OPHI and MPPN propose light but powerful survey modules in support of the data revolution

The Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN) and the Oxford Poverty Human Development Initiative (OPHI) have submitted the light but powerful household survey modules to the UN Secretary General’s Independent Expert Advisory Group on Data Revolution for Sustainable Development.  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has asked the Independent Expert Advisory Group to make concrete recommendations on bringing about a data revolution in sustainable development. 

The MPPN and OPHI developed these survey modules in response to the widely agreed need for a ‘data revolution’ post-2015. Previous drafts were launched in November 2013 and April 2014, and revised following extensive discussion and input.

The MPPN Post-2015 survey modules proposed aims to provide data that are:

  • Frequent and accurate – to be able to track changes over time and inform policy;
  • Representative at large-scale – so they can be disaggregated to leave no one behind;
  • Multi-topic – so they take an integrated, balanced approach, and are used to break policy silos;
  • Gendered – so they can provide data on women and men, and some data on girls and boys;
  • Internationally comparable core module reflecting key poverty-related draft SDGs
  • Flexible: able to incorporate additional modules and questions that reflect national priorities, such as a shortened consumption-expenditure module; or governance and political voice; the environment; empowerment; or social capital or child poverty;

OPHI and the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network (MPPN) propose these light survey modules to obtain frequent data from the same survey instrument on a subset of poverty-related SDGs. This thrice-revised survey modules reflects the technical, cultural, and political insights of MPPN members, and were deemed to be feasible and informative across a wide range of country contexts.

The household survey modules proposed could be used to collect data to underlie a new headline indicator of multidimensional poverty post-2015 – a Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2015+, which could complement income poverty measures and show how the different dimensions of poverty interconnect and overlap.

You can read the proposed household survey modules in full HERE.