An estimated 443 million people worldwide suffer chronic poverty. i.e. poverty which lasts many years, a lifetime or generations. Looking at the dynamics of poverty - how people's poverty status changes with time - reveals the existence of multi-dimensional poverty traps relating to insecurity, poor work opportunities, location, social discrimination and limited citizenship.  Policies and strategies to break these traps are discussed, as is the broader goal of developing a state-citizen 'social compact' around justice and poverty.

  
Dr. Caroline Harper
Tim Braunholtz-Speight
ODI - Overseas Development Institute
London, United Kingdom
c.harper@odi.co.uk