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The following steps were undertaken in the
computation of poverty indicators.
The poverty mapping
methodology developed by the NSCB was distinct
from other poverty mapping activities being
undertaken by other agencies. The indicators
from the Minimum Basic Needs framework for the
three major concerns of survival, security, and
enabling were collected at the barangay level
from the various city departments and selected
line agencies. Data submitted were carefully
assessed and validated to check the data quality
in terms of consistency and presence of
outliers/extreme values.
The methodology involved
the computation of a composite index out of the
indicators for the components of the three major
MBN concerns of SURVIVAL, SECURITY, and
ENABLING. The component indexes are derived as
the means (or simple arithmetic average) of
their respective indicators. Thus, the HEALTH
INDEX would be the average of the child
mortality rate and maternal mortality rate. The
composite POVERTY INDEX is then obtained as the
unweighted arithmetic average of the indexes for
the three major components.
The individual indicators
were converted into unit-less measures since
these indicators were not expressed in the same
units and, therefore, could not be aggregated.
For example, the CMR is expressed as the number
of child deaths per 1,000 live births, while
drop-out rates are in terms of percentages.
Conversion into unit-less measures of the
indicators is done by first deriving the city
values of the indicator. The barangay values of
the indicators are then divided by the city
values if the comparison is to be made among
barangays of the same city. The resulting
quotients are called INDEXES.
Ideally, it would have been
desirable to compare the barangay values against
a city target that might have been specified in
the city development plan or against a standard
set by the concerned agency, such as the
Department of Health or the Department of
Education. In this exercise, in the absence of a
set city target, the city value of the indicator
was used as the basis for the comparison among
the barangays. No weights were used to derive
the city value as raw data were available. The
city value is simply derived as the ratio of the
total of the barangay values to the total
relevant population. All the barangay indicators
were converted into unit-less values so they
could be aggregated to derive the composite
index at the city level.
The
use of the city value against which the
situation of the barangays are compared enables
the users to rank the performance of the
barangays within the city for each of the
indicators. |