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Characterizing Poverty
Recognition of the varied causes and outcomes of poverty and how
they interact with each other influences the way we measure
and monitor poverty and the plans we make to eliminate it. The
new view of the development process-and who is left out of
it-includes quality of governance and the rule of law, corruption
and crime, cultural and historical factors. Only a few years
ago such elements were considered to be quite outside the development
mainstream and perhaps an intrusion in the affairs of
sovereign nations.
In contrast, the Human Development
Report 2000 (9) of
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is devoted
largely to the human rights record of the world's nations.
UNDP's Human Development Index regularly assesses countries'
progress in education and health. The World Bank has
made listening and responding to the "voices of the
poor" a high corporate priority (10).
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VOICES OF THE OLDER POOR IN SOUTH AFRICA AND INDIA |
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A recent
study by UNFPA asked older poor women
and men in South Africa and India, mostly
in rural areas, about key issues affecting
their lives. It found that many are concerned
about extreme poverty: poor living
conditions; inadequate health care and
social protection; and inter-generational
violence and abuse.
Almost 5 per cent of South Africa's population
is 65 or older. These persons have
lived through the indignity of apartheid and
its legacy is still with them. Most are still
caught in the grip of severe poverty and
social exclusion.
Older South Africans identified their priority
needs as: food security; clean water;
adequate shelter; electricity; money and a
pension; adequate health care facilities;
identity documents such as birth certificates
to claim their rights; and support in
caring for a spouse. Their concerns with
growing older centred on a fear of isolation,
exclusion, abuse, illness, a sense of helplessness
and the growing impact of HIV/AIDS.
India's older population is expected to
grow from 77 million in 2000 to about
141 million by 2020. More than half of all
older persons are on the verge of poverty,
with many in poor health and living in
unhygienic conditions.
Very few are covered by any kind of
retirement scheme; the primary source of
care and support is the family. However,
economic development and widespread
migration of young adults are disrupting
traditional support for older people. Older
women, especially those unmarried or widowed,
are particularly disadvantaged.
Said Raji, 75, "I have lived alone since
my husband's death seven years ago. My
children migrated. They have never bothered
to inquire about me. I have no income
and hardly any contact with anyone. I will
die like this. I have no life and am lonely
and frail." See Sources
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WORKING THROUGH THE DEMOGRAPHIC
TRANSITION The "population explosion" that began
in the 1950s was the result of a sharp fall in death
rates, made possible by innovations in health care and
extensive use of imported medical technology on the
part of developing countries (11).
But in the poorest countries the corresponding changes
that would help produce a decline in fertility-adaptation
in human skills, capabilities and behaviour, improvements
in physical infrastructure and technology-have been
slow to follow. This mismatch has slowed economic and
social progress. Imbalance between rapidly growing populations
and resources to sustain them has stretched the limits
of social organization, and put pressure on the institutions
that serve the poor.
At the household level, high fertility
increases the "dependency burden" represented by children,
and reduces family well-being among the poor. Ironically,
circumstances making for high fertility often coincide
with expanding economic and social opportunities (12).
As countries go through the demographic
transition and fertility falls, a temporary window of
opportunity opens in which families with some resources
can afford to educate their children, find good jobs
and accumulate some assets. But the poor, the last group
in society to experience fertility decline, are unable
to take advantage of the opportunity (13).
They not only have more children but also lack both
information and the resources to make use of it. Their
inability to respond to changed signals about the costs
and benefits of children makes them worse off.
Reducing fertility helps to reduce
poverty over the longer term. Demographic changes in
Brazil in the last 50 years were equivalent to an additional
0.4 to 0.5 per cent in the annual growth of per capita
income (14). During
this period, the average growth rate in per capita income
was close to 3.0 per cent per year. The estimated direct
impact of the demographic transition on poverty was
close to 15 per cent of the impact of economic growth.
THE 'ENABLING ENVIRONMENT' Technological progress and
accumulation of human and physical capital have been the twin
workhorses of modern economic growth. But they work most effectively
in an environment that provides inducements for investing.
This enabling environment includes the entire social framework:
a representative political process untainted by corruption; respect
for human rights; equitable laws and regulations, impartially
enforced; and an array of public, civil, community and cultural
institutions that reinforce each other in providing fair and equal
social and economic opportunity to all citizens.
A successful example is micro-finance
institutions, which use small loans to multiply the
impact of community resources and initiatives. At the
same time as offering economic support, they encourage
community-based programmes in health, education and
leadership training for women. This "bundling" of services
based on partnerships with local communities has changed
attitudes about empowering poor women while increasing
their economic power (15).
Institutions are the social mechanisms that connect capacities
and resources; the quality of institutions determines how productively
or equitably the connection operates. Each element
energizes-or holds back-the others. Basic literacy programmes,
for example, increase individual capacity to acquire and use
information about health, markets or community life; but they
also improve the institutions that provide these services, putting
them in a better position to connect newly literate people with
useful information.
More responsive institutions likewise interact with capacity
and resources: improvements in governance increase capacity by
removing legal disabilities or enacting new powers; more equitable
regulations can reduce the cost of conducting business or lower
the barriers between poor people and resources. Civil society plays
an important part in developing responsive institutions, for
example, microcredit organizations that make resources available
to the poorest groups, especially women, and at the same time
offer help with literacy and support for family planning.
Many developing countries have made significant progress in
improving the capacities of their populations overall: life expectancies
(an indicator of health), nutrition, economic and educational
attainment have all improved since 1960. But progress has been
easier and faster in countries that have:
- made available the information and means for women to space
and time births, and avoid pregnancy if they wish to do so;
- provided services for healthy pregnancies and safe deliveries;
- increased the coverage and quality of education systems;
- advanced gender equality and equity in other ways, such as
protecting women's legal and customary rights;
- adopted population policies based on human rights;
- developed responsible and accountable systems of governance
and popular participation.
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GROUP-BASED CREDIT IN BANGLADESH |
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The Grameen Bank in Bangladesh provides small loans
to poor families to start new businesses and, perhaps,
a new life, but the families first need basic literacy,
family planning, and enterprise management services.
Providing all this to women who have been traditionally
excluded from society is a challenge. Grameen therefore
provides loans to groups rather than individuals. The
group approach lowers the cost of providing services,
while providing mutual support that allows women to
interact with the market and community at large. See Sources |
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