Participatory Poverty Grading Tool Manual

Marie Stopes International (MSI), a sexual and reproductive health (SRH) organisation, has produced a 3-part guide based on the conviction that poverty and SRH are intrinsically linked. MSI contends that poverty is not only a cause of poor SRH but also a consequence of it. If this destructive cycle is to be broken, MSI believes, it is critical that the poorest are able to access affordable, quality SRH services. For this to happen, the poorest must first be identified.

To facilitate this process of identification, MSI has produced this field manual that draws on the organisation's participatory poverty mapping activities in Bangladesh and Yemen. The tool emphasises full participation of community members within the research, detailing strategies for guiding them in identifying and developing their own poverty indicators. MSI believes this participation has enabled community members "to assess themselves and their neighbours in a genuinely fair and locally appropriate way."

The Participatory Poverty Grading Tool Manual comprises three distinct, but related, guides, each of which is available for download in PDF format from the MSI website:

• A Project Manager's Guide [PDF] - this 36-page guide describes how to plan, design, and implement a poverty mapping project. It details the participatory methods used to develop the poverty grading tool and how the tool can then be used to map poverty within the community being studied. It is designed to be used by those involved in planning and designing projects and programmes (or by experienced trainers brought in to fulfill this role instead) which gear information and services to meet the needs of the economically poor in order to improve their SRH status. To this end, it includes discussion of indicators: "The participatory research technique outlined in this manual asks focus groups made up of community members to express their views on which indicators best describe poverty, and which levels of indicators best describe each level of poverty. These indicators are then aggregated into a poverty grading tool which is then field tested."
• A Trainer's Guide to Training Fieldworkers [PDF] - this 40-page guide describes how to train fieldworkers in the data collection techniques required to develop the participatory poverty grading tool and how to undertake a social mapping exercise. Specifically, it details the research techniques (focus groups, field testing, and social mapping) necessary to learn more about the social and cultural factors relating to poverty and to enable poverty grading of different households. It also provides a framework of training sessions. Trainers are encouraged also to "develop additional materials such as overheads or slides to illustrate key points. These have not been provided [in the manual], so as to allow you to develop materials that are locally and culturally appropriate. Be as imaginative as possible with the training and emphasis the listening, questioning and observation skills required. Encourage the trainees to practise these skills with their family and friends in preparation for their role."
• A Trainee's Guide to Fieldwork [PDF] - designed to be used by trainee fieldworkers, this 32-page resource describes, step-by-step, how to: conduct successful community focus group discussions and process the data generated, use the participatory poverty grading tool, and undertake a social mapping exercise and complete a social map.

Although the tool was developed to help deliver SRH programmes, MSI suggests that it can be applicable to other interventions designed to address and involve the economically poor, such as providing access to clean water and good sanitation, improving nutrition, or income generation.

Click here to access the publications page on the MSI website, where each part of the manual may be downloaded in PDF format.