María Nathalia Ramírez Chaparro

I am a PhD Fellow in Innovation, Economics, Governance and Sustainable Development (IEGSD) at UNU-MERIT / Maastricht University. My research studies hidden poverty (pobreza oculta) in Bogotá, Colombia: households living with real, present deprivation that institutional instruments are structurally designed not to see.

Hidden poverty is not the same as vulnerability. Vulnerability describes prospective exposure to the risk of falling into poverty. Hidden poverty describes deprivation that is already present, above official thresholds, and unrecognised by the State’s classification systems and often by households themselves.

My PhD combines theory, quantitative spatial analysis and qualitative fieldwork:

• A theoretical framework of hidden poverty across five dimensions of invisibility: economic, social, empowerment, psychosocial and political-symbolic.
• Mapping institutional invisibility with Sisbén IV and ILSIS data for 1.7 million households across Bogotá’s city blocks, UPZs and localities.
• Lived experience through collaborative cartography, narrative interviews, urban walks and photo elicitation in Teusaquillo, Los Cedros, Galerías and Quinta Paredes.

The fieldwork is part of Cartographies of Hidden Poverty, funded by the Álvaro Reyes Young Researchers Grant of the Centro de Estudios Manuel Ramírez (CEMR). More about the project at unveilinghiddenpoverty.com.

Before the PhD, I worked as a research assistant on the Human Development Report Colombia (UNDP) and on a systematic review of social protection instruments for the Agence Française de Développement (AFD). I hold an M.A. in Development Studies from the International Institute of Social Studies (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and a B.A. in Economics, cum laude, from Universidad Santo Tomás.

Soy investigadora doctoral en UNU-MERIT / Universidad de Maastricht. Estudio la pobreza oculta en Bogotá: hogares con privaciones reales y presentes que los instrumentos institucionales no están diseñados para ver.