Participatory Poverty Assessment Research Articles

Forecasting of Poverty using the Ensemble Learning Classification Methods

Poverty is a social-cultural problem that can be categorized into monetary approach, capability approach, social exclusion, and participatory poverty assessment. However, the existing measurement methods are complex, costly, and time-consuming. This research was conducted to forecast poverty using classification methods. Random Forest and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) algorithms were applied to forecast poverty since they are supervised learning algorithms that use the ensemble learning approach for classification. Ensemble Learning has improved the classification of poverty and obtained better predictive performance. The results of the algorithms showed the poverty trend, which helped to determine the poverty classification. Hence, this method will help the government to act and produce a specific plan to reduce the poverty rate. It is a strategic move to reduce global poverty, parallel to Goal 1 of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG): No Poverty

Understanding Poverty and Survival Strategy among Ethiopian Pastoralists: The Boorana Pastoralists Perspectives

Poverty is often assessed using rigorous economic methods in the extant literature. Nonetheless, understanding poverty through supposedly rigorous economic methods per se is not sufficient. This study argues that Boorana pastoralist’s knowledge of poverty and its survival strategy provides foundations to understand poverty. The article was based on a dominantly qualitative mixed research approach to understand poverty from the perspectives of pastoralists in an African context (Ethiopia). Different participatory poverty assessment methods, like focus group discussions and interviews were used. The interviews were conducted with case study households and key informants. The data were analysed by descriptions of responses and narrations of cases. The results showed that pastoralists perceive poverty as a lack of livestock, low health, lack of money, lack of education and jobs. The findings also showed that climate change and variability, deterioration of pasture and water resources, lack of education and overutilisation of resources were the main causes of poverty. Boorana pastoralists perceive that diversification of income sources, crop cultivation, improvements to pastoral education, destocking and returning to forefathers’ cultural practices can be the main survival strategy of pastoralists against poverty. Therefore, there is a need to understand the dynamics of pastoral poverty for appropriate policy interventions.

RURAL HOUSEHOLD POVERTY AND ITS DETERMINING FACTORS: A POVERTY ANALYSIS USING ALTERNATIVE MEASUREMENT APPROACHES

Poverty analysis studies in Ethiopia are dominated by measures determined by the subjectivity of the researchers and not with the involvement of households in understanding and measuring what is meant to the people. Studies conducted to take into considerations the knowledge of the poor are very scant and limited to rural participatory projects. This study is motivated to bridge the literature gap of comparing the objective measuring of poverty with a measure that accounts the perception of households about poverty. Hence, this study aims at examining rural household poverty and its determining factors using alternative poverty measurement approaches inGozamin district of East Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region. It used both objective and subjective based poverty analysis approaches, where the poverty line of the study area is estimated as 19.16 Birr per day using cost of basic needs approach. The study indicates that 35.12 % of the population lives under poverty and it is closely estimated as 33.33% using Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA). Poverty is rampant and a sever challenge in Dega(cold) agro-ecology of the District, where 57.37% of the population lives under poverty compared to Kolla(hot), where it is down to 8.4%. Among others, family size and being in Kolla agro-ecology have significant negative effect on consumption expenditure, but positively affect poverty incidence, gap and severity, while access to credit, cooperative, health extension services and off-farm activities have significant but exactly opposite results. PPA findings revealed that, perception of the community towards poverty is beyond the conventional, income/consumption based definition. Therefore, development policies and poverty reduction strategies should emphasie on local level poverty understanding and measures.

From Consultation to Coproduction: A Comparison of Participation in Poverty Research

In this article, we compare two international participatory studies on poverty – one conducted in 1999 and published in 2000 as “Voices of the Poor: Crying out for Change” by the World Bank; the other, conducted from 2016 to 2019 as a partnership between the University of Oxford and the international movement ATD Fourth World, titled The Hidden Dimensions of Poverty. After introducing the subject, we present our theoretical background, distinguishing between participatory poverty assessments (PPA) and transdisciplinary research. We then discuss the methodological tools and processes deployed in the studies, before widening the discussion to broader issues concerning the participation of persons experiencing poverty in poverty research. We explore the extent to which each study empowered participants by involving them at each stage of the research process, whether space was opened up for participants to exercise greater agency through the cultivation of pro-poor alliances; whether power relations were recognized and/or countered, and finally, whether the studies had the potential to achieve transformative results. We conclude that while both studies were participatory in nature, the ATD Fourth World research followed a more demanding methodology, requiring deeper and more intensive participation of persons experiencing poverty at all stages of the research process.

From Absolute Poverty to Participatory Poverty Assessment and Back Again? A Critique of Poverty Scorecard through a Case Study from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

This paper critiques the poverty scorecard (PSC), a monetary-based tool for measuring poverty that has been adopted by community development programmes and participatory non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in 66 countries including Pakistan. Drawing on 15 interviews and five focus group discussions conducted with the staff members and community members of Frontier Organization for Rural Development, a participatory NGO in Pakistan, I argue that it uses clouds intra-household power and resources distribution thereby furthering gender, class, and ethnic inequalities. Instead of solely relying on the PSC, the paper suggests supplementing it with participatory methods.

Review on the title of participatory (qualitative) poverty assessment

A PPA is a process that starts with grass-roots participatory analysis and dialogue, and culminates in better policies and more effective action for poverty reduction. A PPA is not just a new type of study of poverty and its causes. The principles that makes the participatory approach different from other research approaches. First, the PPA methodology engages respondents actively in the research process through the use of open-ended and participatory methods. The rationale for Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) is that for the policies to work, the voices of poor and marginalized people and their understandings of poverty need to be included. There are different key Principles of Participatory poverty assessment Learning and Action.

The concept of community poverty reduction in coastal area of Surabaya based on sustainable livelihood approach

Multidimensional poverty becomes a trademark of fisherman community including the community in Surabaya. The fishermen in Surabaya belong to a society with quite apprehensive welfare in all aspects covering economy, social, and environment. Therefore, this research aims to organize poverty reduction concept in coastal area of Surabaya based on sustainable livelihood which assesses poverty through 5 (five) livelihood assets i.e. human asset, natural asset, social asset, physical asset, and financial asset. This research is a qualitative research using rationalistic approach with explorative, descriptive, and perspective nature. Primary data collected using Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) and secondary data collected through agency and literature survey. Purposive sampling was employed in getting the sample. Then, the data were analyzed using content analysis, statistics descriptive analysis, and delphi analysis. The results show that sustainable livelihood level in coastal area of Surabaya indicates the human asset is 65% at the SLA level and the lowest is social asset which is 20%, and financial asset is the most affecting factors of poverty in coastal area of Surabaya since the expense for fuel cannot be compared to the fish catched. Community empowerment is the concept proposed to overcome the poverty problems in coastal area of Surabaya.

Positive Influence of Religiosity on Income Growth of Believers: A Case of Africa Inland Church Tanzania in Mwanza City, Tanzania

Religiosity to Africa Inland Church Tanzania (AICT) believers and other religions in this world has some positive influence on income growth due to its ethics that are compatible with development strategies. In development discourse, there has been a discussion about the initiatives to reduce poverty in poor communities by supporting people to become more independent and innovative. AICT is also a community that need to foster socio-economic development to its followers. This study focused on positive influence of religiosity on income growth of AICT believers in Mwanza City, Tanzania. Cross-sectional research design was employed to collect quantitative data through questionnaire. A Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) was employed to determine livelihood of individuals in the community. Purposive sampling was used to select 9 churches; 10 believers from each were selected through random sampling with the total of 90 respondents. Focus group discussions, semi-structured and life history interviews were employed to collect in-depth, qualitative data from the field. The study was enriched by secondary data that were collected from church documents. Data processing and analysis were done by summarizing, editing and coding. Content analysis was used to analyse in-depth data collected through life history interviews to develop two cases of respondents about the influence of religiosity on income growth in their lives. It is evident that religiosity has some ethics that have significant positive influence on income growth of believers. The study recommends that, religious leaders should integrate religious ethics related to income growth strategies to foster socio-economic development of their believers.

Penilaian Kemiskinan Partisipatif pada Kawasan Transisi Perdesaan ke Perkotaan di Kabupaten Sragen

Poverty in rural-urban transitional area has distinct characteristics from those in urban or rural poverty. This phenomenon can also be seen in Sragen Regency, peri-urban of Solo Raya. A descriptive analysis based on participatory poverty-assessment is conducted in this research in order to understand the poors in the transitional area. A set of questions was given to 100 poor households in urban agglomeration of Sragen. The main finding confirms that 29 households have better livelihood compared to 10 years ago, even though the improvements has not come as expected. Unequal distribution and different accessibility among community groups for urban facilities are identified as the common problems, as well as low standard of urban infrastructures provision in several neighborhoods which requires improvement. The increase of job opportunities is not followed significantly by occupational shift of the poors because of their limited competency and ability. Having this context, policies in such areas should not only related to urban facilities, infrastructures, as well as the living environment provision and improvement, but also needs some elements that focus on labor development, including improvement of competency and asset utilization for business development. These policies are needed in order to improve the quality of urban living environment without compromising the poor’s ability to compete in the rural-urban transitional situation.

Poverty and Environmental Degradation in Southern Burkina Faso: An Assessment Based on Participatory Methods

The poverty and environmental degradation vicious circle hypothesis considers the poor as agents and victims of environmentally degrading activities. Despite some studies, however, there still has not been a sufficient empirical examination of the poverty-environment nexus. Based on participatory poverty assessment (PPA) methods with two hundred farm households categorized by wealth status in southern Burkina Faso, six indicators of environmental degradation and a set of land management practices were examined to answer the following questions: (i) Which households (non-poor, fairly-poor, or poorest) are responsible for environmental degradation? (ii) Does poverty constrain adoption of land management practices considered to improve the land? Results indicate deforestation is highest for non-poor farmers, and non-poor and fairly-poor farmers have higher rates of overgrazing. In addition, the entire non-poor group, mainly recent migrants to the area, occupy borrowed lands with tenure perceived as insecure, considered by farmers to be a disincentive for assisted natural regeneration of vegetation. Thus, non-poor and fairly-poor farmers participate most in activities locally identified as environmentally degrading, and the former contribute more than the latter. On the other hand, adoption of land management practices considered to improve the land is relatively low amongst the poorest farmers.

Layoffs and Urban Poverty in the State-Owned Enterprise Communities in Shaanxi Province, China

This paper applies a mixed methods approach that combines qualitative and quantitative methods to examine urban poverty in China’s state-owned enterprise communities where laid-off workers concentrate. A sequential explanatory model using interviews, Participatory Poverty Assessments and a community household survey on textile and military industries in Shaanxi Province of north-western China shows that low-income households suffered multidimensional disadvantages. Qualitative techniques have helped to reveal the hidden aspects of poverty while statistical tools have captured holistic information on the communities. These approaches together (Q-squared) consider both the outsiders’ and insiders’ views on the laid-off poor and benefit the making of effective anti-poverty policies.

Chronic Poverty and Livelihood Strategies among Elderly Women of Ganze Constituency

This study is about chronic poverty and livelihood strategies among the chronically poor elderly women of Ganze constituency. It identifies the socio-economic characteristics of households containing chronically poor elderly women. It also investigated the livelihood activities undertaken by households containing chronically poor elderly women as well as the individual chronically poor elderly women themselves. The study also investigated the assets portfolio of the households containing chronically poor elderly women and also the economic factors affecting the livelihoods of the chronically poor elderly women. It also sought to understand some of the interventions that can be put in place to enhance the livelihoods of the chronically poor elderly women. The study was guided by two conceptual frameworks: the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework and the assets-mediating processes-activities framework. Data collection was done in two stages; the first being data collection through the participatory chronic poverty assessment seminars and the second stage of data collection being through the administration of structured questionnaires to individual chronically poor elderly women from chronically poor households. These households and individual chronically poor elderly women were identified by participants during the participatory chronic poverty assessment seminars based on local perceptions about the various attributes of chronic poverty.The study findings revealed that the chronically poor elderly women are not a homogeneous group and included the uneducated, the married, widowed, separated among others. The study found out that the chronically poor elderly women undertake all kinds of livelihood activities coming their way so as to raise a livelihood though the most common livelihood activities were gardening in own farms and working in other people’s farms as casual laborers. The study findings also revealed that the chronically poor elderly women adapt to a number of livelihood strategies such as skipping meals or going without food for a day, begging, keeping of children out of school or withdrawing them from school. Other livelihood strategies are: eating of edible wild vegetables and tubers, and putting their whole incomes in the purchase of food at the expense of other basic needs. On asset status, the study found out that households containing chronically poor elderly women have low assets status of both productive and household assets.The study found out that the most preferred intervention for the improvement of the livelihoods of the chronically poor elderly women is through food transfer, provision of shelter and cash transfers in that order.

NEGOTIATING ON POVERTY

NEGOTIATING ON POVERTY is a collective game that allows participants to discover the concrete difficulties in assessing the multiple dimensions of poverty Participants are divided into groups of seven to simulate a participatory poverty assessment (a social wealth-ranking exercise) that takes place in an imaginary small village in some developing country. The game allows participants to gain an insight into the ways in which power asymmetries, economic interdependencies, gender relations, and personal affinities at the local level shape perceptions on poverty.

Participatory Poverty Assessment through Livelihood Analysis: An Indian Case

Participatory Poverty Assessment through Livelihood Analysis: An Indian Case

Costs, equity, efficiency and feasibility of identifying the poor in Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme: empirical analysis of various strategies

To analyse the costs and evaluate the equity, efficiency and feasibility of four strategies to identify poor households for premium exemptions in Ghana's National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS): means testing (MT), proxy means testing (PMT), participatory wealth ranking (PWR) and geographic targeting (GT) in urban, rural and semi-urban settings in Ghana. We conducted the study in 145-147 households per setting with MT as our gold standard strategy. We estimated total costs that included costs of household surveys and cost of premiums paid to the poor, efficiency (cost per poor person identified), equity (number of true poor excluded) and the administrative feasibility of implementation. The cost of exempting one poor individual ranged from US$15.87 to US$95.44; exclusion of the poor ranged between 0% and 73%. MT was most efficient and equitable in rural and urban settings with low-poverty incidence; GT was efficient and equitable in the semi-urban setting with high-poverty incidence. PMT and PWR were less equitable and inefficient although feasible in some settings. We recommend MT as optimal strategy in low-poverty urban and rural settings and GT as optimal strategy in high-poverty semi-urban setting. The study is relevant to other social and developmental programmes that require identification and exemptions of the poor in low-income countries.

Understanding Childhood Poverty in Rajasthan: Emerging Issues and Strategies

Recent participatory poverty assessments around the globe clearly document that children are the most vulnerable groups in society as they have little power or influence over the social processes that govern their lives and little ability to protect themselves from abuse (Narayan, et.al. 2000). Childhood is a precious stage in a life-course and deprivation during this period can have long-term adverse impacts on the well being of children. Deprived children lack access to human development opportunities and face serious constraints in their human development (e.g. malnutrition and greater propensity to ill health etc). Their families and communities have little ability to protect and nurture them. This deprivation constitutes child poverty (Harper and Marcus, 1999).

The Politics of Staying Poor in Uganda

This paper explores how political actors, processes, debates and institutions influence the reduction and reproduction of chronic poverty in Uganda. Uganda provides a particularly appropriate case study for such work, as the country's recent success in poverty reduction has been significantly related to 'getting the politics right'. However, findings here suggest that politics in contemporary Uganda holds as many threats as opportunities for reducing long-term poverty. The policy processes, debates and interventions that might challenge chronic poverty are steadily moving from the margins of the poverty agenda towards the mainstream. For example, the current review of the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (Uganda's home-grown PRSP) has identified social protection - likely to be a key policy response to chronic poverty - as one of the key cross-cutting themes. However, arguments for targeting the poorest groups and regions currently lack political persuasiveness, as such programmes have tended to become highly politicised and subject to both national clientelism and local elite capture. There is a 'politics of inclusion' in Uganda that stretches to most groups of the chronically poor, although this has yet to be transformed into a 'politics of justice', in part because the institutional representatives of Uganda's chronically poor are currently marginal in terms of command over resources and policy influence. On a broader note, little effort has been made amongst development actors in Uganda to articulate the type of 'pro-poor' or redistributive growth that is likely to be required to alleviate chronic poverty. It might be argued that this reflects a 'global' politics of staying poor in Uganda, with the neo-liberal policy hegemony playing an important role in shaping the possibility of reducing chronic poverty. Many amongst the political elite perceive the rising inequality in Uganda as a potential threat to them, although only over the long-run. Many also see the poverty reduction agenda as externally imposed and profligate with resources, suggesting that if poverty reduction is to stay on the political agenda in Uganda for long enough to impact on chronic poverty, national ownership of the poverty agenda must be broadened and deepened beyond the current 'champions'. Ongoing political conflict in northern Uganda and the perennial threat of regional instability remains the greatest threat to both the chronically poor and the poverty reduction agenda. In addition, the debate over presidential succession and the potential move towards multi-partyism appears to have triggered an intensification of neo-patrimonial political practice, posing a significant threat to the poverty reduction agenda. However, the paper also finds that the policies and programmes likely to challenge chronic poverty can be usefully aligned with the most progressive aspects of political actors and policies in Uganda. These include certain civil society actors, participatory poverty assessments, the local government development programme and social sector ministries. Finally, it is proposed that a number of shifts are required within the ways in which politics is understood within poverty analysis. One example, is that we might need to reconceptualise the long term politics of commitment to poverty reduction in terms of a 'contract' rather than in terms of 'ownership'.

Bahasa Indonesia

This article try to analysis strategy for reducing poverty in Samigaluh Municapy, Kulonprogo Region by using Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) strategy. PPA known as strategy to reduce poverty by including poor people to find solution of their poverty problem. In Other word, this strategy use bottom up method to reduce poverty. In Samigaluh, Poverty condition clearly seen as so many people live in near poor condition. This research use qualitative approach and data collect technic use interview and observation. From the research is gotten data that poor condition in Samigaluh caused by economic aspect, uncapability, isolation condition. PPA strategy, which is including poor people in solution making, give result that we must do some activities. The Activities are women empowernment, Informal institution empowernment, Increase Education, Training, and so on.

Alcohol use and its consequences in South India: Views from a marginalised tribal population

Background Alcohol consumption in India is disproportionately higher among poorer and socially marginalised groups, notably Scheduled Tribes (STs). We lack an understanding of STs own views with regard to alcohol, which is important for implementing appropriate interventions. Methods This study was undertaken with the Paniyas (a previously enslaved ST) in a rural community in Kerala, South India. The study, nested in a participatory poverty and health assessment (PPHA). PPHA aims to enable marginalized groups to define, describe, analyze, and express their own perceptions through a combination of qualitative methods and participatory approaches (e.g. participatory mapping and ranking exercises). We worked with 5 Paniya colonies between January and June 2008. Results Alcohol is viewed as a problem among the Paniyas who reported that consumption is increasing, notably among younger men. Alcohol is easily available in licensed shops and is produced illicitly in some colonies. There is evidence that local employers are using alcohol to attract Paniyas for work. Male alcohol consumption is associated with a range of social and economic consequences that are rooted in historical oppression and social discrimination. Conclusion Future research should examine the views of alcohol use among a variety of marginalised groups in developing countries and the different policy options available for these populations. In addition, there is a need for studies that untangle the potential linkages between both historical and current exploitation of marginalized populations and alcohol use.

Democracy and poverty reduction in Nigeria: A case study of Rivers State: 1999 – 2007

This paper seeks to examine the extent to which Nigeria's democratic experience (1999-2007) has elevated the living standards of the majority of the people. It specifically aimed at search lighting the impact of the regime's key poverty reduction strategies vis-a-vis the overall poverty situation in the country in general and Rivers State in particular. The study focused on two poverty reduction strategies: National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP) and the Rivers State Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (RIVSEEDS). The study utilized the primary and secondary sources of data in realizing its central objective. The Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) method was also adopted in the course of this research work. The sample population was drawn from ten Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Rivers State; Port Harcourt, Obio/Akpor, Ikwerre, Emohua, Etche, Omuma, Ahoada East, Ahoada West, Abua/Odual and Ogba-Egbema-Ndoni LGAs. The research work employed the Political Economy (P.E.) method of analysis. The PE approach elucidates in very clear terms how the policies and reforms of successive governments in Nigeria have debilitated the productive forces of a great number of her population. The findings of this study showed that the democratic experience has impacted little to the poverty situation of the people of Rivers State. It also revealed that the present government's poverty reduction programme is yet to be complemented by other macroeconomic policies to yield the desired results of poverty reduction, wealth creation and capacity building. KEY WORDS: DEMOCRACY, POVERTY REDUCTION; PARTICIPATORY POVERTY ASSESSMENT METHOD; POLITICAL ECONOMY APPROACH; NATIONAL POVERTY ERADICATION PROGRAMME (NAPEP) AND THE RIVERS STATE ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (RIVSEEDS)