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With the signing of the 2030 Agenda, the international community has committed to ending poverty in all its forms. This first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) recognises poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon that goes beyond the simple lack of a sufficient amount of income. However, the way the SDG 1 and, in particular, Target 1.2 – “reduce … poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions” – are formulated poses challenges for its operationalisation.Which specific dimensions of poverty should a country focus on? How can we identify them? Is it possible to agree on a universal set of dimensions with which to compare poverty across several countries?Recently, significant advancements have been made in the measurement of multidimensional poverty; however, how dimensions of poverty are selected is often overlooked. Empirical studies have employed different approaches, ranging from a data-driven approach to the use of participatory methods or surveys to detect context-based dimensions. This Briefing Paper discusses the pros and cons of the existing approaches and argues in favour of a new one, called the Constitutional Approach. The central idea is that the constitution of a democratic country, together with its official interpretations, can be a valid source of ethically sound poverty dimensions.What is the value added of the Constitutional Approach? And what are the policy implications of adopting it? The approach is grounded on a clear understanding of what poverty is, rather than an ad hoc approximation of it based on data availability. Only with a clear definition can poverty be measured, and anti-poverty strategies adequately designed and implemented. By drawing on norm-governed national institutions that have shaped societal attitudes, the resulting list of dimensions is more legitimate and likely to be accepted and used by national policy-makers and endorsed by the public. The selecting of valuable societal dimensions is not just a technocratic issue but must be grounded in shared ethical values. The approach does not require the collection of additional information to understand which poverty dimension should be prioritised. However, one must consider that this approach is only suitable for democratic countries, whose constitutions: are the result of a broad-based participatory process, still enjoy wide consensus and recognise at least the principle of equality among all citizens. To compare multidimensional poverty at the global level, the approach could be extended by examining a core list of overlapping dimensions across several countries. Given the above strengths, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), which has a vital role in the Multidimensional Poverty Peer Network, could recommend this approach to governments to track country progress in SDG 1., Briefing Paper

Multidimensional theories of well-being are locked into a debate about value judgment. They seek to settle which dimensions should matter for measurement and policy, and, more importantly, on what grounds to decide what should matter. Moreover, there is a gulf between theory and practice, given that measurement and policy are rarely rooted in a coherent ethical framework. Our paper engages in the debate concerning the legitimate grounds for selecting dimensions. Combining Amartya Sen's capability approach and John Rawls’ method of political constructivism, we explore whether the constitution and its public culture can be used as an ethically sound informational base for selecting dimensions, and if so, why. We apply this ‘constitutional approach’ to the Italian case with the aim of deriving a set of publicly justifiable dimensions of well-being. It is a long-standing Constitution with broad public consultation at its base, which still enjoys a wide consensus. We seek to show why there is a need for more ethically sound methodological approaches to measuring well-being, pointing out the advantages of the constitutional approach, and how it may enrich the work of practitioners engaged in the policies of well-being.

L’articolo contribuisce a studiare il valore aggiunto delle cooperative in un contesto di sviluppo incentrato sulle persone. In particolare, esamina le cooperative come istituzioni per lo sviluppo umano e analizza i fattori che possono favorire la conversione della participazione in cooperativa nell’ espansione dell’ agency e delle capabilities dei soci., The co-operative firm. Keywords

Questo volume è basato su un’esperienza didattica resa possibile dall’intervento della Direzione Amministrativa dell’Università degli Studi Roma Tre che, da maggio 2012, ha messo a norma e arredato alcuni spazi del complesso di Villa Maruffi a Sassone (Ciampino). Grazie a tale supporto logistico e alla collaborazione tra le strutture di Ateneo e la Fondazione Maruffi-Roma Tre, numerosi studenti dei corsi di archeologia e di storia dell’arte hanno svolto nella sede di Villa Maruffi le ore curriculari del tirocinio, delle ‘altre attività formative’ e hanno preso spunti per ricerche finalizzate alla stesura di tesi di laurea. Sono opportunità imprescindibili nella formazione dei giovani che hanno un risvolto positivo anche per la ricerca, coadiuvata da esperti di altri enti nazionali e di istituzioni operanti nel territorio di Ciampino. In questo che è il secondo volume dedicato a Villa Maruffi, si propone un legame tra archeologia, arte ed economia diverso da quello tradizionalmente inteso quando si parla di ‘patrimonio culturale’. Il filo conduttore è costituito dall’uso dei suoli per lo sfruttamento agricolo, testimoniato da reperti di epoca romana e da foto d’epoca che ci fanno arrivare alla metà del XX secolo. Sono materiali inediti e, per quel che riguarda le foto di paesaggi agrari e di lavoranti della Campagna Romana, in particolare, l’interesse consiste anche nel fatto che si tratta di immagini scattate tra la fine dell’Ottocento e la prima metà del Novecento dagli stessi Maruffi, che possono servire a mettere in circolo idee nuove sull’utilizzo del territorio.

Immagini di economia agraria dai fondi Maruffi tra passato e attualità

The aim of this work is to define and measure a multidimensional phenomenon as the development in Europe. The results of the application show that an efficient approach is both selecting few non-compensatory indicators in order to represent the phenomenon and choosing a simple aggregation function that does not permit a compensation among the values of the indicators.

"The article aims to analyse the evolution and modernization of Rome in the last 30 years. . To this end, we focus on both structural and institutional change and try to identify the . main ruptures, continuities and driving forces of the new Roman model. After the second . world war, Rome was generally considered to be a cumbersome capital city with a heavy . bureaucratic sector and without any strong ‘local’ political forces and social movements . capable of bringing about economic and political change. Nevertheless, a new and more . democratic local governance and subregulation mode emerged during the post-Fordist . era, which allowed the production and reproduction of new socio-economic relations . that in turn influenced a new economic model for the city. This new governance has led . to some interesting forms of ‘democratization’ that are difficult to find in other . post-Fordist metropolises. However, the Roman model is also characterized — as in . other global metropolises — by forms of social exclusion, poverty and polarization . between the peripheries and central\\\\\\\/high-income districts, in a sort of two-speed . development. At the same time, the traditional bureaucracy and its connected ‘state . bourgeoisie’, although still relevant, are no longer dominant. New service activities have . brought about new agents, new powers and new institutions. . \\"""

Quinta Conferenza Internazionale della “Human Development and Capability Association”

Food insecurity is at the heart of the international movement to overcome hunger and poverty. The first Millennium Development Goal (MDG) sets as its target the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, with a target of halving the incidence of poverty and hunger by 2015. This research contributes to that process, by analysing the connections among rural poverty, hunger and education for rural people. The paper focuses on rural people, because they are among those groups suffering the most from extreme hunger. Using household-level data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for 48 low-income countries, the study examines through visual and statistical means the co-variation between hunger and lack of education. The study finds that hunger is highly correlated with educational deprivation. Moreover, the correlations are highest at the primary level, decreasing in strength with higher levels of education. In coherence with the Capability Approach, which stresses education’s active role in developing people’s capabilities, these results suggest that to fight food insecurity, governments, international organizations and civil society should invest more in the education sector, especially primary education for rural people. Greater investment in quality primary education is likely to make substantive progress possible towards achievement of MDGs 1 and 3, 2.1 Our results suggest, for example, that if a low-income country such as Mali, among those with the lowest levels of education, could double access to primary education by rural people, it could substantially reduce rural food insecurity, by around 25 percent. Given the concentration of population and poverty in rural areas in most low-income countries, education for rural people can be seen as a key factor for promoting overall national food security. Increasing educational participation will require substantially greater investments of resources and a mobilization of political will at international, national, and local levels. This paper aims at raising awareness primarily among policy makers outside education of the central role of education in fighting hunger and poverty.

Il lavoro contiene una rassegna sulle esperienze di decentramento istituzionale nei paesi dell’Africa Subsahariana. A partire dagli anni ’80 è emerso un rinnovato interesse per questo tema, nel quadro delle riforme del settore pubblico che hanno accompagnato e seguito i programmi di aggiustamento strutturale. I percorsi di riforma seguiti dai paesi dell’area subsahariana sono analizzati con riferimento a quattro tipologie di decentramento, ricostruite sulla base sulla letteratura. Il lavoro mostra che gran parte delle questioni che emergono a seguito delle attuali riforme sono legati alla scarsa coerenza fra i processi di decentramento politico e quelli di cambiamento delle regole istituzionali. I casi di insuccesso, inoltre, derivano spesso dalla presenza di vincoli e incentivi perversi nelle relazioni fra diversi livelli di governo. The paper provides a summary of Sub-Saharan African experiences with decentralization. During the 1980s, after the widespread economic and public sector reforms, a renewed interest toward decentralization has emerged. To explore the extent, types and forms of decentralization patterns, the authors, drawing on the literature, develop four typologies: deconcentration, delegation, deresponsibility and devolution. These are employed to classify the experiences of the countries for which information was available. Problems associated with the current wave of decentralization arise mostly from the failure to match the pace of political decentralization to that of regulatory reforms. Failures often reflect constraints and perverse incentives in the relationship between levels of government.