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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 262p-4f. Assistance to countries to develop statistical assessment of well-being of poor
(a) Findings
The Congress finds that -
(1) improvement in the capacity of developing countries to
measure and monitor regularly the nutritional and physical
well-being of the poorest 40 percent of the population of each of
such countries is essential to the development of policies to
reduce absolute poverty;
(2) internationally accepted statistical indicators that
measure reliably the extent of absolute poverty and identify the
location and characteristics of the poor are being developed and
refined to guide policy formulation and target assistance to the
poor;
(3) such guidance by indicators is, however, not able to be
used in some developing countries, especially the poorest
countries, due to the woeful unavailability of statistical data;
(4) the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
and the International Development Association have the technical
and financial capability to assist borrowing country governments
to develop such statistical measurement capabilities for social
indicators necessary for the design and monitoring of
poverty-reduction policies for such governments;
(5) availability of social indicator data is also essential to
the work of such institutions, particularly in monitoring the
impact of structural adjustment lending on the poor; and
(6) availability of such indicators will also facilitate the
measurement of progress in the alleviation of poverty by other
donor agencies, public and private.
(b) Assistance to countries to develop statistical assessment of
well-being of poor
The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States
Executive Director of the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development and the International Development Association to
advocate and support, as an immediate priority, assistance by such
institutions to borrowing country governments to develop
appropriate statistical measures for assessing the physical
well-being of the poor, by sex and age, by using such indicators as
mortality, health, education, and nutrition, as well as wealth and
income, and maintain and publish such indicators on an ongoing
basis.
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