Features of high-poverty groups and what they reflect about the potential nature of a poverty-focused development strategy Case Study
Key Learning Outcomes
By the end of the case, students should be able to:
- Identify the major economic features of high-poverty groups, reflecting on the potential nature of a poverty-focused development strategy
- Identification of the major economic features of high-poverty groups and reflections on the potential nature of a poverty-focused development strategy
1.0 INTRODUCTION
A noteworthy observation is that, in spite of the immense concentration of poverty in rural areas, much of the expenditures by governments of many developing countries have been pointed in the direction of urban areas, particularly to the fairly prosperous or well-off modern commercial and manufacturing sectors. Regardless of whether this is in the territory of economic investments that are directly productive or in the areas of housing, health, education, and other social services, the bias in favor of the modern-sector as regards government spending is at the center of the majority of the development problems in these countries (Todaro & Smith, 2012).
Considering the undeniably visible fact that a disproportionate mass of the very poor population lives in rural areas, whichever policy is drawn-up to fight against poverty ought to essentially be directed, for the most part towards rural development generally, and particularly towards the agricultural sector (Todaro & Smith, 2012).
According to Campano and Salvatore (2006), among the predominantly impacted poverty victims in developing countries are women and children, targets of gender discrimination as well as cultural norms that allocate the lion’s share of household resources to male head of households. Discussed hereafter are the major economic features of high-poverty groups and what these features reveal to us about the potential nature of a development strategy that is poverty-focused.