Pro-poor Development Research Articles

Sustainable Urban Development and Livability

Sustainable cities are central to achieving all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). By 2050 cities will contain approximately 70% of the world's population and produce 85 per cent of global economic output. Policy and investment decisions made today will have a deep and long-lasting impact, based on the concentration of people and economic activities, and the long-term nature of urban systems and infrastructure.Urban development should proceed in a well-planned, integrated, and inclusive manner, with city governments working together with businesses, civil society organizations, academia, and individuals, and with national governments, as well as the authorities in neighbouring urban towns and rural areas, and peer cities around the world. A robust “science of cities” can give urban policymakers around the world access to a body of knowledge and good practices.Urban decision makers should take the central tenet of the 2030 Agenda to heart and ensure that no one is left behind in their cities and towns. That means prioritizing pro-poor development and access to decent jobs; high-quality public services, health care and education; sustainable transport; and safe and attractive public spaces for all, regardless of gender, age, ability, and ethnicity.Governments, businesses, civil society organizations and individuals can use a range of policy, economic and communications tools to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns in cities, encourage densified habitat and decouple growth from environmental degradation. Innovative governments, a committed private sector and an active citizenry can overcome inequalities and create livable cities in both developing and developed countries. livable cities offer high-quality services and increase “naturbanity”, a close connection between people and nature, to enhance human health and well-being, protect biodiversity, and strengthen climate resilience, which is particularly important for vulnerable populations in coastal cities and those in informal settlements.

Sustainable developmentality: Interrogating the sustainability gaze and the cultivation of mountain subjectivities in the central Indian Himalayas

Sustainability challenges persist in the central Indian Himalayas (CIH) despite an array of solutions proffered by external experts. This paper interrogates the ‘sustainability gaze’ of external experts – which reflects attempts to reconcile neoliberal economic growth with environmental conservation within the logics of technical and biophysical rationalities - by exploring local experiences of rapid and uncertain social and environmental change. Three strands of policy and practice shape the gaze: (i) natural hazard mitigation for climate change adaptation; (ii) reducing social vulnerability through pro-poor development; and (iii) increasing resilience through environmental management and conservation. Results challenge narratives that overpopulation causes environmental degradation and changing patterns of migration are a natural process of modernisation in the CIH. Alternative local narratives highlight haphazard and inequitable economic growth, lack of mountain planning and disaster management, inadequate social welfare programmes, and monkey relocation policies as the major sustainability challenges. The paper discusses how the gaze produces ‘sustainable developmentality’ - a depoliticising process that cultivates multiple and conflicting mountain subjectivities, namely: (i) active community members responsible for mitigating natural hazards, (ii) productive farmers and flexible waged labourers, and (iii) custodians of the environment. This creates a triple-bind for smallholders which has forced huge numbers to migrate from their mountain dwellings with unsustainable outcomes. Exploring local perspectives re-politicises the debate, exposing the contradictions and tensions of the gaze and the broader systemic issues of power and inequity the gaze overlooks. Such insights are crucial for rendering development policies more relevant to mountain residents of the CIH and beyond.

Does Empowering Women in Politics Boost Human Development? An Empirical Analysis, 1960–2018

ABSTRACT Does the political empowerment of women increase human development? Using equality of access to schooling and health as indicators of pro-poor development policy and objective measures of female school completion and child mortality under the age of five as measures of human capital development, pooled ordinary least square (OLS) fixed effects regressions show robustly that the political empowerment of women associates positively with higher human capital. These results are statistically significant and substantively large, and the effects of gender empowerment trump those of democracy and good governance. Since the political empowerment of women is driven by structural conditions underlying democracy and economic development, the independent effect of gender empowerment relative to effects of democracy and institutional quality suggests a powerful role for the former. Interactions between gender empowerment and factors associated with higher child mortality; namely, strict autocracy and the Middle East and North Africa region, suggest that empowerment conditions these known adverse factors in the direction of lower child mortality. For addressing endogeneity, we use 10- and 20-year lagged values of gender empowerment as instruments for current empowerment, which pass both instrument relevance and instrument exclusion criteria. Two-stage least square regressions confirm our basic results. While the causal effects of gender empowerment remain somewhat speculative, a barrage of tests on our data suggests a powerful role for gender empowerment for increasing human capital.

Monitoring and evaluation framework for inclusive smart cities in India

ABSTRACT Urban investments in India over the past three decades have helped its cities advance in terms of improved infrastructure and better economic standards. However, the cities are simultaneously facing challenges of polarised and unequally distributed development benefits. This paper advances the inclusive cities’ agenda beyond the constructs of “pro-poor development” and develops a multidimensional evaluation and monitoring framework. Through the review and analysis of 20 smart cities in India, the paper presents the gaps and patterns of relationships within the critical factors of inclusion. The need to develop alternate development models that shall promote socio-economic transformation in smart cities in India is emphasised through this paper.

Insights on Production End of the Dairy Value Chain in Bangladesh

This research paper aims at critically analyzing the production end of the dairy value chain with a long-run vision and mission to develop a more efficient pro-poor development of value chain that will allow disadvantaged farmers, milkers, feed producers, and feed sellers to overcome barriers and earn more to escape from poverty through further value addition in a sustainable manner. It uses qualitative research with an integrated methodology, comprising in-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGD), and observation. We collected data from 30 villages located in eight districts in northern Bangladesh, using 44 in-depth interviews and 18 FGDs. Thematic data analysis is used, and five cases are presented. Farmer or producer, milker, feed producer, and feed seller are the production end actors of the dairy value chain. Rearing cows within the homestead is a popular and enduring custom. The labor-intensive rearing lacks automation and needs helping hands. Traditional free-range cattle rearing practice is identified on some river islands. Despite politics in pricing, ethical pricing also exists but not at the institutional level. Hand milking is common practice with vulnerability as it impacts milk quality. Feed selling business is rising and getting institutionalized. Production end value addition scopes are identified along multiple dimensions for stakeholders to take necessary actions.

The Use of Mixed-Income Housing Development to Address Poverty and Inequality, Based on Delphi Empirical Approach: A Case of South Africa

Since the dawn of democracy in 1994, the Republic of South Africa (RSA) has been trying to address the aftermath and consequences of the apartheid regime. This comprises of the socio-economic, spatial, and political challenges that have persisted over the decades. These have had far reaching repercussions in the society to the extent that 25 years later after apartheid, the country finds itself with alarming rates of poverty, social exclusion, unemployment, and inequality. Literature has revealed that there is a direct relationship between poverty and inequality as well as access to socio-economic services / opportunities. Poor access to these services perpetuates exclusivity and thus inequality and marginalisation in all form and character. The purpose of this study is to investigate how housing developments have been used in South Africa to address poverty and inequality. The aim is to understand how to plan for better and more socially and economically thriving communities through housing development, focusing specifically on aspects of development that contributes to addressing poverty and inequality.
 Using a Delphi three round method of Inquiry of 20 experts, perceptions from a diverse panel of experts about mixed-income housing development were uncovered. In comparison to previous housing models, the study uncovered a significant paradigm shift in housing development and what a housing intervention should achieve. Since 2004 after the introduction of the Breaking New Ground Policy (BNG), the housing development approaches, and interventions have shifted away from just providing roof over once head to providing social asset to the poor and a whole range economic opportunities. The conclusion is that housing development by virtue of location, diverse housing typologies and tenure options is now part and parcel of integrated planning and the pro poor development agenda.

Mainstreaming climate change adaptation into pro-poor development initiatives: evidence from local economic development programmes in Ghana

ABSTRACT Climate change remains a serious threat to climate sensitive pro-poor development interventions in the Pru District of Ghana. This study examined how climate change impacts on Local Economic Development (LED) interventions, the extent to which climate change adaptation (CCA) initiatives are integrated into LED and the challenges associated with the mainstreaming process. Qualitative research design and purposive sampling was used to collect data from 28 respondents at the Pru District Assembly with an interview guide. The results show that climate change adversely affects the following LED programmes; beekeeping, micro-credit for agricultural development programme, and fishing net and outboard motor programmes. The findings further indicate that climate-smart Agriculture, aquaculture (Fish Cage Culture) and Sustainable natural resource utilization and management the CCA initiatives mainstreamed into pro-poor LED in the Pru District to reduce the inevitable impacts of climate change. The study identified multifaceted challenges militating against CCA mainstreaming in the District to include inadequate resources for CCA, inactive stakeholder and institutional collaboration, and lack of continuity of CCA programmes. This paper recommends strong government support for CCA programmes, commitment of adequate resources and effective stakeholder and institutional collaboration. The paper concludes that effective integration of CCA into pro-poor LED is a panacea to achieving sustainable local development.

Mauritius’ Competitive Party Politics and Social Democratic Welfare Outcomes after Independence

Mauritius has cast herself as an outlier on the African political landscape, having hosted peaceful, free and fair elections since the advent of independence in 1968 without fail. The island state of Mauritius, which lies over 2000km off the coast of East Africa, boasts a multiplicity of political parties which have added to the vibrancy of political culture in that country. Election season tends to be a hotly contested period in which various political parties, by virtue of their claims as custodians of collective and national centre left interests, jostle one another for dominance under the banner of pro-poor development. This essay considers Mauritius’ status as a social democratic welfare state by drawing the relation between the country’s competitive political culture and development successes against the backdrop of its democratic election experiences from 1968 to 2005. While election outcomes elsewhere on the continent tend to reflect the maturity of democratic spaces in which political spaces exist, in Mauritius they continue to serve as a litmus test to ascertain the level of commitment to the social cause by the ruling incumbents and aspirants alike.

Role of Transformational Leadership on Innovative Pro-poor Development Initiatives in Zanzibar: A Case of Selected Community-based Income Generating Projects in the Urban West Region, Zanzibar

Leadership style is one of the factors that play a significant role in enhancing or retarding the performance of individuals in any organization. This study attempted to reveal the role of transformational leadership on innovative pro-poor development initiatives in Zanzibar where selected community-based income generating projects in the Urban West Region, Zanzibar were used a case study. Data were collected from six shehias namely Mwera, Kihinani, Kisauni, Kiembesamaki, Matarumbeta and Chumbuni where 180 respondents were consulted through observation, interview and questionnaire methods. Data analysis was done for each study objective through content analysis and descriptive statistics. The study findings revealed 7 major transformational leadership practices in the study area including motivation, periodic appraisals, inspiration, volunteering, mentoring, sharing and training. On the other hand the study concluded 6 major community based income-generating activities namely animal keeping, poultry keeping, vegetable garden, fish processing, small businesses and hand-crafting business. This study further revealed numerous challenges facing the adoption of transformational leadership in various development initiatives in the study area including lack of skills, lack of fund, lack of knowledge, low level of education, poor perception of the community and inadequate awareness of the existing pro-poor projects. Lastly based on the study findings, it was concluded that poultry keeping was highly practiced activity in the study area. Capacity building interventions were highly urged for enhancing skills, knowledge and awareness of the adoption of transformational leadership in various development initiatives in the study area hence making the existing pro-poor initiatives useful in the study area.

Aspiration and poverty in an asymmetric information game: a case study of Southern Xinjiang

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to reveal the internal mechanism of the deviation of targeted poverty alleviation under the condition of asymmetric information.Design/methodology/approachIntroducing a traditional signaling game theory model with dynamic asymmetric information, this study uses a dataset covering 813 poor households from Southern Xinjiang, China, to theoretically and empirically study the effect of aspiration of the poor households on poverty alleviation.FindingsFirst, there exists asymmetric information between the poor households and village leaders. Second, the “short, arbitrary and fast” poverty alleviation approach may quickly pull people out of poverty, but it may also nurture a dependency culture where poor households lose their aspiration and ability to escape poverty through their own efforts. Third, due to long lasting universal state support, poor households in the national designated poor counties are less able and ambitious to escape poverty by themselves than their counterparts living in the national nondesignated areas.Originality/valueThe research results show that pro-poor development policies should be upheld to improve the residual utility that can benefit all households as a result of the poverty alleviation campaign. Relevant policy recommendations are made for China's continuous effort to fight relative poverty beyond 2020.

Durable inequality and the scope for pro-poor development in a globalising world

Cities are today undergoing major economic and spatial transformations in line with the requirements of global capital and neoliberalism. The main question to address in this scenario is: what is the scope for actions aiming to advance a more pro-poor agenda and curb the acute inequality found in the metropolises of the so-called developing countries? With that concern in mind, this paper examines the potentials and limitations of recent redevelopments in Rio de Janeiro to counteract durable inequality, as conceptualised by Charles Tilly. To do so we analysed secondary evidence and recent primary fieldwork drawing on 48 interviews with a range of stakeholders involved in the city’s preparations for recent mega events, urban development and resistance to evictions, particularly in Vila Autódromo and Providência communities. Results show that there is room for progressive intervention and change at the local level if the underlying drivers of structural inequality are appropriately identified and systematically targeted by combined state and social movements’ political actions.

How to Pace More Poverty Reduction in Ethiopia by the Vehicle of Developmental State Orientation?

Ethiopia is a country that has suffered for long with deep and severe poverty mainly resulted from lack of pro-poor development policy. Since 2002, the Ethiopian Government has adopted state-led development and thus contributed to manage a sustained average economic growth of a double digit. This achievement was done much work in areas of entrepreneurship and micro-small enterprises are, however, needed to pace more economic growth and poverty reduction. Moreover, changing sectoral focus industrialization and foreign direct investment that endure mutual benefit are crucial to achieve by and large the desired result.

The Problem with Solutions: Development Failures in Bangladesh and the Interests They Obscure

Long described as the “largest poorest” country, Bangladesh has been a prime target for massive infusions of foreign aid for decades. Through historical and ethnographic investigation, I document how flood control and agricultural intensification projects underwritten by foreign institutions exacerbate vulnerability to water crises in Bangladesh. These ostensibly pro-poor water governance and economic development programs engender cycles of crop loss, groundwater and soil salinization, reduced fisheries, and impeded navigation that erode agrarian livelihoods, thereby reproducing the conditions and rationale for continued flows of aid dollars into the country. Shifting attention away from depoliticized problems and solutions, I develop the concept of the interest-shed as a broadly applicable method for intervening in cycles of failure by examining the interests that they serve. This framework can also be used in the planning process by enabling differently situated groups to evaluate how proposed schemes include, ignore, or prioritize their interests.

Millenium Development Goals (Mdgs) and Sustainable Development Goals (Sdgs) in Social Welfare

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are designed as the successor of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the MDGs’ goals have not been achieved by the end of 2015. The SDGs is an action plan for the humankind, the planet, and the prosperity that also aims to strengthen universal peace in a broad freedom. It exists to overcome extreme poverty as the greatest global challenge. The SDGs concept is needed as a new development framework that accommodates all the changes occur after the 2015-MDGs, especially related to the world's changes since 2000 regarding the issue of deflation of natural resources, environmental degradation, crucial climate change, social protection, food and energy security, and a more pro-poor development. MDGs aimed only for the developing countries, while SDGs have a more universal goal. The SDGs is present to replace the MDGs with better goals to face the world future challenge. It has 17 goals and 169 targets that will stimulate actions for the next 15 years, focusing on the significant areas for the humanity and the planet, i.e., the people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership.

Assessing agriculture–tourism linkages in Senegal: A structure path analysis

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), in general, and Senegal, in particular, tourism has often been proposed as a pro-poor development strategy due to its intensive use of unskilled labour. However, few studies have examined the linkage between tourism and agriculture, which is still the principal sector for employment in many SSA countries. Using a Structure Path Analysis (SPA), this paper investigates how, in structural terms, an exogenous demand shock on the tourism industry affects the Senegalese agricultural sector. The SPA results show that one of the core sub-sectors of tourism hotels and restaurants has relatively weak linkages with suppliers of agricultural inputs. Staple crops is identified as the agricultural sub-sector that has the most significant impact on tourism. Food and beverage processing plays an indirect but important role in the way hotels and restaurants industry impacts agriculture. Our analysis provides robust evidence that tourism has the capacity to create opportunities for the farmers and local food supply chains through generating additional demand for food products. Policy interventions looking to amplify the benefits that tourism can generate for agriculture, for the case of Senegal and comparable SSA countries, should focus on measures aiming at minimising imports of manufactured food and imports reflecting and affecting food and beverage processing and investing in agritourism development initiatives, such as farm-based accommodation, agricultural festivals and farm-tours.

A dynamic view on agricultural trade patterns and virtual water flows in Peru

Increasing integration in global markets can foster economic growth, but also impacts the use of water resources for the production of traded goods. This is particularly critical for low-and middle-income countries where increasing agricultural exports, especially of high-value horticultural products such as fresh fruits and vegetables is promoted as a pro-poor development strategy. The aim of this paper is to quantify the contribution of agricultural trade to virtual water flows and economic gains. The focus is on Peru and trade flows since 1986, as this represents a case of rapidly increasing trade flows and a rapidly changing product composition of trade. We consider long-term trade trends and changes in the product composition of trade, using a product classification, and analyze the implications for trade revenues, VW flows, blue and green water use, and economic water use efficiency. We use an innovative decomposition analysis to disentangle the drivers behind increased virtual water exports. We find that despite sharp increase in agricultural exports Peru is a net importer of virtual water, which implies that participation in international trade has been conducive for both economic growth and saving water resources at national level. We find agricultural exports to have a high economic water efficiency but to increase water scarcity and the use of blue water in producing regions. Our results imply that a focus on high-value export sectors is a valid development strategy for low- and middle-income countries from both an economic and a water perspective but that the strategic location of export production with respect to the availability of water is important for policy-makers to consider. Our approach confirms the importance of considering long-term dynamics and regional differences in research on virtual water trade.

Building and integration of agricultural value chains in Nigeria

ABSTRACTThe current efforts at structural transformation (ST) in Africa aim to remove the negative impacts of external shock and the weak linkages of the economy with the resource sector as well as eradicate poverty and promote sustainable development. Based on the compelling need for sustainable, inclusive and pro-poor development, this paper examines the role and place of building and integration of agricultural value chains (AVCs) in Africa using Nigeria as a case study. It pays very close attention to the production structure and challenges confronting ST in Africa and the case study country. Lessons from selected economies with respect to the part played by AVCs in their ST are drawn such as the need to be sequential and experimental in approach, strategic coordination, monitoring and evaluation of markets, and more active involvement of research institutes in AVC development activities.

All the gold for nothing? Impacts of mining on rural livelihoods in Northern Burkina Faso

Abstract While existing resource extraction debates have contributed to a better understanding of national economic and political dilemmas and institutional responses, there are flaws in understanding the specific relevance of the various types of mining schemes for rural households to deal with the various problems they are confronted with. Our paper examines the perceptions of gold mining effects on households in Northern Burkina Faso. The findings of our survey across six districts representing different mining schemes (industrial, artisanal, no mining) highlight the fact that artisanal gold mining can generate job opportunities and cash income for local households; whereas industrial gold mining widely fails to do so. However, the general economic and environmental settings exert a much stronger influence on the household state. Gold mining effects are perceived as being less advantageous in districts where people are suffering from a lack of education, a higher vulnerability to drought and poor market access. Our findings provide empirical support for those who back the enhanced formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and policies that entail more rigorous state monitoring of mining concessions, especially in economic and environmentally disadvantaged contexts. Effectively addressing communal and pro-poor development requires greater attention to the political economy of ASM and corporate mining. It also calls for a greater inclusion of local mining stakeholders and a more effective alignment of international regulatory and advocacy efforts.

Heterogeneity and vulnerability in the urban informal economy: Reworking the problem in the current context. The case of uganda

The focus of this paper is on the low-value urban informal economy in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper presents a case study from Uganda, with the focus on secondary cities where much of the urban population growth is expected in the next decade. There is also good evidence that informality will persist within both dynamic and in slow urban economies in sub-Saharan Africa. Analysis of the results from fieldwork is presented in support of the basic argument that, as the informal economy is likely to persist there is need for a more conducive policy approach to ensure its positive contribution to the urban economic development; seen as a mainstay of Africa’s future economic development. Currently, the informal economy is considered ephemeral, with little institutional engagement, with the focus on restrictive measures.The paper explores the range of theoretical perspectives on the urban informal economy leading to its re-conceptualizing as part of a continuum of activities in which both formal and informal elements are interlinked. Given the need to improve productivity of activities of different constituent groups along the continuum, the aim of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that would enable the systematic analyses and identification of the internal diversities within the informal economy. It could be used in future policy research to identify diagnostic groups for entry points. The findings from the fieldwork carried out in the cities of Mbale and Mbarara, show that there are several viable options for sustainable livelihoods, particularly in a dynamic urban center. However, while women dominate in numbers, men remain the main actors. This calls for an inclusive, gender-mainstreamed, pro-poor development policy to complement an enterprise-based approach.

Environmental sustainability and poverty alleviation in India: a study of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

The twining of development and environmental sustainability emerged as an essential area of policy and action in India during the Ninth Five Year Plan 1997–2002. Development programmes were designed or redesigned to foster synergies between the two. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is one such centrally-sponsored programme aimed at pro-poor development through employment generation and the restoration of rural environmental resources. In response, this article examines state-by-state percentages of work completed and expenditure under the scheme concerning environmental services, along with a consideration of local experience in areas within a state. Important trends, initiatives and challenges are identified and assessed of present and future significance to the interrelationship between environmental sustainability and poverty alleviation.