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Book Review on

Coping Poverty: A Psychological PerspectiveReviewed by

Dr. Monira Yasmin, Roll: 41&

Dr. Mymoon Redwan Chowdhury, Roll: 42

124th Special Foundation Training for BCS Health Cadre.

BARD, Kotbari, Comilla.

About The BookTitle : Coping Poverty

A Psychological Perspective

 Authors : Mrs. Nurun Nahar Kabir Mr. Ranjan Kumar Guha

 Published By : Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD) Kotbari, Comilla

 Year : First Published in 2009

About the authorMrs. Nurun Nahar Kabir obtained MSc in

Psychology from University of Dhaka, Masters in Gender & Development from United Kingdom, having 40 research studies ranging from Psychology, Rural Development to Gender issues.

Mr. Ranjan Kumar Guha obtained Masters with Honors in Management from University of Dhaka, having more than 20 research studies in various fields of development. He has developed his interest in the field of poverty analysis by leading to research project namely Local Level Poverty Monitoring System at BARD (Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development).

Structural & physical get up of the book:

The book consists of 168 pages, six chapters. Each chapter contains elaborate discussion on specific issues with case studies (25 case studies). It is printed on offset paper with clear black letters and has a matted binding with a nice cover. The cover page shows smiling face of a child behind rods of a window.

Main Theme of the Book:The pro-poor policy of Bangladesh aims at

providing well-prioritized national strategy for poverty reduction, human development & gender equality.

The book attempts to explore the complex inter linkages of gender and age with poverty and the interface of both with psychological and social perspectives.

The main aim was to provide an alternative conceptualization and analysis of resource for coping process and support required for addressing poverty.

Importance, significance and relevance of the book:

• This book is very important as it may be helpful for planning development intervention for the poor to eradicate poverty. • It is significant in the sense that authors tried to

explore impact of poverty in relation to different aspects including psychological point of view, which might not have been studied before. • It is very much relevant as the poor are still

representing 40% of our population who remain under poverty line.

General objective 

To explore the consequence of poverty on the poorest people from the psychological perspectives and their coping mechanism to reduce stress, vulnerability, shocks by gender and age groups in different regions of the country.

Objectives

Specific objectives  Identify the psychological impacts of poverty on

the poorest people by gender and age

Find out coping strategies of the poorest people by gender and age

Identify access to control over the resources and services provided by the development organizations and communities to the poorest group

Objectives(cont’d)

The book is a research work based on participatory method.

It is a very useful and effective method where the trained field investigators were able to collect both qualitative and quantitative data.

The major tools used in this research, were Focused Group Discussions (FGDs) and Case Studies.

All information collected separately from different age, gender and socio economic status.

Methodology:

Study areas and livelihood strategiesIt is described at the chapter- Two.This chapter briefly introduces the area

coverage, livelihood pattern and socio-economic condition of the respondents.

The major concerns for selecting the areas were seasonal variations, natural resources and calamities, difference in language, culture and presence of development interventions.

Approaches, Perception, Reaction and Understanding of povertyThese are described at the chapter- Three.Absolute poverty is measured by assessing

minimum standard of living, calorie intake and nutritional levels, clothing, sanitation, health, and education housing etc. that usually vary according to socio-economic and political environment.

Relative poverty states the relative position of deprivation as compared to national average income levels.

Psychological impact of poverty• It is described at the chapter- Four.• In analyzing the findings of this study gender

dimensions, socio-cultural norms and values (like patriarchy, power relation, peoples attitude and practice), development and welfare activities and people access to and control over the resources are discussed for better understanding of the poverty and psychological perspectives.•Major reasons for psychological and mental

stress informed by the respondents are mainly four types: social, economical, health and emotional.

Access to control over resources and services:

This is described at the chapter- Five.Micro-credit means spending money on the

income generation activities but they often spend it to the survival needs, to pay for dowry or for the paying back another loan. Sometimes they spend the money for treatment and medication purpose.

A significant number of respondents mentioned moneylenders as one of the important sources of credit.

Vulnerability and Coping of Crisis: This is described at the chapter-Six.Natural risks e.g. flood, cyclone, continuous

rainfall and draught. Personal risks e.g. diseases, disability,

divorce, homelessness.Economic risk e.g. lack of ownership of

productive assets.Political risk e.g. threat from musclemen,

negative behaviour of providers. Social risks e.g. demand of dowry, lack of

bargaining power. Technical risks e.g. lack of information

about facilities coping competence and poverty.

CRITICISMPositive aspects: Poverty viewed as complex multi-dimensional

process. It includes qualitative variables like

participation, community capability, crisis coping mechanism and psychological attributes.

The psychological analysis shows the socio-cultural practices of the community significantly perpetuated poverty.

Poverty has been defined by a set of indicators perceived, identifies and distinguished by the respondents of different age, gender and class in this group.

Taking cognizance different vulnerabilities and address them differently for bringing equality not only between male and female but also between different groups based on age, sex, class and area.

CRITICISM (cont’d)

Negative aspects:

There was no definite set of indicators to define poverty by the researchers.

They did not use any clinical tool to measure psychological impacts.

There was repetition of some concepts. They were dependent only on focused

group discussions and case studies. The study was also limited to certain areas

of the country.

This book generates a vast quantity of uncovered information on coping strategies of the poorest segment based on psychological perspective and finds out ways and means for the GOs, NGOs and communities to mitigate the psychological stress of these people and to give them the resources, services and counseling. They need to succeed in better life.

Conclusion

SuggestionsThis kind of study should be conducted all

over Bangladesh.It is necessary to undertake a more

comprehensive study highlighting the different issues so as to have better understanding of the coping poverty.

Bengali is our mother language. So this type of helpful book should be in Bengali. We believe that, if this book would have been written in Bangla, it would be more useful to the general.

Thank You All

Question &

Answer