Although great strides have been made, Africa still lags behind other parts of the world in the reduction of poverty. We now know that the poorest people rarely benefit from poverty reduction programmes, and this is especially true in some countries of sub-Saharan Africa. Microfinance programmes, for example, that can help many poor people improve their lives do not generally reach the poorest people – casual labourers in remote rural areas, ethnic and indigenous minorities, older people, widows, migrants, bonded labourers and others.
As a result, NGOs and donors have started to mount programmes explicitly targeting the extreme poor, the poorest and the ultra-poor. This book follows on from What works for the Poorest: Poverty Reduction Programmes for the World's Extreme Poor and examines such initiatives in Africa. Through a set of carefully selected papers it questions why the poorest often do not benefit from poverty reduction and growth policies, analyses innovative ultra-poor programmes from around the continent, and explores the lessons that emerge from this new and important body of knowledge.
What Works for Africa's poorest: poverty reduction programmes for extremely poor people contains a unique cross-section of country-specific case studies from across SSA, combined with cross-country analyses of important programmes, written by practitioners, academics and advisers. It is essential reading for researchers and students studying poverty in international development and for policy makers and programme managers involved in poverty reduction programmes.

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‘After 50 years of “development”, the number of Africans living in dire poverty remains tragically and disgracefully high. This book brings together important new insights on the understanding that outsiders themselves must achieve before they can begin to think about reaching the poorest and changing their reality.’
Ian Smillie, author of Freedom from Want and Diamonds
‘If responding to extreme poverty was easy or obvious, the world would surely have figured it out by now. But it’s neither easy nor obvious, so we need the types of context-specific insights exemplified by these excellent chapters, which are grounded in an informed dialogue between careful research, hard-won experience and ethical advocacy.’
Michael Woolcock, World Bank and Harvard University

David Lawson David Lawson is a Research Fellow, Global Poverty Research Group and Brooks World Poverty Institute; he is an author of journal articles on poverty, health and gender. He is also the Convenor of postgraduate programmes on Development Economics at the University of Manchester. He has advised the World Bank, DfID and many governments in relation to poverty and poverty dynamics.

David Hulme Professor Hulme is Founder-Director of the Global Poverty Research Group and Brooks World Poverty Institute; author of numerous well-received books on poverty, rural development and development studies; Director of post graduate programmes on Development Studies at the University of Manchester; and adviser to the UN, World Bank, DfID and many governments and leading NGOs.

Lawrence K. Ado-Kofie Lawrence K. Ado-Kofie is a Research Associate at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester.