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Land reforms have been implemented in many parts of the world because of both justice and the attractive developmental policy objectives of improving poor people's welfare – as the prime beneficiaries. Land reform also facilitates rural economic growth. In some parts of the world, like China and India, there is evidence that land reform has been effective in poverty reduction and in enabling economic growth. However, in other parts of the world, like South Africa, the impact of land reform has been very minimal mainly due to poor policy implementation, which entails inadequate support structures. Using an integrative literature review approach and key policy documents on South Africa's land reform, this article dissects this policy–practice gap in South Africa's land redistribution policy and proposes that land redistribution be implemented by a private independent entity to reduce state bureaucracy and inefficiencies and, in turn, improve execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the impacts of Livestock Asset Transfers on the livelihoods of the ultra-poor in West Bengal, India. The programme provides the female members of ultra-poor households with livestock assets as grants. We find that the intervention increases per capita monthly income by Rs 1061 (122% increase). It also increases the food expenditures of households and enables them to secure enough food to eat at least two meals a day. Furthermore, the programme also increases the number/amount of owned livestock assets, poultry, and cultivable lands amid the treatment households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reformist critics of globalisation see global governance as the solution to poverty relief in the developing world. Marxist critics see this poverty as an effect of global structures. Yet governments and NGOs continue to construct local projects. How do these projects fit a global analysis of power? Most projects seek to integrate the poor. This article asks whether projects might work better by detaching participants from global capitalism. Focusing on the landless poor, the second part of the article examines common strategies for localised interventions in the developing world. Examples come from fieldwork in Egypt and Sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that two types of "brainisation" hinder development studies researchers in their phronetic understanding of poor people's realities. It first provides a literature review on two types of knowledge and their differences, as well as two types of brainisation and how they prevent development studies scholars gaining a holistic understanding of the marginalised. Subsequently, a comparative analysis is conducted on two World Development Reports. Finally, alternative scenarios are outlined for the "debrainisation" of development studies and researchers' mind-sets by learning from the fundamental features of human life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how privacy is understood, lived, and negotiated by youth users of information and communication technology (ICT) in slum communities in the Philippines. In the context of shared and public access arrangements prevalent in many low-income communities in the Global South, the article discusses the intersections of space, technology, and the sharing economy underlying socio-technical practice that shape the privacy notions. It argues for rethinking the ICT for development and privacy policy discourse to integrate experiences from shared access settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To trace the effects of empowerment programmes in the Global South, attention needs to be focused on the everyday practices of frontline staff, or fieldworkers, who convey empowerment ideas and practices at the grassroots. This is especially critical when fieldworkers work in the marginalised communities where they also live. Instead of looking outward towards a programme’s outcomes, this article turns inward to examine the impact of women fieldworkers’ dual experiences of development on their decisions and practices in the field. The ethnography of women fieldworkers in a government-led women’s empowerment programme for the poor in Delhi, India reveals the uneasy relationship of women’s empowerment to the larger contradictory development paradigm that they work within. Fieldworkers used their experiences as poor women to meet programme quotas, while also side-lining social change in favour of shielding clients from ineffective programme activities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Global competition for natural resources is intense and the supply of those resources is increasingly more constrained by climate variability and change. Governments and international development agencies have the dual responsibility to meet the socio-economic needs of the poorest and most vulnerable people while preserving and enhancing their natural capital. These responsibilities often are at odds with each other and different stakeholder groups have prioritised one over the other. This paper suggests that the landscape approach provides a solution for stakeholders to achieve climate change mitigation, adaptation, and poverty reduction goals, though not without some trade-offs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the role of civil society in South Africa over the past 36 years. It views civil society as an integral part of a society that has undergone enormous change. It looks at civil society functioning as a part of a societal system that systematically impoverished the majority of its citizens. It traces the journey of people's struggles to survive and thrive and how these culminated in overthrowing an unjust political regime. It follows the journey through the political transition and looks at the point arrived at after the honeymoon period and the new struggle to make it work: arriving at a crossroads that, although a long way down the road, in the approach looks vaguely familiar. It ends by exploring a new way of thinking about the role of civil society that might contribute to finding ways of moving beyond systems that impoverish as a means of creating and concentrating wealth. Luttes contre les systèmes qui appauvrissent : la société civile sud-africaine à la croisée des chemins Cet article se penche sur le rôle de la société civile en Afrique du Sud au cours des 36 dernières années. Il considère la société civile comme faisant partie intégrante d'une société qui a subi d’énormes changements. Il examine la société civile comme fonctionnant dans le cadre d'un système sociétal qui a systématiquement appauvri la majorité de ses citoyens. Il retrace l’évolution des luttes des populations pour survivre et prospérer et la manière dont ces luttes ont fini par renverser un régime politique injuste. Il suit l’évolution à travers la transition politique et examine le point atteint après la période de « lune de miel » et la nouvelle lutte à mener pour obtenir de bons résultats : on se trouve à un carrefour qui, bien qu'il reste encore beaucoup de chemin à parcourir, a l'air vaguement familier sur le plan de l'approche. L'article se termine en examinant une nouvelle manière d'appréhender le rôle de la société civile, qui pourrait contribuer à trouver des moyens d'aller au-delà de systèmes qui appauvrissent afin de créer et de concentrer la richesse. Luchas contra sistemas que empobrecen: la sociedad civil sudafricana en la encrucijada El presente artículo examina el rol que ha tenido la sociedad civil de Sudáfrica durante los últimos 36 años. Su enfoque establece que la sociedad civil es una parte integrante de una sociedad que ha experimentado enormes cambios. En este sentido, la sociedad civil funciona como parte de un sistema social que ha empobrecido sistemáticamente a la mayoría de sus ciudadanos. El artículo describe la travesía que han debido realizar los pueblos durante sus luchas por sobrevivir y prosperar, analizando cómo dichas luchas llevaron al derrocamiento de un régimen político injusto. Continúa examinando esa travesía durante el proceso de transición política y en el periodo que tiene lugar tras el primer momento de “luna de miel”, así como la siguiente lucha, realizada para que [el nuevo gobierno] tuviera éxito. Si bien el avance ha sido significativo, el acercamiento a la encrucijada no es una incógnita total. El artículo finaliza examinando una forma novedosa de pensar el rol de la sociedad civil, la cual podría contribuir a la búsqueda de sistemas que no produzcan empobrecimiento como mecanismo para crear y concentrar la riqueza. Lutas contra sistemas que empobrecem: sociedade civil sul-africana na encruzilhada Este artigo examina o papel da sociedade civil na África do Sul nos últimos 36 anos. Ele vê a sociedade civil como parte integral de uma sociedade que tem passado por enorme mudança. Ele vê a sociedade civil atuando como parte de um sistema de sociedade que sistematicamente empobreceu a maioria de seus cidadãos. Ele traça o trajeto de luta das pessoas para sobreviver e prosperar e como essas lutas culminaram no combate a um regime político injusto. Ele acompanha o trajeto desde a transição política e examina o ponto em que se chegou após o período de lua de mel e a nova luta para fazer isso funcionar: chegando em uma encruzilhada que, apesar do longo avanço, possui uma abordagem pouco familiar. O artigo termina explorando uma nova forma de se pensar o papel da sociedade civil que poderia contribuir para serem encontradas maneiras de se ultrapassar sistemas que empobrecem como forma de se criar e concentrar riqueza. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hunger has been on the rise since the mid-1990s, due to a variety of factors, including a lack of policy attention and a sense of complacency generated by long-term real declines in food prices. Food prices rose sharply after 2006, and there is considerable controversy over the reasons why. Analysts have pointed to a number of factors as possible causes, including rising fuel prices, diversion of food crops into biofuels, speculation, increased meat consumption in Asia, climate change, and environmental degradation, among others. There is disagreement about both the role played by some of these factors in driving up prices, and also the weight to assign to each specific factor. Discussion of the consequences of higher food prices has been based primarily on modelling; this special issue of Development in Practice presents some new modelling results, as well as results from field research on the actual consequences for poor farmers and consumers in developing, transition, and developed countries. The price increases led to sometimes violent protests in scores of countries in 2007–08, thereby putting hunger back on the front policy burner. Food prices spiked in mid-2008 and remained well above the levels of the early 2000s, globally, throughout 2009–10. By December 2010, prices had risen again, surpassing the peaks of 2008. There is consensus concerning policy prescriptions on what to do about higher food prices; this is embodied, for example, in the UN's Comprehensive Framework for Action of 2008. However, the authors of a number of the articles in this special issue find limitations to that consensus and offer additional policy prescriptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising food prices in the late 2000s sparked protests, sometimes violent, around the globe. These public expressions of outrage were only the tip of the iceberg. Many countries have a legacy of food wars. In sub-Saharan Africa, at least 14 countries faced severe food insecurity as a result of conflict, civil strife, forced displacement, or damage from past wars. Armed violence leads to ongoing cycles of food loss which have an impact on food availability, access, and nutrition. In turn, food insecurity can contribute to conflict, although the exact sequence tends to involve complex factors, including environmental scarcities and identity-based competition for access to and control over what are perceived to be limited resources. Policy attention is urgently needed to address these dynamics. Efforts to meet the immediate needs of vulnerable populations, to raise agricultural production, to build resilient food systems that contribute to global food and nutrition security, and to protect low-income people with safety nets must not lose sight of conflict legacies, especially in Africa. Programme-implementation strategies must proceed in a manner that will dampen, not heighten, conflict potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As natural-resource issues become more complex, particularly in developing-world contexts, there is a growing need for adaptive management solutions. However, the skills necessary to deal with these increasingly complex situations are not always present in many low-income countries. There is also a growing recognition that many capacity-building activities are limited in their effectiveness. This article suggests a problem-based learning (PBL) approach to capacity building. Using the example of training courses developed to help natural-resource management in Guyana, this article illustrates how PBL can help to enhance the capabilities needed for adaptive management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool (MPAT) measures fundamental dimensions of rural poverty in order to support poverty-alleviation efforts in the less developed world. This article's primary purpose is to introduce MPAT and describe its theoretical rationale. It begins with an overview of the importance of creating enabling environments for rural poverty alleviation before describing MPAT's purpose and structure. The article goes on to address some of the advantages and shortcomings of surveys and indicators as means of measuring poverty, and concludes with a few caveats on using MPAT, and a focus on its added value to practitioners and academics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Viewpoint argues that international development aid agencies have failed adequately to address the rights and needs of genocide survivors in Rwanda. It illustrates that genocide survivors remain impoverished and marginalised, and that development aid agencies only tangentially, if at all, acknowledge their vulnerability and take steps to empower them to realise their rights. It provides examples of aid programmes that are reaching genocide survivors and urges development aid agencies in Rwanda to design and implement programmes explicitly for genocide survivors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In rural Sri Lanka, remittances from housemaids working in the Middle East figure prominently in household livelihood strategies. This article examines the impact of housemaid remittances on living standards and suggests measures to maximise the benefits of remittances for recipient households while minimising the personal and financial costs of migration. The effectiveness of migration as a household strategy depends on a decent overseas job with a reliable income, a reduction in the costs of migrating and remitting, and the responsible management of household welfare and finances by recipients, including the maintenance of local income sources while the migrant is away. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with the divisive views of the past, integrative thinking has recently come to characterise the methodological debate on poverty. 'Qualitative vs quantitative' has given way to 'qual-quant'; 'cross-disciplinarity' has replaced 'economics vs anthropology'. This article attempts to review this change. It begins with a historical overview of the pure economic approach to poverty and its critique. The critique, both from within economics and from the participatory and anthropological disciplines, is examined, and recent trends are considered. The current 'qual-quant' approach is illustrated with examples, and the author concludes that the future may well see the emergence of a 'participatory qual-quant' approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of poverty reduction naturally attracts all kinds of angels - in NGOs, government departments and international financial institutions - but their ministrations are frustrated by many obstacles. These include the narrow and static way in which economists define the poor; the remoteness of the poor, their social invisibility and elusiveness to most forms of targeting; and the absence of political will to engage in poverty-reduction policies. The angelic response to these obstacles has been to trumpet a global campaign of poverty reduction with millennial goals, international aid targets, and poverty-reduction strategy papers. It would be better to re-discover the language of risk, vulnerability, and social insurance. The message of the association between risk and reward, and the collective need for social mechanisms that will allow individuals to bear increased risk without exposure to irreversible damage, is the one that really needs to be delivered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article compares the micro-credit programmes in Spain with the micro-credit programmes in the developing countries. These programmes aim to provide small loans to enable poor people to generate an income through self-employment. The interest rates on loans in Spain tend to be at, or below market rates.

The article focuses on the exploratory study on the changes in the lives of the poor in Bangladesh. The different goals and means of reducing poverty includes protection to prevent decline in living standards and promotion to eliminate deprivation. Significantly, the holistic approaches encourage more complex program designs that seek to help poor people meet their material needs and gain access to health, educational, and other services. The study combined the participatory and comparative case study methods to address research questions. Insights of the study have implications for the future strategies of the Challenging the Frontiers of Poverty Reduction/Targeting the Ultra Poor Programme.

Examines impact measurement for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) based on experiences from India and Sri Lanka. Worth and relevance of the work of NGOs; Changes experienced by people where NGOs have worked; Political factors affecting the effectiveness of NGOs in helping the poor and marginalized women; Accountability of NGOs to its constituency.

This article explores how development NGOs that seek to empower rural communities may, in the context of the reform of the state that is taking place in many developing countries, get caught up in pursuing the agenda of the state and market rather than that of the poor. On the face of it, the reformed state and development NGOs both advocate the agenda of empowering the poor and avoiding the negative effects of market liberalization on people's social values. This article starts from a conceptual framework that brings together the ideas of image-conflicts, politics, and the new imperialism before discussing the politics of negotiation at the interfaces mediating this imperialism.

There is a widespread perception that Southern non-governmental organizations (NGOs) best represent the authentic voices of the Southern poor. This article challenges this perception, arguing that poor people in general, and children and women in particular, continue to be disenfranchised, while NGOs-both Northern and Southern-offer a poor imitation of their voices. It argues that what is needed, given the current global economic paradigm, is an authentic 'joint venture' between NGOs in the North and the South and the authentic voices of poor people themselves, that would bring the poor into the mainstream; and a new approach to capacity-building that would seek to empower them better to advocate for themselves. It concludes that, to achieve this, economic advocacy should perhaps take greater precedence over political advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author discusses the impact of climate change on poor people and countries. The author cites the report "A New Global Partnership: Eradicate Poverty and Transform Economies through Sustainable Development" from the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons which challenges to all those involved with international development and poverty reduction. The author believes that more sustained effort is needed to counter the impacts of climate change.