Extreme Poverty is defined by the World Bank as a ‘condition of life so characterized by malnutrition, illiteracy and disease as to be beneath any reasonable definition of human decency’. This paper addresses this issue and uses US$1.90 per person per day as the level of income necessary to maintain this minimum level of human decency.This paper compares the effects of three interventions on poverty reduction: improving governance, eliminating communicable diseases and providing universal access to improved sanitation. Relative to the comparison scenarios, incremental improvements in governance effectiveness over the SDG period have a greater impact on poverty reduction. The intent is to call attention to the importance of effective governance in Africa and demonstrate its impact on poverty reduction rather than prescribe any set of development priorities at the country level.
