Excellency Tuon Thavrak, Secretary of State, Ministry of Planning

Excellency Poch Bunnak, Secretary of State, Ministry of Planning

Professor Sabina Alkire, Director of Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative

High-level officials in the Sub-working group on Poverty Measurement

Esteemed participants and colleagues

Ladies and gentlemen

Thank you for your active participation and rich discussions during the the last four days. I thank the participants attending in person or virtually, the trainers who connected from Thailand, Buthan, New York, Panama and Colombia as part of the hybrid format and who prioritised this event, regardless of time difference.

this high-level training was possible thanks to the General Department of Planning at the Ministry of Planning and the longstanding partnership between UNDP and Oxford Poverty and Human Development Inititiative.

I hope you found it useful and enriching.

Excellencies, esteemed participants, ladies and gentlemen

Income alone cannot measure poverty and its complexity; people experience also poverty in their health, education, and standard of living. As Cambodia recovers from the effects of COVID-19 and refocuses on achieving its ambition for reaching upper middle-income status by 2030, there is a need for measuring progress beyond income and ensuring that the most vulnerable are not left behind.

As you saw during the last four days, ending monetary poverty does not mean ending the many overlapping and simultaneous deprivations suffered by people which hold them back from reaching their full potential. Deprivations include poor sanitation, malnutrition, lack of decent employment opportunities, lack of access to quality education and other basic services, among others. Addressing these deprivations is critical for achieving Cambodia Sustainable Development Goals.

A National MPI would provide insights on the overlapping and simultaneous deprivations associated with different SDGs to foster integrated, comprehensive and multi-sectoral policies.

The MPI can inform evidence-based poverty reduction policies, align national planning, guide SDGs prioritization and manage impacts, promote inter-government coordination, realign budget allocation for results and guide response to emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic. It can also be used to monitor progress over time, nationally and sub-nationally, according to national definitions and prioritization. Shortly, it is the compass for a human-centered decision-making and action.

Excellencies, esteemed participants, ladies and gentlemen

As discussed during the training, the development of a national multi-dimensional measure presents an opportunity for changing mindsets and directing efforts towards a more holistic and comprehensive approach prioritizing the well-being of the people.

A National MPI can complement monetary poverty measures by highlighting the specific deprivations suffered by people. It can be disaggregated by sub-regions or provinces, and by different sub-groups of the population such as by gender, ethnic groups, people living with disabilities, migrants and/ or by age for targeted interventions throughout people’s life-cycle, leaving no one behind.

In Honduras, for example, one of my previous duty stations, the MPI was used as an instrument for targeting the poor and most vulnerable households for benefitting of the government’s voucher program during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In neighbouring Vietnam, it is now used for national and sub-national planning, and for SDGs prioritization.

In Bhutan, it was used to design the gross national happiness index.

A National MPI could potenitally support here in Cambodia an effective and resilient social protection policies that reduce vulnerabilities and build resilience for the poor and near poor population groups. It can also be a useful tool for the Ministry of Planning for delivering on its mandate of socioeconomic development through focused policy-making, statistical function and coordination-integration role of the various sectoral ministries and institutions.

Excellencies, esteemed participants, ladies and gentlemen

This week-long training is just the beginning. I hope it was successful in demistifying the concept of multidimensional poverty, answering your queries or doubts, and raising interest in more actionable collaboration during the year to come. UNDP is fully committed to support the Royal Government of Cambodia, through the Ministry of Planning in achieving sustainble development leaving no one behind. You can count on our support.

Finally, allow me to wish the in-person participants safe travels back to Phnom Penh and to all, safe and enjoyable end of the year festivities.

Thank you!