Poverty Alleviation

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Name: Asif Kamal Sheikh
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ID: 0810155

Poverty Alleviation

‘Poverty’ as a concept
The most widely used definition of poverty is ‘the deficiency of income to satisfy basic needs’ (Hossain & Nargis, 2010). However, having put forth a concise notion of poverty, it is pertinent to mention that other than the matter of specificity and convenience in materializing concrete conclusion, there is no particular reason to suppose that the concept of poverty must be clear-cut and sharp (Sen, 1981).
The development practitioners conceptualize poverty based on quantitative data, keeping amount of food, count in calories, nutrition and income as measures (Hossain A. , 2010). Robert Chambers (2006) argues that poverty cannot be measured by quantitative methodologies as it barely considers people’s experiences: deprivations, vulnerabilities, social exclusion, powerlessness, etc. A qualitative approach traces many dimensions of poverty that may range from being physical, to material, social psychological and even experiential (Chambers, 2005). Conventional measurements, based on household’s per capita income or expenditure fail to mirror the subjective perceptions of well-being or ill-being (Greeley, 1994).
Approaching poverty as a total social phenomenon rather than perceiving it as an absolute condition, makes it possible to identify the various dynamics which is at work. An individualized approach to the issue disguises how structures of power based on class race and gender, etc are producing and perpetuating poverty (Broch-Due, 2008). According to Broch-Due (2008), poverty is not just an economic fact but a whole social and cultural universe.
Chambers (2006) pointed out five clusters of meaning of poverty in perspective of explaining what poverty is in order to reduce, eliminate or alleviate it. The first is income-poverty, very much of an economist view, which is determined, by comparison of household income to a poverty line estimated using a normative food basket and price attached to each unit of food items (Ravallion & Sen, 1996). The second cluster is material lack or want. This includes lack of or little wealth and lack or low quality of other assets such as shelter, clothing, furniture, personal means of transport, radios or television, etc besides income. Additionally, it includes no or poor access to services. The third cluster is capability deprivation which has been derived from Sen.’s (1999) work. It refers to what people can or cannot do, can or cannot be. This includes material lack but goes beyond it by attempting to include human capabilities such as skills, physical abilities and also self-respect in the society. The fourth cluster takes a broader, multi-dimensional view of deprivation. In this case, material lack is only one of the several mutually reinforcing dimensions. Finally the fifth cluster is the multiplicity of the meanings of ‘poor’. He criticized that the dimensions of poverty are all abstractions, and to varying degrees reductionist, since it is based on the views and analysis of the economists, socialists, the ones who are not the ones suffering from poverty. The analysis and views of the subjects of the definitions and descriptions , that is, ‘the poor’- people who are in a bad condition variously described as marginalized, vulnerable, excluded or deprived- are overlooked. Including them provides a better insight and comparability at deriving the concept of poverty through the usage of their own words and notions for ill-being or bad quality of life, and well-being or good quality of life (Chambers, 2006).
Poverty as a concept is convoluted and hence is an issue worth all the debate, but it is apparent that poverty is outcome of structured inequality in country (Hossain, 2010). Before moving on to the scenario of poverty in Bangladesh, four approaches to poverty reduction has been discussed in the following. First is the monetary approach, which identifies poverty with the shortfall in consumption or income. Next is the capability approach which defines poverty as failure to achieve certain minimal or basic capabilities. The social exclusion approach focuses on the multiple faces of deprivation by social inequality, social structural characteristics by which groups are marginalized. The participatory approach aims to understand peoples’ participations and decisions about what it means to be poor and the magnitude of poverty (Laderchi, Saith, & Stewart, 2003).

Poverty scenario in context of Bangladesh
As with the case of glass that is simultaneously half full and half empty, Bangladesh has made significant progress in reducing poverty (World Bank, 2002). Bangladesh today is definitively out of famine. However, aggregate poverty rates remain dauntingly high (IMF, 2005). Roughly 63 million people of the country live in deprivation. Of the poor, two out of three are victim of extreme poverty, as measured by their consumption of food and other basic needs (World Bank, 2002). The number of people living below the poverty line was 51.6 million in 1991-1992. The decreased rate in the percentage of the poverty gap during 2005 to 2010 was lower than that of 2000 to 2005 by 0.38 percent at national level. Also the rate of reduction in the percentage of squared poverty gap between 2000 and 2005 was 7.39 percent, which was higher than the rate of reduction of 6.26 percent of 2005 to 2012. In case of rural areas, the percentage of both depth and severity of poverty has reduced at a slower rate during 2005-2012 than that between 2000 and 2005, and has reduced at a higher rate than before in urban areas. At this rate, it can be predicted that in rural areas poverty may decrease but in urban areas the population living under poverty line may increase by 2013 to 2021 (Titumir & Rahman, 2011).

Poverty Alleviation Strategies
Bangladesh needs to work on strategies that will help them achieve human development, economic and employment goals. Public sector and many NGO’s are working in the villagers to alleviate the poverty and make the villagers economically self sustained the environment conscious. Through meeting the following conditions, the country may see poverty alleviation taking place.

Quality Education

While the focus on access has brought significant dividends in terms of primary enrolment, gender parity statistics and a comprehensive mind-set shift which values education, field realities increasingly underscore the fact that access achievements are not necessarily translating into quality achievements. A paradigm shift towards a pre-occupation with quality while retaining the focus on equity has thus become an urgent necessity. In a way, such a realization has already been spreading but the sense of strategic urgency remains to be galvanized. It is also important to ensure that the development of the quality agenda at primary, secondary and vocational levels is not driven by top-down expert approaches alone but take its cue equally from an analytically sound reading of the ground realities of school, community and administrative environments in which they are situated. More than anything else, improving the literacy rate can overall accelerate the process of development as education will make it easier for them to process information. In an ideal scenario, education will come even before media in the process of alleviating poverty from the rural Bangladesh. However, the rural population has always been reluctant in understanding the role of education and thus, media is at the top of my list from where change will take place. Media, if succeeds to communicate to them effectively, can encourage them to educate themselves for the betterment of their lives. So, in a way, the message given in the media and education are interrelated.
Education can broaden their views towards change. The rural societies will be more vibrant if they can understand the information flow and education is a major component when it comes to understanding information.
Primary education is already been made free for schools in the rural areas. The government subsidizes and provides with books for them to continue their studies. The only problem is, the children and their parents fail to understand the necessity of education in the future life and rather concentrates on the short-term profit which is achieved by making them work in the fields.
At the same time, there are very little practical possibilities of our current education system. With an unemployment rate this high, no one can really guarantee their job with any level of acquired education. Therefore, introducing applied educational system for the rural societies should also be a priority. That way, they will be able to make good use of whatever they learn in schools. Most importantly, they need to be motivated and shown the long-term benefits of being educated.

Maximize the effectiveness of media
The public sector media organizations have taken resolute measures to rectify the distortions which have crept into the national history. The prime role of the mainstream media itself was giving voice to the voiceless people who do not have access to the mainstream media to express their ideas and views regarding community development. However, private satellite channels have taken the initiative to find these grass root level people, and encourage them to express their ideas and views in a more outgoing manner. Promoting the right to communicate, speed up the process of informing the community, assist the flow of information and therefore act as a catalyst of change are few major tasks are to be done by the information. It will also uphold creative growth and democratic spirit in the community level.
The rural population has access to media nowadays. Even if they don’t own a device at home, there is a common place where they gather to enjoy whatever the radio or television has to offer. Books, newspapers, internet are yet to be effective mediums to bring about change as most of these population are still illiterate. However, change can be endorsed through the medium of television and radio. The cartoon “Meena” is a great example in the context. The particular cartoon by UNICEF managed to bring about change in the behavior pattern of the rural societies. Traditional and oral media can be time consuming and it may not be able to cover a large span of areas. Whereas, any message shot by the electronic media which they have access to can go viral with the right message presented in the right manner. A research needs to be done beforehand to determine their frequency of understanding and then the message needs to be designed accordingly.
Media, in my opinion, can be the most powerful opinion to bring about change to the rural societies. The key problems lie with their negative attitude towards new technologies, unwillingness to educate themselves, resistance towards change, and lack of access to information. All these can be taken care of with the help of a set of right messages through media. It can also be cost effective as covering the ground will need a greater manpower and greater fund. Changing their attitude is the first concern to me.

Technology

Policy attention to technology has not been robust and in pace with rapidly transforming social and economic demands. A reluctant mind-set and a bookish approach have been major hindrances to up scaling technology as a policy focus. Critical challenges include overcoming reluctant mind-sets, more effective engagement with application issues and choice of technology which emphasize productivity, low thresholds for entry and high self-dissemination potential. Two priority areas for policy attention are firstly, agriculture technology including technology for related fields such as fisheries, and secondly, ICT. Information and communication and technologies (ICT) are tools that potentially can reach rural population and address their knowledge and information needs. These cognitive changes can be compared in women with ICT intervention and rural people who did not use ICT. The overall cognitive awareness of the development indicates more changes among rural people with ICT intervention than without. Therefore, ICT intervention in rural villages in Bangladesh will lead to empowerment.

Strengthening the focus on women’s advancement

Although women’s economic participation has expanded, female labor productivity remains poor. Entrenched patriarchal attitudes and insecurities of public spaces effectively inhibit fuller engagement by women with the unfolding opportunities. Social constructions, so that the people affected can perceive themselves as having the capacity and the right to act and have influence. Some people define women’s empowerment as “the capacity of women to be economically self-sufficient and self-reliant with control over decisions affecting their life options and freedom from violence”. In the existing socio-cultural milieu of Bangladesh, embodied within the phrase of ‘empowerment’ is the concept of change. The development activities of Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh lead empowerment in its social as well as economic dimensions. NGOs have made their micro-credit program accessible to women because they are more poor and vulnerable than men are. It is now evident that the benefits gained from micro-credit are not only for women but are passed through children and men as well. Some stats show that participation in credit program is positively associated with a woman’s level of empowerment defined as a function of her relative physical mobility, economic security, ability to make various purchases on her own, freedom from domination and violence within the family, political and legal awareness, and participation in public protests and political campaigning. Without empowering the women, it is impossible to bring about development in the rural societies as they are half the population.

Strengthening Connectivity

The question of connectivity is critical to poverty reduction from two angles: banishing the curse of remoteness and empowering the growth process. Key policy concerns to address the connectivity challenge include overcoming the power and port bottlenecks, completion of key infrastructures, effective systems of maintenance, strengthening telecommunications and its reach etc. We have to contribute to the improvement of rural connectivity in all the districts. This will help the situation to improve and maintain more than just removing poverty. Poverty is in part a consequence of the present growth and the delivery of education and health services becomes difficult due to population growth. It also revealed that poverty reduction cannot happen in an information-deprived environment (for example, earlier farmers living in the rural areas of Bangladesh, had no access to market information and they were always deprived by the local middlemen who manipulate the prices of agri-products, but recently the telecom services bridged the information gap at a limited scale to get better price by collecting market information from different adjacent areas. Poverty reduction is possible only in an environment where publics and particularly the poor have information on the issues that affect their lives. Information empowerment is recognized as an important factor to stimulate debate and strengthen participation in the democratic processes.
Bangladesh has experienced a very successful model of connecting rural people through mobile phone service. Grameen Phone made the achievement of ensuring communication facility for the rural Bangladesh through its mobile phone network. The initial connectivity had already been established for communication and now need is to expand services towards dissemination of relevant development and business services. Now, Orascom ltd. (Banglalink) and Robi- Axiata ltd. (Robi) (two other telecom service providers) are also trying to provide with access to information for the rural people.

Sustainable Environment Environmental degradation is a major cause of poverty. The deterioration of the natural environment, including atmosphere, bodies of water, soil and forests lead to shortages of food, clean water, materials for shelter and other essential resources. Development is crucial; the process of rural development requires the substation of energy mix in the performance of agriculture, industrial and domestic tasks. Development is crucial; the process of economic growth requires the substation of energy mix in the performance of agriculture, industrial and domestic tasks. The lack of adequate energy in rural Bangladesh has economic costs not just at the individual and household level but at the national level as well. Development in Bangladesh without corresponding increase in per capita electricity and gas consumption is, therefore, not feasible. Everyone needs energy in one form or another, for day-to-day life, for cooking, lighting, heating and so on. Consequently, energy is to be considered as a basic need along with food, water, shelter and others. In social aspects, energy plays a key role in achieving social justice including gender justice. Low level of energy service is a serious obstacle to raising social, health and nutritional status of community. Dependence on human energy and primitive technologies for survival introduces a whole range of obstacles to social and gender equality. The rural people in general, and rural females in particular, are tapped in an unceasing cycle of works that condemns them to poor health, little or no education and deprives them in equal participation in local development programs (i.e. education, income generating activities, etc.), self governing bodies and political movements. Improved energy services can be at the centre of any strategy to mitigate the gender disparity. The availability of adequate, reliable and reasonably priced source of energy is, therefore, prerequisite for the development of rural Bangladesh. Suggestions can now be made to the extent that the usage of environment would launch a new era of appropriate technology, sustainable socio-economic and environmental development in the Country.
References:
Broch-Due, V. (2008). Towards a more Nuanced Understanding of Poverty. Social Anthropology.
Chambers, R. (2005). Participation, Pluralism and Perceptions of Poverty. International Conference , 29-31.
Chambers, R. (2006). Poverty Focus: What is poverty? Concepts and Measures. International Poverty Centre , 3-4.
Greeley, M. (1994). Measurement of Poverty and Poverty of Measurement. Institute of Development of Studies Bulletin .
Hossain, A. (2010). Conceptualizing Poverty: Across the Experience and Social Relation. The Archaeological Journal , 113-130.
Hossain, M., & Nargis, N. (2010). Dynamic of Poverty in Rural Bangladesh. Delhi: Macmillan Publishers India Ltd.
IMF. (2005). Bangladesh: Povert Reduction Strategy Paper. Dhaka: International Monetary Fund.
Laderchi, C. R., Saith, R., & Stewart, F. (2003). Does it matter that we do not agree on the definition of Poverty? A comparison of Four Approaches. Working Paper Number 107 , 11-33.
Ravallion, M., & Sen, B. (1996). When Method Matters: Monitoring Poverty in Bangladesh. Economic Development and Cultural Change , 8.
Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press.
Sen, A. (1981). Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford University Press .
Titumir, M. A., & Rahman, M. K. (2011). Poverty and Inequality in Bangladesh. Dhaka: The Innovators.
World Bank. (2002). Poverty in Bangladesh: Building on Progress. Document of the World Bank and Asian Development Back .

References: Broch-Due, V. (2008). Towards a more Nuanced Understanding of Poverty. Social Anthropology. Chambers, R Chambers, R. (2006). Poverty Focus: What is poverty? Concepts and Measures. International Poverty Centre , 3-4. Greeley, M. (1994). Measurement of Poverty and Poverty of Measurement. Institute of Development of Studies Bulletin . Hossain, A. (2010). Conceptualizing Poverty: Across the Experience and Social Relation. The Archaeological Journal , 113-130. Hossain, M., & Nargis, N. (2010). Dynamic of Poverty in Rural Bangladesh. Delhi: Macmillan Publishers India Ltd. IMF. (2005). Bangladesh: Povert Reduction Strategy Paper. Dhaka: International Monetary Fund. Laderchi, C. R., Saith, R., & Stewart, F. (2003). Does it matter that we do not agree on the definition of Poverty? A comparison of Four Approaches. Working Paper Number 107 , 11-33. Ravallion, M., & Sen, B. (1996). When Method Matters: Monitoring Poverty in Bangladesh. Economic Development and Cultural Change , 8. Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford University Press. Sen, A. (1981). Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford University Press . Titumir, M. A., & Rahman, M. K. (2011). Poverty and Inequality in Bangladesh. Dhaka: The Innovators. World Bank. (2002). Poverty in Bangladesh: Building on Progress. Document of the World Bank and Asian Development Back .