Editor's note. Welcome to the first issue of ODA Weekly, covering September 15th to October 7th. Bolivia is tightening its belt as Peru expands its social budget, and new research asks who, inside the household, bears the burden of hardship.
ODA PickPolicy · Bolivia · Peru#Neighbors diverge: Bolivia shrinks as Peru grows
The World Bank's latest outlook for Latin America and the Caribbean, released on October 6th, expects the region to grow by 2.2% in 2026. Peru should manage 3.2%. Bolivia is set to shrink by 2.8%, and by a further 1.4% in 2027.
Why it matters: The Bank, as reported, blames Bolivia's slump partly on the medicine: fuel-subsidy cuts, tighter money and the move to a flexible exchange rate in mid-2026. The cure is working on prices; inflation fell from 20% at the end of 2025 to 5% in August. The open question is who pays, and whether promised social protection reaches the households whose choices are shrinking fastest.
Source: World Bank, Panorama económico de América Latina y el Caribe, as reported, October 6th–7th 2026 · Los Tiempos · FmBolivia
Academic
Academic · Global#252m young children are undernourished, multidimensionally poor, or both
A report by OPHI and the UNDP, published on September 15th, links children's nutrition and schooling to their households' poverty across 97 countries (for nutrition) and 108 (for school attendance).
Why it matters: Poverty is usually measured household by household, which misses a lot. More than a third of poor children live in homes where some siblings are undernourished and others are not. And 82% of poor children out of school live in households where no woman has completed six years of schooling. Agency has to be measured inside the home.
Source: OPHI and UNDP, September 15th 2026 · OPHI
Academic · Peru#In Peru, hunger changes what goes in the basket, not just how much
A study of 32,053 households in Peru's 2025 national household survey (ENAHO) finds that each one-point rise on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale is associated with 2.6% less fruit and 1.3% fewer vegetables bought per person.
Why it matters: The study is cross-sectional, so it shows association, not cause. Still, it suggests food insecurity reshapes diets in ways a calorie-based poverty line cannot see. That is a useful baseline as Peru rebuilds its social budget around child anemia.
Source: J. Saintila, Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, September 24th 2026 · doi:10.3389/fsufs.2026.1966104
Academic · Bolivia#Who bears the cost when disaster strikes in Bolivia?
A new article in Feminist Economics examines how climate disasters, gender and poverty interact in Bolivia, and makes the case for a more inclusive disaster response.
Why it matters: Relief is usually designed for the household. A gender lens asks who within it absorbs the loss. The question grows more pressing as Bolivia's social spending comes under fiscal strain.
Editor's note: summary based on the published title and listing; we have not read the full text.
Source: L. E. Escalante, Feminist Economics, September 16th 2026 · doi:10.1080/13545701.2026.2695734
Academic · Somalia#Remittances protect Somali families from private misfortune, not shared disaster
Using Somalia's 2022 household budget survey (6,883 households) and the Alkire-Foster method, the authors find 74% of households multidimensionally poor. Shocks that hit whole communities raise the deprivation score by about 2.6 percentage points; receiving remittances is associated with a score 4.3 points lower.
Why it matters: Money from relatives abroad cushions household-specific shocks, such as an illness or a lost job. It offers no measurable protection when drought or flood hits everyone at once. That is a case for public insurance, as farmers in Peru and Bolivia know from El Niño years. The estimates are associations, not causal effects.
Source: A. D. Hassan and M. M. Ibrahim, Economies, October 4th 2026 · doi:10.3390/economies14100452
Policy
Policy · Bolivia#The IMF sets out the terms of Bolivia's rescue
The IMF has published its staff report on Bolivia's 36-month Extended Fund Facility, worth about $1.9bn. The government commits to a front-loaded fiscal squeeze while protecting vulnerable groups.
Why it matters: The report concedes the economy is in its third year of recession, and that dearer oil after the war in the Middle East forced a return to energy subsidies. It promises more spending on social protection, but the agreement announced in July named no transfer amounts or coverage targets. That is the gap to watch.
Source: IMF staff country report, October 2026 · doi:10.5089/9798229061896.002 · IMF, 29 Jul 2026
Policy · Peru#Peru's social ministry wants 22% more money
On September 18th Maritza Canales, the minister for development and social inclusion (MIDIS), asked Congress for S/9.3bn for 2027, 22.2% more than the ministry's opening budget for 2026.
Why it matters: The ministry says payments under Pensión 65, a non-contributory pension, would double from S/350 to S/700. It also reckons that closing coverage gaps would cost S/12.5bn, some S/3.3bn more than it is asking for. A bigger pension widens older Peruvians' options; the gap shows how many will go without.
Source: MIDIS, as reported by Andina, September 18th 2026 · Andina
Editorial policy
ODA Weekly brings together research and policy news on opportunity, development and agency across the Global South. Every item is checked against its original source, and the editor is responsible for what is published. Where we have not been able to read a full text, we say so.