posted by Mariam on
Thu, 05/06/2008
When the South Asia Development Marketplace for innovative ideas to tackle stigma and discrimination relating to HIV/AIDS was launched in November 2007 by the HIV/AIDS Group in the South Asia Region of the World Bank and its partners, civil society groups across South Asia sent in almost a thousand proposals.
People fear HIV/AIDS because of the association with sex, drugs, illness, and death. In South Asia, the epidemic is driven largely by high risk practices – buying and selling sex, injecting drugs, and unprotected sex among men having sex with men. This compounds the fear and stigma around HIV/AIDS, as sex workers, injecting drug users, and men having sex with men are already stigmatized.
Not only in South Asia, but around the globe, efforts to prevent new HIV infections and allowing people with HIV/AIDS to live without the burden of social exclusion are severely hampered by the persistence of stigma. One study in India shows that 36% percent of students, faculty and technical staff of the public health services felt it would be better if HIV-positive individuals killed themselves and believed that infected people deserved their fate; 34% would not associate with people with AIDS; 42% believed that those with HIV should be quarantined; and, 31% favored barring infected students from college classes (Ambati, Ambati & Rao, 1997).
Posted by Ignacio on
Wed, 30/04/2008
Only about one-quarter of households living in developing countries have any form of financial savings with formal banking institutions. Even in countries that have experienced substantial development over the last decade or two, this statistic remains stuck stubbornly at a level that would not be acceptable for any other measure of socio-economic development: 10% in Kenya, 20% in Macedonia, 25% in Mexico, 32% in Bangladesh.
Access to financial services –whether in the form of savings, credit or insurance— is a fundamental tool for managing a family’s well-being and productive capacity: to smooth expenditure when inflows are erratic (occasional work, seasonality of crops), to be able to build up purchasing power when expenditures are lumpy (school fees, buying seeds), or to protect against emergencies (natural disasters, death in the family).
But in the same way as access to clean water is more than being able to buy a bottle of water, access to finance is more than being able to get the occasional loan. Much like the national grid, access to finance really involves being connected to a national payments system. Once I have a transactional account in a “payment grid”, I can receive and repay loans, save up and withdraw from a savings account, and use the proceeds to pay for what I need. This transactional account gives me a financial history, and is the basis from which I can manage my financial life.
Posted by Shanta on
Thu, 17/04/2008
Pakistan’s education indicators are abysmally low, especially when it comes to learning outcomes. Almost everyone you speak with has strong views on why the situation is what it is, and what should be done about it. Some advocate spending more money on public schools; others, improving accountability in the system; others, regulating private schools; and still others allowing private schools to flourish. Much of this debate occurs without much hard evidence on which proposal might improve education in Pakistan.
A four-year-long research project by some colleagues and friends, launched today in Lahore, seeks to fill this gap. The report documents the remarkable rise in private schools in Punjab, the quality differential between public and private schools, the relationship between outcomes and parental background, what makes teachers better teachers, and more. This painstaking analysis will continue to serve researchers, policymakers and the general public for a long time. Some people say it could be “the new Matlab,” a health and socio-economic survey of a region in Bangladesh that proved to be a mother lode of research and policy applications on health in poor countries.
Posted by Jishnu on
Thu, 13/03/2008
Given the recent bombings in Pakistan, it may be worth asking whether these are "special events" or indicators of a general upsurge in violence.
Here are 4 pictures showing what has happened to reported crime rates and the number of police stations in Pakistan between 1997 and 2006. The red line in each shows the year that Musharraf came to power. All crime as well as murder, attempted murder and kidnapping declined till 2001. Since then, they all started rising and increased particularly fast after 2003. The picture on the bottom right shows the increase in police stations in the four main provinces—Punjab, NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan; the number is normalized to 100 for each province in 1999. There is little or no increase in the first three, but in Balochistan the total number of police stations increased by 62 percent…
The pictures are all sourced from data presented in the Pakistan Statistical Yearbook, 2006, linked here.
Posted by Maitreyi on
Fri, 07/03/2008
 Shanta has been writing about Bangladesh and its paradoxes. I guess you can’t call this a paradox, yet it blows me away how despite its so-called governance failures, alleged increase in conservatism and its low per capita income, Bangladesh is far from the “basket case” Kissinger infamously predicted. We have just completed a report to be launched in Dhaka on March 13th on gender and social transformation in Bangladesh which Aniqah Khan named “Whispers to Voices”.
Once the favorite citation for neo-Malthusians predicting a demographic catastrophe, Bangladesh actually halved its fertility rates between 1971 and 2004. Today, girls’ secondary school attendance exceeds that of boys. The gender gap in infant mortality has been closed. In each of these areas, India and Pakistan pale in comparison, as they do in the area of sanitation, immunization and diarrhea control. The micro-credit revolution continues to boost women’s solidarity groups and earning potential. And vast numbers of young women leave their villages to work in garment factories in a culture where ostensibly purdah had kept them from moving out of the house.
Posted by Shanta on
Wed, 13/02/2008
In discussing how to end poverty in South Asia, we often get so caught up in the statistics and policy discussions that we forget that we are talking about the lives of real people. But a magnificent photography exhibit by my colleague Michael Foley displayed in the hall outside my office, serves as a constant reminder of whom we are working for.
Posted by Shanta on
Mon, 04/02/2008
 How is the quest to end poverty in South Asia going? Parts of the subcontinent, such as the Maldives, the Western Province of Sri Lanka or some Indian states have already “eliminated” abject poverty (in the sense of having poverty rates below 10 percent). Other parts of South Asia such as Afghanistan or northern Sri Lanka are so mired in violent and escalating conflict that ending poverty seems a remote dream; providing basic security seems much more important.
The reality is that South Asia is a heterogeneous region. The per capita income of the richest part is ten times that of the poorest part (see Table). Sustained economic growth and increasing globalization is propelling several Indian states, Bhutan, Maldives, and parts of Sri Lanka into middle-income environments.
Posted by Shanta on
Wed, 30/01/2008
South Asian countries have been experiencing macroeconomic problems during the past year: inflation in Sri Lanka is over 17 percent, in Bangladesh 11 percent; Pakistan’s current account deficit is at 5 percent of GDP; the Maldives’ fiscal deficit is likely to be about 12 percent of GDP; and the Indian economy showed signs of overheating in mid-2007, with inflation rising above 6 percent. Although the rate has come down since then, capital flows remain buoyant, posing challenges for macroeconomic management. India’s trade deficit is forecast to be 8 percent of GDP.
Meanwhile, the sub-prime mortgage crisis in the U.S. is threatening to lead to a global credit crunch and a recession in the country. Will these global developments exacerbate South Asia’s macroeconomic problems and reduce its chances of ending poverty in a generation?
The short answer is “No.”
Posted by Quy-Toan on
Fri, 25/01/2008
This blog post is contributed by Quy-Toan Do and Jishnu Das.
A recent article in the Pakistani newspaper, Dawn, pointed to a potentially disturbing aspect of World Bank lending in the country. The World Bank has undertaken many more projects when the country has had a dictator at the helm rather than a democratically elected representative. But the number of projects doesn't necessarily reflect the volume of lending. What do the data say about multilateral lending and dictatorial regimes?
The graph on the left plots Multilateral ODA (Official Development Assistance) obtained from the OECD DAC database and an index of democracy in the country for the years 1960-2002. The index of democracy combines several features, including political rights and the freedom of expression and ranges from -10 (very autocratic) to +10 (very democratic). The graph also plots the increasing trend in ODA to Pakistan over time.
Posted by Shanta on
Mon, 31/12/2007
Posted by Shanta on
Mon, 31/12/2007
Benazir Bhutto's death is an undeniable tragedy and a cruel reminder of the volatility of Pakistan's politics. But we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that even relatively peaceful and well-functioning democracies, such as India, continue to fail poor people, especially in the delivery of basic services such as health, education and water. And other South Asian countries such as Bangladesh and Nepal, with significantly more difficulties in their democratic processes--confrontational politics in one, conflict in the other--are reducing child mortality rates faster than India. The discussion in this blog after the declaration of emergency in Pakistan on November 3rd concluded that sustainable poverty reduction can only be achieved when the voice of the people, especially that of poor people, is heard. The problem is that holding elections, on time and in a relatively fair and peaceful manner, is only a necessary step in this direction.
An interesting question is why India and Pakistan, which were once the same country, have followed different paths. India has managed to maintain a relatively stable democracy whereas Pakistan (which was once part of the same country) has seen democracy interrupted with military rule on several occasions. A recent paper by Prashant Bharadwaj, Asim Khwaja and Atif Mian offers some provocative ideas towards an answer.
Posted by Shanta on
Tue, 04/12/2007
Rising out of poverty can be frustratingly slow, as Praful’s post on Bhavnaben describes. But one thing is clear: poor people care deeply about their children’s education (Additional resources here about education in South Asia). Parents in Punjab, Pakistan get together and form private schools, charging $3.00 a month (10 cents a day). A recent story about members of the laundry caste (dhobis) in Mumbai—people who have been washing clothes for generations—described a dhobi couple whose sons are studying computers. All this came home to me during a recent visit to Kathmandu, Nepal. A Nepalese friend took me to Durbar Square at 6:30 in the morning (“Before the tourists get there,” he said). We sipped tea while watching the local people going about their morning errands—buying vegetables, greeting friends, using the communal water source for their ablutions. The woman who made us tea said that she used the money she earned as a tea seller to send her two children to a private boarding school. As evidence, she introduced us to her daughter, who spoke to us in perfect English.
Posted by Shanta on
Wed, 28/11/2007
Joke #1: “Officer, I lost my watch,” says the drunk wandering around a lamppost. “Where did you lose it?” asks the officer.
“Across the street.”
“Then why are you looking for it here?”
“Because there’s more light here.” Child mortality rates in India and Pakistan, already very high, are not falling very fast, despite rapid economic growth in both countries. The determinants of child mortality in poor countries lie mostly outside the health sector—water, sanitation, mother’s education, even transport, as countries such as Bangladesh that have made impressive strides in child survival have shown. Health inputs have only a weak relationship with child mortality. Yet health ministries rarely promote safe water, better sanitation, girls’ education and rural road construction as the major components of a program of child survival. Instead, they focus on health inputs. Why? Because there’s more light there.
Posted by Shanta on
Wed, 14/11/2007
We received a number of comments on this blog post. Feel free to continue posting your comments and questions for my discussion tomorrow (November 15th) with young people about ending poverty in South Asia. Participants will be from India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the United States. You can watch the live discussions here via webcast. What: Let's End Poverty in South Asia - live webcast discussion
When: November 15th, 2007
Time: US:7:00am, Eastern time; GMT:12:00
Posted by Jishnu on
Mon, 12/11/2007
Debating Shanta’s blog on the emergency, we worried about missing the deck chairs for the titanic—are facts on performance important at this point in Pakistan’s history? From the comments to Shanta’s post, it does appear that Pakistan’s performance in the last two decades will inform the current debate. This perspective finds broader acceptance. The Pakistan Policy Blog’s excellent summary of Negroponte’s appearance on the hill included the following: Since 9/11:
• the Pakistani government has arrested or killed more al-Qaeda and Taliban than any other country;
• Pakistan’s economy has grown rapidly;
• civil society and media have grown “events of recent days notwithstanding”;
• There is a more participatory national debate;
• Human rights and civil society organizations are more prominent than in the past;
• Pakistan has become a more moderate and prosperous country since Musharraf has come into power;
• But only civilian democracy can secure a prosperous future for Pakistan
Source: Pakistan Policy blog
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Mariam Claeson
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