Participatory Poverty Assessment Niger
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P.O. Box 506 Niamey – Niger Telephone: (227) 75 30 98 E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] Office of the President of the Republic Office of the Prime Minister Permanent Secretariat of the PRSP Participatory Poverty Assessment Niger Cabinet National D’Expertise en Sciences Sociales CNESS-Bozari Africa Region Office of the President of the Republic Office of the Prime Minister Permanent Secretariat of the PRSP Participatory Poverty Assessment Niger Cabinet National D’Expertise en Sciences Sociales CNESS-Bozari Niger Africa Region TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE FOREWORD ....................................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................... iii PREFACE ......................................................................................................................................... vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... viii ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS.......................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION I. Background and Rationale for the Study.......................................................................... 1 II. Objectives and Anticipated Results ................................................................................... 2 III. Brief Overview of the Evaluation Methodology.............................................................. 3 IV. Topics of Investigation ......................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER I. IDENTIFYING POVERTY 1.1 Perceptions and Judgments about Living Standards and Quality of Life ................. 5 1.2 Poverty: Definitions, Conceptions and Manifestations................................................. 8 1.3 Mobility............................................................................................................................... 10 1.4 Scope and Profile of Poverty ........................................................................................... 10 1.5 Determinants and Causes of Poverty............................................................................. 13 1.6 Poverty: Effects and Impacts ........................................................................................... 17 1.7 Attitudes and Reactions to Poverty, and Survival Strategies and Mechanisms................................................................................................................ 19 CHAPTER II. POVERTY AND INTERVENTIONS 2.1 Summary Diagnostic of Interventions ........................................................................... 23 2.2 Interventions and Poverty ............................................................................................... 23 2.3 Poverty, Mobility, Prostitution and AIDS ...................................................................... 24 CHAPTER III. BASIC NEEDS AND SECTORAL PRIORITIES 3.1 Food security ................................................................................................................. 27 3.2 Health ............................................................................................................................ 29 3.3 Agriculture ..................................................................................................................... 30 3.4 Livestock......................................................................................................................... 31 3.5 Environment ..................................................................................................................32 3.6 Water Supply .................................................................................................................33 3.7 Education........................................................................................................................ 34 3.8Employment and Training........................................................................................... 35 3.9 Income-generating Activities (IGAs) and Micro-credit........................................... 36 3.10 Transport ........................................................................................................................ 36 3.11 Capacity-building ......................................................................................................... 36 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS I. Generating Ongoing Dialogue ..................................................................................... 40 II. Making Poverty Reduction a Vision and a Philosophy that Inspires Hope ............. 41 III. Improving the Mechanisms for Monitoring Poverty Reduction Efforts ............... 41 ANNEXES ANNEX 1GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SAMPLE AND TARGET GROUPS ................. 45 ANNEX 2IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STUDY....................................................................... 47 ANNEX 3SAMPLE TARGET SITES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS ........................................ 48 ANNEX 4INTERVIEW GUIDE .............................................................................................. 52 FOREWORD In the Republic of Niger, a country that ranks about it, is critical to designing approaches to 161 out of 162 countries listed in the UNDP’s development that can really work. Human Development Report, poverty deter- mines the lifeline of the average individual vir- The Participatory Poverty Assessment (PPA) tually before he or she is born. The income for Niger goes far in helping us achieve this poverty figures (showing that the average indi- understanding. Its unique approach, combin- vidual subsists on less than US$200 per year) ing quantitative and qualitative research meth- tell only part of the story; it is the human face ods, but above all based on listening to people, of poverty that compels urgent action on the has allowed the research team to shed new part of the international community. Some light on the nature of poverty in Niger. It tells examples: In Niger, 40 percent of children us that development programs can succeed or under 5 years old are malnourished. fail, regardless of the quality of their technical Statistically, a child born in Niger stands a bet- preparation, when they do not address the ter chance of dying before the age of 5 than of existential realities of life for the poor. These ever attending school. Adult illiteracy remains include their personal beliefs about the nature high at 84 percent and gross primary enroll- of development problems; whether their social ment rates low at 42 percent. The burden of standing (or gender) allow them a voice in the poverty and low social development falls design and implementation of projects, what disproportionately on women, whose access kind of hope they possess for their own future to land, credit, technology, and social and that of their children, their levels of trust in services remains very limited, despite some government and donor-financed programs, recent progress. and the sense of powerlessness felt by the poor in an institutional structure that is per- How can an institution like the World Bank, ceived as favoring the rich. Understanding whose mandate it is to reduce poverty in all its these beliefs, perceptions and feelings, can help forms, contribute to reversing these trends? guide us to interventions better adapted to the Past approaches, not just of the Bank’s but of realities of poor people, improving their the broader donor community, have had limit- chances for success. ed impact. While there are many ways of improving the impact of donor assistance – This PPA is already having an impact. It serves including much fuller coordination of their as the diagnostic basis for the depiction of approaches – a critical part of the formula is to poverty in Niger’s Poverty Reduction Strategy achieve a better understanding of poverty and Paper, which is serving to anchor coordinated how it is perceived by the poor themselves. donor interventions aiming to increase their Too often in the past, donor programs have overall impact in the fight against poverty, and failed to address the realities of daily existence it informs the Bank’s recent Country Assistance on the part of ordinary people, and in conse- Strategy for Niger 2003-2005. In concrete form, quence have failed to win their interest in the PPA is helping the government of Niger getting involved in programs of which and the Bank design the Community Action they are supposed to be the beneficiaries. Program, designed specifically to increase the Understanding how people experience poverty power and ability of people living in (mostly) at a personal level, how they explain its rural communities to design and implement sources, and what they believe can be done development projects according to needs that i they voice themselves. A separate study, fol- ventions to have a real impact we must contin- lowing the same methodology with a focus on ue to listen, and not be afraid of what we may listening, is also informing the design of a sig- hear. This important document is therefore nificant multisectoral program to fight the only a first step toward what must become a spread of HIV/AIDS in Niger. systematic process of listening, one that we believe has a chance of bringing about hope in Listening to the poor at the design phase