Pro-poor Outcomes Research Articles

Dilemmas of Co-production: How Street Waste Pickers Became Excluded from Inclusive Recycling in São Paulo

ABSTRACTUnder what conditions do collaborations between informal workers and the state in public service provision lead to socially beneficial synergies, and when might they intensify inequalities? This article, based on 14 months of ethnographic research, addresses this question through a comparative case study of two attempts to co-produce recycling services in São Paulo. The first, a grassroots organizing effort in the 1980s and 1990s, improved the incomes and conditions of hundreds of waste pickers and inspired a national upsurge of waste picker organizing. The second, an ambitious overhaul of waste management in the early 2000s, generated about 1,500 jobs but functionally excluded the very population of street waste pickers it was designed to benefit. The findings suggest that co-production is most likely to lead to pro-poor outcomes if concerted efforts are made to level inequalities between poor constituents and more powerful stakeholders during processes of policy design and implementation.

Pro-poor birth coverage and child health in Africa

ABSTRACTThis paper explores which African countries had relatively low rates of underweight children and relatively high birth coverage (percentage of births with a skilled attendant) in the poorest quintile. Swaziland and Rwanda emerged as relatively ‘pro-poor’ in that both measures were more than one standard deviation better than predicted by GDP per capita. Unlike Swaziland, Rwanda’s status as an outlier was eliminated in regressions controlling also for urbanisation, medical professionals per 1000 people and health spending, suggesting that its pro-poor outcomes were related to these factors. AIDS funding may have helped Swaziland provide primary health care to the poor, but its high birth coverage preceded the HIV epidemic. Although relatively pro-poor in international terms, Swaziland and Rwanda emerged as relatively unequal by the CIX measure of health inequality with regard to percentage of underweight children across quintiles. It is important not to conflate relatively equal with relatively pro-poor health outcomes.

State-Movement Partnership in Uganda: Co-Producing an Enabling Environment for Urban Poverty Reduction?

State-Movement Partnership in Uganda: Co-Producing an Enabling Environment for Urban Poverty Reduction?

Sanitation value chains in low density settings in Indonesia and Vietnam: impetus for a rethink to achieve pro-poor outcomes

This study examined the sanitation hardware supply chain in rural, low density settings in Indonesia and Vietnam. Actual costs along the chains were investigated to understand the challenges and opportunities to support affordable sanitation in remote, rural locations. Data were collected from four remote districts in Indonesia and Vietnam through a systematic value-chain analysis comprising 378 interviews across households and supply chain actors and both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Three main findings are presented. Firstly, poor households, often located in remote areas and with lower sanitation access, often experienced higher costs to build durable latrines than households in accessible areas or district capitals. Second, locally sourced materials (sand, bricks or gravel) had a greater influence on price than externally sourced materials (cement, steel and toilet pans), even accounting for cost increases of these materials along the supply chain. Thirdly, transport and labour costs represented considerable proportions of the overall cost to build a toilet. These findings highlighted logistical and financial barriers to poor, remote households in accessing sanitation. Findings can inform strategies to improve the availability and affordability of sanitation products and services, in particular key issues that need to be addressed through government and non-government pro-poor market-based interventions.

Gearing up for Trade—Evaluating Australia's Contribution to Trade Facilitation in South East Asia and the Pacific

Trade facilitation refers to the simplification and harmonisation of international trade procedures to assist the movement of goods. It is a key factor for international trade efficiency and the economic development of countries. It has gained world prominence and recognition under the World Trade Organization's (2015) Trade facilitation agreement. Trade facilitation obstacles are now considered bigger barriers to trade than tariffs and quotas. Developing countries are increasingly looking at trade facilitation measures to enhance administrative efficiency and effectiveness, reduce costs and time to markets, and increase predictability in global trade. But how is Australia positioned to assist countries with this transition? The Gearing up for trade evaluation assessed the effectiveness of Australia's support for trade facilitation in Asia and the Pacific, and examined whether the investments have assisted partner countries to better integrate with regional and global economies. The evaluation focussed on four major Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) trade facilitation investments and found that they have been effective in addressing capacity issues, encouraging pro-poor outcomes, and exemplify good global practice. To assist with future programming, the evaluation recommended some practical improvements to the DFAT program and investment managers in the use of integrated approaches, private sector engagement, gender equality and women's economic empowerment, and monitoring and evaluation.

Does the Zambian water sector regulation have pro-poor tools and outcomes?

Zambian regulatory system was set up at the end of the '90s within the reform of the national water sector, based on the commercialisation of water utilities, and market orientation is among its most apparent features. However, data show that, in 13 years, jointly with important efficiency gains Zambian utilities also improved their social performances. We investigate how these pro-poor outcomes were achieved by analysing the regulatory tools, and conclude with a positive evaluation of the regulation system. Nonetheless, we also point to the limitations of pro-poor regulation when there is a shortage of investment finance.

Enabling agency: the Constitutional Court and social policy

South Africa’s Constitutional Court has developed a reputation within and outside the country for promoting a social policy regime which actively seeks to reverse racial and economic domination. It has, however, also been sharply criticised for not doing enough to challenge the domination which produces poverty or to hand down rulings which dictate strongly pro-poor outcomes. The article seeks to explain why the Court has played a role in social policy and argues that this is a product of a consensus between the judiciary and the other two branches of government on the need to correct the effects of racial domination. It also assesses whether the courts have contributed to an expansion of social policy which challenges domination. It argues that they have done this only where they have ignored the demand that they impose a ‘minimum core content’ of social entitlements and have supported collective action by organisations representing the poor. It concludes that a court which enables agency is more likely to serve the poor than one which dictates policy outcomes.

Breaking the Boundary: Pro-poor Policies and Electoral Outcomes in Brazilian Sub-national Governments

The article explores the role of state-led and of centre-led pro-poor policies in the electoral shift of state elections in the state of Bahia, in Brazil's Northeast. It analyses a pro-poor policy sponsored by a traditional party which has ruled the state for several decades during both the military and the democratic regimes. The article investigates the causes of the party's defeat in 2006 and its replacement by a non-traditional party. The argument is that the defeat of the traditional party and the victory of a non-traditional one can be explained as the result of the state's main pro-poor policy that has always created dependency between voters and sub-national politicians. Centre-led pro-poor policies introduced in the late 1990s, in contrast, have universal or clear targets, eliminating the intermediation of sub-national political brokers.

Pro-Poor Tax Policy Changes in South Africa: Potential and Limitations

Since 1994, the South African government has committed to increasing economic growth and reducing poverty and inequality. Tax policy has been the most important instrument at its disposal to meet these objectives. A dynamic computable general equilibrium model, with endogenous labour supply, is constructed and linked to a microsimulation model in order to assess the poverty and inequality implications of interventions associated with tax changes. Tax change scenarios are experimented with under a fiscally consolidated framework, i.e., full recovery of tax reductions and exemptions. Three main conclusions are reached. First, higher direct tax progression is unlikely, but there is room for changes in the tax mix towards indirect taxation to achieve greater efficiency, poverty and inequality reduction. Second, the implication for economic growth from tax policy changes is limited. Third, raising VAT and redistributing the proceeds back to poor and extremely poor households generates pro-poor outcomes. This latter finding has important implications for tax policy, as it addresses resistance to higher consumption taxes that is fuelled by arguments that VAT increases raise the tax incidence on the poor. This is completely reversed in the proposal by directly recycling the VAT revenues raised to poor households.

Fiscal Decentralization, Fiscal Incentives, and Pro-Poor Outcomes: Evidence from Viet Nam

This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the relationship between fiscal decentralization and pro-poor outcomes based on the role of fiscal incentives. The literature on the relationship between fiscal decentralization and pro-poor outcomes is not well established in this area. A conceptual model is developed to explore in more detail this relationship, while endeavoring to illuminate the complexity of the issues involved for policy makers in developing countries. Four types of fiscal incentives are explored: namely, resources, responsibility, autonomy, and accountability. The paper then assesses the effectiveness of the Vietnamese system of fiscal decentralization for achieving pro-poor outcomes through a devolved system of fiscal incentives. The paper suggests that evidence from the Vietnamese case indicates that fiscal decentralization may contribute to poverty reduction outcomes, but does not provide evidence that fiscal decentralization is in and of itself inherently pro-poor. Rather, the lesson from Viet Nam is that if poverty reduction is an explicit objective for government, the system of fiscal decentralization should target pro-poor outcomes through an appropriate system of fiscal incentives. Since 2002, budgetary reallocation and income redistribution linked to poverty outcomes has been more strongly associated with equalizing fiscal transfers than with devolved finances in general. This represents a broadly correct approach to target poverty outcomes in a territorially unbalanced country like Viet Nam. Targeted transfers contribute to pro-poor outcomes by increasing the level of resources available to finance poverty spending. However, increasing the level of fiscal transfers for poverty spending will not ensure that fiscal transfers are then spent efficiently. In order to better realize these efficiency objectives, the government can promote greater fiscal and administrative decentralization of resources and responsibility to district- and commune-level governments. Further gains in this area must also be supported by greater levels of fiscal autonomy and fiscal accountability at the local government level.

Social and Environmental Justice in Foreign Aid: a Case Study of Irrigation Interventions in Western Nepal

Debates over the effectiveness of foreign aid have been recently revived both in the development sector and in the academia. International funding agencies have notably adopted new principles to improve aid delivery. Using the particular case study of a set of irrigation interventions in Western Nepal, we argue that these steps will not radically improve the pro-poor outcomes of aid interventions as long as the latter are framed in an apolitical, technical and managerial vision and discourse of development. We propose to adopt social and environmental justice as an analytical framework and vocabulary for action.

Challenges to the elite exclusion–inclusion dichotomy — reconsidering elite capture in community-based natural resource management

The community-driven, decentralised approach to natural resource management has reached a crossroads. The good governance agenda in the water, forestry, fishery and biodiversity sectors has generated limited success in achieving pro-poor outcomes. In many cases, local elites are to blame for capturing the benefits from the process of democratising decision-making processes. This paper examines two approaches in the literature which both aim to address elite domination, namely elite exclusion and elite inclusion. The former is a deliberate act to reduce the influence of elites by excluding them from the decision-making process in natural resource management. The latter, in contrast, is a conscious strategy to integrate elites into the use of natural resources in an attempt to redistribute the benefits to poor people via the ‘trickle down’ effect. This paper argues that the dichotomy of elite inclusion and exclusion is inadequate in understanding the complex local power dynamics in natural resource management. In particular, the binary division fails to address the multiple locations of elites, overlapping institutions and the paradoxes of ‘controlled’ participatory processes. This paper argues that any strategies to tackle elite capture need to pay attention to the historical, socially embedded and negotiated nature of resource governance arrangements.

Corpo-bureaucratizing Community Forest: Commercialization and Increased Financial Transaction in Community Forestry User Groups in Nepal

Based on the analysis of financial transactions and decision making procedures in Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) in Nepal, this paper argues that community forestry is adapting techno-bureaucratic and corporate culture, replacing indigenous ways of community governance and by placing market elements into existing hierarchies and power asymmetries of local communities. It also argues that the trend of commercialization in community forestry has increased not because of the rational economic decisions made not on the basis of increased demands and surplus supply but because of a combination of economic and non-economic factors that create conditions necessary for commercialization as the next possible step in community-managed resources. In doing so this paper attempts to understand the dynamics, mechanisms and extent of CFUGs’ financial transactions through conceptualizing links of community forestry with extra-local economic forces, and also provides alternative ways of managing community resources for increased pro-poor outcomes. This study is based on in-depth analyses of national and district databases of CFUG funds, and ethnographic studies of 8 selected CFUGs from different parts of the country.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jfl.v9i1.8587 Journal of Forestry and Livelihood Vol.9(1) 2010 1-15

Biofuels and economic development: A computable general equilibrium analysis for Tanzania

Biofuels and economic development: A computable general equilibrium analysis for Tanzania

Democratic Decentralisation and Pro-poor Policy Reform in Indonesia: The Politics of Health Insurance for the Poor in Jembrana and Tabanan

Democratic Decentralisation and Pro-poor Policy Reform in Indonesia: The Politics of Health Insurance for the Poor in Jembrana and Tabanan

Making urban real estate markets work for the poor: Theory, policy and practice

Making urban real estate markets work for the poor: Theory, policy and practice

Linking evidence with user voice for pro-poor policy: lessons from East Africa

Many agricultural research and development projects seek to achieve pro-poor outcomes through policy change. However, policy processes are complex, and a strategic approach to enhancing impact at policy level is often not applied. This article describes two case studies of actual policy change – on dairy marketing in Kenya, and on urban agriculture in Kampala – with analysis of the policy-change processes. It draws lessons which could be applied to enhance policy-level outcomes from other projects, and highlights two key matters: the role of ‘user voice’, through links with civil society and user groups; and the value of strong links with ‘formal’ policy-process actors.

Fairtrade Facts and Fancies: What Kenyan Fairtrade Tea Tells us About Business’ Role as Development Agent

Various promising claims have been made that business can help alleviate poverty, and can do so in ways that add value to the bottom line. This article begins by highlighting that the evidence for such claims is not especially strong, particularly if business is thought of as a development agent, i.e. an organization that consciously and accountably contributes towards pro-poor outcomes. It goes on to ask whether, if we did know more about either the business case or the poverty alleviation case, would this give cause for greater optimism that business could make a significant contribution to development. By exploring the experiences of producers of Fairtrade tea in Kenya, we reveal the complex nature of what constitutes a beneficial outcome for the poor and marginalized, and the gap that can exist between ethical intentions and the experience of their intended beneficiaries. The lessons of these experiences are relevant for Fairtrade and any commercial initiative that seeks to achieve outcomes beneficial and recognizable to the poor, and raise questions about the integration of social and instrumental outcomes that a future generation of ethical entrepreneurship will need to address.

Socioeconomic Impacts of Cross-Border Transport Infrastructure Development in South Asia

Socioeconomic Impacts of Cross-Border Transport Infrastructure Development in South Asia

Property rights, real estate markets and poverty alleviation in Namibia's urban low income settlements

Property rights, real estate markets and poverty alleviation in Namibia's urban low income settlements