The United Nations Children's Fund and the government have jointly introduced a “multidimensional poverty measurement approach” complementing the traditional income poverty method for evidence-based policy advocacy for children.

Child poverty is often perceived only through income and consumption although it has different causes and effects. Evidence shows that a high GDP per capita is not necessarily directly associated with low levels of child poverty and vice versa.

For example, malnutrition can also affect health and education, which in turn may impact a child's long-term development.

To produce cutting-edge knowledge, the Unicef, the General Economics Division and the Planning Commission jointly organised a workshop yesterday to share a study methodology for measuring Child Multi-Dimensional Poverty Indicators (CMPI) for Bangladesh, said a press release.

The aim is to introduce the CMPI as official poverty statistics and build a common language around it. It is one of the six studies that the Unicef and the government have been conducting.

The study will enable Bangladesh to measure the progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. It will also help assess the impacts of social protection on children, complement poverty measures and provide an important source of additional information for public policy.

“The CMPI is an attempt to construct a yardstick to measure Bangladesh's progress that the government has achieved over the years,” said Edouard Beigbeder, Unicef Representative to Bangladesh.

“It is a timely approach that will help the government assess how various policies are affecting people especially when the country is approaching the middle-income era.”

“I hope that the report will provide useful inputs to formulate plans and policies, as we collectively engage to address poverty, especially child poverty, in Bangladesh in all its multidimensional ways.”

Prof Shamsul Alam, member of the GED, and Md Amir Hossain, director-general of the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, also spoke.