German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ): Developing a Poverty Analysis Tool

In 2019, the German Corporation for International Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH) commissioned us to develop a Poverty Analysis Tool (PAT).

Our brief

To achieve further progress in poverty reduction, it is becoming increasingly important to understand context-specific circumstances − such as causes, drivers, extent and distribution of deprivations within a country. The aim of the project was to develop a methodological instrument to analyse context-specific patterns of poverty and provide practical recommendations for the German Technical Cooperation (GTC). Once developed, consultants would use the PAT in cooperation with GTC country offices. There were some key questions the PAT needed to address:

1. What is the situation?
2. Why is the situation as it is?
3. How and what can GTC do to improve it?

What we delivered

Our team of poverty experts produced a robust and high-quality PAT. The process included: a desk review of German policies and documents as well as a review of existing PATs; key informant interviews with select GIZ personnel (mainly country directors as well as planning and methods experts); feedback sessions with GIZ to present key findings and discuss next steps; development of a draft PAT; and a presentation of findings in Bonn. The final output was a short methodological instrument for country-specific analysis of poverty. It included practical elements for using and implementing the tool, such as checklists, questionnaires and Q&A matrices.

Results

The aim was to pilot the PAT in Benin in 2020. Once feedback has been incorporated, the plan is to roll it out more widely.