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Government of Belize and the Caribbean Development Bank
Final Report
Country Poverty Assessment
Volume 2. Supplementary Material
August2010
Halcrow Group Limited and the Belize National Assessment Team
Government of Belize and the Caribbean Development Bank
Final Report
Country Poverty Assessment
Volume 2. Supplementary Material
August 2010
Halcrow Group Limited and the Belize National Assessment Team

This is the back page of the report. This text is hidden text and will not print

Halcrow Group Limited

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Halcrow Group Limited has prepared this report in accordance with the instructions of their client, Caribbean Development Bank, for their sole and specific use. Any other persons who use any information contained herein do so at their own risk.

© Halcrow Group Limited 2018

Contents

1Introduction

2Poverty Line Estimation and Poverty Indicators

2.1The Minimum Cost Food Basket

2.2The Indigence Line

2.3The Poverty Line

2.4Poverty Indicators

Annex A1. Minimum Cost Food Baskets

3The Living Standards Measurement Survey

3.1Design and Content

3.2Sampling

3.3LSMS Implementation

3.4Calculation of Weights

3.5Sampling Error

3.6Data Validation, Processing and Analysis

Annex A.3. LSMS Tabulations

4The Participatory Poverty Assessments

4.1Objectives

4.2Methodology and Techniques

4.3PPA Coverage

4.4PPA Organisation and Training

4.5PPA Fieldwork and Reporting

4.6Analysis

Annex 4.1. PPA Narrative Report

Background and CPA Objectives

Question 1- How have living standards changed in recent years, and why?

Question 2: How Do The Household/ Individuals Cope With Hardship/Poverty?

Question 3: What assistance are Communities Receiving from Government and Other Organizations?

Question 4: How Effective Do Respondents Consider This Assistance To Be, And Is It Addressing Their Priority Needs?

Question 5: How could the assistance be made more effective and more closely aligned to the needs and aspiration of community members?

Annexe 4.2. Tabular Analysis of PPA Results.

5The Institutional Analysis

5.1Objectives

5.2General Methodology

5.3Coverage of the Institutional Analysis

5.4LSMS and PPA Information

6The Village Survey

6.1Objectives, Methodology and Organisation

6.2Village Survey Results (selected)

Appendix 1. LSMS Questionnaire

List of Tables and Boxes

Box A1. Poverty Line – Calculation Procedure

Table A1.1. Minimum Food Basket - BELIZE CITY

Table A1.2. Minimum Food Basket – BELMOPAN (CAYO)

Table A1.3. Minimum Food Basket - COROZAL

Table A1.4. Minimum Food Basket – ORANGE WALK

Table A1.5. Minimum Food Basket – PUNTA GORDA (TOLEDO)

Table A1.6. Minimum Food Basket – SAN IGNACIO (CAYO)

Table A1.7. Minimum Food Basket – SAN PEDRO (BELIZE)

Table A1.8. Minimum Food Basket – DANGRIGA (STANN CREEK)

Table 3.1 Population of Households and Enumeration Districts, 2006

Table 3.2 Sample EDs and Households by District and Urban/ Rural Location

Table 3.3. LSMS Sample Result Codes

Table 3.4. Response Rates by District

Table 3.5. District Weighting Factors

Table 3.6. Sampling Errors

Table A3.1.1. Population by Sex and Age Groups

Table A3.1.2. Ethnic Origin of Head of Household by Quintile

Table A3.1.3. Urban and Rural Households by Quintile

Table A3.1.4. Urban and Rural Poverty Rates by District

Table A3.1.5. Household Size by Quintile

Table A3.1.6. Sex of Head of Household by Quintile

Table A3.1.7. Dependents per Household by Poverty Status

Table A3.1.8. Elderly Households by Quintile

Table A3.1.9. Household Structure of Households with Children under 18 Years by Poverty Status

Table A3.1.10. Parentage of Children by Ethnicity and Poverty Status

Table A3.2.1. Roof Material of House by Quintile

Table A3.2.2. Main Source of Drinking Water by Quintile

Table A3.2.3. Persons per Room by Quintile

Table A3.2.4. Ownership of Durable Goods and Other Assets by Quintile

Table A3.2.5. Ownership of Durable Goods by Urban Rural

Table A3.3.1. Economic Status

Table A3.3.2. Economic Activity by Age Group

Table A3.3.3. Number of Workers per Household by Urban Rural

Table A3.3.4. Households with Unemployed Persons by Residence

Table A3.3.5. Hours Worked by Poverty Status

Table A3.3.6. Months Worked by Poverty Status

Table A3.3.7.Employed Persons by Occupation by Poverty Status

Table A3.3.8. Industrial Sector of Workers by Poverty Status

A3.4.Education

Table A3.4.1. Non Attendance Rates by Population Quintile and Urban Rural

Table A3.4.2. Absences from School in Last Month by Quintile and Urban Rural

Table A3.4.3. Mode of Travel to School in Urban and Rural Areas

Table A3.5.1. District Indicators

Table A3.5.2. Food Security

Table A3.5.3. Difficulties Paying Expenses

Table A3.5.4. Households Experiencing Crime

Table 4.1. PPA Techniques

Table 4.2. PPA Coverage

Table 4.3. PPAs Undertaken

Table 4.4. Agenda for PPA Analysis Workshop

Table A4.2.1a. Summary of Problems Identified during Community Meetings

Table A4.2.1b. Summary of Problems Identified during Community Meetings

Table A4.2.1b. Summary of Problems Identified during Community Meetings

Table A4.2.2a. Summary of Problems Identified by Key Informants during Community PPAs

Table A4.2.2b. Summary of Problems Identified by Key Informants during Community PPAs

Table A4.2.2c. Summary of Problems Identified by Key Informants during Community PPAs

Table A4.2.2d. Summary of Problems Identified by Key Informants during Community PPAs

Table A4.2.2e. Summary of Problems Identified by Key Informants during Community PPAs

Table A4.2.2f. Summary of Problems Identified by Key Informants during Community PPAs

Table A4.2.3. Problems identified in during Transect Walks

Table A4.2.4. Summary of Priorities Identified during Community Meetings

Table A4.2.5. Summary of Priorities Identified by Key Informants during Community PPAs

Table A4.2.6. Summary of Focus Group Discussions for Vulnerable Groups

Table A4.2.7a. Summary of Key Informant Surveys for Vulnerable Groups - Youth

Table A4.2.7b. Summary of Key Informant Surveys for Vulnerable Groups – Youth and Families

Table A4.2.7c. Summary of Key Informant Surveys for Vulnerable Groups – HIV/AIDS

Table A4.2.7d. Summary of Key Informant Surveys for Vulnerable Groups – HIV/AIDS (cont.)

Table A4.2.7e. Summary of Key Informant Surveys for Vulnerable Groups – Elderly and Disabled

Box 5.1. Summary Institutional Analysis Social Sector Checklist

Table 5.1. Coverage of Institutional Analysis

Table 5.2. Programmes Evaluated using LSMS Data

Box6.1. Village Survey Questionnaire

Table 6.1. Infrastructure Provision

Table 6.2. Ownership of Cars and Motor Cycles

Table 6.3. Frequency of Non-Agricultural Activities

Table 6.4. Changes in Economic Conditions in last 5 Years

Table 6.5. Non-Infrastructure Programmes in Last 5 Years

Table 6.6. Priorities for New Projects/ Programmes

ACRONYMS

Nb. This is a consolidated list which has been reproduced from the Main Report.

AAA / Alliance against AIDS
AHS / Average Household Size
AME / Adult Male Equivalent
ARI / Acute Respiratory Infection
(B)SSB / (Belize) Social Security Board
BAHA / Belize Agricultural Health Authority
BBB / Belize Business Bureau
BCCI / Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry
BCCI / Belize Council of Churches
BCFA / Belize Cane Farmers’ Association
BCVI / Belize Council for the Visually Impaired
BDF / Belize Defence Force
BEST / BelizeEnterprise for Sustainable Technology
BFC / Belize Family Court
BFLA / Belize Family Life Association
BLPA / Belize Livestock and Poultry Association
BMC / Borrowing Member Country
BNTF / Basic Needs Trust Fund
BPD / Belize Police Department
BRDP / Belize Rural Development Programme
BSI / Belize Sugar Industry
CARD / Community Initiated Agricultural Development Project
CBB / Central Bank of Belize
CBO / Community Based Organisation
CCT / Conditional Cash Transfer (Programme)
CDB / Caribbean Development Bank
CFNI / Caribbean Food and Nutrition Institute
CFZ / Corozal Free Zone
CIDA / Canadian International Development Agency
CM / Community Meeting
COMPAR / Community Parent Empowerment Program
COPS / Citizens on Patrol
CPA / Country Poverty Assessment
CPI / Consumer Price Index
CPS / Child Protection Services
CRA / Compulsory Registration Areas
CRD / Community Rehabilitation Department
CS / Community Survey
CSEC / Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate
CYDP / Conscious Youth Development Programme
DARE / Drug Abuse Resistance Education
DDC / District Development Committee
DfID / Department for International Development
DFR / Draft Final Report
DHS / Department of Human Services (MHDST)
DVU / Domestic Violence Unit
DWP / Detailed Work Plan Report
ECCB / East Caribbean Central Bank
ECE / Early Childhood Education
ESTAP / Economic and Social Technical Assistance Project
EU / European Union
FDI / Foreign Direct Investment
FGD / Focus Group Discussion
F(M)HH / Female (Male) Headed Household
GATE / Garden-based Agriculture for Toledo’s Environment
GDP / Gross Domestic Product
GEF / Global Environment Facility
GHR / Golden Haven Resthouse
GoB / Government of Belize
GPL / General Poverty Line
GST / General Sales Tax
GVA / Gross Value Added
HECOPAB / Health Education and Community Participation Bureau
HES / Household Expenditure Survey
HfP / Help for Progress
H'hold / Household
HIL / Household Indigence Line
HIVOS / Humanist Institute for Development Cooperation
HSD / Human Services Department
I(A)DB / Inter American Development Bank
IA / Institutional Analysis
IMF / International Monetary Fund
ITVET / Institute for Technical and Vocational Education and Training
KII(S) / Key Informant Interview (Survey)
LAC / Latin America and the Caribbean
LC / Local Co-ordinator (NAT)
LFS / Labour Force Survey
LSD / Land Survey Department
LSMS / Living Standards Measurement Survey
M & E / Monitoring and Evaluation
MCH / Maternal and Child Health
MDG / Millennium Development Goal
MED / Ministry of Economic Development
MFB / Minimum Food Basket
MHDST / Ministry of Human Development and Social Transformation
MICS / Multi Indicator Cluster Survey
MNREI / Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Industry
MoEd(uc) / Ministry of Education
MOF / Ministry of Finance
MoH / Ministry of Health
MRDLG / Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government
MTR / Mid Term Review
N(D)AVCO / National (District) Association of Village Councils
NAC / National AIDS Commission
NAT / National Assessment Team
NCA / National Council for Ageing
NCD / Non-communicable Disease
NCFC / National Committee for Families and Children
NCP / Non-contributory Pension
nec / Not elsewhere classified
NEMO / National Emergency Management Organisation
NES / National Estates Section
NGO / Non Government Organisation
NHDAC / National Human Development Advisory Committee
NOPCAN / National Organization for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect
NPEAP / National Poverty Elimination Action Plan
NPES / National Poverty Elimination Strategy
NPESAP / National Poverty Elimination Strategy and Action Plan
O & M / Operations and Maintenance
PAHO / Pan American Health Organisation
PCPEP / Police Crime Prevention Educational Programme
POA / Programme of Action
PPA / Participatory Poverty Assessment
PPU / Policy and Planning Unit
PRSP / Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper
PSE / Primary School Examination
PSIA / Poverty and Social Impact Analysis
R & D / Research and Development
RCDO / Rural Community Development Officer
SecAL / Sector Adjustment Loan
SIB / Statistical Institute of Belize
SIF / Social Investment Fund
SPAP / Southside Poverty Alleviation Project
TDC / Toledo Development Corporation
TOC / Team of Consultants
TOR / Terms of Reference
TW / Transect Walk
UNDAF / United Nations Development Assistance Framework
UNDP / United Nations Development Program
UNHCR / United Nations High Commission for Refugees
UNICEF / United Nations Children’s Fund
UNPFA / United Nations Population Fund
VCT / Voluntary Counselling and Testing
VPL / Vulnerable to poverty line
VS / Village Survey
WB / World Bank
WD / Women’s Department (MHDST)
WHO / World Health Organisation
WIN / Belize Women Issues Network
YEU / Youth Employment Unit
YFF / Youth for the Future
ZBLO / Zone Beat Liaison Officers Program

Halcrow/ NAT, Belize CPA, Draft Final Report, Volume 2, January 2010.1

1Introduction

This Volume complements the main CPA report (Volume 1) by providing a more detailed description of methodology used for five key components of the study, namely:

• Poverty Line Estimation and Poverty Indicators (Chapter 2)
• The Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) (Chapter 3)
• The Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) (Chapter 4)
• The Institutional Analysis (Chapter 5).

These components provided the great majority of the information used in the study. Additional results from the LSMS, the PPAs and the Village Survey are provided at the end of Chapters 3, 4 and 5. The LSMS questionnaire is included at the end of Chapter 3.

Substantial training was provided by the Team of Consultants (ToC) to National Assessment Team (NAT) members and others during the course of the study. The training material used for these workshops is not included in this volume as it will be incorporated into the CPA Training Manual which is another deliverable of the study. Likewise we have not repeated the overall methodological approach to the CPA which is presented in Volume 1.

2Poverty Line Estimation and Poverty Indicators

2.1The Minimum Cost Food Basket

The basis of poverty line estimation is the specification of the minimum cost for an adult to achieve a diet of 2,400 calories per day taking into account local dietary preferences and the need for a balanced diet. This is known as the MFB.

Tables A.1 to A8 in Annex A1 present the Minimum Cost Daily Food Basket (MFB) for an adult in the 8 urban centres in May 2009. These food baskets were prepared by a PAHO consultant nutritionist based on food baskets used for previous CPAs and knowledge of local dietary characteristics. Prices were derived using the lowest prices collected from the urban centre outlets in the six districts from the May 2009 Consumer Price Index survey carried out by SIB. While it was recognised that these prices did not include prices from rural outlets, checks showed that there was no significant difference between urban and rural outlet prices and that most people went to the outlets in the urban centres to shop. The computations were made using an EXCEL spreadsheet based on information from the Caribbean Food and Nutritional Institute (CFNI) publication “Food Composition Tables for Use in the English Speaking Caribbean”.

The average total cost of this basket for the country of Belize, for an adult male aged 15-29 years, is BZ$5.50 per day which is equivalent to just over BZ$2,000 per annum.

2.2The Indigence Line

The indigence line is defined as the cost of the MFB. Adults with total expenditure below this amount are classified as indigent or extremely poor[1] - essentially they are unable to satisfy their basic food needs.

To allow for the different (and lower) consumption levels of people of different ages and sex, the cost of each household’s MFBwas calculated based upon the age and sex composition of its members. Households with total expenditures below this amount are categorised as indigent.

As an example, given the male indigence line of $2,005, the indigence line for a family of 1 male and 1 female aged 19 to 29 years, a boy aged 4 to 6 and a girl under one year of age would be around $5,247 which is almost 35% lower than if no adjustment for household composition was made.

2.3The Poverty Line

The calculation of the general poverty line (GPL) involves adding a component for non-food expenditure to the MFB/ Indigence Line. In line with the 2002 Belize CPA and other current studies, the non-food element of the poverty line is calculated by multiplying the MFB by the reciprocal of the proportion of total household expenditure spent on food items by the poorest 40% the population classified by household expenditure per capita (not per AME). It should be noted that this approach introduces a normative element into the poverty calculations as it is not based on an assessment of the minimum non-food expenditure needed for a ‘healthy’ life, as was the food component.

The calculation procedure for the poverty lines involves several stages as described in Box A.1.

Box A1. Poverty Line – Calculation Procedure

1. Calculate total food (FOODEXP) and non food expenditure (NFEXP) to obtain total household expenditure (TOTEXP).
2. Calculate household AME value (HAME) by applying the adult equivalents to age and sex characteristics of the household.
3. Calculate Household per Capita Expenditure (HPCAP) by dividing TOTEXP by household size.
4. Sort households ascending by HPCAP.
5. For those households that comprise 40% of the population with the lowest HPCAP values, aggregate (i) total food expenditure (TOFEXP); and (ii) total expenditure (TOTEXP)*.
6. Calculate the Food Share (FSHARE) as a percentage of TOTEXP.
7. Divide the MFB by the food share to obtain the general poverty line (GPL) for an adult male.
8. Calculate Household Indigence line (HIL): MFB * HAME.
9. Calculate Household poverty line (HGPL): GPL * H AME
10. Calculate Household vulnerability line (HVPL): GPL* HAME*1.25.
11. Assign poverty status (POVSTAT) of household by comparing whether total expenditure falls above or below the above limits:

- Indigence: TOTEXP < HIL. Poor but not indigent: HIL<TOTEXP<HGPL; Vulnerable: HGPL<TOTEXP<HVPL; Not Poor: TTOEXP>HVPL.
* This is not the same as taking the 40% of households with the lowest HPCAP.
NB. These calculations were repeated on a district by district basis given the calculation of separate MFBs for each district, as was done in 2002.

2.4Poverty Indicators

2.4.1The Headcount Ratio

The most commonly used poverty indicator is the headcount ratio which gives the overall incidence of poverty in a country. It can be expressed in terms of population or households. It is given by dividing the number of poor households (or population) by the total number of households (or population). Similar ratios are used to give the level of indigence or severe poverty.

2.4.2The Poverty Gap

The formula for the poverty gap (PG) is as follows:

PG= 1/n *  [ (zi-yi)/zi]

Where:

n = total number of households;zi= poverty line of ith household

yi = income of ith household.NB. Negative values of (zi-yi) are set as 0.

The poverty gap has some use in identifying the depth of poverty, i.e. the extent to which incomes in poor households fall below the poverty line. If aggregated over the whole population, it will show the theoretical amount of income that these households need to raise them above the poverty line. Its policy implications are however limited by the absence, in most countries, of progressive tax regimes that would enable such redistribution to take place.

The poverty gap does however have policy making relevance when applied to the indigence line as it provides a means of estimating the financial implications of raising the level of public assistance to ensure that all household have incomes which exceed this line.