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WH AT IS POVERTY? 1

issue 15 | JuN–seP 2009 |

wha isPoverty

He aha te Rawakore?

A Picture sPeAks A thousANd words

Do the images we use dene what poverty is?

overcomiNg the Poverty miNdsetA view rom Tukorehe marae



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Editors: Alice Beban-France and Elena Wrelton, Dev-Zone

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Design: Miranda Lees, Development Resource Centre

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Cover image: This armer is one o over seven million people

in Aghanistan that do not have enough to eat. Last year,

80% o rain-ed agriculture ailed in drought-aected areas

o the country due to a lack o rain, inicting a heavy blow

on the livelihoods o thousands o arming amilies. Image:

Pedram Pirnia.

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ISSN: 1176-8185

Guest EditorialHe Whakaaro nā te Ētita Tāpae Wakaaro

2 JUS T C H AN GE

The title o this editorial was the rstslide in a presentation given by DrAlice Pollard o the Solomon Islands

at a recent symposium in Wellington. Fromthe perspective o this villager, village lie

is good. Villagers live o the land, creating‘great things out o small things’, they arehappy with their lives and have strong, intel-ligent children who are curious about whatsurrounds them. Being rom the Solomon Is-lands, Alice understands this questioning o the term ‘poverty’ rom the local perspective.

I was enlightened to the perspective thatlie can be rich even i it is money-poor as anoutsider living in Vanuatu rom 1997-2003.One day I was led on a walk up the centralridge o the island o Maewo by the highchie o the area, Johnsteen Wari. I stopped

to steady my breath several times along thewalk; Johnsteen, at least 15 years my senior,strode on long, thin legs with no appearanceo an aerobic workout. wo-thirds o the way up, we stopped near a waterall gushing withcool, clear water and lled our cupped hands.Aer reaching the lookout, we were met andescorted by villagers to their small commu-nity nearby. We were greeted with locally-grown tropical ruits, resh water and later,kava, a cornucopia that would seem exoticin Aotearoa New Zealand. o an outsider,this small community’s simple dirt-oored

structures, the villagers’ implements and theclothing washed in river water may look likepoverty. Yet, beneath this lies a dierent sorto wealth.

At the 2008 DevNet Conerence, research-er Dr Iati Iati, a Samoan academic rom theCentre or Pacic Studies at Canterbury University, said o people living in what wewould term ‘poverty’: ‘Tey grew up in theselives’. What these people grow up with asnormal, we may see as poverty. Conversely,they may view our society as living in what tothem looks like poverty; in their eyes we may

have the ‘things’ that money can buy but may be lacking in knowledge o sel-suciency,

o being able to provide and share with ourcommunities and amilies what we truly need. Tis does not make light o the unjust-ness o absolute poverty – o the inequality that prevents some rom ullling their ba-

sic needs – but we should acknowledge thatpoverty can be a matter o perspective. Tisshould guide us in ensuring we start includ-ing all people in dening poverty beore westart ‘eradicating’ it.

Our perspective is largely based on whatwe think is required or well-being. But howoen do we question what it is we truly need?Real need may be dierent rom what seemsnecessary to us as a result o progress – or o marketing.

Te development industry strives to eradi-cate extreme poverty with aid and assistance,

by ‘helping’ the poor to get more o what they ‘need’. Perhaps i we looked more closely atour views o those needs, we might begin toexplore our own image more critically. Wemight begin by seeing how, as Illich writes,through our ‘unscrupulous benevolence,needs are imputed to others’. We might beginto see what they have that we don’t.

Te articles in this issue o Just Changeask the question ‘What is poverty?’, illustrat-ing poverty rom multiple perspectives. Teseviewpoints are explored and the issue shownto be so complex that dening poverty alone

is a challenge in itsel, let alone eradicating it.What is it specically that needs eradicating?Who is to decide how it is done? Is there oneanswer? Is it just about providing aid or aboutensuring parity by acknowledging the diverseperspectives o the people involved?

I challenge you to read these articles andconsider what you thought poverty meantwhen you rst opened this issue. One thing isclear: poverty goes ar beyond economics.

Gayna Vetter completed a Masters in Devel-opment Studies at Victoria University in Feb-

ruary this year. She has previously been a VSAvolunteer in Vanuatu and anzania.

What is Poverty?A question asked by a villager.

Just Change is produced by Dev-Zone (www.dev-zone.org),

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Change comes rom independent sources.

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months – each issue is based on a dierent global concern.

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org or contact us at the address below.

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This summer, Dev-Zone is going to

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WH AT IS POVERTY? 3

2. Guest Editorial/He whakaaro nā te Ētita Tāpae WakaaroGayna Vetter

4. What is Poverty?An overview o current denitions and debates on what poverty is.

FEATURES/NGĀ TUHINGA6. Women in poverty: Revisiting the debates

Rachel Simon-Kumar

7. ‘We need sons to go to heaven’Chris Frazer

8. It’s just a picture…Rachel allon and Pedram Pirnia

ARTICLES/TUHITUHINGA10. Thinking about poverty

ony Binns

11. Poverty elimination: A distant dream in a society o dependency anddominationK. Prakash

12. Power and control: An analysis o poverty and developmentPip Bennett

13. Not all poverty alleviation is good poverty alleviation: The impact o bloodselling in Henan province.Anne Finamore

14. The poor ‘r’ usJonathan Sibley

15. Poverty o consumerism or a culture o humanity?Linda Bremord

16. Relative deprivation: Poverty embedded in afuenceNasir Khan

17. South Arica’s poverty o trustAnnika Lindorsson

18. It’s not just a physical thing: Poverty and mental healthFrances Hughes

19. Poverty measurements and the concept o well-being or disabled personsVardhani Ratnala

20. Demanding dignity: The human right to waterOlivia Rope

CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES/NGĀ TIRoHANGA AHUREA

21. Poverty: An indigenous Fijian perspectiveAdi Elisapeci Samanunu Waganivalu

22. Daughters to Middle East and sons to North and East: Changing perceptionso poverty in Sri LankaFazeeha Azmi

23. Rural poverty in Samoa: The views o the poorFaletoi uilaepa and Sandra Martin

GRASSRooTS SoLUTIoNS/HE RoNGoĀ mAI I TE IwI24. Overcoming the poverty mindset: A Tukorehe perspective

Fiona Kamariera and Sean Ogden

25. Buddhist aid: Pagodas reducing poverty in CambodiaArnaldo Pellini

26. Survival in Sudan: Local strategies or alleviating povertyNawal El-Gack

CommUNITY/TE HAPoRI27. News rom the Development Resource Centre, Take Action

28. Resources rom the Dev-Zone Library

Reerences used in the writing o these articles are available on www.dev-zone.org.

6

26

Revisiting the gender deateThe link between gender and poverty isnot as strong as we may think.

The ipact f ld selling inHenan prvinceNot all solutions are good solutions,as these young men ound out.

Survival in SudanCommunity organisation goes a longway when dealing with the challengesaced by people in Sudan.

13

Photo: (c) 2001 Nrityanjali Academy, Courtesy of Photoshare.

Photo: Dream Corps.

Photo: Nawal El-Gack.

wha is

PovertyHe aha te Rawakore?



4 JUS T C H AN GE

o v e r v i e w

DEFINING PoVERTY:International development organisations gen-

erally dene poverty in three broad ways:

Economics-based: Denitions that assess pover-

ty based on a country, household or individual’s

income or consumption levels underlie many o

our assumptions about the causes o, and solu-

tions to, poverty. This data is relatively easy to

gather and may be compared across dierent

contexts, but it is requently criticised or ailing

to capture all the dimensions o what poverty

means to dierent people and cultures, what it

means or the environment, and also or ignor-

ing wealth within the non-monetary economy

(such as people growing their own ood).

Needs-based: Basic-needs approaches set a

minimum standard o living and assess poverty

based on access to the items needed to attain

this standard. What is considered a ‘need’ varies

rom country to country but normally includes,

as a minimum, adequate housing, ood, cloth-

ing and clean water. This approach acknowl-

edges that income alone does not refect a am-

ily’s ability to meet needs.

Participation-based: Based on the experiences

o people who are actually living in poverty,

these measurements are highly subjective; they

refect people’s reality and acknowledge the

wide range o actors that infuence being in,

staying in and getting out o poverty.

AbSoLUTE VS RELATIVE PoVERTY Absolute poverty is based on a person’s ability

to buy certain basic necessities; those unable to

obtain these necessities are considered to be be-

low the poverty line. The World Bank’s ‘$1 a day’

and the Human Development Index (HDI) are

absolute poverty measurements that are used

to compare poverty across dierent countries.

Relative poverty is based on a person’s position

in comparison to others in their society. It takes

into account income inequality within countries

and is oten calculated as living below a percent-

age o the median income*. National poverty

lines are a measurement o relative poverty.

*The median income is the middle amount i all incomes

were ranked in order.

Fr ts f s w av vr xpri xtr pvrt, w a w v

bi t rsta wat tis wr as fr ts w ar fr t iv wit

it vr a? Bt t qsti s t b ask. A it is ask, frqt, i

attpts t aviat pvrt. I rr t aiv a stat f w-bi – watvr

tat a b fr iffrt pp a trs – w t itif wat is aki

a wat t barrirs ar tat prvt pp fr ivi t ivs t aspir t.

The world’s 9.6 million million-

aires – comprising just 0.7 % o

the earth’s population – now

control $33.2 trillion in wealth,

roughly a third o all the wealth

in the world. Meanwhile, hal

o the world’s population lives

on less than $2 a day (Boston

Consulting Group, 2007).

INEqUALITY The act o dening poverty is a re-

fection o inequality: the ‘haves’ and the ‘have

nots’. Levels o inequality in a country give an

insight into a country’s capacity to reduce pov-

erty. Statistics rom countries such as the US

that have high levels o poverty and inequality

show that poverty is not just a majority world

problem resulting rom not enough wealth.Economic growth has to be inclusive or it to

achieve real results or everyone in society, but

the gap between the low and high paid has

grown in most minority world countries, includ-

ing Aotearoa New Zealand, in recent years.

DoES moNEY = HAPPINESS?Researchers, policy makers and politicians are

now acknowledging that increased monetary

wealth, beyond a certain point, rarely increases

happiness. At low income levels, the relation-

ship between per capita income and happi-

ness is strong; above about NZ$18,000 a year,the correlation is close to zero. Low levels o

inequality are shown to be more closely related

to the general happiness o a population than

overall economic growth, signalling the need

or targeted pro-poor growth.

PoVERTY oF oPPoRTUNITY Poverty is not just about lacking

things; it is also about lacking the

opportunities that others take or

granted, such as having access to

employment opportunities andsocial services. Approaches such

as Amartya Sen’s capacity-based

approach (see p.14) and develop-

ment measures such as the Hu-

man Development Index have

started to refect this reality by

including actors such as good

health, education, political partici-

pation, amily and social networks.

With this approach, a person living

in poverty changes rom a passive

subject into an active individual

and measurements ocus on the

actors that enable or prevent a

person rom achieving an accept-

able quality o lie.

wha is

PovertyHe aha te Rawakore?

THE GAP bETwEEN RICH AND PooR IN 2005



WH AT IS POVERTY? 5

PoVERTY mEASUREmENTS

Poverty line Minimum income deemed necessary or a decent standard o liv-

ing. The poverty line or threshold varies rom country to country. It

is higher in minority world countries. In Aotearoa NZ it is 60% o the

median income.

US$1 a day or‘extreme poverty’

Percentage o people living on under US$1 a day (US$1.25 per day at2005 international prices). It is based on the poverty line o the 10-20

poorest countries in the world and adjusted to take into account the

purchasing power o dierent countries.

US$2 a day or

‘poverty’

The World Bank denition o poverty. The median poverty line o all

developing countries.

Gini Index or

coecient

A measurement between 0 and 1 or 0% and 100%; 0 indicates perect

equality. Easy to understand but it is unable to represent the point at

which income inequality occurs.

Human Development

Index (HDI)

Measures the level o development o a country by combining a vari-

ety o measurements including lie expectancy, education and stan-

dard o living. The results rank countries into a hierarchical list.

Human Poverty

Index (HPI)

Uses the same criteria as the HDI to measure human deprivation.

Taken rom UNDP presentation at MDG symposium.

PoVERTY IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDSThe encompassing image o poverty in the Pa-

cifc is poverty o opportunity. People’s talents,

skills and aspirations are rustrated and wasted,

denying them the opportunity to lead produc-

tive and satisying lives. Poverty o income is o-

ten the result, poverty o opportunity is oten the

cause. (UN Human Development Report, 1999)

Poverty in the Pacic Islands is oten described

as poverty o opportunity rather than absolute

poverty. The majority o people are able to meet

their basic needs but may be severely limited in

their access to services such as healthcare, edu-

cation and work opportunities. People may su-

er rom a high level o vulnerability, with their

basic needs threatened by environmental and

economic actors.

The situation varies greatly between and

within countries. In a rural area, a poverty indi-

cator may be lack o healthcare; in urban areas

So wHAT ARE wE AImING FoR?By dening poverty and well-being, we make

judgements about what is lacking. Asking peo-

ple what poverty and well-being mean to them

highlights people’s diverse experiences, including

the needs that money can’t buy, and the qualitieso lie that may be lost in our quest or economic

wealth. Dening poverty through the voices o

people living in poverty stresses that approaches

to achieving well-being need to be both holistic

and personal. This approach may make us ques-

tion the priorities and values we have in the mi-

nority world. Is our current development path

delivering what we actually need?

mILLENNIUm DEVELoPmENT GoALS (mDGS)AND PoVERTY Goal 1 o the MDGS is to ‘Eradicate extreme pover-

ty and hunger’. This is measured using a mixture o $1 a day, inequality, employment, GDP and malnu-

trition statistics. The other seven MDGs refect in-

terlinked actors that infuence poverty: education,

gender, health, education and the environment.

poverty may be indicated by lack o access to

land and the ood security it provides.

This poverty o opportunity has meant many

Pacic Island countries see high levels o rural

to urban migration and emigration to seek bet-

ter opportunities overseas.

PoVERTY IN AoTEARoA NEw ZEALANDPoverty in Aotearoa NZ can be seen most

alarmingly in child poverty statistics. Despite

strong economic growth between 2000 and

2004, the proportion o children acing severe

and signicant hardship increased by a third.

Between 2006 and 2007, according to Child

Poverty Action Group, 230,000 children were

living below the poverty line.

Child poverty increases mirror changes in

income inequality. Inequality has grown since

the late 1980s, and Aotearoa NZ is now seventh

worst out o the 30 OECD member countries in

terms o its level o equality.

PowER AND CoNTRoLMany people living in poverty dene it as their

lack o control over the actors that infuence

their lives.

The orces o poverty and impoverishment are so

powerul today. Governments or the big churches

can only manage them. So we now eel somewhat

helpless. It is this eeling o helplessness that is sopainul, more painul than poverty itsel (Elderly

man, Uganda, World Bank).

Powerlessness means that people are limited

in the choices they make – when to sell their

harvest; who to borrow money rom; the im-

pacts o corruption and exploitation. The eects

o globalisation and international law in areas

such as trade can urther erode the control peo-

ple have over their lives.

EmPowERmENTEmpowerment – the ability o an individual to

make choices regarding his or her lie – has be-come a popular approach to development that

aims to enable people to demand their right

to a decent standard o living, to hold govern-

ments and corporations to account and deliver

results that are meaningul to them, rather than

dictated by an outsider.

ENVIRoNmENTAL DEPRIVATIoN AS PoVERTY People living in poverty are oten very depen-

dent on their natural environment or ood,

uel and shelter. The environmental impacts o

western liestyles are extending into the localenvironments o those who are already strug-

gling to provide or their amilies. Dwindling sh

stocks are now a reality in the Pacic and the

impacts o climate change will be rst elt by the

poorest, living in high risk areas with little ability

to move.



e a t u r e

6 JUS T C H AN GE

RAchel SImon-KumAR challenges the

perceived role gender plays in poverty,

arguing that our assumptions are not

always backed by the evidence.

For decades now, the ‘eminisation o

poverty’ has been a priority in develop-

ment. Te over-representation o wom-

en in poverty statistics, highlighted sincethe 1970s, is used to convey the particular

extent o deprivation aced by women in themajority world. Yet, into the rst decade o

the twenty-rst century, the issue o women’s

poverty continues to be debated. rue or tru-ism? Fact or ction? Te distinction between

the myths and acts o emale poverty are in-

creasingly blurred. Tis article examines therecent research on three undamental ques-

tions on women living in poverty:

• Arewomenover-representedamong the world’s poor?

• Arefemale-headedhouseholdsthe poorest o the poor?

• Whatkindofinterventionsbetter alleviate women’s poverty?

Women in poverty:Revisiting the debates

womEN AND PoVERTY A much-quoted United Nations’ gure in-orms us that o the 1.5 billion people living onUS$1 a day or less, 70% are women. On aver-age, women’s incomes are approximately hal o what men earn. About 1.5 billion people arein ‘vulnerable’ inormal employment; around51.7% o these are women. In some regions likesub-Saharan Arica and South Asia, UNIFEMreports that eight out o ten women workersare in vulnerable employment.

Figures like these lead us to surmise thatwomen are over-represented among theworld’s poor. In reality, there is too little pre-cise data and too much doubt to make thisa statement o act. Measurement o poverty is not an exact science and little poverty datais disaggregated by sex. For instance, recentdata shows that the proportion o people liv-ing on less than US$1 a day ell signicantly rom 31.6% in 1990 to 19.2% in 2004; how-ever, there is no way o conrming how many o these are women.

Poverty data tends to be based on house-hold consumption, income or expenditure,but or women, the experience o poverty is more multi-dimensional; deprivation isevident in the many ways that women are ex-cluded and marginalised rom social and po-

litical processes. Te United Nations’ Gender

Development Index (GDI) and the GenderEmpowerment Measure (GEM) are useulindicators o women’s needs and they makethe same point – poverty is not merely eco-

nomic. o understand and change the eco-nomic dimension o poverty would invari-ably mean addressing gender inequalities inentitlements, rights, social capital, education,

health, labour market and tradition. Dollar

gures misrepresent the reality o women’spoverty.

So, given the inadequacies o data, is therea eminisation o poverty? Recent research

seems ambivalent on this issue. A ten-country study conducted in 2001 suggeststhat the link between women and poverty is‘weak’. Researchers concede that women are

at a higher risk o poverty but this cannot bestated absolutely. Particular groups o women– depending on age, social status, and ethnic-ity – may certainly be among the poorest.

However, there is also evidence that dispari-

ties between men and women are lesseningin many countries.

FEmALE-HEADED HoUSEHoLDS AND PoVERTY Te use o emale-headed households toproject the gendered nature o poverty was

Indian women rom slums and villages attend a workshop on AIDS,led by the Nrityanjali Academy. Photo: (c) 2001 Nrityanjali Academy,

Courtesy of Photoshare.



e a t u r e

WH AT IS POVERTY? 7

Here in the twenty-rst century, toomany communities still view thebirth o a son as an event to be cel-

ebrated whilst the birth o a daughter canevoke commiseration or, in some instances,

harmul discrimination. Such discriminationarises rom cultural traditions and norms o what it is to be born male or emale, and insome instances, religious understanding thatsomehow places males above emales.

In Nepalese society a vital role that may only be perormed by a son is to ociateover his parents’ uneral rites. A widespreadtraditional belie is, ‘Chhora bhaye sworga kodhoka khulchha’ (the door o heaven will beopened or us when we die i we have a son).

Sen oered a more holistic denition whenhe described well-being as the reedom o individuals to live a lie that allows them toull their capacities, to have sucient avail-able resources to be able to enjoy a healthy

lie, to have access to knowledge and to havethe reedom to interact socially and contrib-ute expression and thought.

Extreme poverty is not gender selective,but the negative impact o such deprivationis experienced dierently between the sexes,with the scales o scarcity and social exclusiontipped more heavily towards women. Te ‘in-visibility’ that is experienced by a signicantnumber o women in the majority world is akey determinant in what is termed the ‘emi-nisation o poverty’. For positive change tobegin to take shape, women must be oered

the opportunity to play an active role as deci-sion makers in the solutions.

Chris Frazer is a social justice advocate at TeSalvation Army’s Social Policy and Parliamen-tary Unit.

part-convenience and part-strategy. Te needto showcase income impoverishment amongwomen meant a search or the ‘most vulner-able’ – those women who head households.Te rationale or depicting emale-headedhouseholds as the ace o eminised pov-

erty sounds credible on paper and in policy proclamations: emale-headed householdsare visible in statistics, it is reasonable to pre-sume that they have ewer entitlements toresources, greater workloads and lower earn-ings, and these households play right intopopular images o social pathology. But howtrue is this picture?

Sylvia Chant, a proessor at the LondonSchool o Economics, challenges this propo-sition. She notes that studies in the last tenyears have been unable to unequivocally es-tablish a link between poverty and emaleheadship. Women-headed households arejust as likely to be ound in middle or upperincome groups as among the poor. Further,women-headed amilies are diverse in age,number o dependents, status, etc. – all o these actors have bearing on their income.Te act o being a woman-led household issimply not enough to claim that they are poor.In sum, as one study by Quisumbing notes,while ‘emale-headed households might beslightly represented among the poor, thereare more women living in poverty in male-headed households and ewer men living in

poverty in emale-headed households’.

‘We need sons to go to heaven’By chRIS FRAzeR

TARGETING VERSUS bRoAD-bASEDPRoGRAmmESMeasures to alleviate poverty among womenhave tried both targeted and broad-based ap-proaches. Providing targeted programmesmeans ocusing on particular areas o pov-

erty or particular groups o poor women.From the 1970s, income-generating schemesand micro-credit programmes were a popu-lar development strategy to increase women’searnings and reduce poverty. Available datashows that some ten million women aroundthe world accessed small loans in 1998.

Broad-based or multi-sectoral program-ming, on the other hand, is about gettinggender equality issues onto a wider poverty agenda. Tus, gender inequalities in a widespectrum o areas rom education, health, le-gal rights and public expenditure would all beaddressed as part o a broad-based approach.Te World Bank’s Poverty Reduction StrategyPapers (PRSPs) are among the more visiblein the eort to introduce a broad-based ap-proach to the alleviation o gender poverty.

Which approach weighs up as a better op-tion or poverty reduction? Both have plusesand minuses. argeting can be ineective, es-pecially i projects are narrowly ocused anddo not consider the wider social contexts o women’s poverty. For instance, targeting cancreate animosity in small communities i only certain groups are ‘avoured’ or projects, and

it can encourage dependency. Broad-based

Within Nepal, as with many Asian countries,the preerence or having a son is very strong.

A son is viewed not only in terms o social sta-

tus but also as a valuable nancial asset, as hewill be expected to provide or his parents in

their older years. On the other hand, a youngwoman is expected to marry and move intotheir husband’s amily home, thereore the

birth o a daughter does not oer the same

promise o uture nancial security.It ollows thereore that such ingrained

belies play a signicant part in perpetuat-

ing a continuing cycle o ill-being or many

women in the majority world.A woman living in a slum in Nairobi

summed up the eminine ace o absolute

nancial poverty: when asked by a develop-ment worker what event she would change

in her lie i she were able, she responded, ‘Iwould be born a man’.

While the ocus o our discussions about

disadvantage tends to be monetary, dimen-

sions o well-being are ar wider. Amartya

programmes seem to hold great promise intheory, but in reality, evaluations o PRSPsacross several Arican and Asian countrieshave shown a weak gender dimension.

So where does this leave us in our under-standing o women’s poverty? At the very

least, poverty among women is a complex is-sue and cannot be captured in simple slogansor catch phrases. Te experience o women isvery location specic and we should be cau-tious about making global claims. Te case o Costa Rica (see boxed text) shows we shouldalways question our assumptions; this is vitali we are to create solutions to poverty thattruly meet people’s needs.

In Costa Rica, recent data showed emalepoverty was rising. Tis was despite Cos-ta Rica’s GDIs and GEMs rating avorably

and a history o government interventionin gender inequality. Research showedthat the rise was because o an increase inemale headship o households. It appearsthat the gender equality programmes hadworked – women preerred indepen-dence and lower incomes to living in di-cult relationships with men.

Rachel Simon-Kumar is a senior lecturer at

Te University o Waikato. She researches and

teaches in the area o Gender, Policy and De-

velopment.

when asked what event shewould change in her lie i she were able, she responded,‘I would be born a man’.



e a t u r e

8 JUS T C H AN GE

THE PowER oF THE ImAGEaking a picture is not a simple act. Te shut-ter clicks instantly, but everything else is a-ected by time in more complex ways. Tepeople being photographed remain ‘rozenin time’ – it is dicult to change in the eyeso the viewer unless a ollow-up photo is tak-en later. It is not a two-way interaction: thesubject literally can’t see their audience, norgauge their reaction. And yet this situation

happens all the time with images o poverty.Photos are an individual’s subjective inter-

pretation o the world, and yet they are oenused as objective evidence or as prerequisitesor action. In the media, images are a com-modity. An image o poor people or peopleneeding assistance can be chosen or a num-ber o reasons, but oen they reveal more thanthey intend to about editorial and marketingbias as well as NGO agendas. ext or cap-tions accompanying images can change theintended purpose o the image. Ethical ques-tions concerning images o the poor are oen

conveniently shied to one side and seen asmoral nitpicking; aer all, images o sueringare known to be eective undraisers, but sucha blinkered approach denies the critiques thatarise rom those who are represented.

Photography critic Susan Sontag arguedthat there is something predatory in the tak-ing o a photo: it is a orm o surveillance. Temood darkens when we specically considerthe representation o poverty. Images areused both to initiate action and or donorsto visualise (and check) progress: has thedonor’s investment worked? Sontag also ar-

gues that ‘concerned’ photography has doneat least as much to deaden conscience as toarouse it. ‘Image atigue’ is a euphemism orthe callous hardening o the soul to the su-ering o others through over-exposure.

It’s just a picture…A picture can speak a thousand words.

RAchel TAllon and PedRAm PIRnIA

reect on the power o images in

representing poverty.

Te poor oen do not have the luxury o controlling the public use o their image. Asubject’s rights to dignity, accuracy and theuses o their image are seldom considered aspress deadlines and markets are privileged.Although we cannot generalise, it’s probably air to assume that most people like to havetheir ‘best side’ photographed, and to knowthat their image will be put to honest use andthat it may even benet their situation. Tosewho are suering may actively seek publicity

or their story to be told, in the hope or jus-tice or action. However, is their story beingtold in the way that they intended when they agreed to be photographed?

PANDERING To THE mARkETImages are powerul. Devoid o control by their subjects, images o poverty can unin-tentionally perpetuate stereotypes, represententire ethnic groups or countries and evencause cynicism amongst potential donors.Tose that construct and use the images arein a position o control over those represent-

ed. Te represented become objectied andpart o the media, government and NGO led‘humanitarian agenda’. Images o poverty cansubconsciously reinorce the bi lateral (neo-colonialism thinly disguised) approach: (ac-

tive) Western helpers need to rescue (passive)locals, alleviating some o that ‘white man’sburden’. As early as 1977, Jørgen Lissner wascriticising NGOs or use o strategies withimages that atter people into giving, allow-ing donors a ‘Godlike eeling’ when they seehow their donations have been used.

Te pressure to sell newspapers, to lobby government and to keep NGOs nancially aoat can determine how images and storiesabout the majority world are used. Te tran-

sitory, day to day and crisis nature o generalmedia reporting o the majority world shouldbe balanced by governments and NGOs.Where are the ollow-up images aer an event;images that show locals achieving progresson their own; are there any images that showNGO ailure? It is argued that oen NGOsorganisational objectives come beore the con-cern or how the majority world is representedin images. Many NGOs have come to be re-garded as a source o authority on the issuesand countries they work in. Are they provid-ing longer-term, more balanced and critical

views o issues than their media cousins?

THE VoICE oF THE REPRESENTEDTe dilemma o short-term gain versuslong-term damage is one that many NGOsgrapple with. Ethically, it is the voice o therepresented that is most worth listening to.UK journalist George Alagiah has voicedconcerns that perhaps what is needed is notbetter trained Western journalists and pho-tographers, but better use o local and indig-enous photographers, alongside the mandateo seeking not to report just what the Westwant to see, but to report what the locals see

and want the West to see. What does the Westwant to see? Tere is a concern that imageso wealth and sel-suciency o the majority world threaten a preconceived order o theuniverse that exists in Western minds.

In today’s visual culture images o pov-erty are part o global communication.Any photo in the public arena perorms

many actions with awareness-raising justone o them. For the photographer, the con-sumer, and the subject o an image o pov-

erty, there are complex issues around power,representation and ethics which deservegreater attention.

‘Are tear jerkers still the best way

o raising money? I they are, then

changes in the education system are

needed not only in the poor coun-

tries, but also in the rich, where the

emphasis must shit rom the need

to save souls to the need to orm abalanced world with equal partners.’

Shahidul Alam

Many children rom the majority world are probably unaware o how their unnamed aces that eatureon NGO websites and p ublications are used to represent and signal so much more than just themselves.

Photo: Paul Lowe, Panos



WH AT IS POVERTY? 9

Useul websites that look at

representation through images:

• www.imaging-famine.org

• www.majorityworld.com

• www.drik.net

• www.panos.co.uk

Shahidul Alam rom Bangladeshi online

photo agency Drik Photography notes thatWestern media and NGOs oen ask or im-ages o oods, cyclones or slums. Tey rarely,i ever, ask or an image o a Bangladeshi sit-ting at a computer desk – an image o whichhe has plenty.

ETHICAL PHoToGRAPHY o take photographs o the poor or those su-ering is a moral act; rom issues o copyright,dignity, and rights o those in the image tothe eventual uses o the image and the impacton the viewer. Usually an image is associated

with text and this should be actored in to theoverall use and consumption o the image. Aconscious photograph o people at their mostvulnerable should abide by a set o rules thatprivilege the subject: the powerless.

Te representation o poverty throughvisual media, both by the general media,government agencies and NGOs, is an issueraught with conicting agendas. Te eel-ings o the person photographed are oenleast considered. Images reveal agendas anda critical look at the use o an image is to con-sider how we see the ‘poor people’: as equal

ellow humans, someone we must help, oreven someone who could help us.

Rachel Tallon is the Schools ProgrammeManager at Dev-Zone’s sister programme, theGlobal Education Centre. Pedram Pirnia is asenior policy and research ocer at the Coun-cil or International Development.

Minimum standardsof photography

‘To take a photograph o someone

is to participate in their mortality,

their vulnerability.’ Susan Sontag

Here are some useul guidelines or photo-

graphing poverty:

• Most importantly, be alert, aware and

discreet.

• Avoid ‘in your face’ camera angles.

Be aware o close-ups that intrude into

personal space.

• Be aware of how this photo mighteventually be used and its potential

impact.

• Ask your subject’s permission, discuss

with them how they like to be photo-

graphed and assess what they would be

comortable with.

• Be alert and aware of the principles of

ethical photography every time you take

a photograph – educate yoursel and your

colleagues.

• Respect the people you photograph.

Give them dignity.• Caption your photographs.

• And nally make sure that the copyright

is cleared.

The camera can dangerously become our

truth telling instrument – we need to put that

mentality aside i we are thinking ethically.

Understanding the world means being wary

o singular and unchallenged perspectives,

including visual ones. Every photograph is

an individual’s subjective evaluation o the

world and we are responsible or controlling

the meaning and signicance o the mo-ments we seize.

Most organisations and government departments will have their own codes o

conduct, both in terms o actually taking photos and how the images are then

used in publications. The most important actor is to avoid exposing the identities

o unknown vulnerable individuals.

The New Internationalist is an independent not-or-prot co-operative that exists to report on

issues o world poverty and inequality; to ocus attention on the unjust relationship between the

powerul and powerless worldwide; to debate and campaign or the radical changes necessary

to meet the basic needs o all, and to bring to lie the people, the ideas and the action in the ght

or global justice. A subscription consists o 10 issues a year, and what you nd may break somestereotypes o poverty, wealth, justice and reedom.

Want to expand your worldview?

New Internationalist MagazineSubscribe and shop online at www.newint.org. Phone: (03) 386 3153 email: [email protected]

Abdulahshah with his prosthesis. He has been beggi ng near alocal mosque or the past 6 years. Aghanistan 2002.Photo: Pedram Pirnia

A young homeless person sleeping on t he street in Montreal.Photo: Pedram Pirnia



10 JUS T C H AN GE

e a t u r e

A girl and boy sleep on the ootpath o a main street in Chennai,India. Photo: (c) 2007 Aravind Kumar, Courtesy of Photoshare.

Tony BInnS argues that proposed

changes to the Aotearoa New Zealandaid programme risk the eectiveness o

the aid we give and puts us at odds with

global eorts to meet the Millennium

Development Goals.

Over the past couple o months, theissue o poverty and developmenthas been uppermost in the minds o

those o us in NGOs and educational insti-tutions who are concerned about the liveso disadvantaged people, both at home andoverseas. What has prompted the recent de-

bate here in Aotearoa New Zealand was themedia announcement in early March thatthe Foreign Aairs Minister, Murray Mc-Cully, was reviewing the status o the seem-ingly eective semi-autonomous governmentaid agency, NZAID, and changing the ocuso Aotearoa NZ’s overseas development as-sistance (ODA) rom poverty eliminationto sustainable economic development. Re-cent cabinet papers have conrmed the losso NZAID’s semi-autonomous status and itschange o ocus. Instead o poverty allevia-tion its core ocus will now be on sustainable

economic development within a wider mis-sion to ‘support sustainable development indeveloping countries, in order to reduce pov-erty and to contribute to a more secure, equi-table and prosperous world’.

When these plans were proposed they gen-erated widespread concern and activity inkey development organisations and resultedin the Don’t Corrupt Aid campaign whoseaims included ensuring that any reviews o NZAID were open to public debate and inde-pendent expert advice.

Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger

is the rst o the eight Millennium Develop-ment Goals (MDGs) which, according to theOECD website, are the basis o all the work o its Development Co-operation Directorate(DCD). Te Aotearoa NZ government hasconrmed its commitment to the MDGs butits change o central ocus risks the eective-ness o the aid programme in achieving thisgoal. Te new ocus on sustainable economicdevelopment also takes us out o step withthe majority o other OECD countries at atime when the OECD is proudly reportingthe highest ever level o development aid be-

ing reached in 2008, including a signicantincrease by Aotearoa NZ to a gure o 0.3%o Gross National Income (GNI). However,even with this achievement, Aotearoa NZ re-mains in the bottom hal o the OECD’s spec-

trum o member nations’ ODA, and is still a

long way short o the UN’s longstanding tar-get o 0.7% o GNI.

o me, switching to a ocus on sustainableeconomic development rom poverty elimi-nation, smacks o a return to ‘Tatcherism’.I can clearly remember the UK ConservativeParty’s doctrines o the 1980’s and the dog-matic assertions o the so-called ‘iron lady’that economic development would ‘trickledown’ rom more prosperous regions intopoorer areas and their communities. Numer-ous studies have revealed that ‘trickle-down’rarely works, whether in a minority world

context, or in the world’s poorer countries.Instead, what actually happens is that thericher areas (and their inhabitants) becomericher and the poorer areas become poorer,leading to increasing spatial and social in-equality. Whilst economic development in-variably does not lead to poverty elimination,I would argue that a central poverty ocus indevelopment strategies can lead to economicdevelopment. I people are well-ed, educat-ed, healthy and optimistic about their uturelivelihoods, then they are likely to be bettermotivated and more eective participants in

the workplace, whether in agriculture, indus-try or service provision.

Poverty elimination should concern usall, and attacking the underlying causes o poverty is as important at home as it is over-seas. Aotearoa NZ by world standards is arelatively ‘equal’ country, yet virtually every day there are media reports o homelessness,unemployment and crime which are oenclosely linked to poverty. Whilst quality o lie indicators such as lie expectancy, childmortality and educational achievement aremuch more avourable in Aotearoa NZ than

in sub-Saharan Arican countries, the exis-tence o ‘relative poverty’ must be both ap-preciated and tackled. It is unwise to assumethat these are majority world problems andthat all is well at home. Strengthening com-munity awareness o development issuesboth at home and overseas should, I believe,be given much greater priority and should bean important element o the school curricu-lum. Education about development shouldbegin at home.

So where do we go rom here? MinisterMcCully certainly needs to take time to seek

advice rom development organisations incharting a way orward or Aotearoa NZ’s aidpolicy. Within Aotearoa NZ and among itspopulation o only our million, there is animpressive reservoir o knowledge and un-

derstanding about development issues thatneeds to be tapped, i we are to have an aidprogramme that helps those that need it most.Both the strength and diverse membership o the Council or International Development,or example, testiy to the deep commitmentwhich exists in Aotearoa NZ or improvingthe quality o lie both at home and overseas.Poverty elimination is, quite appropriately,the key ocus o the OECD countries, andthere is a danger that the new ocus o sus-tainable economic development will result inan increasing gap between the haves and thehave nots.

Tony Binns is the Ron Lister Chair o Geogra-phy and a proessor in the Department o Ge-ography at the University o Otago.

Thinking about poverty

Poverty elimination

should concern us

all, and attacking the

underlying causes o

poverty is as important

at home as it is overseas.



WH AT IS POVERTY? 11

e a t u r e

certain disadvantaged and vulnerable groupsin India have always been dependent on thestate and society or their basic needs: a unc-tional education, healthcare, nutrition, wa-ter and sanitation, wages and employment.Some groups are also dependent in terms o creativity, reedom, dignity, sel-esteem andthe respect o others; actors considered es-

sential or leading a dignied human lie. Forexample, dalits, those traditionally workingin low occupations, comprise more than one-sixth o the Indian population and are deniedaccess to land, good housing, education andemployment. Discrimination against themtakes the orm o physical, psychological,emotional and cultural abuse, aecting theirdignity and sel esteem. Tey are dependenton the state and society or their basic needsand the state and wider society have a highdegree o control over their cultural and po-litical reedom. All o these actors inuence

the quality o lie they can lead.On the other hand, the growing domination

over these oppressed groups by selsh, eliteclasses o society using pressure group tacticsto inuence the social, economic and govern-ing policies is a very important actor in decid-ing and sealing the ate o vulnerable people.

In our experience, groups such as the dalitsthat are aected by dependency and domi-nance emerge out o society due to variousactors including caste, casual labour withlow wages, gender, illiteracy and lack o edu-cation opportunities, remote settlements,

migrant labour and household composition.Many o these people have suered chronicpoverty or generations. All such people havesome common inherent suerings such aslack o access to credit, inputs and extensionservices, and community and state resources

– particularly ood, education and health. It isdicult or these people to nd jobs, decentwages and avourable terms o employment,and the division o labour and the work bur-den is biased against them. Tey have littleaccess to public decision-making, no protec-tive legislation (even when it is available, itis ineective), no platorm to organise andclaim rights, and no rights over the natureand quality o governance.

Tese actors do not operate in isolation;they interlock with other orms o inequali-ties to keep particular categories o peoplein a perpetually disadvantaged position. Forexample, the social positioning o womenwithin the household as well as in public liein India makes many o the services listedabove inaccessible to them.

Tere are other external actors, beyond theircontrol, which increase the dependency o vul-

nerable groups, thus exposing them to risks andpushing them into vicious cycles o poverty:•environmentalrisk(droughts,oods,

and pests)•marketrisk(priceuctuations,wage

variability and unemployment)•politicalrisk(changesinsubsidiesor

prices, income transers and civil strie)•socialrisk(reductionincommunity

support and entitlements)•healthrisk(exposuretodiseasesthat

prevent work).

Vulnerability is like a disease that inuenceshousehold behaviour and coping strategiesand is an important consideration in poverty reduction policies. With so many actors piledup against vulnerable people, poverty reduc-tion strategies need to take account o the se-lection criterion o target groups; the design o integrated, indigenous and holistic schemesthat understand the local settings; continualsupport to vulnerable people; and inuencingpolicies while bypassing the dominant sectionso society. Tis is not just a big challenge; it isa Herculean task or NGOs and other agenciesworking towards poverty reduction.

K. Prakash is the co-ounder and president o Development Logix NGO in India.

Poverty elimination:A distant dream in a society o

dependency and domination

Is poverty elimination possible in India?

K. PRAKASh believes it is a Herculean task.

In India, despite decades o poverty allevia-tion schemes, the pace o poverty reductionhas been slow. oday, India is the country

with the greatest number o poor and under-nourished people, approximately 300 million

people. Why? Is poverty elimination possible?Is it so dicult? I not, what are the timelines –is poverty elimination near or a distant dream?Tese questions have no denite answer.

In India, like elsewhere, economic growthand globalisation are seen as panaceas orsociety’s ills, including poverty. A look at thehistory o India, however, does not reectthis reality. Te growth o the economy overthe past 60 years may have created a middleclass, but it has been very slow and unevenin reducing poverty. Few understand thateconomic growth is not as eective or de-

velopment and poverty reduction as a moreequitable redistribution o wealth could be.Economic growth is necessary to the extento creating basic minimum inrastructuresuch as adequately equipped schools, health-care centres and other essential social servicesbut there are also downsides. Growth withoutlimits and globalisation are destroying natu-ral eco-systems and degrading the environ-ment at a tremendous pace. Tis goes againstthe interests and the human rights o all o us– and it is the vulnerable and unavoured whoare most aected. Along with increases in

production and consumption comes massivedestruction o the environment, increasedsocial and economic inequality and increas-ing relations o dependence and domination.

Over the years, the issue o poverty in In-dia has become more complex. On one hand,

Laborers in India remove dust rom a rice crop ater harvesting it rom thepaddy feld. Photo: (c) 2005 Sk Jan Mohammad, Courtesy of Photoshare.



a r t i c l e

12 JUS T C H AN GE

Image: Women’s Reuge, Powerand control, New Zealand, April2, 2009.

Power and controlAn analysis o poverty and developmentThe Power and Control Wheel is used to help women analyse domestic violence; here

PIP BenneTT shows how the wheel can identiy some o the methods that are used tocontrol the answer to what poverty is, and more signifcantly, what development is.

What is poverty? Te common per-ception is that it is related to mon-ey and material things. But pover-

ty can also mean lack o access to healthcare,education, or whether you have the ability to buy Christmas presents or go out eachmonth. Te answer really depends on whois doing the dening and who they are de-

ning. Te power to control the denitiono poverty, and development generally, issomething that can have a huge impact onmajority world countries and their people –on what ood people grow and have accessto, social services that governments oer(such as health and education) and the ac-cess they have to the rest o the world.

Te Power and Control Wheel is usedin domestic violence situations to providevictims with the ability to identiy types o abuse used against them and allows or theidentication o the abuse itsel. Just as the

Power and Control Wheel has been usedor the analysis o domestic violence, here I

discuss its application to poverty and devel-opment to identiy some o the methods thatare used to control the answers to what pov-erty, and development, are.

Te wheel provides eight dierent tech-niques that abusers use to control their vic-tims, ranging rom using male privilege andemotional abuse to intimidation. Many o

these are easily relatable to the control o the wealthy over the poor. Te use o coer-cion and threats, economic abuse, isolationand undervaluing against majority worldcountries is common, not only to control thedenition o poverty, but also to control thedevelopment o these countries. I have select-ed our key techniques that are most easily related to the control o poverty and devel-opment: economic abuse, privilege, isolationand intimidation.

Te rst o these is economic abuse. woo the most common methods o economic

abuse are the orced economic restructuringdemanded o majority world countries to t

the neoliberal model and, through this, theresulting negative impacts o ree-trade onlocal production due to restrictions on sup-port to local produce.

Te use o privilege by minority worldcountries has become so common it is ac-cepted as the norm. Minority world countrieshave had around 300 years since the indus-trial revolution to develop their systems tocombat the social and economic pressureso development, and these are yet to be per-ected. Tey have had the opportunity to usethe resources o their colonies or their owneconomic benet. Majority world countrieshave not had the time or the extra resourcesto mitigate the negative eects o develop-ment. While development no doubt hasbenets such as improving rights, educationand health, it can also create environmen-

tal degradation, rapid urbanisation and thebreakdown o traditional support networks,and inequality. Minority world countries usetheir privilege in their unding and controlo global organisations such as the UnitedNations, World rade Organisation and theInternational Monetary Fund. Tis meansthat minority world countries control globalinstitutions and strongly inuence the devel-opment o international law.

Isolation is used by minority world coun-tries against the majority world to controlvarious aspects o the development o a

country and people’s lives. Tis can be con-trolling what a country does (or example, itspolicy development and items traded), whothe government associates with and wherethe citizens o the country can go. Tis canalso mean controlling the relocation o reu-gees and controlling access to healthcare andmedicines. Tese demands are usually madein return or aid and can determine whethera country continues to live in poverty.

Lastly, the pages o world news are oenlled with examples o intimidation. Testockpiling, use and development o weapons

technology is used to intimidate and orcecountries to comply with dominant ideolo-gies – the punishment is warare or the with-drawal o essential aid supplies and unds.

All o the above can be considered threatsand methods o coercion to control poverty and those in it. As long as a country is strongly reliant on another, it can be argued that they are not ree rom poverty because their abil-ity to determine and ull their own needsis continually undermined. Majority worldcountries may receive benets rom these re-lationships through increased income, but is

this really successul development?Pip Bennett is a postgraduate development studies student and Oxam International YouthPartner, and is interested in youth development,women’s rights and language revitalisation.

USING CoERCIoN

AND THREATSMaking and carrying out

threats to do something to hurther • threatening to leave her,

to commit suicide, to reporther to welfare • making

her drop charges •making her doillegal things.

USING INTImIDATIoNMaking her araid by usinglooks, actions, gestures •smashing things • destroyingher property • abusing pets• displaying weapons.

USINGEmoTIoNAL AbUSE

Putting her down • makingher feel bad about herself • calling

her names • making her think she’s mad• playing mind games • humiliating her

• making her feel guilty.

USING ISoLATIoNControlling what she does, whoshe sees and talks to, what she

reads, where she goes • limitingher outside involvement •using jealousy to justiy

actions.mINImIZING,DENYING ANDbLAmINGMaking light o the abuseand not taking her concernsabout it seriously • saying the

abuse didn’t happen • shiftingresponsibility or abusivebehaviour • saying shecaused it.

USINGCHILDREN

Making her eelguilty about the children

• using the children to relaymessages • using access visits

to harass her • threatening totake the chi ldren away.

USING PRIVILEGETreating her like a servant • makingall the big decisions • acting like themaster of the castle • being the

one to dene roles • puttingher down because o

race, gender ordisability.

USINGECoNomIC AbUSE

Preventing her rom gettingor keeping a job • making her askfor money • giving her an allowance

• taking her money • not letting herknow about or have access to amilyincome.



a r t i c l e


THE SCENARIo

A community o subsistence armers inChina’s Henan Province discovers away to li themselves out o their hand-

to-mouth existence – sell their blood! Whowill buy it? Te village headman o course; heis working or city entrepreneurs who on-sellthe collected blood to hospitals. Governmentocials, i not directly involved themselves,turn a blind eye.

Te system works well or a short time, butsoon the armers realise that selling moreblood means more money or their ami-lies, so they cast about or ways to increasetheir contributions. Since only the plasmais required, not whole blood, someone sug-gests that by reinjecting the donors with thediscarded blood solids, they recover morequickly and can thus donate more oen.

Great! Te bad news is that all the collect-ed blood is mixed together (and not tested)beore the plasma is extracted and the resi-due reinjected. In this way, whole villages inHenan province – already desperately poor –have now contracted the HIV virus.

REALITY VS RHEToRICWhen this situation became widely known,authorities ollowed the time-honoured pat-tern o ‘ignore and orget’.

Whole villages were literally locked up andthe people le to end or themselves.

When China joined the World rade Organ-

isation, armers tried to demand compensationor contracting HIV through government-spon-sored blood plasma collection programmes.Tese demands were quickly suppressed, whilegovernment spokesmen assured the world thatthe situation was under control.

Te poverty situation in the villages wentrom bad to worse, as their blood was no lon-ger in demand, and they had by now lost allother means o making a living.

DESPERATE TImESYears passed. By now, orphans and the elderly

made up the majority o the population inmany villages. In a last-ditch attempt to ob-tain relie, some o the young men escapedand made their way to large cities. Tere,huddled in tiny groups, they made contactwith oreign Red Cross agencies.

Perhaps now they could get their problemsaddressed? Sadly, no! Te Red Cross und-ing guidelines allowed or nothing more thanree condom distribution, lectures on theiruse and brochures advocating ‘sae sex’. Smallpackets o tissues with the AIDS red ribbonemblem were also handed out.

A RAY oF HoPEOne o the translators or a particular agency saw the oolishness inherent in this top-downapproach. She contacted a philanthropic or-eign university lecturer and arranged a meet-ing with the young men.

Te meeting began with the question,‘What is your greatest need?’. Te answerwas that the group needed an oce – laterexpanded to a support centre – where HIVand AIDS reugees could meet, exchange in-ormation and receive help.

bEAUTIFUL LIFEAs a result o nding suitable premises, the grass-roots group has gone rom strength to strength.Membership is ree and all are welcome. All theoce urniture and decor have been sourced by the young men themselves. Tey are online toother groups overseas, and hold various classesand activities or their members.

At present there is a weekly English class,and a sympathetic banker gives them nan-cial advice. An art class is also running, witha view to holding an exhibition and sale whenthere is a sucient body o work. Te moreable members who may have access to someanti-retrovirals (o dubious quality) try tokeep as healthy as possible by playing bad-minton at a local school court or by walking.

I a member is sick or in some other trou-ble, a call to the Centre is usually enough tond a babysitter, some rudimentary medicalhelp or a hot meal. All the administrators andhelpers are volunteers, and a roster systemensures that the phone is mostly attended.

Tere is no government unding and thestigma o the disease is so bad that the Centreis precluded rom open undraising eorts.Tis year, the ongoing rental o the Centre isbecoming more and more precarious as theeconomy downsizes, even as the calls or helprom members escalate. Tose who can work do so, but lack o a proper education and lan-guage skills relegate them, or the most part,to low-level jobs rom which they are easily retrenched. Te situation is ar rom ideal.

Despite the challenges they ace, the youngmen remain resolute and optimistic. Tey’vecome a long way in the past ew years, andthey’re not going to let a little recession stopthem now!

Anne Finamore arrived in China in March

2003 afer completing an MBA at Queensland University in Australia. She stayed or sixyears, during which time a colleague drew her attention to the plight o displaced HIV and AIDS victims. She has recently returned toChina having spent time in Australia raising unds to ensure the continuation o the support centre in Shanghai.

Not all poverty alleviationis good poverty alleviation:

The impact o blood selling in Henan provinceFarmers rom a desperately poor village in China’s Henan Province fnd a solution

to crushing poverty – or do they? Anne FInAmoRe examines a grassroots attempt to

break the cycle o poverty and deliver real hope or the uture.

Henan Province. Photo: Dream Corps.



14 JUS T C H AN GE

a r t i c l e

In the past 30 years, writers such as No-bel prize-winning economist AmartyaSen and Martha Nussbaum have orced

us to broaden our understanding o poverty beyond the idea o a lack o money. We nolonger measure poverty merely in terms o income per capita; we now measure educa-tion, lie expectancy, human rights and ocuson well-being. We have expanded our devel-

opment interventions rom programmes o-cussed solely on increasing income, to a rangeo interventions ocussed on capability and‘unctionings’ (dened by Sen as the variousthings a person may value doing or being).Yet, our discourse remains overwhelmingly biased toward money as the key betweencapability and well-being. Even Sen’s modelcontinues to centre on money. He sees inad-equate capability as oen being evidenced by an economically driven absence o choice. Inpersisting with this approach, capability is notonly linked to money, but is directly linked tothe perceived primary outcome o exercisingeconomic choice: well-being.

CAPAbILITY AND wELL-bEINGTis linking o money to well-being in ourdenitions o poverty leads to the great divide:those who have money and those who don’t.Tose who have money have choice and canachieve a sel-determined level o well-being.Tose without money do not have choice andcannot achieve a minimum level o well-be-ing. Importantly, those who have money getto dra the denitions. As Robert Chambers

states, ‘our common meanings have all beenconstructed by us, non-poor people’.Tis approach is exclusionist, invisible and

colonial. Poverty becomes a means o classi-cation. ‘Te poor’ are invisible and unknown.Tey are ‘the other’. We would never considercollectively categorising ourselves as ‘the rich’.o do so would be dehumanising. Yet we haveno hesitation in classiying those whose afu-ence does not meet our benchmark as simply ‘the poor’.

We classiy with the best intent. Yet ourdenitions lead us to interventions which

have, all too oen, little chance o success.I we develop capability interventions toachieve measures o well-being we ourselveshave determined, we all too oen ail and weail those who we seek to assist.

bility and well-being. Inadequate well-beingresults not rom inadequate capability, butrom not ‘doing things’.

It is here we should begin. Not with globalmeasures o well-being, nor with interven-tions to increase capability that we determine

will enhance well-being, but by asking people– individuals, households and communities– what it is they need to do to enhance theirwell-being to a level they consider appropri-ate. In adopting this approach, we shi romglobal approaches derived rom collectively conceptualising ‘the poor’, to a situated o-cus on people, grounded in their particularcircumstance and based on an acceptancethat people know what they need to do. Tey may not know the capability they require (thespecic training or development interventionrequired), but they, and only they, can link specic aspects o their well-being to specicactivities.

We can no longer categorise by employingcollective nouns. We must begin with humil-ity and acknowledge our limitations, our lack o competence. We must acknowledge that‘the poor “r” us’.

Jonathan Sibley is completing doctoral studiesat Massey University. His research is ocussed on adult nancial competence and household well-being in rural communities in the Pacic.

He is currently a member o the aculty at theCentral Queensland University MelbourneCampus and an adjunct research ellow o theuniversity’s International Education ResearchCentre ([email protected]).

Capability, competence and well-being.

The poor ‘r’ us

We need a dierent approach. We cannotuse money as a bridge between capability and well-being. And we cannot impose mea-sures o well-being based on our own crite-ria o an acceptable lie. Tere are o coursecommonalities in those things most people,when asked, consider as important. But whoare we to assume priority? Rather than com-mencing with capability and well-being, weshould instead commence with competence.

Why? Capabilities do not represent doing something; they represent the ability to dosomething. For example, I know about keep-ing enough money in a bank account, I knowhow to use a bank account and I have a bank account. I thereore have capability – but I’mnot actually doing anything. I I use a bank account to manage my money to enhancemy well-being then I am doing something. Iam engaging in the competent managemento my money. It is this competence, ratherthan the capability which permits it, that en-

hances my well-being.

CAPAbILITY, ComPETENCE AND wELL-bEINGCompetence is the enactment o capability.Competence creates a bridge between capa-

Capability and well-being.

our commonmeanings have all

been constructed byus, non-poor people

There is poverty and then there are ‘the

poor’. JonAThAn SIBley argues that our

desire to classiy poverty means povertyinterventions are more a reection o us

than what is actually needed.




lIndA BRemFoRd dares to challenge oneo the cultural assumptions that both

creates and defnes poverty.

Human poverty can be said to be thedeprivation o physical conditionsincluding ood, clothing, shelter and

sae drinking water, and the opportunity tolearn, grow and live in peace in society.

Currently, the most common method usedto dene poverty is income-based. A personis considered poor i his or her income leveland resources all below some minimum lev-el needed to meet a standard o living consid-ered acceptable in his or her society.

A materialistic consumer society survivesby insisting that no standard o living is everhigh enough. Te marketing arm o a con-sumer society insinuates itsel into every cor-ner o our lives, constantly moving the n-ishing line, exhorting people to work aster,harder and smarter in order to buy more, ac-quire more knowledge, possessions, acquain-tances, experiences and so on.

In the belie that we will nally reach this

elusive ‘nishing line’, we allow ourselves tobe used up, worn out and exhausted, alongwith exhausting the land and the natural re-sources we depend on.

Cultures with economic wealth and tech-nological power rampage though the world,seeking new resources to slake this desire ormore, while reducing others to a state o real– not imagined – poverty and need.

Not only do such powerul cultures have aninsatiable desire or resources, they have alsoinected other cultures with consumerism.Te path paved by the Coca Cola bottle that

is transported to other cultures may soon beollowed by other perceived ‘needs’.

Plain water is a clear example o how ourconsumerism shows itsel.In Aotearoa New Zealand, the water rom

our tap is more strictly regulated or saety and purity than commercially bottled water.ap water meets every real, physical need wehave or water. Yet, in 2005, Aotearoa NewZealanders spent NZ$26.5 million on bottledwater. Every year over NZ$165 billion is spentworldwide. Te United Nations estimatesthat i given just a sixth o that money or oneyear – NZ$25 billion – they could cut in hal the number o people without access to clean

water. Drinking bottled water is a choice, nota necessity, yet it is one we make despite itsimplications.

Some people say that any situation wherehumans plunder their own environment is asymptom o madness. Yet rather than pointa nger o blame at others or ourselves, wecould stop, be still and ask , ‘Why?’

Why do we allow ourselves, and evenchoose, to be manipulated in this way, andchoose to orget that we are depriving others?

Some will answer, ‘o be happy’. Could wethen ask again, ‘Why? Were we born unhap-

py? Is anything else in nature so chronically unhappy?’

o ask such a question requires steady, hon-est sel-observation. Tis can be painul. It de-nies the ‘quick x’ solutions that seem to as-cinate humans. Rather than deeply consider aquestion, we oen seek someone who seemsto have a solution that is working or them.

It takes courage to stop, look at one’s ownlie and ask, ‘Why do I demand that the earthand its resources make me happy? Do I be-lieve the vested interests o the consumeristculture that scream at me ‘you are unhappy’?

Tese orces are also working on my children.Is this what I want or them?’

In our hearts, we know that acquiring‘things’ or abstemiously giving up ‘things’never leads us to a constant, steady state o continual ease. Te next question might be,‘i consumerism doesn’t work, why do wecling to this culture?’

Tese are hard questions to ask. Can oneperson asking these questions really make adierence? Te answer is yes! Human histo-ry has had many such heroes. Yet when they have gone, too oen their message remainsonly in books. Unless a new ‘culture’ ormsaround them during their lietime, a culture

where people are unctioning daily in a sel-less way, their work can be lost.

Tis new culture could be seen as our tru-est culture, a culture o humanity. Creatingit would demand that we begin to direct ourlove and attention to that which is greaterthan ourselves. In this process, we wouldhave to abandon our sel-saving, sel-seekingdesires or our own individual survival.

Should this strong, seless culture come tobe seen as normal and natural, and shouldconsumerism come to be seen as dubiousand unnatural, our children could grow up

understanding and accepting that in the cul-ture o humanity, resources are allocated ac-cording to real and true need.

Tis single change o attitude – understand-ing and accepting that resources are allocated according to need – would strike a powerulblow at the root cause o poverty.

Yes, the task is great, but that does notmean we should not attempt it!

Linda Bremford has worked or VSA and withthe Multicultural Services Centre, teaches Lit-eracy and ESOL, and is currently developing a

work experience project or migrant women inWellington.

Poverty of consumerismor a culture of humanity?

a r t i c l e

THE woRTH oF GRoSS NATIoNAL PRoDUCT?

Our gross national product ... counts air pollution and cigarette advertising,

and ambulances to clear our highways o carnage. It counts special locks or

our doors and the jails or those who break them. It counts the destruction

o our redwoods and the loss o our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl... Yet

the gross national product does not allow or the health o our children, the

quality o their education, or the joy o their play... It measures neither our

wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our com-

passion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short,

except that which makes lie worthwhile. Robert F. Kennedy

Image: Wikimedia commons



16 JUS T C H AN GE

a r t i c l e

The measurement o poverty may have

expanded to include the capacities o people and communities but as

nASIR KhAn argues, high income does

not necessarily equal high capacity and

vice versa. The results hold risks or us all.

The widening o poverty denitions toinclude dimensions such as social capi-tal, capabilities and reedoms has add-

ed much value to our understanding o pov-erty. But despite this multidimensional ocuson poverty, the imbalance between incomesand the opportunities available to people hasreceived only scant attention. Tis neglect isalarming and the resulting relative depriva-tion may have terrible results.

o grasp the signicance o this imbal-ance, consider the ollowing classication o societies:

Te two extreme cases o high income-highopportunities and low income-low opportu-nities are not so relevant to this discussion.Our ocus is the two cases o income-oppor-tunity disparity.

HIGH INComE-Low oPPoRTUNITIESIn this situation, the opportunities availableto people remain constrained despite havinga reasonable income. Te case o immigrantsin minority world countries is a good illus-tration. A certain level o income is ensuredor most legal immigrants through measures

such as minimum wage legislation, but theremay be ew opportunities to translate thisincome into the ullment o needs whencompared to the opportunities enjoyed by wider society. Tis is because access to social,economic and political opportunities is basedmore on group aliations through actorssuch as race, religion or language, rather thanincome. Te result is income-rich relativedeprivation. Te involvement o immigrantcommunities in recent violence in the US andelsewhere, such as the killing o 13 people by an immigrant in New York in April, 2009

and the Virginia ech massacre may providesome measure o the repercussions.Such situations can also be a reection o

global economic imbalances and the result-ing resentment. In a world ragmented on thebasis o caste, colour and creed, opportunities

Relative deprivation:Poverty embedded in afuence

are oen guaranteed by virtue o group mem-

bership. Access is based on group aliationsrather than income levels; once denied directaccess, people seek other ways to access theseopportunities. Tey may use their excess in-come to nance ethnic, religious and classconicts to remove barriers between incomeand opportunities. Violence and terrorism areoen signs o this underlying problem: Al-Qaeda is one such gory signpost.

Low INComE-HIGH oPPoRTUNITIESTis is symptomatic o societies where devel-opment interventions have created new op-portunities. However, general income levelsremain low as unds are not channelled eec-tively and the alien development models thathave been introduced have concentrated in-comes in certain sectors o the population. Inthese situations, people can see developmenthappening around them but cannot take ad-

vantage o it. As a consequence, when peopleare unable to raise their incomes through le-gal means to take advantage o opportunities,they are orced to think about other options.Corruption and underground economies aretwo mechanisms devised to extend their ac-cess to opportunities. A generally weak insti-tutional set up, with specic reerence to thejudicial system, acilitates this adaptation pro-cess. Tere is no need to indicate specic casesor this malady. Te prevalence o corruptionand black economies in those majority coun-tries where development enterprise has made

deep inroads presents a vivid picture!

Both these orms o relative deprivation area serious enough threat on their own. How-ever, the threat expands with the prospecto a union between the two. It is a union in-creasingly made possible by enhanced owso inormation. Resources produced through

corruption and underground economiesin one part o the world can now be easily transported to nd resonance with distressedpeople lamenting the lack o opportunitieselsewhere. Little wonder then at the simul-taneous rise o terrorism with the wave o globalisation. What we have witnessed mightbe just some o the early results. Other, moreserious eects might be brewing, as relativedeprivation still thrives in a variety o orms.Te world would be naïve to believe thatterrorism could be eliminated by the use o orce. As long as relative deprivation is ed

by the prevailing imbalances, both terrorismand violence will be nurtured.Te cure is a balancing exercise, one that

must come rom the right direction. It wouldbe as ridiculous to advocate limited develop-ment interventions and lower opportunitiesas it would be preposterous to argue or thecurtailment o income levels. Action romthe right direction entails departing romone size-ts-all solutions. What could deliverin income-deprived groups might exacerbatethe situation in their opportunities-deprivedcounterparts. For those suering rom in-

come-rich relative deprivation, a viable solu-tion might exist in creating opportunities andbreaking down social and cultural barriers.For those lacking in income, a more equitabledistribution o wealth and the strengtheningo institutions could do the trick. However,these are only suggestions. Te imminentperils associated with relative deprivation callor in-depth research, both to understand theproblem and to nd a solution.

Nasir Khan is currently studying or a PhDat the Centre or Development Studies at the

University o Auckland.

High opportunities Low opportunities

High income Welare state Violence/terrorism

Low income Corruption/

underground economy

Less-privileged societies

Sculpture by Luis Sanguino celebrates t he diversity o New York City and the struggle o immigrants. The fgures’ expressive poses emphasise thestruggle and toil inherent in the experience o the immigrant or dislocated person. Photo: Mary Harrsch.




a r t i c l e

South Arica has an excellent Consti-tution and Bill o Rights, along withmany good pro-poor policies; yet, de-

spite signicant economic growth in the lastdecade, nearly hal o the country’s popula-tion is still living in poverty. Economic devel-opment and poverty reduction eorts shouldbring about positive change or the peoplewho need it most, right? But this has not beenaccomplished in South Arica.

So what has gone wrong? I believe that a

lack o good governance, and specically,high levels o corruption, have something todo with it. Although good governance alonewill not end poverty, without good gover-nance we are inviting raud, bribery, corrup-tion, and crime, all o which work against

reducing poverty. Continued poverty is likely to breed more corruption. More corruptionurther deepens poverty. And so on.

Corruption is not just a monetary problem;it impacts generations to come and their re-silience in the ace o uture challenges. Cor-ruption’s reach into one sector compounds itseects in another.

For example, i construction or engineer-ing contracts are awarded because o who youknow and not what you know, chances arethat inrastructure and technical capacity willall behind, or even all apart, simply becausethe skills required are not there. Te humancost o such shortalls may only become evi-dent many years later when inappropriately

built houses, dams and bridges collapse.In the education sector, i resources are notused as intended, South Arican students,who are already displaying very low levels o literacy and numeracy, will not be able to su-ciently develop the uture human capital the

Although newly elected President Zuma’scorruption charges were dropped due toa technicality and not because o lack o substance, he now vows he will crack downon corruption and raud in government.Photo: Kristin Augustine.

South Africa’spoverty of trust

AnnIKA lIndoRSSon proposes that the

poverty o trust created by corruption in

South Arica is a major barrier to poverty

eradication.

country needs to deal with the results o cor-ruption in other sectors such as the construc-tion industry. Te need or quality educa-tion is vital to stop the cycle o corruption. Itwould help the majority o the workorce outo the unskilled and low-paying jobs that pay

so low, they orce people into bribery, the,and crime to supplement their income.

Crime has hit South Arica hard. And theSouth Arican police orce is seriously strug-gling with nding the nancial means andskills to eectively ensure citizens’ saety. In-competence and corruption within the orceare not properly addressed. As a result, thereis little public trust in the police. Instead itseems that what you can trust – i you are acriminal – is that the chances o being caughtare slim.

In response to the lack o trust in public law

enorcement, individuals and businesses haveturned to private security companies. Many o these companies do a great job; others, unor-tunately, nd that the inormation they can ac-cess about when their customers are at home,when they are out, when their alarm is set andso on, is just too tempting to resist.

As you can see, not only does corruptioncause nancial poverty, it also causes the pov-erty o skill, capacity, security and trust, whichin turn creates a culture o disbelie, hopeless-ness, suspicion, and negativity – none o whichare helpul or poverty elimination.

Although I elt disappointment at theSouth Arican National Prosecuting Author-ity’s ailure to prioritise accountability andtransparency by deciding to drop their cor-ruption charges against the then president-to-be Jacob Zuma, I am still inspired andmotivated by the many positive steps SouthArica is taking to overcome the problem o corruption. Te bottom line is, corruption iscaused by people, just like you and me, andas such, corruption can be eradicated i thepeople take pride and responsibility in our-selves and our actions. In doing so, we canaddress the many types o poverty that wehave seen are symptoms o corruption. Tisneeds to be a undamental part o any pov-erty reduction eort, because when we ad-dress corruption, we can establish a trust inthe government, in the systems and in eachother. We can create a eeling o unity, to-getherness and human solidarity, and an en-vironment where we are willing to invest ineach other . Tis, along with strict adherenceto good governance and well managed pov-erty reduction programmes, should help in

ensuring positive change and developmentthat becomes genuinely pro-poor.

Annika Lindorsson migrated to South Aricain 2007 and now runs an environmental de-sign business with her husband.



THE PACIFIC ISLAND mENTAL HEALTH NETwoRk(PImHNET)PIMHnet has been involved in mental healthservices in the Pacic since 2005, and waslaunched by the WHO in March 2007. It iscurrently unded by NZAID.

Its objective is ‘to acilitate and support co-operative and coordinated activities amongmember countries, to contribute to betterhealth outcomes or people with mental illness’. Many o its 18 member countries have low in-comes, and there are signicant constraints toinitiating or improving mental health services.One such constraint is the lack o inormationabout the prevalence o mental health prob-lems in the region, which reects the lack o attention that this area o health has been ac-corded by Pacic nations’ governments.

PIMHnet member countries are encour-

aged to make mental health a national pri-ority, and to identiy ways in which mentalhealth needs can be met with existing re-sources. Tere is a strong ocus on usingexisting primary health services to delivermental health services. For example, a train-ing initiative has recently commenced inVanuatu, using psychiatrists rom AotearoaNew Zealand and Australia to train healthworkers in basic mental health skills.

A recent review o PIMHnet, undertakenor NZAID, concluded that:

a very successul project has been imple-

mented and the interventions so ar havebeen implemented well, measured at thisearly stage primarily in outputs delivered.Te achievements are signicant given theshort period o time that the project hasbeen in place and the number o countriesthat are now beneting .

mAkING mENTAL HEALTH A PRIoRITY Aid agencies, governments and the interna-tional bodies charged with addressing pov-erty need to recognise and address the rela-tionship between poverty and mental healthissues. Initiatives such as PIMHnet appear to

be eective in achieving low-cost, rapid andsustainable improvements in mental healthin majority world nations, particularly wherea considerable number o the population livein poverty.

Dr. Francis Hughes is a acilitator or thePIMHnet initiative. For more inormation, goto http://www.who.int/mental_health/policy/ pimhnet.

18 JUS T C H AN GE

a r t i c l e

For centuries, people have understoodthe relationship between poverty andpoor physical health. Tis remains the

target o numerous interventions at national,regional and global levels.

Te impact o poverty on mental health,however, is less well-known and is oen re-garded as secondary to physical health. Inreality, there is a close relationship betweenall aspects o health and its determinants –including poverty.

People with mental illness are more likely to live in impoverished conditions – they may have little or no amily support; are morelikely to be unemployed; and may be increas-ingly vulnerable to drug or alcohol abuse.Access to health services may be limited by cost, by stigma and by a lack o appropriately trained health proessionals.

It is oen hard or mental health servicesto attract unding. For example, inormationpublished by the World Health Organization(WHO) indicates that ‘most middle and low-income countries devote less than 1% o their

health expenditure to mental health’. In addi-tion, mental health initiatives do not readily attract sponsorship rom private or corporatedonors; such initiatives rarely have the appealo public health initiatives such as the provi-

sion o clean drinking water or vaccinationcampaigns.

Because people with mental health prob-lems are more likely to be aected by poverty,they are also more vulnerable to a range o actors, including:•changesinincome• the eects of natural disasters and civil

unrest•theimpactsofsocialchangessuchaspros-

titution and child labour.

ImPRoVING mENTAL HEALTH IN THE mAjoRITY woRLDTe WHO has a number o initiatives to ad-dress mental health issues in majority worldcountries. Tese initiatives orm part o themental health Gap Action Programme (mh-GAP), launched in October 2008, which isdirected at enhancing services or mental,

neurological and substance use disorders.

It’s not just a physical thing:Poverty and mental health

Poverty has a signifcant impact on mental health and well-being; yet these con-

nections are oten ignored. In this article, FRAnceS hugheS discusses some o the

connections and introduces one Pacifc initiative that is working to ensure mental

health issues are recognised.

Photo: Pedram Pirnia

most middle and low-income countriesdevote less than 1% o their healthexpenditure to mental health




a r t i c l e

Te World Bank ocuses on three aspects o well-being:•Poverty: whether households or individu-

als have enough resources or abilities tomeet their current needs.

• Inequality: the unequal distribution o income, consumption or other attributesacross the population.

• Vulnerability: the probability or risk o be-ing in poverty today, or alling deeper intopoverty, in the uture.People with disabilities constitute around

10% (650 million) o the world’s population.Te UN agencies and the World Bank esti-mate that 20% o the world’s poorest peopleare disabled and, in majority world countries,almost 80% o the disabled live on less thanone dollar a day.

While these estimates reect reality toa certain extent, they are not adequate tocapture the concept o poverty among thedisabled. Current poverty measurements –whether it is the US$1 or US$2 per day o the World Bank, the country-specic poverty lines or other measurements – are restrictedto measuring income, expenditure and con-sumption in terms o caloric intake or own-ership o tangible assets.

For disabled people, poverty goes beyondthese measurements. It includes variousother aspects like discrimination, socialisa-

tion, the ability to access services and publicplaces, inclusion, and societal perception.Tese all play a key role in determining adisabled person’s poverty status. In majority world countries, disabled people usually lack access to aids or appliances, healthcare, edu-cation, livelihoods, and other resources. Tislack o access can lead people to discrimi-nate against disabled people, and to excludethem rom society. Tereore, it is impera-tive that in order to cater to this vulnerablegroup, poverty among the disabled must beadequately measured.

Let us look at two scenarios which help di-erentiate poverty between the disabled andnon-disabled.

SCENARIo oNETe wealth status assigned to a family might not be applicable to a disabled per-son within the family.A amily might be classied as ‘above thepoverty line’, but the disabled person withinthe amily might lack access to education,employment, healthcare and/or socialisationopportunities, all o which make him or her

vulnerable. In most cases, the disabled per-son would not be an earning member andthereore would not have any savings or as-sets in his or her name. Tey are dependenton their amily.

In this case, the wealth status assigned to

the amily is not applicable to the individualdisabled person. As a result, their vulnerabil-ity is not adequately captured.

SCENARIo TwoA disabled person with income above US$2

per day is considered poor.

People with disabilities – including thosewho earn sucient to meet their needs – areoen regarded within their communities asthe most disadvantaged. Te community may perceive disabled people as dependentson their amily who are not capable o gettingmarried, cannot participate in social eventslike other people, and thereore, cannot liveindependently. Families with disabled per-sons may be considered within their commu-nities as poor, compared to amilies withoutdisabled persons, even though the nancialstatus o the two amilies might be the same.

However, these dimensions o poverty are notcaptured in current poverty measurements.

Te concept o poverty or the disabled ismost oen culturally dened and is thereore,relative in nature. Te above two scenarios re-ect the inadequacy o current poverty mea-surements in capturing the reality or peoplewith disabilities. oday, a person’s poverty status plays an important role in their accessto subsidised assistance like pensions, schol-arships and ood provisions rom the govern-ment and also in receiving development ser-vices rom NGOs or government.

Tereore, it is essential that the currentpoverty measurements look at ways to cap-ture all aspects o vulnerability aced by peo-ple with disabilities in order to adequately reect their poverty status.

Vardhani Ratnala is a development proes-sional rom India with nine years o experiencein the social sector. Currently, she is working asknowledge manager in the South Asia Oceo Leonard Cheshire International, a disabilityorganisation based in the UK.

Poverty measurements andthe concept of well-being fordisabled personsVARdhAnI RATnAlA argues that or disabled people, ‘poverty measurements’ should

not just measure fnancial independence or their ability to meet basic needs, but also

their ability to lead a normal lie.

Musharia, a girl with intellectual disability rom Coorg, India. Photo: Leonard Cheshire Disability.

Wheelchair user in the community, India. Photo: Leonard Cheshire.



20 JUS T C H AN GE

a r t i c l e

W

hile many Aotearoa New Zealand-ers don’t blink an eye at turning thetap on, in some parts o the world

water is a luxury people struggle to aord.A staggering 1.1 billion people don’t have

access to sae drinking water and around 42%o the world’s population – 2.2 billion people– live without means o sanitation. About1.6 million deaths a year are estimated to becaused by unsae water.

Water is as undamental to lie as air. TeWorld Health Organisation states that theamount o water deemed ‘sucient’ to meetbasic drinking water and sanitation require-

ments is between 20 and 50 litres o water perday, per person.Te ounding document o human rights,

the Universal Declaration o Human Rights,states that everyone has the right to an ad-equate and healthy standard o living. Tisimplicitly recognises that access to water is

an inalienable human right that governmentsmust guarantee their citizens.

But in our part o the world there is a tugo war emerging between providing accessto water and the idea o water as a businessopportunity. Fiji has started to take steps to-

wards the privatisation o water, through thecorporatisation o water and the establish-ment o the National Water Authority, de-signed to make Fiji’s water protable.

Tis move is alarming human rights ad-vocates. Corporatisation is the rst step to-

wards privatisation, and the ordinary peopleo Fiji may have even less access to water. Tevulnerable and poor are particularly at risk.

Privatisation o water services in Fiji beganunder the previous SDL (Soqosoqo Duavatani Lewenivanua)-led government which in-troduced the Water Authority Bill. Te billsparked outrage rom the NGO community and even the Fiji Human Rights Commission,a body whose independence and willingnessto speak out has been questioned due to theirsupport o the 2006 coup. Te current gov-ernment continues to implement this movetowards privatisation.

In a 2007 Government sanctioned commit-tee, established to decide the uture o Fijianwater, ve out o nine members were promi-nent private sector aliates. No civil society or consumer representatives were includedor consulted.

With 51% o Fijians living in rural areasand only about hal o the rural populationhaving access to water sources adequate ordrinking, we should be asking how privatisa-tion will improve the situation or them.

History has shown that privatisation ur-ther compromises the ability o citizens

to enjoy the right to equal, aordable, andphysical access to water. In the Bolivian city o Cochabamba, privatisation sparked hugeprotests that shut down the city or our days,eventually orcing the government to put wa-ter back into the hands o the government. In

South Arica, where the right to water is en-shrined in the Constitution, a public-private

partnership or water services has ailed tosecure the right to water or the most vulner-able citizens.

Te international community – and in-ternational law – seems to accept that watercan be treated as an economic good. But wa-ter is dierent rom other consumer goods:it is essential, scarce, and non-substitutable.We need water to live, and using it as a protmaking enterprise that puts it out o reach o some people, would be a human rights viola-tion.

Water companies using Fijian water as a

commercial good have no allegiance, legally or otherwise, to the welare o Fiji’s poorestcitizens. I the many examples o privatisa-tion rom the majority world are anythingto go by, the benets o privatisation are un-likely to reach Fijian citizens living in abjectpoverty. Without an incentive to service lowincome communities, or-prot companiesare more likely to service those communitiesable to pay or their services. When they dosupply low income communities, they may adopt unduly onerous, discriminatory, orpredatory practices. In South Arica, on top

o severe water price increases, lower-incomeareas have aced higher charges due to theirneed or basic water inrastructure. Watercut-os due to non-payment o bills have a-ected many and even resulted in a choleraoutbreak in one area.

In violation o the right to water, this latestmove by the Fijian Government shows a ail-ure to prevent third parties – including com-panies and the National Water Authority –rom interering with citizens’ rights. No oneshould be able to take away a person’s right towater, least o all a government already ailing

to provide internationally accepted standardso essential services.

o avoid a human rights crisis, the Fijiangovernment must listen to the outcry o localcommunities and civil society. Wide consul-tation and transparency on the uture o Fiji’swater is imperative. Te Fijian governmentmust not put economic gain ahead o thewelare o its people – particularly when it in-volves a resource as undamental as water. Itmust stop this process o privatisation beoreit is too late.

Olivia Rope, advocacy assistant at AmnestyInternational Aotearoa NZ, completed her masters in International Public Law, and wrote her thesis on the Human Right to water and Privatisation o Water Services at the Uni-versity o Amsterdam in the Netherlands.

Essential truths about water. Photo: ©2007-2009, Wesley Furgiuele,

All Rights Reserved.

olIVIA RoPe looks at the right to one o lie’s necessities – water – and argues,

through examination o a Fijian case study, that privatisation threatens poor

people’s access and may create yet another indicator o poverty.

Demanding dignity:The human right to water




c u l t u r a l p e r s p e c t i v e s

When rst asked what poverty is inFiji, my initial reaction was, ‘Pover-ty – what’s that; we don’t have pov-

erty at the rural village? Well at least rom our perspectives as Indigenous Fijians’. Was I be-ing ignorant? No. As a child, I loved the outerislands. We had lots o space in the villagegreen to play, we walked in the bush, pickedruit and played hide and seek. We swam atthe nearby beach, read by the rocks and triedshing with lines rolled up on a stick withsmall hooks which we baited and threw outto sea.

Tis is the Fiji I remember: lush bushes, thesound o waves against rocks, the idyllic blueocean set against the sunshine or moonlight.I nd it hard to connect this to the descrip-tions I hear now o a country that is plagued

with poverty.Over time, the Fiji I remember has changed.People rom the islands started ocking to bigcities in search o a better lie. Tey uprootedthemselves and their amilies, ready to takeon any kind o menial job as long as they were living around the city. Meanwhile, thosevillagers that elected to remain in the villagecontinued with their subsistence arming.

A recent V3 documentary on Fiji statedthat ‘Fiji now has a squatter population o around 110,000 people and it is increasing byat least 10% every year’ . One Fijian woman

interviewed said ‘For me… I think o my kids.Tat is why I came to Koroipita and rom therethey started to get educated in schools.’

Tis is the reality in Fiji now, a ar cry romwhat I grew up with. For the average Indig-enous Fijian living in a rural village, whosurvives on the land and does not have topay rent, poverty is not an issue. Tey see it

as something that is more applicable to lowincome amilies in urban areas as their livesare dictated by the money they earn rom ca-sual labour or weekly wages. Tese earningshave to pay or rent, basic staple oods, busares, electricity bills, health services and ed-ucational needs. We only need to look at thecoup d’état culture that has plagued Fiji ormore than a decade to understand the des-perate situation many amilies are in. With

the current political instability and the creditcrunch, more and more amilies in urban ar-eas are aced with a dilemma – return to theirrural village or continue their lives in squalorconditions within the city belts?

We are witnessing Fiji at its worst. Poverty is on the rise and there is more to come, espe-cially to those living in urban areas who arestruggling to support their amilies.

For people in rural villages, which makeup an integral component o an IndigenousFijian way o living, lie is dierent. At leastpeople in rural villages are still able to get up

in the morning and go to their plantation orarm to get ood to eed their amily. Tesevillages represent kinship and strong tradi-tional values, which are important elementso the communal Indigenous Fijian culture.In villages where livelihoods are based on

subsistence arming, people rely on the saleo their root crops or basic commoditiessuch as sugar, milk, butter and bread. Teirdiet varies depending on how innovative thewomen o the house are. Tere are variousways o ensuring amilies get a good break-ast o grated tapioca mixed with coconutmilk and made into little pancakes or simply tapioca porridge with coconut cream. Lunchis always light, with a heavier meal or dinner,

except or Sunday lunch or when visitors areexpected and the meal table is laden with va-rieties o resh ood rom the arm or sh andshellsh rom the sea. Tis is possible at therural village level – but not in the city, wherepeople buy ood with wages rather than rely-ing on locally-grown prduce.

I believe that Indigenous Fijians living inthe rural villages are better o than thoseurban dwellers earning a meager income tosupport their amilies.

Adi Elisapeci Samanunu Waganivalu is

studying part-time towards a double major in political science and international relationsand law. Now residing in Aotearoa NZ she still has very strong ties with Fiji. She is a ound-ing trustee o the community group Luvei Viti(Children o Fiji).

Poverty: An IndigenousFijian perspective

Much has been written about poverty by experts and

academics; in this article, AdI elISAPecI SAmAnunu

WAgAnIVAlu gives us a glimpse o how rural Indigenous

Fijians view poverty.

Mums/ladies group rom a rural village in Vuna Taveuni where I come rom. They’re sitting in the

village green under a tree having a little debrie. Photo: Adi Yalava Regu.

‘Poverty – what’s that; we

don’t have poverty at the

rural village? Well at least

rom our perspectives as

Indigenous Fijians’.



22 JUS T C H AN GE


Climate change andchildren’s health

The Accelerated Mahaweli Development Project (AMDP) is the biggest resettlement proj-ect ever implemented in Sri Lanka; it covers one third o the country and since the 1970smore than 140,000 amilies have been resettled. Te project aimed to improve the living

standard o the settlers by granting them land or agriculture and homes in the AMDP settle-ments. In some ways, it has been successul – AMDP has expanded the amount o land under

cultivation, provided employment opportunities and contributed to domestic hydropowerproduction. However, aer three decades it is evident that while some settlers have been ableto realise their aims, others have not.

Daughters to Middle East and sons to North and East:

Changing perceptions o poverty in Sri Lanka

GUNAwATHIE (63 YEARS oLD, FIRST GENERATIoNAmDP SETTLER)Tese days I could nd some work in another village in a vegetable garden...I I don’t go ontime, I will not have work or the day and will have to come home empty handed. We will

have nothing to eat. I have to look afer myson, who is 36 years old and sick. He earned well when he could. Someone who is jealous o his progress has done a hooniyama [a super-natural act] to him. So I have to do everything.I have seven children, but nobody to take careo me. My only worry is my sick son. Who will look afer him i I die? It is my Karume [ate]. I am poor and old. When you become old, youbecome poorer here.

Gunawathie’s story tells o struggle, ear,desperation and rustration. She doesn’t havea regular income as she doesn’t have regular

work. Her only aim is to earn enough eachday to eed hersel and her son. While thisstory shows dimensions o poverty, it alsoshows how Gunawathie has redened her lieto adapt to unexpected circumstances and tomake a living.

NAmAL (21 YEARS oLD, THIRD GENERATIoNAmDP SETTLER)As I could not nd an employment, I decided to join the army. I was 18 years old then. I had to look afer my parents and younger broth-ers. Now we don’t have land or agriculture. It

was handed over to my elder brother. He is not helping us afer he married. Besides, we cannot live a lie like our grandparents. Teir attitudewas ‘one has enough to eat and drink; that isenough’. How can we remain like that today? People have to build homes, save money or theuture, spend on education...I see poverty is not only about enough ood but a decent lie.

I met Namal when he was on leave rom thearmy; he did not want to pose or a picture.Namal joined the army basically or econom-ic reasons. But his story also reveals that hislivelihood choices were not only or survival

but also to ull many other desires in his lie.Tus, how people perceive poverty is also animportant actor in livelihood choices.

Tese three stories show that the settlers’perceptions o poverty are linked to chang-ing social ideas and increasing links with theoutside world. Second and third generationsettlers have managed to secure dierentlivelihood activities outside the settlement– women in Export Processing Zones andMiddle Eastern countries; men in the warareas o the North and East o the country.Meanwhile the rst generation becomes vul-

nerable as they miss out on these livelihoodopportunities.

Dr Fazeeha Azmi is in the Department o Ge-ography at the University o Peradeniya, SriLanka.

The Accelerated Mahaweli Development Project (AMDP) is thebiggest multipurpose development project implemented in SriLanka and covers one third o the country.

Gunawathie with her son in ront o her home. Photo: Fazeeha Azmi Kumari with her sisters, mother, niece and nephews in her hal-builthouse. Photo: Fazeeha Azmi

The way people perceive poverty is in a state o constant change and people respond

to such changes dierently. In this article, FAzeehA AzmI presents stories o three

people rom three generations o a major resettlement project in Sri Lanka – with

three dierent ideas o what poverty means.

kUmARI (30 YEARS oLD, SECoND GENERATIoNAmDP SETTLER)I, along with my two sisters worked in a gar-ment actory in Colombo. Afer our marriages,we decided to migrate to Lebanon to work in

a actory. Our husbands did not have perma-nent jobs. I living is only about eating, what we earn is enough or us. But it is not so. Wewanted to build our houses and lead a good lie. Our mother looked afer our children.

Kumari’s story highlights how women tendto make livelihood choices not only to sur-vive, but also to improve the quality o theiramily’s lie. Migration to Middle Easterncountries and Export Process Zones aroundColombo or employment gained momen-tum at the end o the 1990s in this settle-ment. In response to poverty and deteriorat-

ing living conditions, a number o womenrom poor households in the settlement haveopted to migrate.





A s might be expected, the rural poor inSamoa do not view poverty as not hav-ing enough ood to meet their daily

needs. Te abundance o natural resources –the land and the sea – provide sustenance orthem and people have access to these resourc-es through their social system o sharing andcooperation. During natural disasters – suchas cyclones or pest and disease outbreaks

– there may be periods o temporary oodshortage, but there are social saety nets thatstop this situation rom getting worse. Whilethere is no ood poverty in the traditionalsense o not having enough calories to meetneeds, the rural Samoan poor do speak abouta special type o ‘ood poverty’. Tey say thatnot being able to provide ‘special oods’ whenthese are needed to meet social obligations ispart o being poor.

Rural people also associate being poorwith lack o household assets and communi-ty acilities. Families that don’t have a reezer,

bathroom, ush toilet, water tank, radio orperhaps a V may see themselves as poor,and community acilities may be seen as in-adequate when there is no tap water supply or electricity, and no sealed roads, schools ormedical acilities.

A central eature o being poor in rural Sa-moa is not having the means to meet socialobligations. Such obligations can include be-ing unable to ully contribute to special vil-lage social and ceremonial occasions such as

the taligamalo (received and given) occasion,village development projects such as schoolsand churches, amily obligations includingmaliu (unerals), saoai (bestowal o mataititles), aaipoipoga (weddings), church ob-ligations such as meealoa aalelotu (churchoerings), and other social occasions.

Te poor themselves also associate theirpoverty with lack o income and savings, and

lack o income earning ability. Tey mentionnot being able to get a well-paying job, notgetting remittances rom amily membersoverseas or being unable to access an entitle-ment to a monthly pension. Some people say that a lack o income-earning assets and aninability to save money keeps them trappedin poverty. For example, amilies with no carmay struggle to earn money rom arm activ-ities, and amilies that have to use savings tomeet social obligations and to educate theirchildren may nd it dicult to move out o poverty.

So wHAT CREATES PoVERTY IN RURAL SAmoA?Rural people identiy a number o events thatthey associate with being poor or becomingpoor. Te rst o these are personal (amily)circumstances, such as chronic illness, beingunable to work, or having a spouse who is inthis situation. Te death o a spouse, especial-ly when a person is reliant on the spouse orlivelihood support, can also push people intopoverty. Rural people also say that the need

Rural poverty in Samoa:The views o the poorA detailed study o rural poverty in Samoa by FAleToI TuIlAePA and SAndRA mARTIn

asked rural poor people to describe their own situation. In this article, Faletoi andSandra share some o the insights they gained.

to meet a series o social obligations in rapidsuccession, such as multiple unerals and thebestowal o matai titles, can push people intopoverty. Pigs, chickens and cattle can be re-quired or unerals and this loss o livestock and savings can make it dicult to save or

earn income down the track.External events can also be a key contribu-tor. Cyclones cause loss or damage to housesand these houses then have to be replaced orrepaired. Crops can also be destroyed, whichreduces income earning ability, and at worst,creates temporary ood shortages. idal wavescan destroy small businesses, such as tour-ist beach ales, and can create real hardship.Sometimes it can be dicult to recover romsuch events, particularly when they are ol-lowed by urther disasters, such as outbreakso agricultural pests and diseases, such as oc-

curred with taro lea blight. Economic uc-tuations – particularly in the current globalrecession – can lead to low market prices ormajor export crops and make it dicult orpeople to move out o poverty or remain outo poverty. Rising costs or imported goodscan have a similar impact.

Although this article reports how poorpeople in rural Samoa see their own situationand the reasons that lead to this, the widerstudy includes their views on a number o other relevant issues, such as saety nets, con-straints to moving out o poverty and strate-

gies used by the poor to get out – and stay out – o poverty.

Dr Faletoi Sauvi Tuilaepa undertook this PhDresearch on rural poverty in Samoa at LincolnUniversity on a NZAID Scholarship. He is nowbased at the University o South Pacic, Apia,Samoa. His supervisor, Dr Sandra Martin, isDirector o LUCID (Lincoln University Centreor International Development) and AssociateProessor at Lincoln University.

Photo: Dev-Zone



24 JUS T C H AN GE

g r a s s r o o t s s o l u t i o n s

Carving out a space:

Some people say that Māori culture is

going through a renaissance; no, thereality is that we have managed to take

a shufe back rom the cli, but the cli is stillthere. We are still in danger o losing every-thing in the next generation. Poverty can bedened as a lack o wealth, but it isn’t just eco-nomic wealth: it is cultural wealth and amily wealth – whanaungatanga – that gives us sus-tenance. We could be materially the poorestpeople in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and havegreat wealth i we have cultural pride. Butthe act is that many o our people are poor.Now we have to drag the runaway poverty

train – cultural poverty, language poverty and whanaungatanga poverty – urther back rom the precipice.

DRAGGING bACk THE PoVERTY TRAINPeople are poor because they think poor: they live with a poverty mindset. A hundred yearsago, the marae was the hub rom which ami-lies gained their sustenance; now our amiliesare in survival mode and their priority is toput ood on the table. Many o our peopleeel disconnected rom their marae; they arealienated rom their land, they have lost the

ability to grow their own ood, and they havelost connections with amily.We need to li our people out o the poverty

mindset. I you’re constantly telling yoursel,‘We’re poor, we don’t have people wealth, landwealth or cultural wealth’, you will be stuck in

that mindset. Te work we do is to upli ourpeople; to raise the consciousness o ukorehe.

Te principles o Whakatupuranga rua mano(Generation 2000), a vision o building leader-ship or the next generation, are key or us:•Tepeopleareourwealth

•Temaraeisourrsthome•Tepreservation andmaintenanceof the

language is key.

bUILDING RELATIoNSHIPSPowerlessness is part o the poverty mindset.When people eel that they can’t eect changeamongst those who have the power, they turnon each other. So we work to reconnect ourpeople, and at the same time, we build exter-nal relationships. Right now, a multimilliondollar development company plans to buildin this area. We have evidence to show that

the development will directly aect the aqui-er, the water ways, archaeological sites andthe quality o living or everyone here. Wecan’t take them on nancially, but we’re o-cusing on overcoming our powerlessness by orging internal and external relationships.We maintain relationships that previous gen-erations created with other Iwi, and now wehave a Memorandum o Partnership with theHorowhenua District Council. Tat meanswe can sit at a table with the Council andput our point o view orward beore casesgo to the Environmental Court. We still can’t

match the development company nancially,but we can step up and say:No. We’re not going to act poor. We may benancially poor, but we’re wealthy in other ways. And look out, because we’re not going to lie down.

Overcoming the poverty mindset:A Tukorehe perspective

For FIonA KAmARIeRA and SeAn ogden,

brother and sister rom Ngati Tukorehe

Iwi in the Horowhenua, poverty is a state

o mind.

oVERComING THE PoVERTY mINDSETWe run programmes ocused on reconnect-ing with our sources o wealth. Tis meansconnecting with our whenua (land) throughour wetland restoration project and envi-ronmental management courses, connectingwith healthy sustenance by changing the kindo ood we eat at the marae and looking atgrowing our own ood, and connecting withour people through events, online communi-ties, and language and cultural courses. Ouryoung people are taking part in language andtikanga marae courses, and we run a Kauma-tua programme that encourages our eldersto take their rightul places as leaders on the

marae. Te Kaumatua course is very impor-tant or us, because our elders are sometimesorgotten, yet they are the bridge betweenwhat used to be and what is going to be, andthey need to lead us there.

Te Kaumatua course has given our peoplestrength to deal with some challenging times.In 2007, our marae hosted the tangi or Baby Jhia, the two year old who was shot in a gang-related drive-by in Whanganui. Tere weretense moments when Black Power membersarrived at our marae and we weren’t sure i they would respect the way we do things, but

we got through it because our Kaumatua wereable to stand strong and say, ‘Tis is ukore-he. I you don’t like it, you can leave’. Te gangmembers took o their patches and respectedour marae protocol. Tat was an empoweringmoment to be ukorehe.

LookING FoRwARDWe do this work because we know that weare contributing to change – not only or ourlietime, but also or the lietimes to come. It’sabout knowing that this place is going to behere or at least the next hundred years. I amsure that it will. Now we need to keep work-

ing with our next generation to ensure that itwill be here or a hundred years beyond that.In doing this, we are condent that we willovercome the poverty mindset.

Fiona Kamariera and Sean Ogden are rome Iwi o Ngāti ukorehe. o nd out moreabout ukorehe, go to www.tukorehe.iwi.nz.

Since 2002, more than 10,000 indigenous plants have ound a homeat Te Hakari wetlands restoration project thanks to people associatedwith Te Iwi o Ng āti Tukorehe. Image: Te Iwi o Ngāti Tukorehe.





bEGINNINGSIn 1952, one year beore Cambodia gained

independence rom France, an abbot namedthe Venerable Teng Gna and 12 achars (lay-men) established the Pagoda Association o Botum.

Te original statute o the associationreads:

We are calling this endeavour ‘Buddhist Aid’ which is meant, rst o all, to construct the Vihear [sermon hall] o the Pagoda o Botum. Te merits o this religious contri-bution will certainly be our uture treasurewhich will accompany us to pass the ‘cycle o reincarnations’ towards Nirvana.

Te association was managed and nancedby the community. All eleven advisors andthe association president were achars romthe pagoda and surrounding villages; ollow-ing tradition, Venerable Teng Gna did nothold any position o responsibility. Te as-sociation received no unding rom the Pro-vincial Oce o Education; yet, by 1959 vil-lagers had provided sucient unds, cash andin kind, to begin construction o a primary school. Te school in Botum pagoda was oneo only three primary schools in the districtat the time.

wARIn 1970, Cambodia’s civil war reached Botum.Te area came under control o Khmer Rougetroops who ruled Cambodia through a radi-cal orm o agrarian communism, orcingpeople to work in collective arms or orcedlabor projects. Between 1975 and 1979, theregime caused the deaths o almost two mil-lion people.

Te activity o the association suered.People stopped repaying their loans and mak-ing contributions. Venerable Teng Gna andother monks were orced to disrobe, dress in

civilian clothes and work at collective armswith the other villagers. Te Khmer Rougeoutlawed all orms o associations and theachars o Botum pagoda risked their livesto hide the association’s important docu-

ments and statutes in sealed bamboo stickswhich were buried under their houses. Tey only dug them out in 1979, when the Khmer

Rouge regime nally ended.

REbIRTHWith the regime over, Teng Gna (now anachar ) attempted to recreate the association.However, he was met with three obstacles:the government had established solidarity groups in charge o community activities andreconstruction in every village; people hadno money and payments were made withrice; ghting continued and made the areaunsae until the beginning o 1996. Despitethis, the association ocially restarted on

24 December 1988. Te community nomi-nated a School Association Committee, and122 people contributed a total o 6.449 Riel(NZ$51 at that time) to create initial capital.A second collection o contributions took place our months later and more contri-butions were made beore 1992. A secondschool association linked to the pagoda wascreated in the nearby village o Kantong Rongin 1992. Te number o association membershas increased considerably in recent yearsto reach 678 members in Botum and 462 inKantong Rong.

Although the loans provided by the asso-

ciations are normally very small, their repay-ment with interest has allowed each associa-tion’s capital to grow. Tis has also increasedthe number o amilies that can access loans.With the revenue rom loan repayments, the

School Association Committee o Botum hasbeen able to buy new tables and chairs or stu-dents and to repair walls and bookshelves.

Currently, in addition to the two schoolassociations, a cash association and rice as-sociation are also active in the Pagoda. Telink between members and the associationcommittees is based on trust, respect and

religious norms. Te main motivation orindividuals to become members o the asso-ciation and contribute to the starting capitalis in act the willingness to earn ‘merits’ or auture lie.

Te experience o Botum shows that pa-godas represent a space where community initiatives can be promoted. It conrms thatcommunity sel-help initiatives that ollowtraditional values and establish a committedleadership can develop in the absence o ex-ternal NGO or government assistance – they can even survive a war.

Arnaldo Pellini is a research ellow at theOverseas Development Institute in London.He has worked in community development or the last eight years in Nepal, Cambodia, and Vietnam.

Buddhist aid:Pagodas reducingpoverty in Cambodia

Botum pagoda is located in the village o Botum Lech, in the provinceo Kampong Thom (central Cambodia). Photo: Arnaldo Pellini

Pagodas – the centre o the Buddhist aith

in Cambodia – represent a powerul ve-

hicle or social change. ARnAldo PellInI

tells the story o the Pagoda Association

o Botum, a pagoda that has survived a

devastating totalitarian regime to be-

come a source o real poverty reduction

in the community.

CAmboDIA: qUICk FACTS1 million people lived in ancient Angkor,

the world’s largest pre-industrial civilisa-

tion

95% o Cambodians are Buddhist

62,470 monks and monk students are part

o the 3,731 pagodas across Cambodia

2 million people were killed during the

Khmer Rouge regime

10 million landmines were laid – 6 million

landmines are thought to still be in the

ground today

Cambodia is ranked 133rd o 177countries in the United Nations Human

Development Index.



26 JUS T C H AN GE


PoVERTY IN NoRTH koRDoFANSudan’s North Kordoan state has suered a 35year drought. Tree-quarters o rural peoplein the state live in poverty, a state they describeas a lack o land, livestock, commercial goodsand other assets. Opportunities or work are

limited; access to public services such as edu-cation, health, water and transportation ispoor; and there is a lack o eective partner-ships between local communities, governmentauthorities and development organisations.

Despite these challenges, some villages inNorth Kordoan have achieved internal de-velopment with little to no support rom gov-ernment and international organisations.

DEVELoPmENT FoR THE CommoN GooDWhen people in North Kordoan need to

achieve something or the common good,they have developed traditions and practicesthat involve the whole community. Peopleband together to establish schools, waterpumps, mosques, houses and arming op-erations, and they also participate in variousactivities to help individuals who serve thecommunity. Tey donate or allocate landand organise communal projects called Na-r , where people come together to carry outa project. An example would be communalarm labouring undertaken to support teach-ers or local midwives. During the rainy sea-son, people also co-operate to achieve many arming chores such as planting, weedingand harvesting.

Participation in community aairs is or-ganised and managed by local associations.Tese grassroots organisations discuss variouscommunity development issues, such as school

construction or maintenance, provisions o equipment or activities related to drinking wa-

ter. Tey also organise social events.

SURVIVAL STRATEGIES IN HAj-AbDALLASome villages in North Kordoan have man-aged to survive droughts and hardshipthrough cooperation and solidarity betweenthe members o the community. One suchvillage is Haj-Abdalla. During a massive am-ine in 1984, the people decided not to moveoutside the village and ormed ‘an emergency committee’ that included the Sheikh (villageheadman), religious leaders and inuentialmembers o the community. Tis commit-tee suggested that every household shoulddeclare what they had; grain, animals, od-der, money or gold. Te committee then di-vided the village into three areas headed by sub-committees, and the people in each areacooked and ate together. Te members o thecommunities who now lived in the townsorganised themselves and arranged to sendcontinuous support to the village. Tis lastedor seven months until the crisis was over.

In 1998, a re destroyed 65 houses in thevillage causing 40% o the amilies to losetheir assets including grain, plants, animalsand shops. Again, people worked together

and donated whatever they had to rebuild the65 houses and provide ood and clothes orthe suerers.

Neither the government nor the relie agencieshelped the village during these disasters: the sur-vival strategies came rom within the community.

LEARNING FRom LoCAL PEoPLELocal people in Haj-Abdalla use highly com-plex strategies to survive in a harsh environ-ment. Tey have adopted traditional meth-ods or storage and ood processing as wellas social practices. Beore development agen-

cies propose new strategies or dealing withpoverty, they should learn to recognise theworth o the strategies used by the villagers o Haj-Abdalla and others like them that haveallowed these people and their communitiesto survive.

Survival in Sudan:Local strategies or alleviating poverty

Below: During the rainy season, young people come back rom thecities to arm. Photos: Nawal El-Gack.

Above left: Outcomes o a good rainy season.

Above right: People identiying the symptoms and causes o poverty.

A poverty timelineThe Sudanese case shows that economic

growth does not necessarily mean better

standards o living or the majority o the

population.

Sudan is oten associated with negative

stories o conict, natural disasters and

poverty. However, in this article nAWAl

el-gAcK describes innovative village sur-

vival strategies – achieved with little to

no help rom outside agencies – that have

allowed people to survive and prosper.

Nawal El-Gack is a lecturer in the Institute o Development Studies at Massey University.

1950s: Sudan becomes independent and

is perceived to be one o the wealthiest

countries in Arica, due to its high level o

natural resources. Civil war between North

and South begins, and continues on and o

or more than 50 years.

1960s: The economy begins to ace dif-

culties; ination rises.

1970s: The ‘May Regime’ adopts a socialist

development plan to achieve social devel-

opment goals; the economy stagnates.

1980s: The government adopts Structural

Adjustment Programmes imposed by the

International Monetary Fund, including

trade liberalisation, currency devaluation,

privatisation and removal o subsidies on

ood, education and health services.

1990s: The government adopts a massive

privatisation programme, resulting in a dra-

matic increase in the cost o living and pov-

erty levels, especially in rural areas. Ater

the discovery and export o oil in 1999 the

country achieves high economic growth

but widespread poverty, highly skewed in-come distribution and inadequate delivery

o social services remain serious problems.

2000s: The degree o poverty is measured

by Ibrahim (2003) to be extremely high

– 82.7% and 83.1% or rural and urban

populations respectively. The government

introduces the Capital Development Fund

in 2006, which aims to achieve the Millen-

nium Development Goals.



Stand up take action against poverty –

16-18 October 2009. Stand up and join

in the events that show world leaders

you care about poverty and want them

to take urgent action to achieve the

Millennium Development Goals.

www.standagainstpoverty.org

As part o Amnesty International’s new

Demand Dignity campaign, write a letter

to the government o Peru urging them

to take action on preventable maternalmortality.

www.amnesty.org.nz/action_centre

Join Every Child Counts to support the

eradication o child poverty in Aotearoa NZ.

www.everychildcounts.org.nz

Sign Oxam’s In My Name petition to ask

the New Zealand government to meet

their Millennium Development Goal com-

mitments to halve global poverty by 2015.

www.oxam.org.nz/index.

asp?s1=What%20You%20Can%20

Do&s2=Take%20action

Support the work o organisations in

your local community working to reduce

poverty, such as the Salvation Army’s

ood banks.

www.salvationarmy.org.nz

News


c o m m u n i t y

LettersDear Editors

I have been a huge an o Just Change

magazine or the past ve years. Yourrecent issue has once again emphasised

the importance o poverty alleviation

through access to health. The issue has

particularly intrigued me as I am currently

involved in a capacity building project or

development workers who are engaged

in water, sanitation and hygiene projects

in developing countries. At present, over

1 billion people o the world lack access

to clean water while 2.4 billion lack access

to basic sanitation. Former United Nations

Secretary-General Ko Annan once talked

about the importance o access to saedrinking water, sanitation and hygiene

education:

We shall not nally deeat AIDS, tuberculosis,

malaria, or any o the other inectious diseases

that plague the developing world until we

have also won the battle or sae drinking

water, sanitation and basic health care.

As the last issue o Just Change showed,

access to health is based on so many

actors. You can’t even tackle one health

issue in isolation. Thank you or giving an

insight into just some o these issues. Keep

up with your work.

Kyi Kyi, Canada

I am a very new and happy member o

the Dev-zone website! I ound out about

Dev-zone rom the Amnesty Internationalannual meeting over the weekend. What

an amazing resource! I am thrilled to

have been able to sign up. I already have

an important question regarding DVDs

with screening rights. We have a small

independent theatre here in Nelson that

runs gold coin movie nights and our

local Amnesty group has thought what a

great opportunity to have a series o lm

showings in our region. Can you tell me

whether we would be able to use your

lms or this purpose?

Fiona, Nelson

Kia ora Fiona,

We have the screening rights to a number o

the flms in our catalogue. A ull list can be

ound on the library section o our website.

I the gold coin donation is used to help pay

or the venue and not to make a proft, you

can show a flm we have screening rights or.

For large screenings we recommend that you

contact the flm’s director to let them know

you will be showing the flm.

Marion, Dev-Zone librarian

Dev-Zone has been particularly active

around Aotearoa New Zealand recently.

We’ve held lm screenings and seminars

at all seven Aotearoa NZ universities, and

in conjunction with Fairtrade Fortnight

and Trade Aid we’ve visited Nelson, Picton,

Napier and Masterton. Along with these

visits, promotion o the Responsible Tour-

ism Code or the Pacic is expanding: the

Solomon Islands Visitors Bureau will be

promoting the Code and you will soon be

able to see the Code in airport publications

around the country and in Jason’s travelguides or the Pacic.

We arewelled Cindy Munn ater ve years

as the Schools’ Programme Manager. She

was instrumental in establishing a number

o new initiatives with global education

and we wish her all the best with her

uture career. Ricky Prebble has completed

his rst edition o Global Issues: Environ-

mental Challenges in the Pacic, and the

second issue o Small World, our new

magazine or primary schools, is out now.

Two new resources have been produced

or secondary schools: an updated versiono ‘Our Changing World’ and a new CD

Rom, ‘Resistance!’, which includes case

studies on eight protest movements

around the world.

For the community and youth team, it ’s all

about Just Focus at the moment. We have

a antastic new website www.justocus.org.

nz, which is bigger, brighter and bolder

than beore. You will still nd all the original

content, but with loads more inormation

and some exciting new eatures. We have

selected ten talented, enthusiastic young

writers or the 2009 Just Write Team whocome rom Northland all the way down

to Invercargill. The team met in May or an

action packed training weekend and have

already started writing articles or Tearaway

Youth Magazine, Actv8 Magazine and the

Just Focus website.

Meanwhile planning is in ull swing or

‘Films rom The Global Edge’, a series o lm

events presented by Media that Matters

(MTM) Aotearoa. Happening in May and

June across ve town centres – Waita-

kere, Hamilton, Wellington, Nelson and

Christchurch, these are not your average

lm screenings. MTM showcases a collec-

tion o short lms made by young people,

it’s ree and there will be ood, prizes and

perormances by local musicians.

from theDevelopment

Resource Centre



c o m m u n i t y

PicksResources

from theDev-Zone LibraryHe rauemi mai I te kohinga a Dev-Zone

Killing poverty: Lie VLondon: Television Trust or the Environment (TVE), 2005.Director: Rob Sullivan, DVD; PAL; 26 mins

In 2002, President Kibaki came to power in Kenya promisingto end the corruption endemic in the previous regime. Buthow much have things really improved? This lm ollowsthe ortunes o a amily aicted by AIDS and talks toministers and anti-corruption ocials who suggest that theGovernment needs more international aid to help it stampout corruption.

Lie and debtNew York: New Yorker Video, 2003. Director: Stephanie Black.DVD; 86 minsJamaica is the land o sea, sand and sun ... but it is also aprime example o the complexities o economic globalisationon the world’s majority world countries. This lm examines

the relationship between Jamaican poverty and the practiceso international lending agencies.

Struggling or a better living: Squatters in FijiFiji: Citizens’ Constitutional Forum Ltd, 2007. DVD; 50 minsAccording to the latest estimates 12.5% o Fiji’s populationtoday is living in over 182 inormal or ‘squatter’ settlementsaround the country. This lm explores the problems squat-ters ace in their daily lives and the issues o human rightsthat their situations present.

Slums and moneyLondon: Television Trust or the Environment (TVE), 2009.DVD; 45 mins

This lm looks at some o the debates around market drivensolutions to poverty. Presenting the views o both sides itlooks at the pros and cons o open markets and urbanisationand importantly the views o the ordinary people whosestories actually illustrate the debate.

Waging a LivingUSA: Public Policy Productions, 2005. Directors: Roger Weis-berg and Pamela Harris. DVD; 85mins This lm ollows the lives o our hard working individuals as theystrive or their piece o the American Dream but nd only lowwages, dead end jobs, and a tattered saety net in their way.

Poverty in a Changing ClimateThom Tanner and Tom Mitchell (eds), IDS Bulletin vol.39 no.

4, 2008Adaptation is now a central strand o climate policy and thisissue o the bulletin argues that adaptation will be ineec-tive and inequitable i it ails to learn rom and build upon anunderstanding o the multi-dimensional and dierentiatednature o poverty and vulnerability.

Elite Perceptions o Poverty and InequalityElisa P. Reis and Mick Moore (eds). Zed Books, 2005 This book looks at the attitude o majority world elitesto poverty. The authors argue that a key actor in solvingpoverty is convincing these elites o both the reasons whyreducing poverty is in their own and the national interest.

Flat world, big gaps: Economic liberalization,globalization, poverty & inequalityJacques Baudot and K.S. Jomo (ed). London: Orient Longman,Zed Books Ltd and Third World Network, 2007 Many mainstream economists have claimed that glo-balisation creates worldwide growth, and that economicliberalisation will lead to economic convergence and lowerinequality. This book analyses how economic liberalisationhas aected inequality, poverty and development in recentdecades.

Knowing poverty: Critical refections on par ticipa-tory research and policyKaren Brock and Rosemary McGee. London: Earthscan, 2002This book ocuses on the use o participatory research in pov-erty reduction policies, and presents a series o participants’refections on recent and ongoing processes.

The new poverty strategies: What have theyachieved? What have we learned?Ann Booth and Paul Mosley (eds). Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2003This book examines the shit by international developmentagencies to a primary or exclusive ocus on poverty reduction.It looks at what the ‘new poverty strategies’ have achieved.

Poverty and water: Explorations o the reciprocalrelationshipDavid Hemson, Kassim Kulindwa, Haakon Lein, AdolloMascarenhas (ed). London: Zed Books, 2008

For the international community to achieve the MillenniumDevelopment Goals, governments must step in to protectthe rights o the poor. This book explains the links between

d l d d

Skeptic’s Guide to Global PovertyDale Hanson Bourke. Colorado Springs: Authentic Publishing, 2007 This guide provides answers to the challenging questions

many people have about the poor, ranging rom how poorpeople eel to ways governments keep their people poor; thebook discusses various aspects o poverty and its aects.

Voices o the poor: Can anyone hear us?Deapa Narayan et al. Washington DC: Oxord University Press, 2000This book provides a detailed picture o the lie o the poorbased on the accounts o over 40,000 poor women and menin 50 countries. It accompanies two other volumes ‘Frommany lands’ and ‘Crying out or change’.

World Poverty and Human RightsThomas Pogge. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2008Just 1% o the national incomes o the high-incomecountries would suce to end severe poverty worldwide

yet the minority world will not risk transerring this wealthor altering the structures that perpetuate it. Thomas Poggeseeks to explain why this is so.

The end o poverty: Economic possibilities or our timeJefery Sachs. New York: Penguin Press, 2005 Sachs explains why over the past two hundred years, wealthhas diverged across the world and why the poorest nationshave not been able to improve their position. He explainshow to work out a county’s economic challenges and sug-gests a set o solutions to inter-linked economic, political,environmental and social problems aced by the world’spoorest societies.

The Working Poor: Invisible in AmericaDavid K. Shipler, New York: Vintage Books, 2005 In a land o plenty, the “orgotten America” struggles to

i i i i h b h i

The Devil’s minerUSA: Urban Landscape Productions, 2005. Directors:

Kei Davidson and Richard Ladkani. DVD; 82 minsThis lm portrays the story o 14-year-old Basilio Var-gas and his 12-year-old brother Bernardino, who workin the ancient Cerro Rico silver mines o Bolivia. Raisedwithout a ather and living in extreme poverty withtheir mother and six-year-old sister on the slopes o the mine, the boys assume many adult responsibilities.

Documents

Communities in Cambodia