Global Poverty Alleviation A Case Book

This case book provides examples of multi-stakeholder partnerships that aim to create sustainable enterprises for both the for-profit sectors and for individuals who live in conditions of poverty. Ideal for teaching, after a brief introduction to the case method, the cases are presented as descriptions with no comments or criticisms. The cases are arranged thematically and cover a broad array of solutions in diverse countries including India, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Tanzania, the United States, South Africa, Mozambique, Peru, Ghana, Haiti,and Mexico. Specific programs for alleviating—or even eradicating—poverty through profitable partnerships come from myriad sectors such as banking, health, education, infrastructure development, environment, and technology. The cases highlight solutions that focus on bringing about substantive shifts in the conditions of life for those living in poverty.​

Understanding Global Poverty introduces students to the study and analysis of poverty, helping them to understand why it is pervasive across human societies, and how it can be reduced through proven policy solutions. The book uses the capabilities and human development approach to foreground the human aspects of poverty, keeping the voices, experiences, and needs of the world’s poor central to the analysis. Starting with definitions and measurement, the book goes on to explore the causes of poverty and how poverty reduction programs and policy have responded in practice. The book also reflects on the ethics of why we should work to reduce poverty and what actions readers themselves can take. This new edition has been revised and updated throughout, featuring: • a new chapter on migration and refugees • additional international examples, including material on Mexico, Covid-19 in global perspective, and South–South development initiatives • information on careers in international development • insights into how various forms of social difference, including race, ethnicity, social class, gender, and sexuality relate to poverty Fully interdisciplinary in approach, the book is also supplemented with case studies, discussion questions, and further reading suggestions in order to support learning. Perfect as an introductory textbook for students across sociology, global development, political science, anthropology, public health, and economics, Understanding Global Poverty will also be a valuable resource to policy makers and development practitioners.

More than one billion people still live below the poverty line – most of them in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Financial inclusion is a major issue, as more than three-quarters of the numbers of poor and disadvantaged women and men do not have access to financial products and services, such as bank accounts, affordable and suitable loans, and insurance. The key objective of this book is to provide practical case studies of financial inclusion, rather than focus on academic debates such as the ideological basis of promoting microfinance. Using the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals as an overall framing of the issues, it shows how poor and disadvantaged women and men can be bankable if the right facilitation for maximizing opportunities and addressing constraints are in place. Case studies confirm that achieving inclusive and sustainable access to financial products and services goes beyond simply enabling poor and disadvantaged women and men to have access to credit, or the ability to open a bank account. Examples from Africa, Asia and Latin America demonstrate encouraging progress in making microcredit accessible to millions of poor people. The foremost challenge, however, has been to ensure that they have access to, and usage intensity of, suitable and affordable financial products and services that meet the needs of their livelihoods as well as risks and mitigation strategies. This requires understanding that poor and disadvantaged women and men do not exist in isolation from complex and interdependent functions in the financial system, which includes a number of actors, diversified services, constraints (not just symptoms) and capacities and incentives. Overall, the book provides a rich source of examples of how building inclusive financial systems can empower the world's poor – by increasing income and employment opportunities, securing livelihoods and reducing poverty.

Eradicating poverty has long been one of the priorities of development co-operation. Yet, despite undoubted progress towards this goal, the strategies adopted at the international and national levels remain controversial. Poverty reduction is a ...

A revolutionary approach to poverty that takes human irrationality into account-and unlocks the mystery of making philanthropic spending really work. American individuals and institutions spent billions of dollars to ease global poverty and accomplished almost nothing. At last we have a realistic way forward. Presenting innovative and successful development interventions around the globe, Dean Karlan and Jacob Appel show how empirical analysis coupled with the latest thinking in behavioral economics can make a profound difference. From Kenya, where teenagers reduced their risk of contracting AIDS by having more unprotected sex with partners their own age, to Mexico, where giving kids a one-dollar deworming pill boosted school attendance better than paying their families to send them, More Than Good Intentions reveals how to invest those billions far more effectively and begin transforming the well-being of the world.

Poverty is an unnecessary form of human degradation and badly conceived economics. Our thesis is that poverty can be reduced, if not eradicated, both locally and globally. But this will occur only if we change our shared narratives about global free enterprise, remind ourselves that poverty is a system, and conceive of poverty alleviation as a "bottom-up" project. There is no "one size fits all" for poverty reduction. Rather, poverty is a system and must be addressed locally. It is our aim, as it is the aim of the United Nations, the World Bank, and many other organizations, to erase it from our vocabulary and from this planet. With a series of case studies that accompany each chapter, this book should assist readers in thinking about poverty alleviation from a number of perspectives, from bottom-up entrepreneurial projects, local-corporate ventures, with public–private partnerships, from focused philanthropy, with education and health care initiatives, and agriculture reforms in rural communities, all with the aim of creating a win-win result for local and partnership individuals, organizations, and communities. The book should be useful in various undergraduate and graduate courses on ethics, applied ethics, developing economic systems, and poverty.

'ICT Pathways to Poverty Reduction' presents a conceptual framework to analyse how poverty dynamics change over time and to shed light on whether ICT access benefits the poor as well as the not-so-poor. Essential reading for policymakers, researchers, and academics in international development or ICT for development.