PoP Briefing Note 1 - The “Triple-Whammy” of Poverty – Lessons from Portfolio of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day

This Briefing Note explores the pattern of “triple-whammy” poverty trap and examines how households manage and what can be done to help households cope with their most basic, daily challenges. It further explores this phenomenon through the experiences of three dairy households.

This note dwells into three distinct problems which poor face – small income, irregular and unpredictable cash flows and unreliable and not suited exiting financial instruments to match the irregular cash flow pattern. The document traces experiences based on financial diaries which captures each and every financial transaction/behaviour of an individual poor over a period of time. The research makes it evident that having alternative sources of reliable, convenient, and reasonably priced financial tools are better suited to the unpredictable cash flows of poor.

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