Poor

Definitions: Pro-Poor Growth and Development

Pro-poor development, in simple terms, refers to a development process that focuses or leads to a significant reduction in the incidence of poverty in a given country or region (Kakwani and Pernia 2000; Ravallion 2004). The term encapsulates two main international development concerns that emerged in the 1990s: first, the need for sustained economic growth in developing countries – to narrow the developmental gap between the low-income and the advanced countries – and second, the global call for poverty alleviation, which became prominent in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The “pro-poor” concept represents a shift from the earlier notion of “trickle-down” development – which assumes an automatic diffusion of the benefits of economic growth to all segments of the society. The proponents of pro-poor development contend that economic growth – although, an essential element for poverty alleviation – does not always correspond to poverty...