The main aim of this article is to show that multidimensional measures of poverty are important for public administration in so far as they present different characteristics of the poor people to be attended by public policies. Through these measures, it is possible to identify the dimensions of life in which the population is most deprivate and, consequently, focus policies in order to better address these needs. The article is based on Sen's (1985, 2000, 2001) Capability Approach and presents a multidimensional measure of poverty for the municipality of Palmeira das Missões (RS), which was developed having as basis a research instrument used by Barros, Carvalho e Franco (2003) and Santos (2007). The results show that poverty viewed in a broader perspective, as the calculated for the municipality of Palmeira das Missões, may appoint a different reality for the dynamics of poverty and, in that way, to amend the focus of policy for combating poverty to be more effective. Accordingly, the multidimensional measures of poverty are relevant for public administration, once that characterize better the reality, helping in understanding their causes and in proposing policies.
poverty; public administration; capability approach
