Participatory Poverty Assessment Research Articles

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this article:UNCTAD Secretariat, The Least Developed Countries Report 2002: Escaping the Poverty TrapHa‐Joon Chang, Gabriel Palma and D. Hugh Whittaker, Financial Liberalisation and the Asian CrisisAli Farazmand (ed.), Administrative Reform in Developing NationsOle Therkildsen, Efficiency, Accountability and Implementation: Public Sector Reform in East and Southern AfricaDavid A. McDonald and Jonathan Crush (eds.), Destinations Unknown: Perspectives on the Brain Drain in Southern AfricaDavid Alexander Clark, Visions of Development: A Study of Human ValuesB. Ikubolajeh Logan (ed.), Globalization, the Third World State and Poverty‐Alleviation in the Twenty‐First CenturySarah Lumley, Sustainability and Degradation in Less Developed Countries: Immolating the Future?Mylene Kherallah, Christopher Delgado, Eleni Gabre‐Madhin, Nicholas Minot and Michael Johnson, Reforming Agricultural Markets in AfricaCaroline M. Robb, Can the Poor Influence Policy? Participatory Poverty Assessments in the Developing WorldDavid Driskell, Creating Better Cities with Children and Youth: A Manual for ParticipationEconomic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean, 2001Else Øyen et al., Best Practices in Poverty Reduction: An Analytical FrameworkNigel Cross (ed.), Evidence for Hope: The Search for Sustainable Development. The Story of the International Institute for Environment and DevelopmentPaul Collier et al., Breaking the Conflict Trap: Civil War and Development Policy

Book Review: Can the poor influence policy?: participatory poverty assessments in the developing world. 2nd edition

Book Review: Can the poor influence policy?: participatory poverty assessments in the developing world. 2nd edition

Poverty Persistence and Transitions in Uganda: A Combined Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis

This paper develops the current understanding of the significant variation in individual experiences of poverty movements, by combining qualitative and quantitative insights at the individual, household and community level. It builds strongly on earlier work by Okidi, with different authors, exploiting the available panel data sets for Uganda. The paper analyses panel data covering the 1992-99 period in combination with available qualitative information, notably the results of the two assessments conducted as part of the Uganda Participatory Poverty Assessment Process (UPPAP), to gain insights on the factors associated with poverty transitions and persistence. The qualitative sources add substantially to the information available from the panel survey data alone, by helping to identify key issues to investigate using the survey data and by providing important additional insights not available from the survey data, including about processes and contextual issues. This paper is structured as follows. In section 2 we briefly review general approaches to developing a dynamic understanding of poverty, including of persistent or chronic poverty. Building on this, we then consider in section 3 the available evidence from qualitative sources about the key factors and processes identified by communities and their members as lying behind their experiences of poverty transitions or non-transitions, which identifies some clear individual, household, community and local policy factors contributing to impoverishment in particular. Sections 4 and 5 then present descriptive and econometric analysis respectively using the panel data to consider the importance of different factors behind movements in monetary poverty, building on insights from the qualitative sources wherever possible. Section 6 concludes by seeking to synthesise the qualitative and quantitative insights, and then comments on the methodological scope for combining qualitative and quantitative insights in enhancing the understanding of poverty dynamics.

Influencing policy through Participatory Poverty Assessments: A theoretical and practical overview and assessment of a changing process

Participatory inquiry, especially participatory rural appraisal as a qualitative assessment tool to understand the non quantifying aspects of poverty has gained mainstream acceptance. This inclusion of participatory and qualitative methods in country poverty analysis was initiated by the World Bank in the early 1990s upon recognition of the limitations of the income-consumption approach to poverty analysis and action. Many development practitioners and policy makers had acknowledged that a more complete understanding of poverty requires the inclusion of social factors and perspectives of the poor (Narayan et al, 2000). This qualitative-quantitative mix in poverty analysis has led to a broader and better understanding of the situation of the poor, culmination in a series of publications from the Bank on the Voices of the Poor. The recent Poverty Reduction Strategic Plans (PRSP) being conducted by many countries as part of their consultation with the poor of their countries to seek debt relief stems from this belief and recognition that these voices of the poor need to be adequately reflected in country plans and strategies to alleviate poverty. In this paper, the history of Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) is traced out by focusing on the use of Participatory Rural Appraisal as one of the main qualitative tools in including the voice of the poor in national poverty studies.

Can anyone hear us?: voices of the poor

This book is the first in a three-part series entitled Voices of the Poor. It brings together the voices of over 40000 poor people from 50 countries as based on a review of 81 Participatory Poverty Assessment reports. It also provides rich descriptions of poor peoples realities drawing on their experiences of poverty and the quality of their interactions with a range of institutions from the state to the household.

Poverty and political conflict in Mombasa

This paper describes how complex political struggles in Mombasa underlie the inadequate provision for basic infrastructure and services, and the corruption and lack of accountability within government. These struggles are underpinned by overlapping responsibilities and rivalry between central and local government, and a political system (both national and local) which plays on ethnic and tribal loyalties as a basis for support and reward. The paper also describes how and why the city has failed to fully realize its economic potential, has extensive poverty and experiences major inadequacies in provision for water, sanitation, garbage collection, health care, education and housing. Drawing on the findings of a recent participatory poverty assessment, the paper outlines the coping strategies of poor and very poor households and suggests measures which would help ensure that their needs receive more attention.

Poverty, livelihood and class in rural South Africa

Using data from a national living standards survey undertaken in late 1993, this paper disaggregates and explores the economics of livelihood generation and class in rural South Africa in an effort to contribute to the ongoing and vociferous debate in South Africa about poverty and its alleviation. Pursuant to the suggestion of participants in a recent participatory poverty assessment, this paper analyzes what might be termed the class structure of poverty. After exploring the range of claiming systems and livelihood tactics available in rural South Africa, the paper offers a first look at who the poor are by disaggregating the rural population into discrete livelihood strategy classes. Non-parametric regression methods are used to then estimate and graphically explore the nature of the livelihood mapping between endowments and real incomes. In addition to identifying those endowment combinations that map to consumption levels below the poverty line (the asset basis of poverty), the topography of the estimated livelihood mapping helps identify the constraints that limit household's ability to effectively utilize their assets and endowments. These results suggest that poverty is a matter of not only having few assets, but also of constraints which limit the effectiveness with which those assets are used, and poverty and livelihood policy needs to be designed accordingly.

Gender, poverty and deprivation: Evidence from the Republic of Guinea

The article examines the relationship between gender and consumption poverty and between gender and deprivation in the Republic of Guinea. National household survey data reveal that women are not more likely than men to be consumption poor or to suffer greater consumption poverty. Participatory Poverty Assessment data from the village of Kamatiguia reveal that women are “worse off” than men when deprivation includes, inter alia, excessive work load and reduced decision-making authority. When consumption poverty poorly correlates with other dimensions of deprivation, it should not be the sole guide for equity-based policy intervention.

Survival Strategies among Rural Swazi Households: Historical, Ecological and Social Dimensions

Summary Catherine M. Marquette and Francisco Pichón, ‘Survival Strategies among Rural Swazi Housholds: Historical, Ecological and Social Dimensions’, Forum for Development Studies, 1997:2, pp. 307–320. The survival strategies of rural Swazi households (their dependence on off-farm labour, their lack of agricultural surplus and their lower reliance on farm production in general) have most frequently been explained in terms of rational economic behaviour. This article discusses other important historical, sociocultural, ecological and gender-related factors which have also shaped survival strategies among rural Swazi households in this century. Data referred to include the 1995 Swaziland Household Income and Expenditure Survey (SHIES), a recent 1996 Participatory Poverty Assessment conducted by the World Bank and historical sources. Diversified patterns of economic activity among Swazi households are traced back to economic and land-use changes occurring from the beginning of the century, traditional land distribution and tenure practices, ecological differences and customs regarding women. Given the traditionally diversified nature of their survival strategies, the future economic welfare of rural Swazi households, it is concluded, will depend on (1) continuing to combine wage labour with agricultural activity, (2) using farm technologies which respond more to farmer demands and local conditions and (3) improving women's access to agricultural inputs.