Persistent Poverty Research Articles

African Agency for Development: Progress, Contradictions, and Complexities in the Era of Globalisation

Although Africa has made some progress in the last two decades, the continent still faces development challenges: the persistence of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. The continent still depends to a large extent on commodities in terms of production and exports, and it imports the bulk of its manufactured goods. Thus, there has been little progress on structural transformation. Dependence on donor financing remains high. Relative to other regions, Africa ranks lowest on many development indicators. This article has two objectives: to assess the nature and practice of African agency and to analyse its effectiveness in shaping, nurturing, and promoting the kind of development that is defined in the African Union's Agenda 2063: The Africa We Want. Agenda 2063 presents a vision of development that is people-driven, people-owned, participatory, and self-reliant. Although the AU has made progress in creating institutional governance architecture and a continental development framework to guide its member states, its “Africanness” and effectiveness as an agency for development seems limited. We attribute this to the limited nature of participation and engagement of broader African society in the decision-making processes and in the programme initiatives that are aimed to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063.

The relationship between poverty and prosperity: a feminist relational account

ABSTRACT In this paper I use a feminist relational approach to critically examine contemporary mainstream assumptions in the field of development concerning the relationship between poverty and prosperity. I show how these assumptions underpin the policies and practices of poverty alleviation within international development institutions. I argue that when prosperity is understood as a condition of independence actualized through processes of maximum extraction, exploitation, and accumulation, the persistence of poverty and continued exploitation of social and ecological systems seems inevitable. This analysis reveals how the processes of defining and measuring poverty and prosperity as discrete conditions, binary opposites on a development spectrum masks the relational nature of poverty and prosperity whereby the pursuit of prosperity in global capitalist systems drives the production of poverty across spaces and places. Further, it ignores the ecological embeddedness and social interdependence of human beings for existence, survival, and well-being. The paper provides insights from a feminist relational perspective on the possibilities of thinking about prosperity beyond extractionism.

The Environment, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Developmental State: Confronting the 21<sup>th</sup> Century Development Challenges in Nigeria

The persistence of poverty in Nigeria and the deepening failure of development initiatives have reopened the search for viable development strategies. This is due to the inability of the pro-market changes (SAP) under the Washington consent to take Nigeria out of its economic strangulations and fundamental structural defects. Indices of poverty, inequality, unemployment and environmental degradation have continued to grow worse. Available literature blames it on low technology, poor data system, sequential healthcare worker’s industrial actions and Bokoharam insurgency and kidnapping in the south. However, the successes of the developmental states of North East Asia in the achievement of the sustainable development goals has renewed interest in policy circles and academic discourse in replicating the idea of the developmental state in Nigeria. It is based on the above premise that the researcher intends to investigate the place of the state as a key institutional factor in the development process. To achieve this, the study employed the developmental state theoretical model as a tool of analysis with keen interest on state institutions. The approach considers the state as the basic actor in economic growth and development. The study was conducted through a documentary research design. It’s purely qualitative. Data was gathered through secondary source while comparative and institutional analysis was used to analyze data. The work showed the impact of state autonomy and its capacity on market growth, stabilization, economic growth and development. This in turn impacts on poverty, wealth creation and environmental conservation/protection especially from the very poorest, who are left with no choice but to destroy the environment. It recommends that the Nigerian state should champion her development policy designs and execution, create a strong, autonomous, small, less expensive, trained and competent state bureaucracy on the basis of merit, build a strong consensus relationship between the state and the market to accelerate economic development and purposeful politics through an effective state capacity and capability expansion. These are recommended as most likely means for the birth of a developmental state. Thus, confronting the 21^th century development challenges and by extension achieving the sustainable development goals in Nigeria.

Health Disparities for Rural Youth

This chapter examines the complexities surrounding exacerbated health disparities and their impact on rural youth mental health outcomes amid a global pandemic. Indisputably, a host of health, economic, and social challenges are associated with the unprecedented interruption caused by the global pandemic. In the same vein, several challenges and concerns about the overall academic and personal/ social experiences and outcomes of school-aged children have resulted in societal concerns about the overall preparation of this generation to meet the leadership and employment demands of a global society. While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted chronic issues related to health disparities to include intergenerational health, environmental and socioeconomic disparities, and educational inequities, many of these issues have had a longstanding, disproportionate effect on African American (AA) youth and their families. This is particularly the case with AA youth who live in rural communities, that are largely characterized by persistent poverty along the margins of society. Food and housing insecurities, social isolation, and lack of access to adequate physical and mental health resources are a few of the issues faced by these youth and other individuals who belong to these often tight-knit, rural communities. These issues, along with scarce or no availability of medical and mental health care services reflect larger systemic issues which speak to cultural determinism and social justice.

Governance failure and youth unemployment levels in Nigeria

The Nigerian government has shied away from serving the youth's interests. At both the national and municipal levels, the powerful government officials who built vast patronage networks during the military era now use their political office to expand these networks and their fortunes dominate Nigerian politics. Nigeria's economic development and progress have suffered as a result of this. Nigeria's democratic consolidation efforts are hampered by persistent poverty, which is compounded by youth unemployment. A nation comprised of parasites, bandits, and beggars is doomed to fail. The youth's unemployment is related to an increase in sectarian criminality, terrorism, and violence. In addition, Nigeria's high youth unemployment level contributes to a high level of state insecurity, which leads to robberies, abductions, tribal tensions, arbitrary arrests, ethnoreligious conflicts, and other illicit activities in Nigeria. This article examines the relationship between governance failure and the youth unemployment level in Nigeria.

Why can't rural schools retain young teachers? An analysis of the professional development of rural school teachers in China:Taking teachers in rural western China

The continuous shortage of teachers in rural schools in China has become an important issue affecting the balanced development of rural basic education. To investigate the shortage of young teachers in rural schools. This study mainly adopts qualitative research method to enter the field research site and to cohabit with rural primary school teachers. After a one-year field study, a large number of first-hand materials were collected, and the interview results were processed and analyzed using NvivoT11 software. The findings show that the root cause of the shortage young teachers in rural schools is not the insufficient supply of educational human resources but the social spillover problem caused by the needs of professional role adjustment and professional role transformation in rural schools. Notably, By analyzing the shortage of rural school teachers we found that the nature of long-term shortage from teachers' self professional role transformation of knowledge, ability and emotional conflicts. To this end, we from the person's whole life development perspective of the whole put forward the method to thoroughly get rid of the dilemma of long-term, not through the passivity of adequate education human resource injection. But to get rid of poverty through the positive self-professional ability of rural school teachers. This concept is not only beneficial to alleviate the persistent poverty of subject teachers in short supply in rural schools, but also puts forward higher requirements for human development and growth. 1) China's rural education has been plagued by a chronic shortage of teachers in rural areas. 2) The chronic shortage of teachers for country music, physical education and art has brought serious problems to rural education. 3) Why does China often lose teachers to its rural supply each year. 4) What are the reasons why rural schools can't keep teachers. 5) How to Retain Teachers of Shortage Subject in Rural Schools.

Explaining Spatial Disparities in Fatal Drug Overdoses, 1970-2016

The opioid crisis has impacted many regions of the United States, transcending socioeconomic, demographic, and political divides and leading to urgent calls for public health and law enforcement interventions. It has hit both micropolitan and rural smaller communities especially hard, with severe increases in prescription drug-induced fatalities over time. This paper explores socioeconomic determinants and spatial disparities of fatalities caused by drug and opioid overdose (both intentional and unintentional), focusing specifically on rural-urban differences and understanding the separate role of net farm income in the drug overdose crisis. Our panel data analysis of all US counties spanning the 1970-2016 period indicates that rurality, as measured by lower population density, is associated with higher deaths rates. Importantly, while our research suggests that the opioid crises went hand in hand with declining net farm income, the effect appears to be small. Specifically, we estimate that each $10,000 reduction in net income per farm is associated with a 0.04 increase in overdose age-adjusted deaths per 100,000 people. This effect is more prominent in counties with persistent poverty, which also is predominantly rural. Given the pronounced variability in farm financial indicators over time, the relative health of the farm sector in rural areas may warrant more attention if the pressing health crisis is to be addressed effectively.

Analysing land use/land cover changes and its dynamics using remote sensing and GIS in Gubalafito district, Northeastern Ethiopia

Mapping and quantifying the status of Land use/Land cover (LULC) changes and drivers of change are important for identifying vulnerable areas for change and designing sustainable ecosystem services. This study analyzed the status of LULC changes and key drivers of change for the last 30 years through a combination of remote sensing and GIS with the surveying of the local community understanding of LULC patterns and drivers in the Gubalafto district, Northeastern Ethiopia. Five major LULC types (cultivated and settlement, forest cover, grazing land, bush land and bare land) from Landsat images of 1986, 2000, and 2016 were mapped. The results demonstrated that cultivated and settlement constituted the most extensive type of LULC in the study area and increased by 9% extent. It also revealed that a substantial expansion of bush land and bare land areas during the past 30 years. On the other hand, LULC classes that has high environmental importance such as grazing land and forest cover have reduced drastically through time with expanding cultivated and settlement during the same period. The grazing land in 1986 was about 11.1% of the total study area, and it had decreased to 5.7% in 2016. In contrast, cultivated and settlement increased from 45.6% in 1986 to 49.5% in 2016. Bush land increased from 14.8 to 21% in the same period, while forest cover declined from 8.9 to 2% in the same period. The root causes for LULC changes in this particular area include population growth, land tenure insecurity, and common property rights, persistent poverty, climate change, and lack of public awareness. Therefore, the causes for LULC changes have to be controlled, and sustainable resources use is essential; else, these scarce natural resource bases will soon be lost and will no longer be able to play their contribution in sustainable ecosystem services.Article HighlightsForest cover and grazing lands declined rapidly.Fluctuating trends in cultivated and settlement, bush land and bare land.Population pressure and associated demand are the main causes behind LULC changes in the study area.

The paradox of the peasantry in management and organization studies

PurposeBurrell (2020) challenged management and organization studies (MOS) scholars to pay attention to a topic they have mostly ignored: the peasantry, those 2 billion people that work in the rural primary sector. This paper aims to address the topic to expand Burrell’s challenge by indicating that the peasantry offers a unique context to study a paradoxical condition: the coexistence of persistent poverty and vanguardist innovation.Design/methodology/approachThe authors advance conceptual arguments that complement the reasons why researchers should pay more attention to the peasantry. They argue that continuation of past research into field laborers, transitioning from feudalism to industrial capitalism, still has currency, not just because of the good reasons listed by Burrell (enduring relevance of the phenomenon in developing countries; sustainability concerns; acknowledgment of common heritage) but also because some seemingly archaic practices are evident in the economically developed countries where most management and organizations scholars live.FindingsThe authors show that in advanced economies, the peasantry has not disappeared, and it is manifested in contradictory forms, as positive force contributing to sustainable productivity (in the case of digitized agriculture) and as a negative legacy of social inequality and exploitation (as a form of modern slavery).Originality/valueThe authors discuss contrasting themes confronting management of the peasantry, namely, modern slavery and digital farming, and propose that a paradox view may help overcome unnecessary dualisms, which may promote social exclusion rather than integrated development.

Meeting global challenges with regenerative agriculture producing food and energy

The world currently faces a suite of urgent challenges: environmental degradation, diminished biodiversity, climate change and persistent poverty and associated injustices. All of these challenges can be addressed to a large extent through agriculture. A dichotomy expressed as ‘food versus fuel’ has misled thinking and hindered needed action towards building agricultural systems in ways that are regenerative, biodiverse, climate resilient, equitable and economically sustainable. Here we offer examples of agricultural systems that meet the urgent needs while also producing food and energy. We call for refocused conversation and united action towards rapidly deploying such systems across biophysical and socioeconomic settings.

On social and psychological consequences of prolonged poverty–A longitudinal narrative study from Finland

By means of qualitative longitudinal material, this article explores meaningfulness during persistent monetary poverty through an integrative framework, which builds upon conceptualisations of meaning in life (coherence, significance, and purpose) and modes of being (labour, work, action). The material consists of 36 autobiographical accounts and their follow-up accounts from 2006 and 2012. The analysis reveals that in the developed welfare state of Finland, prolonged monetary poverty is connected with the propensity for incoherence and a feeling of insignificance, particularly if life is governed by a vicious cycle of scarcity. Prolonged poverty 1) turns aspirations from long-term to short-term goals and frames life as something characterised by negative anticipation and a circular sense of time. Life primarily takes place in private space. It also 2) weakens the sense of belonging and 3) reduces public participation. These are the domains where the meaning in life is constructed, deconstructed, and reconstructed. In a developed welfare state, the comprehensive and manageable social security scheme maintains coherence, yet universal social policy actions that enable participation in public activities nourish a sense of significance.

Developmental Origins of Cardiovascular Disease: Understanding High Mortality Rates in the American South.

While many social scientists view heart disease as the outcome of current conditions, this cannot fully explain the significant geographic disparities in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality rates in the USA. The developmental origins hypothesis proposes that CVD vulnerability is created by poor conditions in utero that underbuilds major organs relative to those needed to process lush nutrition later in life. The American South underwent an economic transformation from persistent poverty to rapid economic growth in the post-World War II era. We use state-level data on income growth and current conditions to explain variation in CVD mortality rates in 2010–2011. Our proxy for unbalanced physical growth, the ratio of median household income in 1980 to that in 1950, has a large systematic influence on CVD mortality, an impact that increases dramatically with age. The income ratio combined with smoking, obesity, healthcare access, and education explain more than 70% of the variance in CVD mortality rates.

Childhood Poverty, Extended Family and Adult Poverty

ABSTRACT This study investigates the extent to which childhood poverty experience and family variables affect the persistence of poverty in adulthood. We use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics data where subjects are observed over multiple years both as children and adults. We examine the extent to which the persistence of poverty after age 18 and age 25 are predicted by childhood poverty experience. We find that the proportion of time spent in poverty in adulthood increases with the proportion of time spent in poverty in childhood after controlling for other personal, family, place and time-period effects. The magnitude of the effect of childhood poverty on adult outcomes gets smaller but remains significant when examining poverty experiences after age 25. We also find that there are unobserved but strong family level effects that either increase or reduce the chances of adulthood poverty substantially for some extended family units.

Impact of poverty and family adversity on adolescent health: a multi-trajectory analysis using the UK Millennium Cohort Study.

SummaryBackgroundChildren exposed to poverty and family adversities including domestic violence, parental mental ill health and parental alcohol misuse may experience poor outcomes across the life course. However, the complex interrelationships between these exposures in childhood are unclear. We therefore assessed the clustering of trajectories of household poverty and family adversities and their impacts on adolescent health outcomes.MethodsWe used longitudinal data from the UK Millennium Cohort study on 11564 children followed to age 14 years. Family adversities included parent reported domestic violence and abuse, poor mental health and frequent alcohol use. We used a group-based multi-trajectory cluster model to identify trajectories of poverty and family adversity for children. We assessed associations of these trajectories with child physical, mental and behavioural outcomes at age 14 years using multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for confounders.FindingsSix trajectories were identified: low poverty and family adversity (43·2%), persistent parental alcohol use (7·7%), persistent domestic violence and abuse (3·4%), persistent poor parental mental health (11·9%), persistent poverty (22·6%) and persistent poverty and poor parental mental health (11·1%). Compared with children exposed to low poverty and adversity, children in the persistent adversity trajectory groups experienced worse outcomes; those exposed to persistent poor parental mental health and poverty were particularly at increased risk of socioemotional behavioural problems (adjusted odds ratio 6·4; 95% CI 5·0 – 8·3), cognitive disability (aOR 2·1; CI 1·5 – 2·8), drug experimentation (aOR 2·8; CI 1·8 – 4·2) and obesity (aOR 1·8; CI 1·3 – 2·5).InterpretationIn a contemporary UK cohort, persistent poverty and/or persistent poor parental mental health affects over four in ten children. The combination of both affects one in ten children and is strongly associated with adverse child outcomes, particularly poor child mental health.FundingThe National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Policy Research Programme, NIHR Applied Research Collaboration South London (ARC South London) at King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and the Medical Research Council (MRC).

Показатель уровня бедности и меры по его снижению на примере Астраханской области

As a result of the crisis, spread of coronavirus infection, growth of inflation for a number of years in Russia there has been registered a decrease in real incomes of the population, as well as the persistent poverty rate. Despite the unprecedented measures taken by the State to provide social support to the population, the fight against poverty is one of the strategic tasks for the state. The poverty rate indicator is included in the performance indicators of state authorities and regional leaders. Methods of assistance to the most vulnerable segments of the population should be comprehensive (include educational programs, retraining, psychological support, employment, social benefits, support measures for beginning and existing entrepreneurs and the self-employed, social contracts, social treasury), but at the same time they should be targeted and personalized.

INVISIBILITY OF WOMEN MIGRANT WORKERS AND COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN INDIA

The neo-liberal model of development has facilitated the cross-border movements, thereby making both national and international migration one of the survival strategies to fight against persistent poverty, economic insecurity and deepening inequalities. It is known to all that Covid-19 and lockdown measures had a large impact on employment and labour market affecting human lives across the globe. This paper focuses on the experiences of women migrant workers situated within one of the most populous states of India, i.e., Uttar Pradesh. How did they make sense of their lived realities in the face of downsizing being done by the companies, which meant partial wages or losing the jobs permanently, and also the sudden transition that they had to opt for and negotiate with?

The joint effects of information and financing constraints on technology adoption: Evidence from a field experiment in rural Tanzania

Low investment in profitable technologies contributes to persistent poverty. Many farmers in developing countries invest too little in fertilizer despite evidence that fertilizer is profitable. This field experiment investigates a two-part explanation: (1) farmers are reluctant to invest without farm-specific evidence of profitability, possibly because of heterogeneous returns, and (2) information is not sufficient to increase investment because of financing constraints. Farmers in one arm of the experiment receive fertilizer recommendations based on tests of their soils, others receive recommendations paired with an input subsidy, and others receive only the input subsidy. Only farmers who receive recommendations and the subsidy increase fertilizer application and yields relative to the control group. The financing constraint may explain limited response to heterogeneous fertilizer recommendations. The approximate net benefit of increased yields, accounting for the full cost of inputs and soil tests, is equivalent to average wages for seven days of work.

2. Cascading Collective Trauma and COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact on African Americans and Communities of Color

The COVID-19 pandemic led to collective trauma or long-term psychological effects that are shared by a large group of people who all experience an event. Collective trauma is defined as an entire group’s psychological reaction to a traumatic event that affects an entire society. Collective trauma can be caused by events such as pandemics, wars, natural disasters, mass shootings, genocides, systematic and historical oppression, recessions, and famine or severe poverty. This paper is a brief report of the impact of cascading collective trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic on African Americans and other communities of color. Cascading collective traumas are defined as a series of compounding catastrophes that may be both historic and concurrent and results have stronger emotional responses with each new exposure. COVID-19 pandemic was almost immediately followed by another trauma, such as the racial unrest and reports of African Americans being beaten ferociously with no apparent causes. Collective trauma is not always equal in populations. African Americans and other communities of color in the United States are suffering disproportionately from COVID-19, compounded by historical trauma, structural racism, and persistent poverty. Policy changes are needed to address the structural racism and health inequities that negatively impact the physical and mental health of Blacks, Latinx, and other indigenous communities in the United States. More research is needed to examine cascading collective trauma and increased violence.

Cascading Collective Trauma and COVID-19 Pandemic: The Impact on African Americans and Communities of Color

The COVID-19 pandemic led to collective trauma or long-term psychological effects that are shared by a large group of people who all experience an event. Collective trauma is defined as an entire group’s psychological reaction to a traumatic event that affects an entire society. Collective trauma can be caused by events such as pandemics, wars, natural disasters, mass shootings, genocides, systematic and historical oppression, recessions, and famine or severe poverty. This paper is a brief report of the impact of cascading collective trauma during the COVID-19 pandemic on African Americans and other communities of color. Cascading collective traumas are defined as a series of compounding catastrophes that may be both historic and concurrent and results have stronger emotional responses with each new exposure. COVID-19 pandemic was almost immediately followed by another trauma, such as the racial unrest and reports of African Americans being beaten ferociously with no apparent causes. Collective trauma is not always equal in populations. African Americans and other communities of color in the United States are suffering disproportionately from COVID-19, compounded by historical trauma, structural racism, and persistent poverty. Policy changes are needed to address the structural racism and health inequities that negatively impact the physical and mental health of Blacks, Latinx, and other indigenous communities in the United States. More research is needed to examine cascading collective trauma and increased violence.

Understanding poverty dynamics in Ethiopia: Implications for the likely impact of COVID-19.

We aim at identifying vulnerable groups that face a higher risk of falling into poverty due to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Applying a synthetic panel data approach, our analysis of poverty and vulnerability transitions during the pre‐COVID period shows not only a high rate of poverty persistence in Ethiopia but also a high probability of moving from vulnerable nonpoor status to poor status. Given the observed persistence of poverty and greater risk of downward mobility, even in the pre‐COVID period, it is highly likely that poverty persistence and downward mobility will be aggravated during the current pandemic. A detailed poverty profiling exercise shows that households where the household head is less educated, engaged in the service sector, self‐employed, and a domestic worker are population segments with a high rate of downward mobility. As the emerging evidence on the socioeconomic impact of COVID shows, these segments of the population are also the ones relatively more affected by the pandemic. Overall, the pandemic is likely to result in a serious setback to the progress made in poverty reduction in Ethiopia. Poverty reduction policies should thus target not only the existing poor but also the vulnerable nonpoor.