One of the intriguing aspects of working on a movement to end extreme poverty is that we should be able to quantify the progress. It should be possible to come up with a good estimate of the number of people living in extreme poverty in the Caribbean and track changes to it. The World Bank puts out detailed poverty estimates for each country. At least the Dominican Republic has a detailed poverty census that lists how many people are living in houses without paved floors and other indicators. What if we pulled all of this data together, validated with local surveys, and came up with a good estimate for the number of extremely poor people? This could be a banner on our website. We could then try to track changes to this number–estimating the number of people helped in different areas by the different programs and those hurt by changes (storms, bank failures, etc.). We could then show the world the magnitude of the problem, but more importantly the progress that we are making. Does anyone want to help come up with the first estimate?
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One response to “How many people live in extreme poverty in the Caribbean?”
Hey Dan,
I am planning an avocado plantation in Haiti. I need some saplings and drip irrigation materials from the DR. Can you help me make connections and buy this stuff?
Currently, I have been working in Afghanistan for about 3.5years. Marion lived with me for a while but got tired of the cultural confinement and treatment of women. She’s back home in Louisiana. Her email is [email protected]. Please give my regards to Carolle. Peace be with you!
I thought I had your email address and searching the net for it came across your webpage. Very nice! Glad to see that you are still in development work! I will continue to search to find your address; but, thought I would send this while I had the chance.
Zach Lea
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