Reflective writing 2
Date: 26 June 2015
The most significant
issue I realized from poverty and rural development lecture is that poverty is
not just caused by low income. Poverty has many faces, it is much more than low
income. It also reflects poor health and education, lack of nutritious food or
even two meal per day, deprivation in knowledge and communication, inability to
exercise human & political rights and the absence of dignity, confidence
& self-respect, gender inequality between male and female, and family
population and fertility in a family. I also realized three Perspectives on
Poverty they are: 1. Income Perspective: A person is poor if and only if
his/her income level is below the defined poverty line. 2. Basic Needs
Perspective: Poverty is deprivation of materials requirement for minimally
acceptable fulfillment of human needs, including food. 3. Capacity Perspective:
Poverty represents some basic capabilities to function a person lacking the
opportunity to achieve some minimally acceptable levels of these functions.
A possible implication
of this learning is that just increasing the income or generating employment is
not enough for reduction of poverty. Poverty has to be analyzed deeply from all
the factors which cause poverty as I have mentioned above. In my opinion,
firstly, policies makers should be crystal clear about the cause of poverty and
should generate suitable policy in the country. Most of country are working on
eradicating poverty, some countries succeeded but some did not. For, example, Chinese
one-child policy which succeeded which helped in reducing population and as
soon as population is reduced everything will be less consumed helps in
reducing poverty. The understanding of poverty is necessary for the reduction
of poverty, poverty needs to be understood in the broader context of
development (Chettri, 2001). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) in the United States which is reported as one of the most successful
program in helping the poor could lift 10.3 million people out of the poverty
in 2012 (Arloc and Danilo, 2015). On the contrary, the poor population
growth is still increasing every year, thus, I doubt that this food stamp
program was effective enough to reduce poverty (Michael 2013). Furthermore,
these problems whether overspending or unaccountability in the SNAP also happen
in Bangladesh (Md.Masud and Choyon 2014). In Nepal food is not just
concern of poverty. Human poverty is immense in Nepal. High population growth
and low economic growth continue to push a large proportion of children into
the labor market as wage earners, resulting in a large pool of educationally
poor people, with the result that women suffer much more than men.
This understanding will
help me in number of ways. Firstly, I was not clear what poverty actually
caused by and was wrong in addressing correct issue of poverty. Now I will be
able to identify it and find a suitable solution. Thus, I will be able to
eradicate from root not just from but from branches. Secondly, Nepal is poor
country most of poverty reduction project are done through foreign aid, thus
they prepare the program to eradicate poverty which they set according to them
without understanding the cause of the certain group or place, in result it
fail to reduce. This understanding will help me request them to understand main
cause of poverty. Thirdly, I have heard a saying when mother is educated whole
family will be educate. Thus, women should be considered in reducing poverty in
particular place where there is gender discrimination.
This will be useful in
my future work. Being a gender and development should, and furthermore I am
from Nepal, which is poorest country in Asia and 12th poorest
country in world, I have to reduce poverty in my country. This insight helped
me to understand it from root not just from steam or branches. Now I will be
more capable to work in development projects to reduce poverty in my country.
Just making money or providing jobs to poor people is not solution, everything
we do must be long-term.
References:
Arloc,
S. and Danilo, T. 2015. Policy Features: Safety Net More
Effective Against Poverty Than Previously Thought.The Center on Budget and
Policy Priorities (CBPP).
Chhetry, D, 2001. Understanding
Rural Poverty in Nepal. (http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.196.9176&rep=rep1&type=pdf)
Md. Masud A. K. and Choyon K. S. 2014. Targeting Social Policy and Poverty
Reduction: The Case of Social Safety Nets in Bangladesh. Poverty &
Public Policy Journal
Michael T. 2013. Policy Analysis: SNAP Failure The Food Stamp
Program Needs Reform. No.738
Sen, Amartya. 1996.
Radical Needs and Moderate Reforms. In Indian Development: Selected Regional
Perspectives, edited by Jean Dreze and Amartya Sen. New Delhi: Oxford
University Press
