rethinking poverty

Rethinking Poverty

Relief, Rehabilitation, Development

Poverty ≠ Material Deficits

ReliefRehabilita

tionDevelopment

Poverty =Lack of Material Goods?

“For a poor person everything is terrible — illness, humiliation, shame. We are cripples; we are afraid of everything; we depend on everyone. No one needs us.We are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of.”

Blind woman from Tiraspol, Moldova 1997

“I feel ashamed standing before my children when I have nothing to help feed the family. I’m not well when I’m unemployed. It’s terrible”

A father in Guinea-Bissau 1994

“During the past two years we have not celebrated anyholidays with others. We cannot afford to invite anyone to our house and we feel uncomfortable visiting others without bringing a present. The lack of contact leaves one depressed, creates a constant feeling of unhappiness, and a sense of low self-esteem”

Latvia 1998

“So we now feel somewhat helpless. It is this feeling of helplessness that is so painful, more painful than poverty itself”

Uganda 1998

Source: Voices of the Poor, World Bank

Guidelines for Dignity-Affirming Development

Ensure participation of the affected population in the assessment, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the assistance program.

Identify and mobilize the capabilities, skills, and resources of the individual or community. See poor people and communities as full of possibilities.

As much as possible, look for resources and solutions to come from within the individual or community.

Seek to build and rebuild the relationships among local individuals, associations, churches, businesses, schools, government, etc.

Only bring in outside resources when local resources are insufficient to solve pressing needs. Be careful to not undermine local capacity or initiative.

Now What?