Pro-poor Change Research Articles

Populism-in-state-practice under neoliberalism: Museveni’s ad-hoc squads to ‘halt all evictions’ from land in Uganda

ABSTRACT Populism in Africa has been studied as political rhetoric, strategy and performance, with focus on ethnicity, nationalism, mobilisation and elections. Less attention has been given to populism-in-practice, specifically populism-in-state-practice (PISP): how a populist rhetoric by an actor in power gets translated into an administrative/executive intervention, and how this fares on the ground. This paper uses the case of populist interventions of President Museveni in neoliberal Uganda to address rampant land conflicts in the 2010s – specifically his ad-hoc initiatives aimed at ‘helping the poor’ by ‘stopping’ evictions – to explore characteristics of PISP. We thus contribute to the literature through an analysis of the implementation of a populist measure under neoliberalism. Using land laws, decided court cases, government statements, and media reports, our analysis shows that although somewhat helpful in the interim, the initiatives unleashed new turmoil, extended land (tenure) insecurity, advanced a Presidentialisation of justice delivery, deepened institutional impasse and suspended institutional efforts that could advance pro-poor change. PISP did not address the root causes of the problems that it set out to tackle, and failed to alter the legal insecurities, and perilous power position of the declared beneficiaries. Yet, it enhanced political legitimacy of the President and state.

Pro-poor change in the aftermath of disasters – Exploring possibilities at the intersection of disaster politics and land rights issues in Central Philippines

This article demonstrates how natural disasters can rearrange arenas of contestation over land use, ownership and titling. It analyses how state agents, organized civil society, communities and powerful business groups in three cases in rural Philippines dealt with the challenges and opportunities for agrarian reform after being hit by typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Understanding this connection between agrarian reform and disasters will become increasingly important to address the vulnerabilities of the marginalized in the context of climate change and related rise in disasters. An actor-oriented perspective and a case study method was used to unravel how specific communities engage with processes of agrarian reform after a disaster and how a crisis can change dynamics between actors from above and below in agrarian reform processes. This is needed since the people’s perspective on these processes is often missing and knowledge on the everyday experiences of social change is limited. The cases show that disasters are a window of opportunity to reverse or accelerate complicated agrarian reform processes: by restructuring dynamics between actors from below and above in existing, sometimes stagnated agrarian reform processes, by revealing political dynamics that were invisible before or by creating new possibilities to mobilize actors from above and below to claim access to land.

Anatomy of provincial level inequality in maternal mortality in China during 2004\u20132016: a new decomposition analysis

BackgroundThe maternal mortality ratio (MMR) is an important indicator of maternal health and socioeconomic development. Although China has experienced a large decline in MMR, substantial disparities across regions are still apparent. This study aims to explore causes of socioeconomic related inequality in MMR at the province-level in China from 2004 to 2016.MethodsWe collected data from various issues of the China Health Statistics Yearbook, China Statistics Yearbook, and China Population and Employment Statistics Yearbook to construct a longitudinal sample of all provinces in China. We first examined determinants of the MMR using province fixed-effect models, accounted for socioeconomic condition, health resource allocation, and access to health care. We then used the concentration index (CI) to measure MMR inequality and employed the direct decomposition method to estimate the marginal impact of the determinants on the inequality index. Importance of the determinants were compared based on logworth values.ResultsDuring our study period, economically more deprived provinces experienced higher MMR than better-off ones. There was no evidence of improved socioeconomic related inequality in MMR. Illiteracy proportion was positively associated with the MMR (p < 0.01). In contrast, prenatal check-up rate (p = 0.05), hospital delivery rate (p < 0.01) and rate of delivery attended by professionals (p = 0.02) were negatively associated with the MMR. We also find that higher maternal health profile creation rate (p < 0.01) was associated with a pro-poor change of MMR inequality.ConclusionAccess to healthcare was the most important factor in explaining the persistent MMR inequality in China, followed by socioeconomic condition. We do not find evidence that health resource allocation was a contributing factor.

Forging space for pro-poor change: The use of strategic litigation by the Socio-Economic Rights Institution of South Africa (SERI) to advance equality

Forging space for pro-poor change: The use of strategic litigation by the Socio-Economic Rights Institution of South Africa (SERI) to advance equality

Withstanding austerity: Equity in health services utilisation in the first stage of the economic recession in Southern Spain.

Scant research is available on the impact of the current economic crisis and austerity policies on inequality in health services utilisation in Europe. This study aimed to describe the trends in horizontal inequity in the use of health services in Andalusia, Spain, during the early years of the Great Recession, and the contribution of demographic, economic and social factors. Consultation with a general practitioner (GP) and specialist, hospitalisation and emergency care were studied through the Andalusian Health Survey 2007 (pre-crisis) and 2011–2012 (crisis), using a composite income index as socioeconomic status (SES) indicator. Horizontal inequity indices (HII) were calculated to take differential healthcare needs into account, and a decomposition analysis of change in inequality between periods was performed. Results showed that before the crisis, the HII was positive (greater access for people with higher SES) for specialist visits but negative (greater access for people with lower SES) in the other three utilisation models. During the crisis no change was observed in inequalities in GP visits, but a pro-poor development was seen for the other types of utilisation, with hospital and emergency care showing significant inequality in favour of low income groups. Overall, the main contributors to pro-poor changes in utilisation were socio-economic variables and poor mental health, due to changes in their elasticities. Our findings show that inequalities in healthcare utilisation largely remained in favour of the less well-off, despite the cuts in welfare benefits and health services provision during the early years of the recession in Andalusia. Further research is needed to monitor the potential impact of such measures in subsequent years.

Social innovation with open source software: User engagement and development challenges in India

A diverse range of innovative solutions based on Free-and-Open-Source Software (FOSS) have been developed for marginalized communities in developing countries. It has been suggested that such small-scale and home-grown solutions (e.g. mobile phone apps), usually championed by social enterprises (SEs), are more likely to introduce pro-poor change than infrastructure heavy ICT initiatives designed by state and other international actors. In the Indian context, FOSS-based social innovations (SIs) introduced by SEs are helping poor communities tackle previously thought-to-be unresolvable socio-economic problems. An interesting question, therefore, would be: in what ways is the SE model and approach uniquely equipped to develop FOSS-based SIs that deliver pro-poor change? The empirical component of the research attempts to shed light on this question by uncovering the nuts and bolts of the development methodology deployed by an SE during the coding and launch of an FOSS-based SI. Findings highlight the significant role of the founder's social vision; the challenges of accurately capturing and translating to software developers the nature and nuance of social problems; and, the incumbent issues in putting together a methodology that creates active user engagement throughout the software development process, overcoming difficult barriers such as language and culture.

Ebola epidemic exposes the pathology of the global economic and political system.

While the current Ebola epidemic spiraled out of control to become the biggest in history, the global public health response has been criticized as "too little, too late." Many, like the World Health Organization, are asking what lessons have been learned from this epidemic. We present an analysis of the political economy of this Ebola outbreak that reveals the importance of addressing the social determinants that facilitated the exposure of populations, previously unaffected by Ebola Virus Disease, to infection and restricted the capacity for an effective medical response. To prevent further such crises, the global public health community has a responsibility to advocate for health system investment and development and for fundamental pro-poor changes to economic and power relations in the region.

How Change Happens in the Private Sector

This paper summarises the main factors that brought about change in two private companies, and their implications for civil society actors aiming to generate more pro-poor change in the private sector.

The Private Sector and Poverty Reduction

Many commentators claim a key role for the private sector in reducing poverty. This can be achieved through direct benefits, such as the adoption of ethical business practices and the provision of employment, goods, and services to the poor; and through indirect positive impacts on macro-economic policy and business development. This paper argues that the likelihood of business impacts being pro-poor depends also on wider policy and structural conditions. These include the importance of poor people in a company’s business model, and the length of local investment and commitment that this demands. Case studies of three companies demonstrate the importance of legislation and civil society as catalysts for pro-poor change in business. Leadership from within the company and a strong business case are also essential. However, multiple entrenched problems with modern capitalist systems work against positive change within international business. Overcoming or mitigating these will be necessary if the pro-poor potential of he private sector is to be realised.

Analyzing Pro-Poor Growth in Southern Africa: Lessons from Mauritius and South Africa*

: Based on the methodology of Ravallion and Chen (2003), Kakwani and Pernia (2000) and Kakwani et al. (2003) and using household survey data, we analyze poverty, inequality and pro-poor changes in South Africa over the period 1995–2005 and in Mauritius over the period 2001–2006. Conditions are very different in these two countries. South Africa is one of the least equal countries in the developing world while inequality in Mauritius is relatively low in comparison to other African countries. Similarly, using a reference threshold of US$3 a day, we find that poverty headcount was initially around 42 percent in South Africa and 6 percent in Mauritius. Moreover, in addition to these initial differences, the two countries have experienced very different pro-poor growth paths. Temporal differences reveal that inequalities have increased significantly in South Africa over the period and that the poverty headcount in 2005 would have been around 10 percentage points lower without this strong adverse redistribution effect. South African growth has been anti-poor relatively speaking. Conversely, growth was absolutely pro-poor in Mauritius over the period 2001–2006. Deeper analysis is conducted across areas of residence (urban and rural) and according to educational achievements (some schooling versus no schooling) and gender. A comparison between Mauritius and South Africa allows for a better understanding of both growth and redistribution effects on poverty and for drawing some policy recommendations towards reducing poverty in these countries.