I was recently told by a Bangladeshi colleague and friend that at the end of the liberation war, villages, upazillas and districts declared themselves free from their oppressors, not all at once, but in a progressive and cumulative wave that gradually uplifted the new nation.
Readers will be able to verify the historical accuracy of this statement but it inspires a compelling notion that can perhaps be applied to the present day. What if the nation could declare itself free from extreme poverty (and perhaps eventually from all poverty) in a similarly incremental, collective and bottom–up popular wave of change? One can project the image of union chairmen progressively declaring their jurisdiction to be extreme poverty free – and crucially, open for public and transparent verification of this status.
But is this a realistic notion? In the 2014 Budget speech the minister of finance declared that the country will be free from extreme poverty by 2018! While some of my knowledgeable colleagues have downplayed this statement as a political aspiration rather than a firm commitment, I would prefer to think otherwise.
In other words, let’s take as a given that there is now a firm political commitment to achieve the rapid eradication of extreme poverty from Bangladesh (whether by 2018 or perhaps a few years later) and discuss what actions need to follow.
We do not have to start from a blank sheet. There is plenty of experience from current and prior extreme poverty focused projects, as well as a growing body of research evidence from various think tanks and academicians, that can inform our thinking and help in the design of, quite literally, the extreme poverty project to end all extreme poverty projects.
It should be declared up front that getting rid of extreme poverty will require a project – ie a purposeful intervention that is national in scope with clear objectives and time-bound deliverables.
Extreme poverty will not simply disappear as a spin off from the general economic development driving the country towards middle income status. One has only to look next door to India to verify that achieving middle income status is not sufficient to get rid of dire and widespread poverty.
This article is divided into four parts; firstly, a description of some of the main causes and characteristics of extreme poverty; secondly, an overview of some approaches to extreme poverty eradication that could prove successful in Bangladesh; thirdly, a description of some significant constraints to achieving the rapid eradication of extreme poverty and; fourthly, a presentation of several reasons why, despite these constraints, it may be possible to achieve this ambitious objective. The views and opinions expressed in this article are my own but draw heavily on the Manifesto for the Extreme Poor (www.Manifestofortheextremepoor.com).
Extreme poverty – what is it?
The term extreme poverty implies a high degree of poverty. However this is misleading as extreme poverty is not simply a higher level of poverty but something that has different characteristics than moderate poverty.
To draw an analogy, ice is not just very cold water – it differs from cold water in terms of temperature but also exhibits a different form, different behaviour and may require a different management regime.
Hence the extreme poor are no doubt poorer than the moderate poor but the severity of their poverty is associated with a set of characteristics that make them particularly vulnerable and difficult to transition out of this state. They are frozen in poverty.
The Manifesto for the Extreme Poor has identified six particular challenges faced by extreme poor households. These challenges were derived from widespread consultation and summarise the conditions that characterise the most extreme poverty in Bangladesh.
Insufficient economic opportunities
While Bangladesh as a whole, despite political turmoil, has experienced rapid economic growth and improving economic conditions, the poorest segment of society is, for several reasons, often unable to benefit significantly from this national development.
Firstly, they may live in areas that are unattractive to inward investors due to remoteness and weak infrastructure. Hence labour market opportunities are severely constrained. Even when jobs exist, the poorest often lack the skills or basic literacy and numeracy needed to secure employment. Equally importantly they may lack the self– esteem or confidence to attempt to establish a micro enterprise or to obtain employment other than low paid casual day labour – or begging.
While agricultural day labour wages have been increasing (ref: World Bank Poverty Report, 2013) the flow of income that is brought into the household is seasonal and highly uncertain.
The ability to save is constrained and health setbacks or other shocks will both restrict earning capacity and wipe out any meagre savings. In the urban context, while there are more income generating opportunities, the extreme poor rely on very low paying, insecure labour that limits the potential to acquire assets or to invest in the future of the household. The extreme poor are trapped within a survival paradigm.
Poor access to public services and transfers
In 2009, shiree organised an Extreme Poverty Day at the Bangabandhu Convention Centre with the slogan “making the invisible visible.” The event saw the launch of an All Party Parliamentary Group on Extreme Poverty.
Since then, through the continuous advocacy efforts of many agencies and committed individuals, the issue of extreme poverty has been brought on to the national policy agenda. However, at the local level, the day to day experience of extreme poor families continues to be one of marginalisation and exclusion from both essential public services and from the social protection transfers that are intended to be for their benefit.
Critically, this includes self exclusion as the extreme poor lack the awareness or the confidence to exercise their right of access to services. For an illiterate and extremely poor person, perhaps a member of a minority group, to approach a public official is a frightening challenge.
I have many times been told by women that they would not dare to approach the UP member or that to make contact with government officials raises the risk of negative consequences. The invisibility and exclusion of the extreme poor is often self imposed through fear, lack of knowledge and low self–esteem.
Vulnerability to external shocks
The vulnerability of Bangladesh to large scale climatic disasters is well documented and major disasters thankfully bring about a swift humanitarian response. The extreme poor are of course affected by these events and there are many instances of families being catapulted into extreme poverty by cyclones or floods.
For many shiree beneficiaries it is at the community or individual household level that have the most impact. Amongst natural events the swallowing up of homesteads through river erosion resulting in forced migration is commonplace.
As affected families are only able to access similarly precarious locations, this experience becomes serial with families being affected on numerous occasions. In the urban context slum fires and evictions have an impact that is no less devastating. Somewhat ironically, families forced to migrate to urban slums through natural disasters then become prone to these “unnatural disasters” of similar magnitude and impact.
Health and nutrition vulnerability
This issue is of critical importance as both a cause and a perpetuator of extreme poverty. Poor health and nutrition constrains development potential and increases risk from birth onwards and is a potent mechanism for inter generational transfer of poverty.
Chronic and often untreated or badly treated health conditions constrain income generating potential and are a drain on income and savings. Mental as well as physical health and disability issues are the frequent companion of extreme poor families.
Gender inequality
Gender is a cross cutting dimension that is associated with many reasons why extreme poverty exists and sustains. Women and girls face discrimination in the labour market, both in terms of access to paid work and the level of wages.
Households that are female headed, often because of divorce or abandonment, experience higher levels of poverty and health and nutrition vulnerability is particularly harsh for women.
Longstanding practices such as child marriage and dowry damage women and are often a root cause of violence against women and health and nutritional deficits. While great advances have been made in the enrolment of girls in schools, any attempt to eradicate extreme poverty needs to explicitly recognise and target the gender dimensions of this phenomenon.
Marginalisation
There is a common saying “it is not what you know but who you know that counts.” This is nowhere truer than for the extreme poor. Time and again those households that are doing better report being assisted by a favour from a relative or as a result of a connection, however tentative, with an office holder.
The extreme poor do not only lack economic resources, their most severe deprivation is what is termed as “social capital” - the people, better off than themselves, who can assist in times of crisis or provide access to the resources that can provide a glimmer of hope, such as homestead land or housing.
The extreme poor commonly belong to groups that are excluded from mainstream societal and community processes. This includes historically marginalised ethnic or religious communities but also those more recently pushed to the edges of economic and social interaction such as city street dwellers, street children and refugees.
