How inclusive programmes towards poverty alleviation should be designed
Author:Arrey Mbongaya Ivo African Centre for Community and Development
Date: 27/08/2014
Copyrights2014 African Centre for Community and Development. All rights reserved.
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Introduction
There are many poor people across the world. There has been vari-ous instruments that have been launched to help these people get out of poverty.
However many of these instruments towards poverty alleviation and the improvement of well-being have been failing (Gow and Morss, 1988) .
Despite economic growth in many parts of the poor world and in Africa in particular, many people still remain in embedded poverty while there is growing inequality across sub-populations.
This necessitates that instruments to alleviate poverty and business devices may have to be revised in order to impact more on their tar-geted audiences.
The Present Mindset
Many instruments assume the poor and vulnerable are a voiceless lot without any skills for survival hence must be taught best strategies for survival and for prosperity
Most projects to alleviate poverty are designed out of Africa or the poor com-munities concerned hence they are top-down
There is a presumption among aid givers and donors that the poor are a pas-sive and lazy lot.
The most popular tools to fight poverty are time -bound. They must be so to enable rapid accountability to donors as well as to launch other necessary projects.
There is a popular trend that assumes aid is the best way to alleviate poverty and to improve on the lives of the poor and vulnerable.
There is a presumption that compassion does not go with business, profit making and poverty alleviation.
Debunking the Present Mindset
The poor are not a passive lot (De Haan and Zoomers, 2005). They are active and proactive stakeholders with powerful strategies for survival. They make up the informal economies of most fast growing economies.
Projects that are designed out of Africa and developing countries are failing (Gow and Morss, 1988, Cusworth and Franks, 1993) as designs are not done with a mastery of local contexts and environments
Instruments to fight poverty or to improve on well-being must not be time-bound. They could be processes (Toner and Franks, 2006) as well as pro-grammes. They depend on local contexts and needs.
Aid is useful but cannot be the main instrument for social development. It is politicized, serves the interests of donors and has not worked in many areas.
There can be business and development with a human face if the poor are not treated as victims but as proactive people with skills. If their skills are explored and they are empowered benefits can go to both the donors, businesses and the poor.
Case Studies
15-Year-Old Kelvin Doe in Sierra Leone who from the trash bins for spare parts could build batteries, generators and transmitters. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOLOLrUBRBY Nigerian-American journalist Dayo Olopade author of The Bright Continent: Breaking Rules and Making Change in Modern Africa is also a major contributor in the fight of debunking the myths and mindsets about Africa that sometimes play negatively on the outcomes of projects and businesses aimed at poverty alleviation. http://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2014/03/06/africas-entrepreneurs-are-young-and-restless/events/the-takeaway/ Enyo Kumahor on Frugal Innovation and Technology in Africa http://www.infoq.com/interviews/kumahor-frugal-innovation Successful Quail farming in Kenya for nutritional benefitshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NyO06onVn4 An Arrey Ivo video on Pig & Poultry Farming with Funwi Family https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ7c_02FkzA
Advantages of Change in Mindset and learning from the Case Studies
The poor will be put in focus. Their skills will be explored for their benefits and the benefits of their immediate environments and the world.
Projects and businesses will be designed based on the needs of the people hence will be more humane, effective and cost saving.
Involving the poor in the design also leads to inclusion, participation and fair-based approaches that arguably can impact more positively than the tradition-al time-bound top-down failing projects. This leads to local ownership of projects.
More so, the more the poor and vulnerable are included in mainstream eco-nomics there is a greater chance of reducing inequality that helps to fuel social conflicts, radicalization and embedded poverty.
Businesses can still be successful if they use compassion devices for the poor. Discarding the notion of aid as the best way to fight poverty will lead to more inclusion of dynamic users with innovative ideas despite their stations which is vital for meaningful sustainable development
Proposals
For the poor to be more powerful actors in development donors and corporations should work with local organizations and the poor in de-veloping environments to identify needs and skills so as to make more targeted projects and business instruments.
Businesses and donors must change the mindset of aid, or of giving handouts as finite solutions to poverty. They must be more flexible, holistic and inclusive in their approaches. They should help in estab-lishing educational and vocational centres in developing economies in order to train new leaders and vulgarize skills needed for transforma-tion, development and effective poverty alleviation.
Humanitarian organizations must work with local civil society organi-zations and not just create websites which have these organizations signed up as evidence of collaboration. Working with local organiza-tions as partners includes putting them in the design and resources for poverty alleviation and business development
Conclusion
The poor are not passive partakers in the economy or transformational processes in communities across Africa and the globe. They are just operating in resource scarce environments and in many ways out of power structures, decision making and policies aimed at even their own well being. Involving them in businesses and devices for poverty alleviation and changing mindsets will lead to bet-ter actions based on informed data, experiences and local contexts and needs. Better knowledge of local contexts leads to better actions for sustainable development, par-ticipation, local ownership, growth, poverty alleviation and business.
References and Bibliography
Arrey, M.I. 2010 How Africa should approach her Sustainable Development. Published online in http://www.slideshare.net/ArreyCup/how-africa-should-approach-her-sustainable-developmentppt-by-arrey-mbongaya-ivo-5028298
Arrey, M.I. 2009 Outreaching to Orphans. Published online in http://www.africancentreforcommunity.com/Outreaching%20to%20Orphans%202009%20by%20Arrey%20Mbongaya%20Ivo.copyrights2009%20Arrey%20Mbongaya%20Ivo.%20All%20rights%20reserved.pdf
Gow, D. D., y E. R. Morss. 1988. The notorious nine: Critical problems in project implementation. World Development 16(12): 1399-1418.
de Haan, L. and Zoomers, A. (2003): Development geography at the crossroads of livelihood and globaliza-tion. In: Journal of Economic and Social Geography 94 (3), 350–362. DOI: 10.1111/1467-9663.00262 -2005): Exploring the frontier of livelihood research. In: Development and Change 36 (1), 27–47. DOI: 10.1111/j.0012-155X.2005.00401.x
Cleaver, F. and Toner, A. 2006. The evolution of community water governance in Uchira, Tanzania: The implications for equality of access, sustainability and effectiveness. Natural Resources Forum 30(3): 207-218.
References and Bibliography
Toner A, Franks T. 2006. Putting Livelihoods Thinking Into Practice: Implications for Development Man-agement Public Admin, Dev. 26, 81-92 Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com)
DOI: 10.1002/pad.395
VideosDambisa Moyo discusses Dead Aid with an MP https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5Pkk2sq9Cg
Global Ethics Forum: A Conversation with Dambisa Moyohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A740Sd27DU8
An Arrey Ivo video on Pig & Poultry Farming with Funwi Family https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ7c_02FkzA
The Miracle of One Goat by Arrey Ivo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoB-dXj5Xqk
Copyrights2014 African Centre for Community and Development. All rights reserved.
Author: Arrey Mbongaya Ivo
Copyrights2014 African Centre for Community and Development.
