The Poverty and Inequality Unit engages frequently in initiatives with other multilateral institutions to produce reports on poverty reduction and social protection. In collaboration with the other international financial institutions (World Bank, IMF, Regional Development Banks, MECOVI, and EDB), SDS/POV, produced the document Social Safety Nets in Response to Crises: Lessons and Guidelines from Asia and Latin America completed in February 2001 and submitted to the APEC Finance Ministers. SDS/POV is also currently preparing the second Global Poverty Report(GPR) to inform the discussion of the G-8 on development and poverty at the Genoa Summit in July 2001.

The GPR was initiated at the request of the G-8 (Cologne Communiqué 1999). It is prepared jointly by the regional development banks, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. The first GPR provided a status report on global poverty trends and the universal responsibility in reducing poverty, with more detailed discussions of trends and issues specific to each geographical region.

The second report?s theme ?"A Globalized Market-Opportunities and Risks for the Poor"? was chosen to facilitate the discussion of issues that need to be considered to ensure that poor people are not left behind as global interdependence increases. The increasing interconnectedness of the world economy implies that issues of creating and making use of opportunities, as well as safeguarding against risks, are relevant to developing and transitional economies as much as they are to G-8 and OECD countries. The report aims to examine critically some of the issues that arise for poor nations and poor people in a global economy.