Poverty and Under Development
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Transcript of Poverty and Under Development
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Introduction
Up to the early millennium, poverty remains to be the biggest problem of the world. One-sixth ofthe global population or about one billion people live in an extreme poverty. They struggle daily
for survival. They suffered from lack of nutrition, health, water and sanitation, shelter and other
basic needs for survival.
In order to end the poverty, the 191 UN members signed the United Nations Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000. The first goal of the MDGs is to eradicate extreme poverty
and hunger. To achieve this goal, a target has been has to be set that is, to reduce by half the
proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day by 2015. If the target can be realized, there
will be an opportunity to end the extreme poverty by 2025 (Sach, 2005: 25). It means that
poverty is the greatest challenge of global society.
The greatest challenge to alleviate poverty can be reflected through the contemporary poverty
situation in Indonesia and India where a huge number of people lives below the poverty line.
Before the economic crisis hit Indonesia in 1997, the number of poor people had significantly
decreased. There was clearly a sharp reduction in both urban and rural poverty from 1984 to
1996. The total poverty rate dropped from 56.7% in 1984 to 17.4% in 1996, a reduction of 39.3
percentage points in a twelve-year period. However, the economic crisis has evidently reversed
the achievement of poverty reduction. Poverty in both urban and rural areas increased again from
1996 to 1999. The total poverty rate in 1999 was 27.0%, while urban and rural poverty rates
were 16.3% and 33.9% respectively (Suryahadi et al., 2006).
Definition of Poverty
There have been different definitions to the concept of poverty but all definitions are of the
opinion that it includes major type of deprivation, whether material or intangible. Martins(1969) defined poverty as existing when the resources of the families or individual are
inadequate to provide a socially acceptable standard of living. Mabogunje (1975), was of theopinion that a poor person is one who either receives no spendable income or receives an amount
too small to cover his current basic needs. He also defined a poor man as someone whose rights
to command scarce resources is limited
Service oriented NGOS that provide different kinds of services to people and no other
organizations. There are the professional NGOS who have different l in e s o f p r o fe s s io n
e.g. Education, health, environment. There are the s NGOS as well as the Network NGOS whodeal with association of other NGOS(DFIDs Consultative Report; 1998).
Non-Governmental Organizations
Non-governmental Organisation(NGOs) can be distinguished by sectors. For example there are
NGOs in sectors like: Agriculture, Community development.,Microcredit/ Enterprise
Institutions, Health /Population., Human Settlement/Environment, Women, Education andDevelopment, Social Development and Youth organisations . Service oriented NGOs are those
that provide different kinds of services to people and to other organizations. There are the
professional NGOs who have different l in e s o f p r o fe s s io n e.g. Education, health and
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environment. There are the s NGOs as well as the Network NGOs who deal with association of
other NGOs (DFIDs Consultative Report; 1998). Many of these NGOs have contributed
substantially in eradicating poverty in Nigeria. The Micro-credit or Micro-finance NGOs aremany in the country and they are mainly established to help the poor people to obtain loans with
little interest, to give education on how to use the loans and on some income generating
activities, and to establish cottage industries for the poor
In the last decade, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have gained increased attention
among scholars and practitioners of development. They have become increasingly important
agents of the development process in the countries of the South, in all of their main areas of work
such as humanitarian relief, long-term development, policy formation and political advocacy
(Attack 1999).
On the other hand, there is a current view that NGOs constitute a viable alternative to
government as channels of development assistance, particularly in developing countries. Some of
the NGOs functions and advantages, according to Streeten (1997) are (1) they are good at
reaching and mobilizing the poor and remote communities; (2) they help empower poor people
to gain control of their lives, and they work with and strengthen local institutions; (3) they carry
out projects at lower costs and more efficiently than the government agencies and (4) they
promote sustainable development.
NGOs are professionally-staffed organizations aiming at contributing to the reduction of human
suffering and to the development of poor countries (Streeten 1997). They do this in various
ways, e.g. by funding projects, engaging in service provision and capacity building, contri-buting
to awareness, and promoting the self-organization of various groups (Baccaro 2001). Meanwhile,
Desai (2005) has mentioned that NGOs have an important role to play in supporting women,
men and households, and expected that they can meet the welfare. She accounted some role and
functions for NGOs, such as counseling and support service, awareness raising and advocacy,
legal aid and microfinance. These ser-vices help the people to achieve their ability, skill and
knowledge, and take control over their own lives and finally become empowered. On the other
hand, Stromquist (2002) has noted three major functions for NGOs such as (1) service delivery
(e.g. relief, welfare, basic skills); (2) educational provision (e.g. basic skills and often critical
analysis of social environments); and (3) public policy advocacy.
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Through the following NGOs have been a channel for ending absolute poverty and under
development;
Microfinance and Sustainable Community Development
During the 1990s, scholars have increasingly referred to microfinance as an effective means of
poverty reduction (Rekha 1995; Cerven and Ghazanfar 1999; Pankhurst and Johnston 1999).
Oxaal and Baden (1997). Mayoux (2000) and Cheston and Khan (2002) have pointed out the
importance of microfinance in empowerment, particularly women empowerment. Microfinance
is defined as efforts to improve the access to loans and to saving services for poor people
(Shreiner 2001). It is currently being promoted as a key development strategy for promoting
poverty eradication and economic empowerment. It has the potential to effectively address
material poverty, the physical deprivation of goods and services and the income to attain them by
granting financial services to households who are not supported by the formal banking sector
(Sheraton 2004). Microcredit programs provide small loans and savings opportunities to those
who have traditionally been excluded from commercial financial services. As a development
inclusion strategy, microfinance programs emphasize womens economic contribution as a way
to increase overall financial efficiency within national economies.
According to Cheston and Khan (2002) In order to gain economic sustainability, NGOs through
microfinance help the communities to reduce poverty, create jobs, and promote income
generation. In the developing countries, sustainability is linked more closely to issues of poverty
and the gross inequalities of power and resources (Hamnett and Hassan 2003). This is due to the
fact that in the Third World countries, the ecological system sometimes conflicts with the socio-
economic needs of local people who depend on a local ecosystem for their survival
Capacity Building and Sustainable Community Development
As mentioned earlier, capacity building is another NGOs strategy that helps to bring about
sustainable community development. Capacity building is an approach to development that
builds independence. It can be: i. A means to an end, where the purpose is for others to take on
programs. ii. An end in itself, where the intent is to enable others, from individuals through to
government departments, to have greater capacity to work together to solve problems
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iii. A process, where capacity building strategies are routinely incorporated as an important
element of effective practice (NSW Health 2001).
Before beginning to build capacity within programs, practitioners need to identify pre-existing
capacities such as skills, structures, partnerships and resources. Frankish (2003) has counted a
number of dimensions for community capacity including financial capacity (resources,
opportunities and knowledge), human resources (skills, motivations, confidence, and relational
abilities and trust) and social resources (networks, participation structures, shared trust and
bonding). UNDP (1997) has introduced capacity building as the process by which individuals,
groups, and organizations increase their abilities to (1) perform core functions, solve problems,
define and achieve objectives; and (2) understand and deal with their development needs in a
broad context and in a sustainable manner. Furthermore, in terms of NGOs functions, Langran
(2002) has defined capacity building as the ability of one group
(NGOs) to strengthen the development abilities of another group (local communities) through
education, skill training and organi-zational support
Self-reliance and Sustainable Community Development
According to Kelly (1992), self-reliance means that the people rely on their own resources and
are independent of funds sourced outside the community. Self-reliant strategy relies on the
willingness and ability of the local people to depend on their own available resources and
technology which they can control and manage.
A self-reliant strategy requires the optional use of all available human, natural and technological
resources (Agere 1982).
Motivating and mobilizing people to be selfreliant and to participate in development activities
become an important objective of the NGOs. According to Korten (1990), the second strategy of
the NGOs focuses on developing the capacities of the people to better meet their own needs
through self-reliant local action. In the second generation strategy, Korten (1990), mentioned that
the local inertia is the heart of problem in a village or community. There is a potential energy in a
community but remains inactive because of the inertia of tradition, isolation and lack of
education.
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Often, the presence of NGOs improves access to health care through construction of NGO health
units and stocking these with drugs. Some NGOs have further enhanced physical access through
the construction or repair of roads, as one citizen said:
We appreciate because the services have been brought nearer to us the community. Instead of
going to far Hospital in the city, we are saved the expense of transporting ourselves.
For example patients receive treatment at subsidized rates, have credit facilities exits and they no
longer have to travel all the way to city Hospital for simple ailments. Some respondents further
observed that there were now fewer patients attending the clinic, which was attributed to a
reduction of preventable disease episodes following health education activities by NGO staff.
Water and Sanitation Activities
There were two main forms of assistance for water and sanitation construction and health
education. In Mubende, Action AID Buwekula is assisting communities with spring protection.
The NGO is providing external resources (corrugated iron sheets and money), while
communities provide other locally available resources, such as sand, bricks and labor. In Mbale,
Water AID has worked with Bubulo on community water improvements by providing water
storage tanks, water pumps and pipes. Members of the communities then provide labor to set up
these tanks. MADZI, another Mbale NGO, has constructed a gravity water scheme and some
VIP latrines at health centres that are used for demonstration purposes.
As an example of health education, the Ntungamo Womens Club in Mubende is involved in
sanitation and hygiene education to mothers, e.g., boiling drinking water and domestic hygiene.
Economic Activities
Although the sampled NGOs were chosen principally for their work in health, many of them
were involved in various activities to assist communities with improving their economic status.
Some economic benefits have been direct, for example, Salem Brotherhood has provided
employment to community members (clinical officers, nurses, teachers and watchmen are
employed at the NGOs health units and schools).
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Another relatively common approach favored by NGOs and communities is the use of small loan
schemes. Community members, especially women, are sensitized on possible income generating
ventures, provided with information on costing and savings, and then given small loans. NGOs
are promoting venture involvement in handicrafts, poultry and livestock farming and running of
retail shops. Some women have been involved in planting and selling agricultural products
including timber after receiving loans through NGOs (FOCCAS and Salem Brotherhood). There
are women in Masaka who have received heifers under the Uganda Women Concern Ministry
(UWCM) and Christian Children Fund (CCF).
OTHER WAYS OF OVERCOMING UNDER DEVELOPMENT AND ABSOLUTE
POVERTY
The following measures can be taken for the eradication of poverty
Control of Population Growth:
Any number of employment programme cannot provide work for all if our population grows at
an alarming rate of 1.9% per year. Six Million persons are added to the labour force every year.The family planning programme has not been very effective in rural areas for reasons
unavoidable. Growth of national income is approximately 3.7% per year. Per capital income
grows around 1% per year unless population growth is reduced to around 1%, we cannot makeany significant dent on poverty. Hence population growth is to be controlled lock stock and
barrel. Immediate check on rapid growth of population is absolutely essential for economic
progress in India. Economic planning without family planning will not bear fruit. If man does notcheck population, population growth will check man's progress. If population is not checked, ourprogress would be like writing on sand with waves of population growth washing away all that
we have written.
Higher Economic Growth:
Higher economic growth is a necessary condition for poverty alleviation. Population growthremaining constant, higher economic growth will lead to higher per capita income. This will lead
to higher standard of living. Hence production has to be increased and economic growth has to
be maximized. Adam Smith pointed out the importance of productivity as the key element of
economic growth. Hence the pace of economic development must be speeded up. Higher rate ofgrowth necessarily involves fuller and more productive employment of the working force. Hence
employment creation is one aspect of the antipoverty policy.
Income Redistribution:
Increase in national income cannot merely alleviate poverty. The gap between the rich and thepoor has widened despite fifty years of planning. The fruits of economic development has
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reached nearly 20% of our people. The rich have become richer and the poor have become
poorer: According to the world Bank, the total 20% of the house holds share 50% of the national
income in India whereas the bottom 20% share only 7% of the national income, This impliesheavy concentration of income in the hands of a microscopic minority. The glaring inequality
must be reduced if poverty is to be removed. All possible steps should be taken to see that
inequality is kept to the minimum. Inequalities are ethically undesirable, morally ignoble sociallyundependable, economically wasteful, unjust and inefficient and politically explosive. A two
pronged attack on inequality is indispensable i.e. leveling down the economic position of the rich
and leveling up the economic position of the poor. This will pave the way for removal of poverty
INCREASING PUBLIC ATTENTION/AWARENESS ON POVERTY
Increase public attention on poverty and effects and causes of poverty;
Conduct public campaigns to ensure governments address the issue of poverty and speed
up the implementation of MDGS.
Focus on developing and updating information on the extent and effects of poverty in
selected countries and Africa as a whole. Through original research, compilation of data from publicly available sources, and
special projects, generate useful information on poverty.Additionally, endeavor to bring exposure to critical issues on poverty, including the
impacts of poverty on people's lives.
ENGAGE IN RESOURCE MOBILIZATION TO COMBAT HIV/AIDS
The fight against Aids remains the great challenge of our age. HIV/Aids is expanding atan accelerating rate and prevention and treatment efforts are nowhere enough.
International Center for Alleviation of poverty recognizes that there are strong linkages
between poverty and HIV/AIDS Pandemic. Therefore, in order to combat the pandemicthere is need to generate more resources to developing countries. Poverty is a major
impediment to the war against HIV/Aids scourge in Africa. If the war against the scourge
is to be won, there must be an increase in resources and funding
Latest research shows that the goal of containing the world Aids epidemic by 2015 willnot be achieved without a quantum leap in funding and education.
The more we delay making a proper investment in the AIDS fight, the more the eventual
costs will escalate. ICAP is engaging in mobilizing resources to fight the pandemic,including obtaining affordable drugs and testing kits and partnering with other existing
organizations fighting the pandemic.
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT:
Women are increasingly the ones that suffer the most poverty. In most African countrieswomen disproportionately bear the burden of poverty. ICAP believes that in order to
alleviate poverty and change the poverty landscape we must empower women.
Women comprise more than half of the world's population. Women do two thirds of the
world's work, receive ten percent of the world's income and own one percent of themeans of production.
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Although women weld little economic or political power, women remain the dynamo
behind the wheels of society. Investment in women offers multiple rewards that can
accelerate social and economic progress, with a lasting impact.
Women are the primary guardians of future generations. Women play a pivotal role not
only in the reproduction but also in rural economies especially in food production.
Invariably, women tend to reinvest any gains in the welfare of their children and families,multiplying their contributions to national development Women are the backbone of the
rural community, the initiators of social change and the hub around which the spokes of
society turn. However numerous obstacles have ensured that women continue to lagbehind. ICAP will be undertaking innovative programs that will empower and improve
the status of the women.
GOOD GOVERNANCE, TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY:
Good Governance, transparency and accountability are key components towards effortsto alleviate poverty. Poverty is often a result of poor government policies. Corruption and
poor management of the economy is also a major factor in promoting poverty. To
eradicate poverty from its roots there is need to fight against corruption, improve
governance and ensure transparent use of funds. ICAP will engage in programs and activities that promote Good Governance.
Support initiatives that fight culture of corruption and promote transparency and
accountability.
REFERNCES
Finger M 1994. NGOs and Transformation: Beyond Social Movement Theory. In: Princen T,Finger M (Eds.):Environmental NGOs in World Politics: Linking theLocal and the Global.
London: Routledge, pp. 48-66.
Rural Poverty in Developing CountriesImplications for Public Policy BY Mahmood Hasan
Khan
UNDP 1994,Human Development Report, 1994, Oxford: Oxford University Press forUNDP, New York.
UNDP. 1997. Maldives Country Co-operation Framework. www.mv.undp.org
http://www.mv.undp.org/http://www.mv.undp.org/