Suchergebnisse

To evaluate the competing claims on the impact of microfinance programs on multidimensional poverty, a village study in Bangladesh was conducted where three microfinance programs had been operating for more than five years. The study found that microfinance has resulted in a moderate reduction in the poverty of borrowers, as measured by a variety of socio-economic indicators, but has not reached many of the poorest in the village. To make microfinance a more effective means of poverty reduction other services such as skills training, technological support, education and health related strategies should be included with microfinance.

AbstractThis article uses household panel data for six countries in rural sub‐Saharan Africa to study the dynamics of off‐farm diversification rather than the 'static' analyses common in the related literature. It identifies drivers of economic livelihood mobility and implications for poverty reduction. The results show that on‐farm specialization imposes considerable welfare costs on rural households. In most of the countries, income poverty reduction was highest for households that became diversified and lowest for those that became specialized. Yet, off‐farm diversification entry is hampered by living in a female‐headed household, old age, low farm productivity and poor rural infrastructure. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

In Africa, there have been successes in cassava research in terms of the development of production technologies, particularly improved varieties with high yield potential. The study addresses the question of whether and to what extent adoption of improved cassava varieties has led to rural poverty reduction in four African countries, namely Tanzania, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Zambia. Data for the study come from a household survey conducted in the above-mentioned countries through a multinational-CGIAR support to agricultural research for development of strategic crops (SARD-SC) project in Africa. Given the observational nature of the data, a parametric approach (endogenous switching regression model) is applied. The results indicate that the model detects selectivity bias. Accounting for the bias, we fi nd that adoption of cassava technology has resulted in an approximately 10 percentage point reduction in the poverty rate. Given an adoption rate of 34 per cent and a 10 percentage point reduction in the poverty rate, an estimated 24,309 households (equivalent to 194,469 individuals) have managed to move out of poverty in these four countries as a result of adoption of the technology. We also fi nd that adoption of the technology has benefi tted non-poor and female-headed households, relative to poor and male-headed households. The results present important evidence in favour of promoting cassava technology in a targeted fashion as part of an effective poverty reduction and sustained agricultural growth strategy in Africa. Considering the large realised and even more pronounced potential impacts of the adoption of cassava technology on poverty reduction, it is vital that regional and global development organisations should continue supporting the existing cassava improvement programme to sustain the technology development efforts in the continent.

The concept of the School Feeding Programme as instituted by the Government ofGhana was to provide caterers in deprived communities with money, who in turn will purchase locally grown foodstuff, prepare it and feed them to kindergarten and primary school children in the community. A major requirement was for the caterers to spend 80% of the monies given them in the communities that accommodated the schools. The primary goal was to reduce hunger and malnutrition in the children, increase school enrolment and increase food production in the communities. This paper investigates and discusses the extent to which these objectives are being carried out by the caterers employed to do so with respect to the use of locally produced food and labour and the reasons behind their choices. Using a qualitative approach, an in-depth interview was conducted for eight caterers out of the eleven engaged in the school feeding programme in the Cape Coast Metropolitan Area. The results from the study revealed that, even though all the caterers were aware of the 80% clause, a bulk of the purchases and labour was acquired outside the communities that housed the schools. Availability and affordability were some of the reasons given for this pattern.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 88-100). ; Recent studies have shown that Official Development Assistance (ODA) is able to contribute to poverty reduction through the Public Expenditure Management (PEM) system. The International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have also been channelling ODA in the form of budget support under the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). While implementing PRSPs, Zambia, a poor country, showed remarkable improvement in the economic and social sectors. Whether it was ODA channelled for pro-poor expenditure or economic growth that was responsible for these improvements or both could only be ascertained by empirical research. To study this research problem, this undertaking used a quantitative research design. Data on Zambia's requests for ODA were collected from the Zambian national budget and official Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for the period 1990 to 2008. Statistics on ODA received were obtained from the OECD.stat database, in order to find out the extent to which ODA receipts were a part of Zambia's public expenditure. Public expenditure was then correlated with the IMR, and numerically compared with the HDI and poverty headcount. The research produced a number of key findings. For nine of the fifteen years examined, Zambia received an average of 260.57 per cent of all ODA it requested. There was evidence that the association between pro-poor expenditure and IMR was strong. The HDI and poverty head count improved but the study was inconclusive on whether this was as a result of increased pro-poor expenditure or not. The PEM system was argued to be a vital factor for ODA to reach the poor. Overall, there was strong indication that ODA contributed to poverty reduction through pro-poor public expenditure in Zambia. It was therefore recommended that both donors and the Zambian government ensure that all ODA was targeted at primary and secondary education, primary health care, rural roads, and agricultural extension services.

Under the MDGs, poverty has been reduced but not eradicated. The post-2015 development plan is firming towards poverty eradication not merely to reduce it. One of the most widely held beliefs in development economics is that rapid and sustained economic growth is necessary for lifting living standards which in turn is necessary if poverty is to be eradicated. Debates on poverty alleviation and eradication have tended to focus on the best means of achieving or accelerating growth rates. This approach is reflective of the 'trickle down' theory which dominated development thinking in the 1950s and 1960s. More recently, the development community has shifted its focus from fostering any economic growth per se to achieving 'shared growth' – growth with a maximum pay-off in terms of poverty reduction. The increasing focus on the relevance of inclusive growth highlights the need to understand sectoral contribution to growth to provide insight into the formulation of sustainable national and global growth policies. We examine the relationship between the sectoral composition of economic growth and poverty reduction for the period 1987 to 2006 at a regional level for a cross section of developing countries. We used pooled cross section data with observation over time because of data limitations. Panel data estimation was employed because the characteristics of the data constitute that of panel data. It is necessary to highlight that the panel data set is unbalanced and unevenly spaced, with missing values arising in different years for different countries. While unbalanced panel estimations are able to be carried out with the econometric software at hand, many limitations arise, particularly concerning diagnostic testing. We provide a comparison of the estimated sectoral GDP elasticities of poverty and present evidence that growth in services is twice as effective as growth in both agriculture and industry in reducing absolute poverty. However, these results vary substantially across different income levels and across geographic regions. We maintain that while non-agricultural growth may induce substantial poverty declines by transitioning those marginally below the poverty line, it may fail to target those living in extreme or chronic poverty. Thus, if meaningful poverty reduction is to take place and become self-sustaining, broad-based growth in agriculture and rural economy still appears to be essential to poverty reduction policies. We argue that such a result warrants the attention of post-2015 development agencies and policy makers given the interrelationship between drivers of economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction.

This book examines the role of agriculture in the economic transformation of developing low- and middle-income countries and explores means for accelerating agricultural growth and poverty reduction. In this volume, Mellor measures by household class the employment impact of alternative agricultural growth rates and land tenure systems, and impact on cereal consumption and food security. The book provides detailed analysis of each element of agricultural modernization, emphasizing the central role of government in accelerated growth in private sector dominated agriculture. The book differs from the bulk of current conventional wisdom in its placement of the non-poor small commercial farmer at the center of growth, and explains how growth translates into poverty reduction. This new book is a follow up to Mellor's classic, prize-winning text, The Economics of Agricultural Development.--

"This book explores poverty reduction in the least developed or developing economies through the creation of livelihood options and economic growth created by private sector activities. It examines the private sector's role in creating the wealth needed to substantially and sustainability reduce poverty through the use of conceptual and theoretical ideas, case studies and empirical evidence."

This paper is concerned with the factors that influence and constrain NGO contributions to poverty reduction in a globalizing world, focusing on their role as transmitters of grounded knowledge about poverty in very poor countries. Interviews with staff in 33 NGOs in Ghana, a country where the NGO sector is heavily dependent on overseas funding, indicate that local understandings about poverty are being overridden by so-called programmes of partnership support that erode local confidence in home-grown ideas about poverty and how to combat it. This is illustrated by reference to the common donor preference for working with groups and for 'Asian' development approaches.

The article surveys the reduction in poverty in India after Independence. It looks into the idea of development through inclusiveness of all sections of society. Important elements of inclusiveness and causes for low inclusive growth in India are explained. The methodologies adopted by Planning Commission of India to estimate poverty have been analysed. Important committees formed for poverty estimation in India are discussed. The controversies in India over the calculation of a poverty line are discussed and shown in tables and in diagrams. It also discusses the regional disparities in poverty reduction and alleviation of poverty among various castes and groups. The article goes on to discuss the XIth and the XIIth Five-Year Plans and the state action towards alleviation of poverty and promotion of inclusive growth.

Poverty reduction has been the top priority of the Indonesian government's developmental projects. At the age of climate change, however, the implementation of the policy faces greater challenges. Empirical observation gives rise to a question as to why do the climate change mitigation programs fail to bring about favorable effect to poverty reduction? The paper employs an intermestic approach to critically explaining the underlying problems concerning climate change and poverty reduction in Indonesia. The argument is that the political economy of climate change accelerates the existing structural factors which alienate the government from the poor people, and annihilates the moral relationships between the ruler and the ruled. To clarify this position, the discussion proceeds in two main parts. The first section outlines the significant use of the intermestic approach to analyzing the disconnection between climate change and the Indonesian government's economic policy to reduce poverty. The second section goes on to discern the structural factors which exacerbate the circumstances under which poverty reduction becomes a trivial issue in the ostensibly development policy directed to achieve economic progress. The concluding section reflects what can be learnt from the ongoing situation; on how to bring the state back into the right direction.