Cambodia has recently moved from Lower Income to Lower Middle-Income Country status as a result of its partial economic transformation. This has been accompanied by significant poverty reduction, though the majority of formerly poor are now near-poor. The question now is how it can best continue this transformation, and eradicate extreme poverty sustainably?

This brief draws out policy and programming implications from the related research report investigating poverty dynamics. The overarching argument is that if more escapes could be sustained, and fewer were temporary, then the country’s performance on poverty reduction would be even better than it has been. The research focuses on the drivers of sustained poverty escapes; or the factors that enable escapes from poverty to last over a period of time.

The focus of this brief is on what these findings may mean for interventions and approaches in Cambodia that aim to enable poor households to escape from poverty and to maintain that escape over time.

Author: Andrew Shepherd

Download the report here