Participatory Poverty 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.

English

China has made considerable progress in economic, social, cultural and political fields since reform and opening-up started in 1978. In the last forty years the country lifted over 700 million people out of poverty by implementing large-scale, long-lasting, government-led, and very effective rural poverty alleviation and development plan. In health care financing, the country also achieved universal health insurance coverage for 1.3 billion people in a short time, and that is astonishing. This study tried to draw a lesson for developing countries by analyzing China’s rural poverty alleviation programs through health care financing. To this end, a study was conducted in Taijiang County in Guizhou province of the People’s Republic of China, in six impoverished villages. Data were collected for this study in a three month period (December 2018 to February 2019) through a questionnaire, focus group discussions and interviews. This study seek to answer the following two questions: What lessons do the Chinese experiments of poverty alleviation through health care financing offer to other developing countries? Are the Chinese experiences replicable elsewhere in the third world? To answer these questions, a deductive approach was adopted in this study methodology. First, China’s rural poverty alleviation programs was explored in general and based on this the rural development efforts in Taijiang County, in particular was examined. This study showed that clear government vision and determination, and popular participation have great contribution in China’s rural poverty alleviation through health care financing. The government used very effective poverty alleviation approaches that include “comprehensive control and development area by area,” “poverty alleviation village by village,” “participatory poverty alleviation,” and “one plan, implementation year by year”. Such approaches have not only made significant contributions to China’s rural poverty alleviation, but also become recognized as best practices for poverty alleviation in developing countries. It is believe that the basic strategies, models, and experiences of poverty alleviation of China are significant references for developing countries.   Key words: China, poverty, developing countries, health care financing.

Urban poverty alleviation strategies in Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Contrasting opportunities for community development

A multidimensional understanding of poverty includes the access of poor groups to decision‐making processes based on their needs and aspirations. However, the realisation of this ‘right to make decisions’ faces multiple obstacles. Over the last 20 years in Indonesia, in a context of a more democratic political environment and policy decentralisation, poverty alleviation policies have followed institutional arrangements to provide communities with opportunities for greater participation in development projects. Poverty data show a clear improvement in the living conditions of urban poor citizens in Indonesia; however, it is unclear whether poor communities have become stronger and more independent from public grants and better able to make their own decisions. This research analysed two urban poor communities in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and found that some communities working on participatory poverty alleviation strategies still face obstacles to becoming more independent and making their own decisions because they remain part of an historical legacy of top‐down approaches to poverty, highly dependent on government support and working only within ‘invited spaces’. Conversely, those communities with more limited access to government funding have been more innovative in their strategies and have created ‘invented spaces’ for collective action that allows them to be more independent and empowered.

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.

Assessment of the role of household empowerment in alleviating participatory poverty among rural household of Pakistan

Poverty is viewed in different ways owing to its multidimensional concepts. A common view of poverty is that when one is unable to satisfy their certain basic requirements but it has been generalized that poverty is not only the lack of food and hunger, rather the low access towards other facilities by the government and inability to take part in the social or local decisions by community are also considered among the constituents of poverty. Therefore, the key aim of the current study is to investigate the effect of household empowerment on the participatory poverty of rural households. Primary data was used in the current study which was collected through multi-stage random sampling from the rural household of twenty-four villages in southern Punjab. For this purpose, a face-to-face interview of 600 households was conducted by authors. The household empowerment was measured through an index which was adopted from Abrar-ul-haq (An assessment of the role of household empowerment in alleviating poverty in southern Punjab, Pakistan (Ph.D. Dissertation), School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 2017). The ordered logit model was used to analyze the impact of household empowerment on participatory poverty. The results of current study indicate that the household empowerment, remittances, agriculture occupation, agriculture experience, secondary occupation, household size and female-male ratio have a negative impact on participatory poverty. Therefore, based on the findings, the study suggested that participatory poverty may be reduced by improving household empowerment in the said area of southern Punjab, Pakistan.

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.

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.

Barriers to Poverty Reduction in Russia: Participatory Qualitative Assessment. Oxfam GB Case Study

This article provides a participatory poverty analyses based on experience gained from EU-Oxfam GB project “Empowering Municipalities to Effectively Address Poverty” carried out in five small towns, including Ostashkov town in Tver oblast, in Central Russia. Research on participatory assessment was carried out through focus group discussions (FGDs) among the people living in poverty, namely: single mothers; people with disabilities; families with many children; families with disabled children; and pensioners. In this article, the participatory results are given on the example of the qualitative analyses of FGDs in Ostashkov town. One of the results of cluster qualitative analyses is identification of institutional and behavioral barriers as structural factors for better life that could be considered for policy decisions. For example, better information channels on health services or an awareness campaign on social benefits for the elderly or people with disabilities may reduce behavior barriers, while improved doctor’s appointment system at health clinic may reduce institutional barriers in access to public services for those vulnerable groups of population. Official figures may simply omit those living in poverty as they may just not be seen in the public eyes and their needs remain unmet at policy level. We argue that a participatory understanding of community barriers can help local municipalities to develop more targeted community programs on poverty reduction.

A PPI-MVM Model for Identifying Poverty-Stricken Villages: A Case Study from Qianjiang District in Chongqing, China

To support China’s national poverty alleviation strategies, it is urgent to develop a scientific method for identifying the poverty-stricken villages and the contributing factors. Based on the anti-poverty plan of “Entire-Village Advancement” of China and the human-environment interaction perspective, the paper proposes a participatory poverty identification model that utilizes geographic information system to quantify and integrate various contributing factors for poverty at the village level. First, a set of poverty identification factors are determined from the human-environment interaction perspective. Secondly, the game theory is used to combine the participatory subjective weight method and the objective entropy method to weight the factors, and a participatory poverty identification with minimum variance model is developed to identify the poverty-stricken villages and their contributing factors. Finally, the model is applied to Qianjiang District in Chongqing, and the case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the model. The model not only identifies the poverty-stricken villages systematically but also helps guide policies for effective poverty interventions.

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.

The politics of defining and alleviating poverty: State strategies and their impacts in rural Kerala

This paper presents a relational approach to the study of poverty (Mosse, 2010), and uses this to critically evaluate state strategies for identifying and alleviating poverty in Kerala, India. It traces these from national planning documents through to their point of implementation, drawing on qualitative research in two of Kerala’s poorest Districts. Ideas of participatory poverty classification, economic self-reliance and political empowerment are laudable national policy goals, and Kerala has shown innovation in its adaptation of these within the State’s devolved structures of local governance. However, both the framing of policy and its implementation reproduce ideas of individual transitions out of poverty which indicate that the state pays insufficient attention to the highly unequal social and economic relationships reproducing poverty in contemporary Kerala – in short, to poverty’s inherently political nature.

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

Point-of-View: Community Based Forest Management in India: Policy Transition and Sustainability Initiatives

Atul Jindall1, K .C .Malhotra2, Dr. Sanjay Verma3 1Project Director (Monitoring and Evaluation), Uttar Pradesh Participatory Forest Management & Poverty Alleviation Project. Lucknow, India, atjindal@yahoo.com 2Formerly Professor, Indian Institute of Statistics. Kolkata, India 3Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, Project Management Consultants, Uttar Pradesh Participatory Forest Management & Poverty Alleviation Project. Lucknow, India