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Unit 1: Poverty Reduction, Development and the Mdgs Unit One: Poverty Reduction, Development, and the Millennium Development Goals Unit Information 2 Unit Overview 2 Unit Aims 2 Unit Learning Outcomes 2 Key Readings 3 Further Readings 4 References 5 1.0 Towards poverty reduction: the evolution of international development paradigms 7 Section Overview 7 Section Learning Outcomes 7 1.1 Development as modernisation and economic growth 7 1.2 Human development 9 1.3 Structural adjustment 11 1.4 Development as poverty reduction 12 Section 1 Self Assessment Questions 16 2.0 Millennium Development Goals 17 Section Overview 17 Section Learning Outcomes 17 2.1 What are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? 17 2.2 Implementing the MDGs at national level 22 2.3 Critiques of the MDGs 24 2.4 What happens after 2015? 27 Section 2 Self Assessment Questions 29 3.0 Growth and poverty reduction 30 Section Overview 30 Section Learning Outcomes 30 3.1 Beyond growth? 30 Section 3 Self Assessment Questions 34 Unit Summary 35 Unit Self Assessment Questions 36 Key Terms and Concepts 37 P519 Understanding Poverty Unit 1 Unit Information Unit Overview In September 2000, the representatives of 189 countries, including 147 heads of state, unanimously approved the so-called Millennium Declaration, which, inter alia, committed them to the goal of poverty reduction in the new millennium. In September 2001, eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their associated targets and indicators were also endorsed by the UN General Assembly as the international framework for planning and monitoring progress on poverty reduction. Poverty reduction remains the primary objective of international development efforts and features in the policy statements and pronouncements of many developing country governments. This unit places the objective of poverty reduction in historical context, by charting the evolution of development paradigms, and looking at the process through which the MDGs themselves came into being. It then critically examines the MDGs as an instrument for catalysing global poverty reduction efforts and concludes by discussing the role of economic growth in poverty reduction. Unit Aims • To develop a critical understanding of the main development paradigms. • To present and assess critically the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). • To evaluate the centrality of economic growth to poverty reduction objectives. Unit Learning Outcomes By the end of this unit, students should be able to: • summarise the evolution of major development approaches over recent decades and explain how the MDGs arise from this history • discuss the major strengths and weaknesses of the Millennium Development Goals © SOAS CeDEP 2 P519 Understanding Poverty Unit 1 KEY READINGS Collier P (2007) Falling behind and falling apart: the bottom billion. In: The Bottom Billion. Oxford University Press, pp. 3–13. Introduces the concept of the ‘bottom billion’. pp. 8—12 explain why the rest of the book focuses on means to stimulate economic growth in bottom billion countries. Hulme D (2007) Global Public Policy and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs): A Short History of the World’s Biggest Promise. Paper presented to the ‘Wellbeing in International Development’ Conference, 28–30 June 2007, Bath. This paper documents the development of the MDGs in considerable detail, starting around 1990. Although not ‘short’, it can be read quite quickly to gain the main points and provides valuable understanding of the motivations driving MDG development. Section 2 can be skipped. Vandemoortele J (2007) MDGs: misunderstood targets. In: IPC Collection of One Pagers. International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth, Brasilia, Brazil, p. 28. Available from: http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCOnePagerBook.pdf A thoughtful response to Vandermoortele is provided by Hamid Tabatabai on page 33 of the same volume. © SOAS CeDEP 3 P519 Understanding Poverty Unit 1 FURTHER READINGS Chronic Poverty Research Centre (2007) Chronic Poverty and the MDGs. Policy Brief No 6, Chronic Poverty Research Centre. Available from: http://www.chronicpoverty.org/pubfiles/CPRC_PB6.pdf This brief analyses how the MDGs relate to chronic poverty. It voices concern that a rigid interpretation of the MDGs could encourage a focus on those ‘easy to reach’, and away from extreme and chronic poverty. The brief asks how the MDGs can be best used to prepare for the longer-term task of eradicating poverty beyond 2015 and highlights the crucial importance of human development and social protection for reducing chronic poverty. Haughton J, Khandker S (2009) Handbook on Poverty and Inequality. The World Bank, Washington DC, pp. 162–169. Available from: http://go.worldbank.org/I0Y1NQB150 The entire e-book can be downloaded. The pages selected here summarise some of the arguments on the centrality of growth to poverty reduction, albeit largely from a World Bank perspective. Sachs J (2005) A global family portrait. In: The End of Poverty. Penguin Press, pp. 5– 25. Sachs J (2005) The spread of economic prosperity. In: The End of Poverty. Penguin Press, pp. 25–50. Copies of this book can be acquired cheaply on Amazon. Like Collier (2007), it is an easy read. As will be discussed below, Sachs and Collier agree on a number of key points, but also disagree on others. Chapter 1 (pp. 5—25) provides cameo descriptions of livelihoods of poor people and communities at different stages of development. In doing so, it illustrates several of the themes that will be picked up in this and subsequent units. Chapter 2 (pp. 25—50) provides a brief historical overview of growth processes. Sumner A (2010) Global Poverty and the New Bottom Billion: What if Three-Quarters of the World’s Poor Live in Middle-Income Countries? IDS Working Paper, Brighton. Available from: http://www.ids.ac.uk/files/dmfile/GlobalPovertyDataPaper1.pdf Questions the argument advanced especially by Collier (2007) that the challenge of poverty reduction lies increasingly in dealing with conflict zones and failed states. If most of the world’s poor live in middle-income countries, then we should be equally concerned with issues of inequality in the midst of growth. Don’t get too bogged down in how countries are categorised, but do reflect on the central fact highlighted by the paper’s title! © SOAS CeDEP 4 P519 Understanding Poverty Unit 1 REFERENCES Baulch B (2004) Aid Distribution and the MDGs. CPRC Working Paper 48. Collier P (2007) Falling behind and falling apart: the bottom billion. In: The Bottom Billion. Oxford University Press, pp. 3–13. Chronic Poverty Research Centre (2007) Chronic Poverty and the MDGs. Policy Brief No 6, Chronic Poverty Research Centre. Available from: http://www.chronicpoverty.org/pubfiles/CPRC_PB6.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2013] Colclough C, Manor J (eds) (1991) States or Markets? Neo-liberalism and the Development Policy Debate. Clarendon Press, Oxford. Diao X, Hazell P, Resnick D, Thurlow J (2007) The Role of Agriculture in Development: Implications for Sub-Saharan Africa. Research Report 153, IFPRI, Washington DC. Dollar D, Kraay A (2001a) Growth is Good for the Poor. Policy Research Working Paper Series 2587, The World Bank, Washington DC. Available from: http://www- wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2001/05/11/000094946_01 042806383524/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2013] Dollar D, Kraay A (2001b) Trade, Growth and Poverty. Policy Research Working Paper 2615, World Bank, Washington DC. Available from: http://www- wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2002/08/23/000094946_02 082304142939/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2013] Eisenstadt S (1966) Modernisation: Protest and Change. Prentice-Hall, New Jersey. Fukuda-Parr S (2008) Are the MDGs Priority in Development Strategies and Aid Programmes? Only Few Are! Working Paper 48, UNDP International Poverty Centre, Brasilia, Brazil. Available from: http://www.eadi.org/fileadmin/MDG_2015_Publications/IPCWorkingPaper48.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2013] Hulme D (2007) Global Public Policy and the Millennium Development Goals: a Short History of the World’s Biggest Promise. Paper presented to the ‘Wellbeing in International Development’ Conference, 28–30 June 2007, Bath. Available from: http://www.welldev.org.uk/conference2007/parallel-2.htm [Accessed 1 May 2013] © SOAS CeDEP 5 P519 Understanding Poverty Unit 1 Humberto Lopez J (2004) Pro-Poor Growth: a Review of What we Know (and of What we Don't). The World Bank (PRMPR). Available from: http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTPGI/Resources/15163_ppg_review.pdf [Accessed 1 May 2013] Kakwani N, Pernia E (2000) What is pro-poor growth? Asian Development Review 18 1–16. Oxfam (2000) Growth with Equity is Good for the Poor. Oxfam Briefing Paper, Oxfam, Oxford. Available from: http://policy- practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/search?q=Growth%20with%20Equity%20is%20G ood%20for%20the%20Poor;sort=publication_date [Accessed 1 May 2013] Ravallion M (2005) Inequality is Bad for the Poor. Policy Research Working Paper, The World Bank WPS3677, The World Bank, Washington DC. Ravallion M, Chen S (2004) China's (uneven) Progress against Poverty. Policy Research Working Paper No 3408, The World Bank, Washington DC. Sachs J (2005) The End of Poverty. Penguin Press. Sumner A (2010) Global Poverty and the New Bottom Billion: What if Three-Quarters of the World’s Poor Live in Middle-Income Countries? IDS Working Paper, Brighton. UN (undated) Millennium Development Goals Indicators: The Official United Nations Site for the MDG Indicators. United Nations. Available from: http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Host.aspx?Content=Indicators/OfficialList.htm
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