Fighting poverty on a war footing
Monday, 7 April 2008
Poverty reduction has been the focus of all the development efforts of the successive governments. The donor community's aid pledges are dependent on the progress made by the government in its poverty alleviation programmes. Besides the government's own effort towards alleviation of poverty, hundreds of donor-financed Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) are also working to reduce poverty through creating self-employment opportunities by way of providing small credits and other kinds of assistance to the poor. In a bid to confront poverty in a more comprehensive fashion, the multilateral donors pressed on the government to prepare the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The implementation of the PRSP was then set as a condition for getting the development assistance from the donor club.
In a word, over the past decades the governments in office have been running numerous anti-poverty projects at the instance of the donor community in the country. But what is the net outcome of all these efforts?
The main vehicles through which the poverty alleviation drives, or what may also be termed the mode of interventions, were micro-credits, agricultural technologies and assistance provided in the form of food or cash to the poor for their education. It is said that as a result of these anti-poverty measures, between 1995 and 2005, the percentage of the population living in abject poverty came down from 51 per cent to 40 per cent.
Looking at the figure, it has to be admitted that it was an impressive achievement. But how far lasting is the impact of these anti-poverty interventions?
The international community that has been providing the poverty reduction assistances over the years has now turned their attention to the very vital issue of long-term impacts, if any, of these anti-poverty interventions. To this end, the government has assigned the Washington-based think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). To assess the long-term impact of these poverty alleviation measures, the researchers will approach the same group of beneficiaries basing on whose responses they (researchers) earlier calculated the success rate of the anti-poverty interventions.
The fresh study aims to find out both the short and-long term effects of poverty reduction measures and their cost-effectiveness. The results, it is hoped, would help the policymakers to design future plan of action to address the scourge of poverty in a better way. The various activities now in operation in the country to address the issue of poverty are certainly well-intentioned and go to improve the economic condition of the beneficiaries. While appreciating these efforts, one needs also to look more closely at the very premise of all these interventionist models of poverty alleviation. In actual practice, poverty reduction efforts take the condition of the poverty-stricken people in isolation from the socio-political factors constantly at work to engender the condition of poverty.
Briefly said, this is a static model of society where the interventions are supposed to work. Poverty, here, is measured in numbers-the number of the poor at any particular point of time, the value of the assets they possess, the nutritional contents of the food they eat and the level of their literacy. The aim is to bring in quantitative changes in these figures through the assistance packages provided.
But to address poverty in a dynamic state of disequilibrium, the problem needs to be looked at from a yet wider perspective. The investments being made under these projects towards the cause of poverty alleviation should rather change the very socio-economic condition of the poor that constantly engenders poverty. Undoubtedly, the projects already in operation to address poverty have delivered some goods. But after all these years, it is now time to have a rethink of the entire ensemble of anti-poverty measures taken so far, the size of the investment made to this end and the measure of the success achieved in proportion to the investments made.
In a word, over the past decades the governments in office have been running numerous anti-poverty projects at the instance of the donor community in the country. But what is the net outcome of all these efforts?
The main vehicles through which the poverty alleviation drives, or what may also be termed the mode of interventions, were micro-credits, agricultural technologies and assistance provided in the form of food or cash to the poor for their education. It is said that as a result of these anti-poverty measures, between 1995 and 2005, the percentage of the population living in abject poverty came down from 51 per cent to 40 per cent.
Looking at the figure, it has to be admitted that it was an impressive achievement. But how far lasting is the impact of these anti-poverty interventions?
The international community that has been providing the poverty reduction assistances over the years has now turned their attention to the very vital issue of long-term impacts, if any, of these anti-poverty interventions. To this end, the government has assigned the Washington-based think tank, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). To assess the long-term impact of these poverty alleviation measures, the researchers will approach the same group of beneficiaries basing on whose responses they (researchers) earlier calculated the success rate of the anti-poverty interventions.
The fresh study aims to find out both the short and-long term effects of poverty reduction measures and their cost-effectiveness. The results, it is hoped, would help the policymakers to design future plan of action to address the scourge of poverty in a better way. The various activities now in operation in the country to address the issue of poverty are certainly well-intentioned and go to improve the economic condition of the beneficiaries. While appreciating these efforts, one needs also to look more closely at the very premise of all these interventionist models of poverty alleviation. In actual practice, poverty reduction efforts take the condition of the poverty-stricken people in isolation from the socio-political factors constantly at work to engender the condition of poverty.
Briefly said, this is a static model of society where the interventions are supposed to work. Poverty, here, is measured in numbers-the number of the poor at any particular point of time, the value of the assets they possess, the nutritional contents of the food they eat and the level of their literacy. The aim is to bring in quantitative changes in these figures through the assistance packages provided.
But to address poverty in a dynamic state of disequilibrium, the problem needs to be looked at from a yet wider perspective. The investments being made under these projects towards the cause of poverty alleviation should rather change the very socio-economic condition of the poor that constantly engenders poverty. Undoubtedly, the projects already in operation to address poverty have delivered some goods. But after all these years, it is now time to have a rethink of the entire ensemble of anti-poverty measures taken so far, the size of the investment made to this end and the measure of the success achieved in proportion to the investments made.