OPHI Advanced Course on Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis
Overview
The OPHI Advanced Course is an in-person course aimed at those who are interested in deepening their knowledge and skills in the use of multidimensional poverty measurement and analysis, from academic institutions to governments and international organisations. The Advanced Course will be led by OPHI Director, Sabina Alkire, and the OPHI team, which includes researchers with extensive experience of developing, implementing and analysing Multidimensional Poverty Indices (MPIs).
The purpose of the intensive one-week Advanced Course is to equip existing users of Multidimensional Poverty Indices (MPIs) or other Alkire-Foster-based measures with additional analytical tools and approaches to deepen their understanding of multidimensional poverty. In particular, the course will provide participants with the theoretical background and empirical understanding of how to analyse trends, intra-household poverty, linked MPIs and deprivation interlinkages. Upon completing the course, participants will have the advanced skills and knowledge to conduct more in-depth computations, policy analysis, and/or research on multidimensional poverty using the MPI or other AF-based measures.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
Understand how to harmonise indicators, and calculate and interpret changes in MPI and its partial indices over time
Understand how to analyse deprivations within households with a focus on the gender and age of household members
Understand the details of indicator interlinkages in the AF framework
Understand how to create and analyse linked MPIs
Other relevant policy applications of MPIs
Structure
The OPHI Advanced Course is a full-time, one week in-person course taught in English. All participants are required to have an existing theoretical and working knowledge of the AF method and are able to independently calculate the MPI, computing and analysing the results in Stata.
The course consists of one full week of teaching, accompanied by working sessions geared towards applying the advanced methods to participants’ own work. Throughout the week, participants will attend lectures and Q&A sessions with OPHI Director Sabina Alkire and OPHI researchers and be actively involved in discussions, and individual work.
Please note this course is aimed at advanced users of the methodology; therefore it will not cover introductory level materials on the AF method and MPI development. For those interested in learning more about the basics of the methodology and the steps to designing an MPI in Stata, please consult our Online Learning Portal and register your interest here for future entry-level courses.
Entry Requirements
All participants are required to meet the following criteria:
Demonstrable previous experience of using the AF Method and the MPI in research or country work.*
Demonstrable intermediate or advanced knowledge of Stata, and experience in calculating the MPI in Stata.
A demonstrable high level of English proficiency as the course will be taught entirely in English
A strong knowledge of quantitative methods and a strong interest in poverty measurement and analysis are highly desirable.
Participants will need to have their own laptops to access relevant material of the course such as readings, and Stata exercises. Please make sure that your device can run the latest version of Stata which will be provided to participants.
*The certificate of completion of the OPHI Summer School is considered demonstrable experience.
Fees and Funding
Details of fees and funding will be available online in early 2025.
How to Apply
To apply, please complete the online application form by 2 March 2025. As part of the application, you are asked to submit an up-to-date curriculum vitae, a sample Stata.do file showing previous work using the MPI/AF method, and a sample of your written work in English on the MPI/AF method. Applicants will be evaluated on the basis of the information provided in their application.
Contact us
If you have any questions about the course or require help with your application, please contact us on ophi-summerschool@qeh.ox.ac.uk