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No / The stated aim of much development assistance is the reduction of poverty. This book examines how development interventions might be more effectively targeted to achieve this aim. Part One provides an overview of planning for poverty reduction, and evidence on the extent and causes of poverty. Part Two examines participatory approaches to development planning. Part Three assesses macro-economic strategies and programs for poverty reduction. Part Four concludes with a microeconomic analysis of the distribution of benefits from investment projects

Extreme poverty is a reality facing over a billion people, and a striking contradiction is that huge disparities coexist with a relatively rapid economic growth. This thesis investigates whether economic growth reduces poverty. Through an empirical cross-sectional regression, it analyses what impact economic growth has on poverty, and what structures that possibly preserve these phenomena. The theories of Dual Economy and Human Capital are used to explain such structures that cause poverty to coexist with growth. Brazil is an example of a dual economy whose recent history is characterised by successful economic and public policies that have managed to reduce the level of extreme poverty. Structures of dualistic labour markets contribute to the preservation of the extreme poverty, thus they do have some explanatory power of the coexistence of poverty and growth. The main conclusion from the empirical results is that economic growth does indeed reduce poverty. Also the level of poverty is strongly related to decrease of poverty, in such a way that a high level of poverty is associated to a slow decrease of poverty. However, economic growth does not appear to be sufficient a tool when the level of extreme poverty is high, suggesting that well-designed policies and investments in education are needed to obtain an inclusive, pro-poor growth and thus reduce the level of extreme poverty.

The paper aims to analyze the development of the shadow banking system in China and its role in the rapid economic growth in China for the past three decades. The shadow banking system supports small and medium sized firms and agricultural development projects. This has an important impact on poverty reduction in China as farmers largely refer to informal financial channels to get credit support for seeds, chemicals and animals. The shadow banking system offers credit supplies to lenders who cannot easily obtain credit from the official banking system. The credit supplies they offered use different financial instruments, come with higher interest rates, and were often disguised as financial products landing within the regulatory framework of the administration. The commercial banks also used the shadow banking financial instruments to meet capital thresholds from the People’s Bank of China. As a result, the shadow banking products create longer credit chains, distort credit flows in the financial system by diverting investments into short-term, high return, more risky financial markets. The turbulences in the interbank transaction market, the financial derivative market, the stock exchange markets (including the main-board, the “second tier” market for SMEs and the “third tier” market for start-ups), and the real estate market are all heavily involved in transactions conducted by the shadow banking entities. The shadow banking system in China has been expanding at a pace beyond the current regulatory structure. The internet P2P investment platforms, for instance, become popular with investors and raise funds up to RMB 1 billion each platform. There exist over thousands of internet investment portals, the most popular one being “Yu E Bao”, offered by Alibaba.com. The traditional regulatory institutions, however, do not cover shadow banking investment activities made online. Neither are insurance offered to insurance made online; as the new deposit insurance scheme only cover deposits made in the official banking system. With the ambition of boosting the internationalization of the RMB, financial deepening and economic reforms in China, the financial regulators in China face the dilemma resulting from the regulatory arbitrage associated with the expanding shadow bankinBBC system. Individual investors in China purchase the shadow banking investment products and assume their purchases come with implicit government guarantees, such as wealth management products sold by commercial banks for trust companies and local government investment platforms. On the other hand, it is critical for investors to make rational investments; thus, regulators are obliged to remind investors of risks related to the shadow banking products, that the fantasy of governments repaying failing shadow banking investments will be not realized. It is also the responsibility of the regulators to divert funds collected by the shadow banking entities to long-term investments to build up industrial bases. The financial deepening in China required the transformation of the shadow banking entities and financial products offered into ones with adequate capital cushions and sufficient liquidity. The internationalization of the RMB necessates the opening up of the capital, hence financial account in China. However, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the hyperinflation resulting from the dollarization in Latin America has led the Chinese regulators to be cautious in conducting currency liberalization and financial reforms. The opening up of the financial account with the liberalization of the exchange rate regime doubles the financial risks, increases the possibility of financial crises, and may result in the stagnation of economic growth. The function of the central bank as the lender of the last resort demands effective and prudential regulations for SIFIs, and also seeks to functioned to boost market confidence. At this critical turning point of the Chinese economy, defining the role of the shadow banking system, bringing them into the regulatory framework, and identifying risks created should be the priority of the financial regulators in China.

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS) / The high unemployment and poverty rate in post-apartheid South Africa has necessitated the need to identify policies and programmes to provide economic and employment opportunities. This included a review of the practice of local economic development (LED), guided by the recognition that local government had a developmental role to play. Local government exercises a role in promoting LED initiatives such as enterprise development, locality development, community development and governance. The International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) states that more than 1 billion people benefit from co-operative enterprises, that co-operative enterprises are found in all sectors of the economy, and that co-operatives provide employment to more than 100 million people. By co-operating, people are able to gain economic and social advantages, such as employment, support for their businesses and access to social programmes being offered. In South Africa, co-operatives were identified as a vehicle through which economically active people could be absorbed into the economic mainstream. The idea in getting groups of people to work together is seen as an opportunity to fast-track development. Co-operatives have the potential to promote and support local economic development. Government has created an environment conducive for co-operatives through its policies and programmes. Much of the literature focuses on the failure of co-operatives in South Africa. This research, while acknowledging the many difficulties/challenges confronting co-operatives, investigates three relatively successful co-operatives in the City of Tshwane. In doing so, this research highlights the processes that make these co-operatives successful, and assesses what lessons, if any, these might hold for other co-operatives in South Africa. The research investigated the reasons behind their success and this information was used to analyse how co-operatives might contribute to LED. The key objectives of the study was to assess the economic and social impact of co-operatives on the livelihoods of the members, evaluate the economic impact of these co-operatives on LED in CoT, and formulate a set of recommendations that could be used to guide the implementation of the National Co-operative Strategy and provide lessons for other co-operatives.

<p>The situation of the low developed countries has been on the agenda of IMF and the World Bank throughout the years. However, after the disastrous failure of the Structural Adjustment Programs, the two financial institutions left the ideas of 'one model fits all' and economic growth equals development. Rather, tailored development programs and poverty reduction became the new foci. Further, it is today stressed that the broad-based participation of the civil-society and the ownership of the nation over the development process are the most important factors for successful and sustainable development. These ideas conforms the basis of the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) initiative which was adopted by IMF and the World Bank in 1999. </p><p>This paper will investigate indications and perceptions, given by the civil-society, of the concepts of its participation and ownership within the Poverty Reduction Processes in Bolivia and Uganda. The objective is also to, in an inductive manner, develop and increase the understanding of how, and through what means, the two concepts have been realised and contextualised. In order to fulfil this purpose, the contents and origins of the PRS initiative are outlined and the definitions of participation and national ownership, in accordance to IMF and the World Bank, are stated. Secondly, against the derived theoretical framework an empirical pilot study will be conducted, based on literature studies. The primary conclusion drawn from the analysis is that it is impossible to broaden the understanding of what types of participation that have been applied. However, important and interesting insights have been reached in relation to how participation has been contextualised. First and foremost, for a genuine participation of the civil-society it is not enough with physical presence at official consultation meetings. The people must be enabled to actively and directly participate in, and influence the agenda of, all the stages of the PRS process. In regard to national ownership it has been concluded that the term bestow more than the balance between national, governmental and international influence - it is also a feeling of being able to participate in, and influence the outcome of, PRS process. Overall, the major finding is that for a real apprehension of national ownership and participation the perception of the civil-society must be accounted for. It is the people who decide whether they have been adequately involved and if they see themselves to be the owners of the process!</p>

"Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) were born out of the policies of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They were introduced 'in the wake of the failure of Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) to reduce the incidence of poverty'. PRSPs have been linked with the IMF and WB Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) debt relief initiative. In order to have access to debt relief, countries have had to draw up PRSPs and start moving towards their effective implementation. PRSPs are now meant to be the national guide informing almost every facet of the human development framework. They are being used as benchmarks for the prioritization of the use of public and external resources for poverty reduction. Further, multilateral as well as bilateral donors and lending institutions are using them as an overarching framework from which policies and actions of developing countries are to be gauged and decisions on further assistance or loans made. In that light, PRSPs have become pivotal to the social fabric of the countries concerned as they affect the daily undertakings of the people through, among other things, their allocative and redistributive roles. ... The PRSPs of Malawi and Uganda are not premised on the human rights based approach to poverty reduction. They largely address issues of economic and social rights from a benefactor and beneficiary perspective rather than from a claim-holder and duty-bearer perspective. Further to that, these policies are largely premised on the requirements of the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs) that have received heavy criticism for not factoring in human rights considerations, when implementing their policies towards developing countries. This problem thus calls for a harmonisation of PRSPs with the obligations of the states as well as the BWIs to ensure the full realisation of these rights. ... This study is divided into six chapters. Chapter two is a concise analysis of the PRSP processes in Malawi and Uganda. It addresses issues of participation and national ownership, among others, and locates the role of the BWIs in the process. Chapter 3 is a general overview of the international legal obligations that the two governments have in the area of economic and social rights. Chapter four provides an overview of the scope of the rights to health and housing. Chapter five is a critical analysis of the extent to which the PRSPs of the two countries act as effective tools for advancing the rights to health and housing in the two countries. Chapter six concludes the discussion. It makes necessary recommendations in order to strengthen the human rights based approach to poverty reduction within the framework of the PRSPs, with a view to ensuring the progressive realisation of economic and social rights." -- Introduction. / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2004. / Prepared under the supervision of Dr. Baker G. Wairama at the Faculty of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/llm1.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

This study is a Minor Field Study (MFS), which is a Sida funded scholarship who made this field study possible. With an institutionalist approach, this field study aims to outline the foundational reasons behind peoples’ participation in the South African informal financial stokvel system. In order to do that, interviews have been made trying to identify what roles normative, cultural and economic factors play in peoples’ decisions, why individuals’ find that the stokvel system is a better choice than other systems, and also to explore what individuals experience distinguish the informal and formal economic systems. The study has been conducted in South Africa, in the province KwaZuluNatal, and twenty-five persons has been interviewed in order to get the people perspective. Results show that both normative, cultural and economic factors appear as important, but that the economic factors play the overall biggest role for joining a stokvel. Both the main differences between the formal and informal system, and the reasons why individuals find that the stokvel system is the best system of choice, can be traced back to trust and trust issues.

Micro enterprises have become popularised globally as the favoured option for development and have played a key role in poverty alleviation. The main premise of using micro enterprises has been to build the capacity of the individual to be self- sustaining and to move away from the continued dependency on state welfare. Micro enterprises are also seen as a key tool to allow participation of the disempowered population. In South Africa micro enterprises have been hailed by government as playing a pivotal role in creating employment opportunities for the poor people. The study was conducted to gain a deeper understanding of how beneficiaries view the role played by micro enterprises in reducing poverty. This qualitative research was based on case studies of 12 female participants who were selected using convenience sampling based on their availability and participation in micro enterprise initiatives. An interview schedule was used and the interviews were tape recorded. The major findings that emerged were that beneficiaries perceive micro enterprises as meeting their basic needs like food and rates, to others they were a way of supplementing income. Most participants perceived micro enterprise rather as a hobby than an effective income generating activity. None of the beneficiaries had business skills, equipment or information and capital to grow their business beyond their residential areas. None of the micro enterprises were able to create employment for others. Various factors such as lack of capital, low literacy levels, poor business management skills and non-entrepreneurial mind-set amongst others have resulted in this failure. Beneficiaries of this study perceived the income from their micro enterprises not enough to qualify their micro enterprises as a poverty reduction tool. The main conclusion drawn from the study is that whilst profit generated through participating in micro enterprises meet the beneficiaries’ basic necessities, it is insufficient income to meaningfully reduce poverty.

The aim of this Bachelor thesis is to study the connection between literacy and development and poverty reduction in a third world country. The study is based on Mothers’ Union Literacy and Development Programme (MULDP) in Malawi, where it examines what difference literacy makes in the learners of MULDPs lives and what meaning literacy has for them. The results found in the study are analysed with a theoretical framework that is built on Freire’s theory of ‘conscientization’ and the concepts of functional literacy and functional illiteracy. The method chosen is unstructured focus group interviews with the learners of MULDP and the findings were classified into themes through meanings condensation and thereafter compared with the theoretical framework. The results show that the effects of literacy are visual in both the personal and public sphere, changing the lives of the individual, the family and the community. The findings illustrate that literacy is both a tool and a social practice. Literacy itself does not develop the learners; it is the knowledge that comes with the social practice that is the trigger to development. This study concludes that literacy is developing the learners as human beings. A connection can, however, not be made between literacy and poverty reduction; literacy cannot on its own take the learners out of poverty because other means are also needed.