Urban Innovations: Strategic Private Sector Partnerships for Urban Poverty Reduction (STEP-UP) in Metro Manila

Abstract

From 2003 to 2006, the percentage of the Philippines’s population living below the poverty line (i.e., the incidence of poverty) increased from 24.4% to 26.9%, implying a 10% increase in poverty incidence over this 3-year period. In comparison, poverty incidence in Manila remained at single-digit levels throughout the period, reflecting more advantageous income and livelihood opportunities in the National Capital Region than in many rural areas. This notwithstanding, the rise in poverty incidence in Manila from 4.8% to 7.1% represents a nearly 48% increase over the period—a growth rate that raised some concerns about urban poverty in the Philippines and the need to arrest its growth. Further, because of the sheer size of Manila’s population, 7.1% represents a relatively large absolute number of persons living below the official poverty line. The STEP-UP Project thus formed one part of the Government’s response to the growth rate of urban poverty, its overall purpose being to address partly the relatively steep increase in the incidence of urban poverty in the nation’s capital.