Fighting poverty is one of the most important tasks of the international development agenda and will logically take a central role in the post-2015 agenda. In the past, major progress has been achieved in poverty reduction. However, many of those who emerged from poverty in recent years remain vulnerable to shocks and slowdowns in growth. Moreover, in many cases, gains in poverty reduction were accompanied by increased inequalities, a fact that has been neglected for a long time. This topic has regained attention in particular in the course of the post-2015 debate, which rekindled the discussion on increasing global inequality. Recent figures on wealth inequality such as those published by Oxfam, suggesting that the richest 85 persons worldwide own as much as the poorest 3.5 billion, did their part to further fuel the discussions.

But how important is the objective of increasing shared prosperity? Is it the case that one of the central tasks of international development cooperation, i.e. the eradication of extreme poverty in less than two decades, cannot be achieved without a decrease in inequality?

Also, not all inequalities raise the same level of concern. The part of inequality that is a reward to effort, innovation and risk taking can be a positive force. However, inequality of opportunities related to circumstances an individual is born into - such as gender, ethnicity, and family background - are deeply unfair, detrimental to growth and social mobility, and go against the idea of a dynamic society that rewards hard work and talent. Many of these inequities emerge early in life, in the form of differences in access to decent education, health, clean water and basic infrastructure among children, and these early disadvantages are harder to correct for later in an individual's life through policies that seek to create a level playing field for all. How widespread are these inequalities of opportunity? What are their consequences? And what is the role for public policies in addressing them?

Recent experience suggests that targeted government programmes often play an important role in the fight against monetary poverty and other forms of human deprivation. However, identifying the poor has often proved challenging, particularly in the poorest countries. While policy-makers may choose from a large set of available strategies, ultimately, all strategies are imperfect and will involve important trade-offs. How can understanding these trade-offs both qualitatively and quantitatively increase the efficiency of targeted programmes?

Finally, the answers to many of the above questions will vary with each country’s economic, social, and institutional context and challenges—there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Ultimately, ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity demand a sharper, country-specific understanding of the constraints to growth and the trade-offs that available macro and sectoral policy choices entail. The World Bank’s new Country Engagement Model and the Systematic Country Diagnostics seek to identify the most critical constraints to, and opportunities for, poverty reduction and shared prosperity in each country. How do these new instruments work? And how successful are they in contributing to the achievement of the twin goals of ending poverty and promoting shared prosperity?

These and other related questions were addressed by the international experts at this public event.

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