assessment of micro-macro linkages in poverty alleviation...

Assessment of Micro-Macro Linkages in Poverty Alleviation: South Asia

Un i ted Nations Deve l o p m e nt Prog ra m m eEva l u ation Of f i ce

Assessment of Micro-Macro Linkages in Poverty Alleviation:

South Asia

UNITED NATIONS DEV E LOPMENT PRO G RA M M EEVA LUATION OFFICE

Octo ber 2003

The views expressed in this publication do not necessarilyre p resent those of the member countries of the UNDP Exe c u t i veB o a rd or of those institutions of the United Na t i ons system thatare mentioned herein. The designations and terminologyemployed and the presentation of material do not imply anyexpression of opinion whatsoever on the part of the UnitedNa t i ons con c e rning the legal status of any country, t e r ri t o ry, c i ty or area, or of its authorities, or of its frontiers or boundaries.

Copyright © 2003United Nations Development ProgrammeEvaluation OfficeOne United Nations PlazaNew York, NY 10017, USAwww.undp.org/eo

Design: Colonial Communications Corp., Staten Island, NYProduction: AK Office Supply, New York,NY

The Assessment of M i c ro - M ac ro Linkages in Po verty Al l ev i a t i o n : South Asia p resents a rev i ewof the results of pove rty all ev i a t i on pro g rammes in the sub-re g i on during the last seven ye a r swith special re fe rence to Bangladesh, I n d i a , Ne p a l , Pakistan and Sri La n k a .G ove rn m e n t sin these countries have long given high priority to poverty reduction, both in nationalp o l i cy and pro g ra m m e s . This emphasis continues in national pove rty re d u c t i on stra t e g i e s ,e s p e c i a lly now in the context of ach i eving the Millennium Deve l o pment Goals (MDG s ) .

The UNDP Evaluation Office com m i s s i oned desk re s e a rch in the five countries to surveyresults and lessons learned from various pove rty all ev i a t i on pro g ra m m e s ,w h i ch have beens yn t h e s i zed and incorp o rated in this re p o rt . The con s u l t a t i ons for this re g i onal assessmentinvolved discussions with key government representatives, civil society organizations,re s e a rchers and NGOs from the re g i on . The major aim was to draw ev a l u a t i ve evidence bys u rveying existing studies to examine how to look at micro experi e n c e s ,h ow they relate tothe macro, and what the linkages ultimately lead to in terms of wider deve l o pment impact.

The issue of micro-micro linkages is a critical, and often overlooked, dimension ofpoverty and other forms of social and economic exclusion. Given the large number ofmicro level interventions, including the South Asia Poverty Alleviation Programme(SAPAP), it is critical to know the connection between the value of social mobilizationand a demonstrated influence on macro-level poverty reduction, which should be examined through empirical evidence. Have the efforts led to improved developmentoutcomes in terms of reduced poverty or better human development indicators in thesub-region? The lessons learned from the efforts of UNDP and partners indicate thatt h e re needs to be a coll e c t i ve appro a ch that should be flexible enough to reflect the specificcontext of the country and link national (macro) and local (micro) interventions into theove ra ll aim of pove rty re d u c t i on . This will re q u i re new ways of work i n g, n ew joint ve n t u re swith a broader range of partners to foster national ownership of pro g ra m m e s ,i n cluding poorpeople themselves and, a b ove all , g reater political com m i t m e n t . The re p o rt suggests policyrecommendations aimed at improving the situation.

We hope that this assessment will provoke renewed discussion around operationals t ra t e gy deve l o pment and con c e rted action , by the countries themselves and by the don o rc om mu n i ty in genera l . It is also expected to con t ribute to cro s s - re g i onal learning in otherre g i ons con f ronting similar issues. A workshop organized by the UNDP Evaluation Officeand the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific to launch the assessment in 2002 attra c t e dm a ny con t ri b u t i ons from South Asian participants and the re l evant UNDP country offices,generating diverse perspectives on strengthening micro-macro linkages.The EvaluationOffice would like to acknowledge their engagement and support. We would also like tothank S. Nanthikesan for producing this synthesis report and the national researchers,Q.M. Ahmed, M.M. Akash, S.M. Dev, S. Galab, B. Hewavitharana, N.S. Jodha, and S. Ray, for producing the country assessments. We welcome future dialogue with allour partners on the key issues raised in the report and the approach set out, and lookforward to future collaborations.

Nurul AlamActing DirectorEvaluation OfficeUNDP

Foreword

ASSE SSMENT OF MICRO - M AC RO LINKAGES IN POV E RTY ALLE V I AT I O N : SOUTH ASIA

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Fo rewo rd i

Exe c u t i ve Su m m a ry i i i

1 . I nt rod u ct i o n 1

2 . Co n ceptual Fra m ewo rk of Mi c ro - Ma c ro Linka g e s 4

3 . The Ma c roe conomic and Po l i cy Env i ro n m e nt 9

4 . An a l ysis of Mi c ro - Ma c ro Linka g e s 2 5

5 . Lessons Le a rn e d 3 7

6 . R e co m m e n d at i o n s 4 3

An n exe s 4 5

I. Terms of Reference 46

II. Acronyms 49

III. List of Documents Consulted 51

IV. List of People Interviewed 54

V. List of Figures and Tables 55

Contents

ASSESSMENT OF MICRO - M AC RO LINKAGES IN POV E RTY ALLEV I AT I O N : SOUTH ASIA

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Executive Summary

1 . PURPOSE AND SCOPE OFTHE REGIONAL ASSESSMENT

This re p o rt assesses the linkages betw e e np a rt i c i p a t o ry pove rty all ev i a t i on sch e m e sand macro - l evel pove rty all ev i a t i on policyi n i t i a t i ves in five countries in So u t hAsia, namely, Bangladesh, India, Nepal,Pakistan and Sri La n k a . It is not a genera lstudy of the successes and/or failures ofeither macro pove rty all ev i a t i on initiative sor community-level poverty alleviationprogrammes; its principal focus is anassessment of linkages between the microand macro poverty alleviation initiativesthat contribute to their effectiveness.Pa rticular attention is given to the linkagesflowing from the former to the latter.

A re g i onal assessment was undert a k e nto draw out general lessons from a comparison of countries that had diversep ove rty profiles and policy re g i m e s .T h e s elessons are expected to provide valuableinput for future policy recommendationsand programme design practices of theUNDP in wide-ranging contexts.

2 . BAC KG RO U N D

The top-heavy, s u p p ly-side focus ofn a t i onal pove rty all ev i a t i on measure shad long been identified as inhibitingthe fight against poverty in the region.In response, the UNDP began work onparticipatory pilot programmes at thec om mu n i ty level in six South Asiancountries under the South Asian PovertyA ll ev i a t i on Pro g ramme (SAPAP) in1994. Other international agencies suchas UNCDF, Au s t ralian Aid, Wo rld Bank,S I DA and DFID, a m ong others, had alsofunded similar pro g ra m m e s . In addition,there was a plethora of comparable localinitiatives in the South Asian region.These programmes were based on socialm o b i l i za t i on for sustainable self-deve l o p-ment. However, it was not anticipated

that these micro initiatives would,in andof themselve s ,s i g n i f i ca n t ly reduce the highincidence of poverty in the sub-region.Instead, one of the principal goals ofthese initiatives was the incorporation ofi n f o rm a t i onal channels aimed at impactingthe effe c t i veness of macro policy mech a n i s m s .It was hoped that concrete experience atthe gra s s - roots level would help the “m a c ro”identify the factors re l evant to improv i n gtargeting and delivery. In particular, itwas hoped that lessons learned would betransmitted regarding the componentsn e c e s s a ry for successfully nego t i a t i n gthe constraints arising from the macropolicy regime and its interaction withexisting initial conditions.

In February of 2002, the EvaluationOffice (EO) of UNDP convened a meetingthat launched an in-depth assessment of them i c ro - m a c ro linkages that con t ributed tothe effe c t i veness of UNDP’s deve l o pm e n tefforts in South Asia. The meeting wastitled “Assessing Linkages betw e e nMacro and Micro Level Initiatives inSouth Asia” and was held in New Delhi,India. It was recognized that a regionalperspective on the micro-macro linkagewould be useful for future country programming and regional initiatives.C on s e q u e n t ly, a re g i onal assessment studybased on individual country assessmentswas initiated. The analysis was based one m p i ri cal evidence documented in UNDP’sR e s u l t s - O riented Annual Reports (ROA R )and various Poverty Reduction StrategyPapers (PRSPs).

In analysing the micro macro linkages,this regional report is primarily based onthe country assessments and con s u l t a t i on s .It mainly focuses on state-spon s o red macropoverty alleviation initiatives, based on as ynthesis of key findings from the countrya s s e s s m e n t s .E x p e riences of micro initiative ssponsored by UNDP and other donoragencies were presented in most reports,but some focused exclusively on SAPAPp rojects (e.g. the country re p o rt for India).

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3 . MAIN FINDINGS:M I C RO - M AC RO LINKAG E S

Lo oking at loca l - l evel pro g ra m m e sstudied in the country reports throughthe lens of micro-macro linkages led tothe following categorization of results:

3 . 1 . Mi c ro Fa i l u res and Fa i l u reto Influence Ma c ro Ef fo rt sInterventions that failed locally withoutleaving any legacy cannot alter themicro-macro linkages. The KST projectin Bangladesh belonged to this category.It was not re p l i cated and had ve ry limitedimpact on macro policy making. TheR e h a b i l i t a t i on of Wa t e rlogged and Sa l i n eLand project in Pakistan was anotherexample of failure, due to lack ofdemand and ow n e r s h i p. T h e re was cultural dissonance regarding the goal of using reclaimed land for agriculture.

3 . 2 . Mi c ro Su c cesses withoutL i n kages to Ma c ro Ef fo rt sT h e re were interve n t i ons that left positiveoutcomes at the local level but failed toinfluence the macro. At least three countryexamples illustrate this case, namely, SriLanka, Pakistan and to an extent, India.The Nuwara Eliya project in Sri Lankayielded mixed results loca lly. This pro j e c tdid accomplish modest civil societymobilization and established horizontallinks. However, it came into conflictwith existing state-spon s o red pove rtya ll ev i a t i on pro j e c t s , s u ch as Janasaviya andSamurdhi, engaged in similar activities.A s ym m e t ric power re l a t i ons between them i c ro and the macro resulted in the pro j e c tlacking state ownership/commitment.

In the Sri Lankan situation therewas an added dimension to the problemsthe project had to confront. It faced aninstitutional mismatch in the form ofd ys f u n c t i onal decentra l i za t i on , w h i chcontributed to a disconnect between themicro and the macro. The administrative

d e c e n t ra l i za t i on was not com m e n s u rate withfiscal decentralization, which preventedthe flow of resources and information tothe local leve l . Thus inappro p ri a t e lyf u n c t i oning decentra l i za t i on could hindermicro-macro linkage.

The La chi and No rt h e rn Are aDevelopment Plan projects in Pakistanwere also local successes. However theyentered the local scene as a part of thewider rural support programme (RSP)that existed in the region and had aproven successful track record. This wasalso the case for the SAPAP project inAndhra Pradesh in India, which was buta small part of the poverty alleviationi n i t i a t i ves undertaken by the state government, GOI and NGOs.

To add value to the engagementwith the macro, projects have to come upwith distinct and more creative modelsof civic engagement than those thatalready exist. Otherwise they contributelittle to altering existing block a g e sbetween the micro and the macro in the form of perceptions, informationasymmetry, institutional mismatch andasymmetric power relations.

3 . 3 . Mi c ro Su c cesses withL i n kages to Ma c ro Ef fo rt sInterventions that succeeded at the locallevel and influenced the macro were alsoobserved in the country studies. Despitethe abject macro con d i t i ons that con t i n u eto plague Ne p a l , the SAPAP pro g ra m m ein the country was “s u c c e s s f u l” . A pro j e c tstarted in one district involving 5,910members. It was then extended to them e s o - l eve l ,c ove ring 270,000 households,thanks partly to the strong commitmentfrom the State and UNDP. There areseveral reasons for this success.

First, the programme was designedto utilize the existing structures, such asVDC that were involved with povertyre d u c t i on measures underwritten byGON, NGOs and donors. Secondly, at

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the design and functioning stages, e f f o rt swere made to link the project with themacro. For instance, SAPAP was linkedwith the District Development Council(DDC) that served as the focal point forl o cal deve l o pment administra t i on inNepal. In addition, SAPAP formed aD i s t rict Coord i n a t i on Committee (DCC )that linked all line agencies of the GONin the district and the SAPAP — a movethat provided a horizontal and verticallink for the micro. Finally, the SAPAPp ro g ramme re c e i ved strong com m i t m e n tfrom GON and was a novel concept inthe Nepalese context.

Closer scrutiny of these categories ofresults points to some key determinantsthat influence the micro-macro linkages,which are presented below.

3 . 4 . Key De te rm i n a nts ofMi c ro - Ma c ro Linka g e sAn a lysis of the five country re p o rt sshowed recurring problems of targetingand delive ry with macro initiative sagainst poverty. Similarly, community-level programmes, even when successful,had frequently failed to influence policyat the macro leve l .These re c u r ring pro b l e m scannot be explained as simply arisingfrom a lack of available resources. Theyalso point to persistent con s t raints opera t i n gat diffe rent re g i s t e r s . Based on inform a t i onf rom the country re p o rt s , four dimension smay be discerned in which the factorscontributing to the disconnect betweenthe micro and the macro opera t e, n a m e ly:

1. Perceptions and attitudes regardingeach other

2. I n f o rm a t i on asym m e t ry and/or deficit3. I n s t i t u t i onal mismatch between target

(and needs) and delive ry mech a n i s m s4. Unequal power relations

Perceptions and attitudes regarding each otherEarly efforts by the State in all fivecountries had been characterized by an

approach that regarded the poor as am onolithic entity that is vulnera b l e,without agency and incapable of articu-lating its intere s t s . The poor on the otherhand, perceived the State as a static andmonolithic entity that is perpetually deafto their interests, as evidenced by theire n t re n ched pove rty. T h ey tended tob e l i eve actions to seek re p re s e n t a t i on andremedy would not effect any changes.These attitudes and perc e p t i ons con s t i t u t e dthe barriers of communication betweenm i c ro- and macro - l evel anti-pove rty effort s .

Information asymmetry and deficitThe macro lacks information on the priorities and needs of the poor; thus itl a cks knowledge of targets and appro p ri a t edelivery mechanisms. The poor, on theother hand, l a ck knowledge of the re s o u rc e sthat are accessible, the opportunities thatare available and the synergies that arepossible when social mobiliza t i on is coupledwith the establishment of horizontal andvertical links.

Institutional mismatch between target and delivery mechanismsLinkages between the macro and the microalso were inhibited by the inefficienciesof political and economic institutions.For instance, as the Sri Lankan studypointed out, inadequate political anda d m i n i s t ra t i ve decentra l i za t i on would actas a barrier to the channels of tra n s m i s s i onb e tween the macro and the micro.Persistent exclusion from political powerhas left the poor with limited institution a larrangements to convey their aspirationsto the centre . As evidenced from all countrystudies, markets and public institutionshad not been able to re a ch the ultra poor,who could not meaningfully influencethe micro-macro information channels;thus they remain excluded from macrodecision-making processes.


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Unequal power relationsThis is perhaps the most important of alldimensions and even may be at the rootof the other three factors, d e s c ribed above .It concerns the lack of political will onthe part of the macro to establish linkswith stakeholders. A meaningful attackon large-scale pove rty re q u i res morethan a tax and transfer approach. Thedeep redistributive efforts required toaddress large-scale poverty would faceresistance from the status quo. M o re ove r,the excl u s i on of the poor from econ om i cand political structures leaves them withlittle voice or choice in decision-makingp ro c e s s e s .E ven when the centre is will i n gto listen, l o cal hiera rchies vested inmaintaining the status quo often blockvoices of the poor being transmitted“upstream”. As a result, there was verylimited political space and commitmentfor opening up channels of com mu n i ca t i onbetween the macro and the micro. Thesedeterminants seldom exist as entirelys e p a rate ca t e go ri e s . T h ey were oft e np resent together in instances of inhibitedm a c ro - m i c ro linkages and should be re c o g n i zed as fundamentally interl i n k e d .Neve rt h e l e s s , it is also important toidentify these as related but distinctdimensions of micro-macro links in theSouth Asian region.

4 . MAIN LESSONS LEARNED

Over the last few decades UNDP hasextended its work in well over one h u n d red countri e s . Wo rking with limitedresources it has built healthy workingp a rtnerships with gove rnments and policymakers around the globe. Its interve n t i on sh a ve demon s t rated its com m i t m e n tt ow a rds anti-pove rty initiatives and gainedit the reputation of being a trustworthyp a rtner with sincere intentions andsound approaches against poverty.

That being said, it is also important to

re c o g n i ze that the deve l o pment assistanceprovided by UNDP is but a fraction ofthe total assistance received by all fivec o u n t ries con s i d e re d .C on s e q u e n t ly, U N D Pcannot expect to wield influence withgovernments based on the merits of itsfinancial con t ri b u t i on s . T h e re f o re, t oinfluence the micro - m a c ro linkages,UNDP has to be judiciously strategic ino rch e s t rating its strengths and experi e n c eon the ground in each country.

I . Holistic Ap p roach to Pove rty Al l ev i at i o nJust as poverty is multi-dimensional, sotoo are the strategies to alleviate povertyand their attendant micro - m a c ro linkages.For instance, to ensure that success inc redit mobiliza t i on is sustainable, it has tobe attended by an expansion of pro d u c t i veo p p o rtunities and market access forproducts. At the same time, public insti-tutions and markets should receive muchmore emphasis as they influence people’sincome and access to resources. Thusefforts to mobilize capital should build,simultaneously, horizontal linkages forpotential markets and income opport u n i t i e sto escape the low-equilibrium trap, asw e ll as ve rt i cal re l a t i on s h i p s .H ow eve r, t h eabsence of credit insurance is likely to bed e t rimental to efforts at credit mobiliza t i onin areas affected by conflict.

Another instance in which a holisticapproach to poverty alleviation is animmediate impera t i ve is when HI V / A I D Sis an issue. Micro-macro links for thep rom o t i on of awareness and disseminationof preventive measures are weak in theregion. Lack of information and mis-perceptions affect both the micro andthe macro. Policies on health insurance,p reve n t i ve public health services and makingrelated drugs available at afford a b l ep rices should become re s p on s i ve tom i c ro - l evel needs. M i c ro - l evel initiative sneed to work at the household leveltowards overcoming the cultural stigma

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attached to the disease, which tends toprevent the affected from mobilizing.SHGs and VOs mobilized for anti-p ove rty efforts could serve as instru m e n t sto combat cultural stigma. St ra t e g i e salong these lines should be explicitlyi n cluded on the agenda of UNDP-s u p p o rted anti-pove rty effort s , w h i chshould also include development of thecapacities of those already, or at risk ofbeing, affected by HIV/AIDS.

I I . Focused Prog ra m m e sSe l e cted for Maximum V i s i b i l i tyand Influence on Ma c ro In the context of limited re s o u rc e s ,s u p p o rtfor micro - l evel pro g rammes cannot meanp ro l i fe ra t i on of UNDP’s inv o lve m e n t .I nf a c t , it becomes essential that pro g ra m m e sbe judiciously selected, not only basedon their potential to reduce local pove rty,but also on the pro g ra m m e’s visibility ande f fe c t i veness in influencing macro effort s .

Pro g rammes should be selected beca u s ethey make a distinctive contribution toenhancing micro-macro linkages ratherthan to duplicating other anti-povertyefforts. The experiences of Sri Lanka,Pakistan and Andhra Pradesh confirmthis. These interventions coexisted witha plethora of other similar measures thatin most instances had more reach thanthe UNDP initiatives. These initiatives,while being effective in their povertyalleviation efforts, fell short of alteringthe outlook of the macro or of loweringthe barriers between the micro and them a c ro. C onve r s e ly, a well - e xecuted socialm o b i l i za t i on appro a ch was re l a t i ve lynovel to anti-poverty efforts in Nepaland thus had an impact on the macro. Inthis context, UNDP could maximize itsresults on micro - m a c ro links by targetingg roups that are marginalized in tra d i t i on a ldevelopment practices. To do so, it wasn e c e s s a ry to identify re g i onal gro u p sthat are marginalized either because oftheir spatial location (e.g. remote areas)

and/or social status (tribals, lower-caste,ultra poor, etc.).

I I I . Prog ramme De s i g n a n dI m p l e m e nt ation to Ma x i m i ze Mi c ro - Ma c ro Linka g e s

■ Avoid building conflicting parallels tru c tu re s . When formulating micro -level programmes, careful attentionmust be paid to avoid buildings t ru c t u res of delive ry para llel toexisting ones. UNDP’s interventionin Sri Lanka ended up cre a t i n gs t ru c t u res para llel to the existinganti-poverty initiatives of the State.The ensuing conflict underminedthe chances of success of the UNDPp ro g ra m m e .A l t e rn a t i ve ly, the SAPA Pp ro g ramme in Nepal utilized existingstate institutions of delivery such asV DC s . This also provided a platformfor closer intera c t i on between the St a t eand the programme, which resultedin enhanced micro-macro linkages.

■ Institutionalize Linkages with theState to Improve Micro - M a c roL i n k a g e . Du ring the opera t i on a lexistence of the programme it wouldbe advantageous to establish hori zon t a land vertical links at various levels.Su ch links and coll a b o ra t i on improvechances of sustainability and brings ynergies in the form of part n e r s h i p s.In Ne p a l , the successful micro -i n i t i a t i ves established links withD i s t rict Deve l o pment Councils and formed District CoordinatingC ommittees that linked these initiativesto all line agencies of GON in thed i s t ri c t . Su b s e q u e n t ly, DCCs beca m ei n s t i t u t i on a l i zed ve rt i cal and hori zon t a llinks for the programme.

■ M e s o - l evel Constraints Need to BeRecognised. A disconnect betweenthe micro and the macro is som e t i m e sdue to institutional anomalies that are

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beyond the control of the designersof the programme. One such set ofa n omalies stems from the meso-l eve l , as ill u s t rated by the dys f u n c t i on a ldistrict development councils in SriLanka. Partial and incomplete fiscald e c e n t ra l i za t i on resulted in thesemeso units, essentially inhibiting theflow of resources and informationbetween macro and micro.

I V. St rong St ate Ownership of Prog rammes Improve sMi c ro - Ma c ro Linkages Commitment at the macro or meso levelis vital for establishing vibrant linksbetween the micro and the macro. Asdiscussed in the previous section,both inAndhra Pradesh in India, and in Nepal,the governments were committed to thep ro g ra m m e .C ommitment of the State tothe pro g ramme was demon s t rated thro u g hd i rect part i c i p a t i on and institution a l i z i n gthe relationship (e.g. DCCs in Nepal).In both ca s e s , the pro g rammes were sca l e dup to meso leve l . When there wasambivalence in the State’s commitment(as in Bangladesh during the later stagesof the KST pro j e c t ) , or when there was nearhostility at operational level (as in SriLanka),the programmes did not succeedand failed to influence the macro.

V. Gender Ma i n s t re a m i n gThis has emerged as a UNDP priority,as reflected in the St rategic ResultsFra m ew o rk (SRF) and UNDAF themes.Pove rty all ev i a t i on strategies have to recognize social differentiation amongthe poor, of which gender is a significantone. Inequality along gender lines areparticularly important in a region wherea g g regated data show women are at considerable disadvantage. This impliesthat community-level interventions ofUNDP that fail to explicitly recognizethis re a l i ty run the risk of re p roducing andentrenching existing gender inequalities.

Thus gender mainstreaming re q u i re ssustained, proactive and skilled efforts toidentify the forces and the opportunitiesi nv o lved in the struggle against thishierarchy at macro and micro levels.

I n f o rm a t i on flow from the micro to them a c ro is con d i t i oned by gender hiera rchy.Gender sensitive anti-pove rty effort scould improve micro-macro linkages bye m p ow e ring women stakeholders. Astrengthened micro will be in a betterposition to improve the linkages and toinfluence the macro. The mobilize dc om mu n i ty could also address cro s s c u t t i n gissues of gender through the activities ofSHGs and VOs. To this effect, SHGs inIndia, for instance, could address issuesof female literacy, widow remarriages,m a t e rnal mort a l i ty rates and child marriages. To strengthen these efforts,UNDP should actively seek the input ofgender experts as well as relevant stateo r g a n i za t i ons (e.g. D e p a rtment of Wom e nand Child Development in India) whenformulating its programmes.

V I . Di s s e m i n ating Lessons is Es s e ntial for Improved Mi c ro - Ma c ro Linkages For UNDP to become a micro-macrolinkage, it needs to persuasively commu-nicate to the macro the lessons fromits m i c ro - l evel anti-pove rty initiative s .C o u n t ry re p o rts point to UNDP’s effort ssuch as dialogues with senior officialsi nv o lved with a country’s macro initiative s ,seminars and documenting best pra c t i c e sand experience.These efforts need to bestrengthened, intensified and extended.For instance, soliciting active supportfrom a mobilized civil society that hasbenefited from the micro - i n i t i a t i ve swould be helpful in strengthening themessage to the macro. A re g i onal exch a n g eof documentation and inform a t i onextended beyond national borders withinthe South Asian region, annual regionalworkshops on lessons learned regarding

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micro-macro linkages, and a regionalre s e a rch centre inv o lving re g i onal expert sto investigate related topics would allc on t ribute tow a rds enhancing micro - m a c rolinkages within the region.

5 . MAIN RECO M M E N D AT I O N S

Close study of social-mobilisation basedantipoverty interventions pursued in theSouth Asia region and their influence onm a c ro level initiatives point tow a rd a fewbroad recommendations to strengthenmicro-macro linkages.

■ UNDP’s interventions to alleviatepoverty at the micro-level should bedemand driven, with representativesof the stakeholders making explicitrequests and rev i ew s , and demon s t ra t i n gc ommitment to the pro g ra m m e .Successful micro initiatives shouldbe refined, promoted and used asbuilding blocks for expansion . In eachc o u n t ry, s u p p o rt should be pri o ri t i ze dfor a select few key programmes aspilots to provide a vision and roadmap for future macro initiatives.

■ UNDP should continue to advocatefor more holistic and dyn a m i ca p p ro a ches to anti-pove rty initiative swith policy makers and planners,while supporting such approaches atthe micro level. Design of holisticinitiatives should reflect:➧ a multi-dimensional approach in

recognizing that the poor arenon-monolithic (e.g. to addressasymmetric gender relations); and

➧ a flexible and responsive approachin recognition of the fact that theneeds of the poor are dynamic andcontext dependent (e.g. to addressthe current impera t i ve to incorp o ra t ea t t e n t i on to HIV/AIDS as a priority of poverty alleviation).

■ U N D P’s social mobiliza t i on pro-g rammes should be designed toi n c o rp o rate in their mandates the needto impact policym a k i n g, t h ro u g ha d v o ca cy and action throughout theirlife spans. Programmes should havespecific components for informationt ra n s fer to the macro and to influenceits tra j e c t o ry. E ven when the size of them i c ro initiative is re l a t i ve ly modest orinsignificant,appropriate design andf u n c t i onal innov a t i ons could establishpositive micro-macro linkages.

■ U N D P’s existing com p a ra t i veadvantages in pove rty all ev i a t i oni n t e rve n t i ons need to be nurt u red ands t rengthened so that UNDP can serveas one of the linkages between microp rocesses and macro policies. U N D Pshould continue to disseminate lesson sfor the macro through ex-post a n a lys i sof its own experiences in opera t i on a l-i s i n g micro-projects.

■ Poverty monitoring is critical forassessing current results and prov i d i n gfe e d b a ck for future interve n t i on s .To evaluate micro-macro linkages,m on i t o ring activities need to bedesigned judiciously. Pa rt i c u l a rly,b e n ch m a rking and choice of indica t o r sat the micro level must take intoaccount their com p a t i b i l i ty andcomparability with the national leveld a t a .G i ven the social cleavages amon gthe poor, emphasis must also beg i ven to identifying the linkagesbetween those marginalised at microl evel and macro initiative s . Fo ri n s t a n c e, gender sensitive mon i t o ri n gf ra m ew o rk s , with gender disaggre g a t e dindicators are essential to accuratelyevaluate the linkages between microand macro level poverty alleviationinitiatives.UNDP has a comparativeadvantage in this area and shouldstrengthen its poverty monitoringcapacity at all levels of interventions.

ASSESSMENT OF MICRO - M AC RO LINK AGES IN POV E RTY ALLEV I AT I O N : SOUTH ASIA

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1. Introduction

PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE ASSESSMENT

This re p o rt assesses the linkages betw e e np a rt i c i p a t o ry pove rty all ev i a t i on sch e m e sand macro - l evel pove rty all ev i a t i on policyi n i t i a t i ves in five countries in South Asia,n a m e ly, B a n g l a d e s h ,I n d i a , Ne p a l , Pa k i s t a nand Sri Lanka. A regional assessmentbased on individual country assessments isundertaken to draw out general lessonsfrom a comparison of these countriesthat have diverse poverty profiles andpolicy regimes by consolidating variousp e r s p e c t i ves based on UNDP’s experi e n c eand knowledge and those of partnerorganizations. Its principal focus is onthe linkages between the micro and themacro poverty alleviation initiatives thatc on t ribute to their effe c t i ve n e s s . Pa rt i c u l a rattention is given to the linkages flowingfrom the former to the latter, especiallyin terms of the relationship between thek ey stakeholders so as to identify specificstructural issues, policy areas and theiri m p l i ca t i on s . The re p o rt is there f o respecifically aimed at:

(i) Assessing the influence of “poor ledp ove rty re d u c t i on appro a ch e s ” in promoting social mobilization at thelocal level, and in the sensitisation ofm a c ro policy processes and decision s ;

(ii) C l a ri f ying the effe c t i veness of nation a linterventions in addressing differentforms of poverty and the structuralissues that frame entre n ched pove rty;

(iii) I d e n t i f ying the underlying factors ofsuccess or non-success in donor effort s ;

(iv) Uncovering lessons learned; and(v) Fo rmulating re c om m e n d a t i ons to

i m p rove the role and support of UNDP.

The lessons from this exercise areexpected to provide valuable input forf u t u re policy re c om m e n d a t i ons and programme design practices of UNDPin wide-ranging contexts.

In assessing the micro - m a c ro linkages,there are difficulties in relegating the

role of micro level interventions to apurely economic one because of multipled i m e n s i ons to the linkages between the micro and the macro, both short-and long-term.1 For instance, initiativesenabling or supporting social mobiliza t i onand com mu n i ty part i c i p a t i on have potentiallong-term implications beyond short-term economic performance. They maydeepen democra cy and through thatbring about a more enlightened macropolicy regime that is held accountable tos t a k e h o l d e r s ’ needs and pri o ri t i e s .However, while it is important to flagthese non - e c on omic dimension s ,a s s e s s i n gsuch long-term effects is beyond thescope of this report, and therefore notaddressed here. It should also be madeclear at the outset that this is not anevaluation of macro policies and microi n i t i a t i ves per se. Ra t h e r, it is an assessmentof the links between “poor led” i n i t i a t i ve sand macro policy regimes, particularlylooking at how macro policy regimesw e re sensitized and influenced by micro initiatives.2

BAC KG RO U N D

Since 1994, UNDP has been workingon participatory pilot programmes atthe community level in six South Asiancountries under the South Asian PovertyA ll ev i a t i on Pro g ramme (SAPA P ) . Ot h e rinternational agencies such as UNCDF,Au s t ralian Aid, Wo rld Bank, S I DA ,DFID, among others, had also fundedsimilar pro g ra m m e s . In addition ,t h e re wasa plethora of comparable local initiativeswith different types of communities inthe re g i on , w h e re national pove rtyre d u c t i on strategies were aimed atreducing the re l a t i ve ly high external


2

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1. The terms ‘micro’ and ‘macro’ are defined in the following chapter.

2. The terms of reference and overall methodologyfor this report are provided in Annex I.

input approach to poverty alleviationand, equally importantly, empoweringthe rural poor to contribute to theirdevelopment using their own resourcesand to articulate demands on gove rn m e n tservices more effectively.

These programmes were based onsocial mobilization for sustainable self-development. However it was not antic-ipated that micro pove rty all ev i a t i onp ro g rammes would, in and of themselve s,significantly reduce the high incidenceof pove rty in the sub-re g i on .I n s t e a d , on eof the principal goals of these initiativeswas the incorporation of informationalchannels aimed at impacting the effec-tiveness of macro policy mechanisms. Itwas hoped that concrete experience atthe gra s s - roots level would help the“m a c ro” identify the factors re l evant to improving targeting and delivery. Inp a rt i c u l a r, it was hoped that lesson slearned would be transmitted regardingthe com p onents necessary for successfullynegotiating the constraints arising fromthe macro policy regime and its intera c t i onwith existing initial conditions. As such,these initiatives represented the mostrecent phase in rethinking traditionala p p ro a ches to macro - e c on omic planning,resulting from the widespread re c o g n i t i onthat the top-heavy and supply-side focusof cl a s s i cal macro pove rty all ev i a t i onmeasures inhibited progress in the fightagainst poverty in the region.

In 2002,the Evaluation Office (EO)of UNDP undert o ok an analysis of cri t i ca lissues relating to pove rty all ev i a t i onbased on empiri cal evidence documentedin UNDP’s Results-Oriented An n u a lReports (ROARs) and various PovertyR e d u c t i on St ra t e gy papers (PRS Ps ) .The analysis was perf o rmed in anattempt to assess con c rete measure seffective in linking macro and microoperations from UNDP’s developmentefforts particularly in South Asia. EOorganized a “lessons learning” meeting

on “Assessing Linkages between Macroand Micro Level Initiatives in SouthAsia” in New Delhi, India, where it wasrecognized that a regional perspective onthe micro-macro linkage would be valu-able for future country programmingand regional initiatives. Consequently,this regional assessment was initiated.

S T RUCTURE OF THE REPORT

The introduction of the report situatesthe goal of evaluating the micro-macrolinkages in poverty alleviation, and thescope of the study, through the terms ofreference and the methodologies used toprepare this report and the five countryreports on which it is based. In the nexts e c t i on , the conceptual fra m ew o rk of micro -macro linkages is presented. Definitionsof key terminology are followed by thepresentation of a conceptual and policyf ra m ew o rk to situate micro - m a c ro linkagesand the factors affecting those linkages.The next section presents a brief ove rv i ewof the assessments of the countryreports, including a short summary ofthe poverty profiles of the five countries.That is followed by a summary of microinitiatives and macro initiatives in thef i ve countri e s . The fourth section pre s e n t sthe analysis of micro - m a c ro linkagesbased on the findings of the countryre p o rt s , as well as an analysis of the ove ra lle f fe c t i veness of the micro - l evel initiative son poverty. It also discusses the findingsregarding micro-macro linkages. SectionFive presents lessons learned in lookingat the disconnect between the micro andthe macro pove rty all ev i a t i on initiative s ,a swell as the role of UNDP in establishingthese linkages. This is foll owed by recommendations.The Annexes providei n f o rm a t i on on the tables and figures cited,the terms of reference, the documentsconsulted and a list of those interviewedin the course of preparing this report.

1 .I N T RO D U C T I O N

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2. Conceptual Frameworkof Micro-Macro Linkage

DEFINITIONS

Ma c ro, Meso and Mi c roThe terms, macro, meso and micro offermultiple meanings in different contextsand cannot be reduced to geographic orspatial categories. They are, of course,re l a t i ve terms that speak to administra t i vel eve l s ,h i e ra rchies of political and econ om i cpower, spheres of social solidarity andp o l i t i cal affiliation ,e t c .The study re fe re n c e dat least three dimension s : spatial (nation a l /re g i on a l / l o ca l ) , social (com mu n i ty / g ro u p /i d e n t i ty / n a t i on ) , and political (mainstre a m /m a r g i n a l ) .M o re ove r, these ca t e go ries arecontext dependent. For instance, at theglobal leve l , a nation state could be re g a rd e das a micro entity while in a country studyit would be considered the macro.

For the purpose of this re p o rt , we shalltreat macro entities as a constellation ofinstitutions with centralized authority tooriginate and implement policies andmechanisms regarding the allocation ofre s o u rces and policies related to stru c t u ra lissues including those intended to stimu l a t efree market mechanisms, for examplet h rough pri v a t i s a t i on and trade measure s.The macro is distinguishable from microentities by the extent to which its scopeand domain of authority span the whole(or significant parts of) the country.

On the other hand, micro entitiesa re groups and institutions whose con t ro ldoes not extend beyond a limited loca l i tyor specific pro j e c t ; t h u s , this term usuallyrefers to grass- roots or community-l evel organiza t i ons (such as Vi ll a g eO r g a n i za t i on s ) , and groups (such as Se l f -Help Groups, SHG). In geographicalterms, they operate at the village (ortown) level.

The meso-level is in between them a c ro and the micro, g e o g ra ph i ca lly and politically. It points to institutionsand groups that operate at the district (or in a federal set-up, state) level. In acountry where the local elite dominates d i s t ri c t - l evel decision - m a k i n g, the vill a g eelite will also belong to the meso-level.

P OV E RTY

An t i - p ove rty initiatives re c o g n i ze themulti-dimensionality of poverty. Povertyis taken to be the depri v a t i on of materi a lresources (income), health, knowledgeand participation in social and politicallife. This recognition has been reflectedin many of the current activities withinthe UN sys t e m , f rom the on go i n gM i llennium Deve l o pment Goals (MDG s )to Poverty Reduction Strategy.

The five country studies looked at theincome aspect as well as non-economicaspects of poverty. These studies usedstakeholder participation in anti-povertyinitiatives to address the dimension ofexclusion from social and economic life.They employed the Head Count Indexas the indicator of the extent of incomepoverty. While this index fails to provideinformation regarding the intensity ofp ove rty, it provides a convenient measurefor com p a ring the extent of pove rtya c ross projects and individuals. Su chcomparisons may be cumbersome withmu l t i - d i m e n s i onal pove rty measure ssuch as those of the HDI, or almostimpossible, as with participatory povertyassessment (Brock and McGee, 2002;Choices for the Poor, 2001).

The Head Count Index is the fra c t i onof the population living below a pre d e t e r-mined level of con s u m p t i on (or incom e ) .3

Conventionally, this level is chosen aseither 1 (or 2) PPP US dollar con s u m p t i onper day and the Head Count Indexreflects the extent of absolute poverty.4

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5

“It is important not to lose sight of the basic fact that thereduction of income poverty alone cannot possibly be theultimate motivation of anti-poverty policy.” — Amartya Sen

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

3. Consumption (or the lack of it) is more readilym e a s u re d, as poor households re d u ce their consumption when faced with fluct u ations inincome due to shocks or seasonal factors.

4. For limitations of using PPP$ to make temporaland geographical comparisons, see Reddy andPogue, 2002.

Fo ll owing this appro a ch , this re p o rt also treats poverty as human poverty,recognizing it as deprivation of income,health, knowledge and social as well aspolitical participation.

M I C RO - M AC RO LINKAG E S :CO N C E P T UA L I ZAT I O N

The linkages between micro- andmacro-level anti-poverty efforts refer tothe manner in which they influence eachother. There are many dimensions tothese linkages, f rom inform a t i on ch a n n e l sbetween the two, to material constraintson the functioning of each other. Goodlinkages are tw o - w ay processes that ensurethe bi-directional flow of information toimprove the targeting and delivery ofmacro initiatives, while also providingthe enabling env i ronment for micro initiatives to operate to its full potential.

The dominant approach of macroeconomists dealing with poverty issues isinformed by the notion that only macropolicy instruments can attack nationalincome poverty. In this view, at most,micro initiatives may have some limitedoperational relevance in improving thei m p l e m e n t a t i on aspects of policy. H ow eve r,due to substantial differences in scaleand arenas impacted (micro, householdaccounts and macro, national accounts),the influence of micro initiative is verycircumscribed. This view discounts theneed for the micro to have a macro linkage.

However, this perspective does notaccount for the cost of ignoring microinterventions as a contributing factor inthe persistent failures or shortcomings oftop-heavy pove rty all ev i a t i on effort swith an exclusively supply-side focus.M o re ove r, setting the agenda and pri o ri t i e sof poverty alleviation cannot be reducedto policy makers’ economic choices; themandate of stakeholders is a necessarycondition to ensure effective targetingand delive ry. This re c o g n i t i on has

informed the approach of UNDP andother donor agencies since the early 90s.

While all gove rnments in the countri e sstudied focused on the macro env i ron m e n t ,the re g i on also has a tra d i t i on of part i c i p a-t o ry community-level initiatives. Thesewere strengthened and prioritized in thework of UNDP through programmessuch as SAPAP. However, increasinglythese efforts run the risk of seeking toa ll eviate pove rty through loca l - l evel initiatives without paying much heed tothe macro environment. There is ampleevidence now that micro-level initiativesby themselves were inadequate toaddress the issue of poverty. However,they could play an important role in thebroader effort at anti-poverty alleviationthrough their links with the macro. Forinstance, micro initiatives were useful aspilot programmes that provide a “visionand a map” for macro-level measuresagainst poverty.

It is in this context that UNDPsought to identify the micro - m a c ro linkagesthat influence the effe c t i veness of pove rtyalleviation measures. The key aspect ofsuch micro-macro links is the extent towhich they channel the experiences fromm i c ro pro g rammes to inform the fra m i n gof macro policy initiatives — from formu-l a t i on to implementation — in order toi m p rove their effe c t i ve delive ry. E f fe c t i vedelivery, in turn, is determined by macropolicies’ effect on micro entities.

For the purpose of this assessment,an analyt i cal perspective could be fra m e din the foll owing manner to re a d i ly identifyimportant lessons (Maguire, 2002):

i) D e s i gn Linkages: In designing and implementing micro - l evel p ro g rammes it is necessary forUNDP to “substantively rationalizethem to, and root them in” macrop o l i cy concepts and goals so that microprojects are likely to attain sufficientvisibility to provide a map and visionfor macro poverty initiatives.


6

ii) Fu n c tional Linkages: In opera t i on a l-izing pro g ra m m e s , UNDP should seekto establish the “n e c e s s a ry linkages ands ynergies between the implementationof micro and macro initiative s ” so thatprogrammes function in ways thatfacilitate these synergies on an on go i n gbasis and all ow for institutional flexibility and responsiveness.

iii) Results Linkages: The results fromthe implemented pro g rammes shouldb e c ome necessary and re l evant inputsfor future macro poverty initiatives,i.e. to keep open the channels oft ra n s m i s s i on of inform a t i on frommicro to macro through advocacyand similar efforts.

D E T E R M I N A N TS OF M I C RO - M AC RO LINKAG E S

Lessons from the five countries showre c u r ring problems of targeting anddelivery with macro initiatives againstp ove rty. Si m i l a rly, c om mu n i ty - l evel programmes, even when successful, hadfrequently failed to influence thinking atthe macro leve l .These re c u r ring pro b l e m scannot be explained as simply arisingf rom a lack of available re s o u rc e s .T h ey alsopoint to persistent con s t raints operating atd i f fe rent re g i s t e r s . Based on inform a t i onfrom country reports, we could discernfour dimensions in which the factorscontributing to the disconnect betweenmicro and macro operate, namely:

1. Perceptions and attitudes regardingeach other

2. I n f o rm a t i on asym m e t ry and/or deficit3. I n s t i t u t i onal mismatch between target

(and needs) and delive ry mech a n i s m s4. Unequal power relations

Pe rceptions and attitudes re g a rding each otherEarly efforts by the State in all fivecountries had been characterized by an

approach that regarded the poor as am onolithic entity that is vulnera b l e,without agency and incapable of articulating its interests. Thus povertyalleviation efforts took a paternalisticattitude towards the poor and there wasa failure to recognize the obvious need to consult stakeholders. In recent yearss i g n i f i cant changes have occurred inm a i n s t ream thinking on anti-pove rtym e a s u res and all five countries nowagree, in principle at least, on the meritsof participatory processes. However, them i c ro - m a c ro ch a llenges continue toexist and perceptions of the capacity ofthe poor seem to endure.

The poor on the other hand,p e rc e i ve dthe State as a static and monolithic entitythat is perpetually deaf to their interests,as evidenced by their entre n ched pove rty.They tended to believe actions to seekrepresentation and remedy would noteffect any changes.

Thus the attitudes and perc e p t i ons ofthe micro and the macro may themselvesinhibit channels of communication.

I n fo rm ation asymmetry and deficitThe macro lacks information on the priorities and needs of the poor; thus itl a cks knowledge of targets and appro p ri a t edelivery mechanisms. The poor, on theother hand, l a ck knowledge of the re s o u rc e sthat are accessible, the opportunities thata re available and the synergies that are possible when social mobilization iscoupled with the establishment of horizontal and vertical links.

Institutional mismatch be tween target and d e l i ve ry mechanismsLinkages between the macro and them i c ro were con s t rained also by theabsence of appro p riate political and e c on omic institution s . For instance,inadequate political and administrativedecentralization would act as a barrier to

2 . CO N C E P T UAL FRA M EWORK OF MICRO - M AC RO LINKAG E

7

the channels of transmission betweenthe macro and the micro. Operationally,o ften complex and conflicting hori zon t a lstructures that were produced by admin-istrative decentralization could lead toinhibiting vertical access by the stake-h o l d e r s . Persistent excl u s i on from politica lpower has left the poor with limitedi n s t i t u t i onal arrangements to convey theiraspirations to the centre. For instance,no institution has been able to reach theultra poor in ways that meaningfullyelicit their participation as input into themicro-macro information channels; thust h ey remain excluded from macro decision -making processes.

Unequal power re l at i o n sThis is perhaps the most important of alldimensions and even may be at the rootof the other three factors descri b e dabove. It concerns the lack of politicalwill on the part of the actors at themacro level to establish links with stake-holders. A meaningful attack on large-

s cale pove rty re q u i res more than a tax andt ra n s fer appro a ch . The deep re d i s t ri b u t i veefforts required to address large-scalepoverty would face resistance from thestatus quo. Moreover, the exclusion ofthe poor from economic and politicalstructures leaves them with little voice orchoice in the decision-making processes.Even when the centre is willing to listen,local hierarchies vested in maintainingthe status quo often block voices of thepoor being transmitted “upstream”. As are s u l t , t h e re is ve ry limited politica lspace and commitment for opening upchannels of communication between themacro and the micro.

These dimensions seldom exist asentirely separate categories. They wereoften present together in instances ofinhibited macro - m i c ro linkages andshould be recognized as fundamentallyi n t e rl i n k e d . Neve rt h e l e s s , it is alsoimportant to identify these as related butdistinct dimensions of micro - m a c rolinks in the South Asian region.


8

3. The Macroeconomic and Policy Environment

ASSESSMENT OF MI CRO - M AC RO LINK AGES IN POV E RT Y ALLEV I AT I O N : SOUTH ASIA

1 0

This chapter gives a brief descri p t i on of themacroeconomic and policy environmentin the region, highlighting some of thek ey ch a llenges that are re l evant to micro -macro linkages and their implicationsfor policies on poverty alleviation.

M AC RO - E CONOMIC T R E N D S

The South Asia region has the largestconcentration of poverty in the world.It generates less than two percent ofworld income, yet supports twenty-twopercent of world population and nearlyhalf of the world’s poor (i.e. those whoearn less than a dollar a day). It has thelowest per capita income (US$440) of all developing regions. It also has thehighest rate of youth illiteracy (23% formales and 40% for females) and the low e s trate of access to sanitation facilities(36%).5 The regional economy, whichgrew by just over five percent annually inthe last decade, depends more heavily onagriculture than in any other part of theworld. Almost sixty percent of the SouthAsian labour force is inv o lved in agri c u l t u rethat accounts for around tw e n ty - f i vepercent of South Asia’s GDP. Thereforepolicies that affect agri c u l t u re have relatively significant ramifications for alarge mass of people, especially the poor.Ove ra ll ,e c on omic growth and deve l o pm e n tin the region are less dependent on tradeand capital flows than, for instance, inEast Asia or Southeast Asia.

A ll of the South Asian countries thatwere assessed have large fiscal deficitsdespite efforts to stabilize their annualb u d g e t a ry short f a lls and re s t ru c t u retheir ove ra ll revenue coll e c t i on andexpenditure management programmes.Persistent fiscal imbalances have led tothe high cost of capital, crowding outfinancial resources for the private sector,and discouraging private sector inve s t m e n t .

High population growt h , insufficient GDPg rowt h ,l ow human re s o u rce deve l o pm e n t ,and improper social assistance have also constrained efforts to reduce poverty inthe re g i on . No twithstanding the negativemacro-economic tends, according to theAsian Development Bank the regionsustained its economic growth in 2003,with aggregate GDP of the five countri e sremaining at 4.98 perc e n t , despite aslowdown in the Indian economy. GDPg rowth in India slowed marginallybecause of lower growth in agriculturesector output and slower growth in thei n d u s t ry sector. E x p o rts in India re c o rd e da double-digit rate of growth in 2000,spurred by the recovery in global tradeand depreciation of the rupee. India’sTenth Fi ve -Year Plan (2002-7) emph a s i ze sthe importance of human developmentw h e re deve l o pment objectives are definedm o re bro a dly in terms of enhancement ofhuman well - b e i n g, as opposed to incre a s e sin GDP. Bangladesh also perf o rmed well between 2002 and 2003, recoveringfrom the devastating floods of 1999.The Gove rnment has pre p a red a Na t i on a lSt ra t e gy for Econ omic Growth andPoverty Reduction to lay the basis forfuture development planning. However,t h e re has been limited pro g ress on governance and structural reforms in thestate owned enterp rises and banking sectors.In Pa k i s t a n , the gove rn m e n t’s fiscal s t a b i l i za t i on efforts have focused on majortax reforms and cutting expenditures,including the reduction of corporate taxrate to ach i eve macro - e c on omic stability.The other South Asian economies alsoshowed strong signs of recovery in 2003,m a i n ly because of higher growth in agriculture sector output.The growth ofe x p o rts in the other South Asian countri e salso improved.

Both quantitative and qualitativec on s i d e ra t i ons indicate that the well - b e i n gof the vast majority of the poor (definedmultidimensionally) in the region didnot improve at an acceptable pace over

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

5. World Development Indicators, 2003.

the last decade, and the overall income-poverty reduction rate has also beenmodest, in spite of a large number ofpoverty alleviation programmes carriedout by governments, NGOs and otherdevelopment agencies.

Corruption is endemic at all levels of the state and society in South Asia:‘At the individual level , high levels ofcorruption impose disproportionate costs onthe majority of South Asians, as they areforced to pay bribes in order to gain access tobasic social services…The largest country,I n d i a , has the stro n gest democratic institu t i o n sin the reg i o n , but it is as plagued as Banglad e s h,Nepal and Pakistan by systematic publicand private sector corruption. Sri Lanka,which has the highest Human DevelopmentI n d ex ra n k i n g , also suffers from this menac e.’ 6

POLICY FOCUS ONG OVERNANCE AND T RA N S F O R M ATION P RO C E S S E S

Given the high levels of poverty, SouthAsia is experiencing a major redefinition

of the role of governments in the contextof economic reforms that are almost universal in the region. Not only aregove rnments being divested of their re g u l a t o ry and utility ownership function s ,but are also being forced to engage inpolicy making in a more transparent andp a rt i c i p a t o ry manner. In India, the largestcountry of the region, the challenges ofc o a l i t i on politics have resulted in stron g e rprovincial and local governments thatare transforming the balance of powerand, hence, the pace of development atthe regional level. Sustained vigorousreforms are now considered critical toa d d ress macro - e c on omic and social sectorimpediments to improve the welfare ofpeople in the region.

The Wo rld Bank (W B ) , for instance,has re - evaluated its past country assistancestrategy in the region, characterized bys t ru c t u ral adjustment pro g rammes (SAP).G i ven the pace and effects of globaliza t i onin the region, there is now much greatere m phasis on the need to integrate pove rtyre d u c t i on efforts with political ow n e r s h i pand participation. The policy debate hass h i fted to how globaliza t i on can bemade more receptive to the needs of the poor and deprived groups in societyso that it does not lead to a process

3 . THE MAC RO E CONOMIC AND POLIC Y ENVIRO N M E N T

1 1

Source: Asian Development Bank.OUTLOOK 2002 UPDATE.

FIGURE 1: SELECTED ASIAN ECONOMIES GDP GROWTH RATE (PERC E N T)

8

6

4

2

0

-2Sources:AADO database;Bangladesh ResidentMission, Quarterly Economic Update; ReserveBank of India,2002, RBI Bulletin, August;Pakistan Economic Survey 2001-02.

FIGURE 2: F I S CAL DEFICIT,SELECTED SOUTH ASIAN CO U N T R I E S

( P E RCENT OF GDP)

8

7

6

5

41 9 9 6 1 9 9 7 1 9 9 8 1 9 9 9 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 2

1 9 9 9 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 3

India -------

------- Pakistan

------- Bangladesh

India -------

Pakistan -------

------- Bangladesh

------- Nepal

------- Sri Lanka

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6. South As i a , Regional Re po rt, Tra n s p a re n cyInternational,2002, p.39.

which further marginalizes the poor andaccentuates inequalities. R e t h i n k i n gpoverty reduction strategies within thec u r rent policy env i ronment is underscore dby the concept of democratization of them a rket-based econ om y,w h e re key con c e rn srelate to a) ach i eving a distri b u t i onal balancein the all o ca t i on of market and non - m a rk e tre s o u rces to be more favourable to the poor;and b) establishing financial accountabilityand transparency in all kinds of publicdealings by government organizations,n on - gove rnmental organiza t i on s , p ri v a t eo r g a n i za t i on s , c om mu n i ty-based organi-za t i on s ,p ro fe s s i onal bodies and all electedb o d i e s .This last issue, related to gove rn a n c e,is actually posed as the central issue bythe WB.

In view of the past experience ofgovernment and market failures in thearea of poverty polices, there is now

greater emphasis on the need to aimmacro-policies not only to influence theformal sectors of economy, but also theinformal sectors, where the vast majori-ty of the poor and marginalized remainentrenched. Poverty alleviation policiesneed to prioritize pro-poor institutionalreforms in each area of developmentintervention as well as develop organiza-tions of the poor at the sectoral, sub-national,and national levels.This is nec-essary not just for mobilizing the poorthemselves in the formulation of pover-ty alleviation policies and their imple-mentation, but also for increasing theiraggregate claims on the distribution ofoverall benefits of economic growth andsocial progress.

UNDP has placed greater emphasison policy advisory services that are fundamental to meet not only nationalpoverty reduction goals, but also to linkthese to mon i t o ring pro g ress and assessingimpact of the Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDG s ) ,w h i ch ca ll for bro a d - b a s e dconsultations between civil society andd eve l o pment agencies in the formu l a t i onof pro-poor policies and implementationof programmes.

CO U N T RY ASSESSMENTS

The foll owing section presents the countryprofiles on poverty and a summary ofo b s e rv a t i ons on macro and micro pove rtya ll ev i a t i on initiatives in the five countri e s .These observations were drawn from thecountry assessment reports and otherrelated literature that provide the basisfor the analysis on the linkages betweenm i c ro and macro pove rty all ev i a t i on effort s .

Co u nt ry Pro f i l e sThe poverty profiles of the five countriesa re summari zed in Tables 1 to 3.G e n e ra lly, p ove rty all ev i a t i on effort shave focused mainly on discrete projectsthat could demon s t rate immediate outp u t s .


1 2

Source:South Asia,Regional Report, Transparency International,2002.

B OX 2: K EY POLICY ISSUES IN SOUTH ASIA

■ En s u ring financial acco u nt a b i l i ty and tra n s p a re n cy in public and private sectors

■ Exploring different mixes of property rights under privateownership to better suit the specific contexts of the lowand middle-income countries

■ Determining level of government subsidy of agriculturalinputs and control of agricultural input markets

■ Determining the extent of privatization and opening up tointernational markets

■ Su p po rting small and medium businesses, g i ven the government bias toward large-scale players

■ Up - s caling successful micro - l evel initiat i ves with the poor assustainable inte rve ntions within mainstream macro eco n o my

■ Bringing political stability while economy is undergoingmajor structural reforms, and ensuring necessary supportto social groups hurt by reforms

Source:South Asia,Regional Report, Transparency International,2002.

B OX 1: THE CO S TS OF CO R RUPTION IN BA N G LA D E S H

It is estimated that Bangladesh re ce i ved 50 pe rce nt less fo re i g nd i re ct inve s t m e nt during 1999 be cause of co rru p t i o n .Corruption at the country’s por t, according to the AmericanChamber of Commerce, costs the economy US$1.1 billionevery year.

This has discouraged engagement withl on g e r - t e rm policy and institution a lreforms that are needed in each of thefive countries in order to reduce povertymu ch faster. The key donor organiza t i on sin the region have shown a preferencet ow a rds non - gove rnmental organiza t i on sthat are perceived as delivering projecto u tp u t s , and working more cl o s e ly with poor people, more effectively thangovernment. Few donors have engagedsystematically with the private sector.

In Bangladesh, a quarter of the totalpopulation of 137.4 million lives in theu rban are a s . This country’s HDI ra n k i n gof 145 is the lowest among the five countri e ss t u d i e d .( See Table 1.) The official extentof pove rty is 29.1% (percentage of population with less than 1$/day (1993US PPP $). The national poverty HeadCount Ratio declined from 58.8% in1991/92 to 49.8% in 2000 while theGini Index of inequality increased from0.259 to 0.307 in 2000 (Akash, 2002).7

The unemployment level as a percentageof the total labour force was at 2.5% in1995 (WDI 2002). The annual growthrate in terms of GDP per capita is 3.3%while the annual growth unadjusted forpopulation growth is 5.2%.

India, with a population of over1,008 mill i on , has more people than all ofthe other countries studied com b i n e d . It hasan HDI ranking of 124 and is re g a rded asa medium Human Deve l o pment countrywith average income at US PPP $2,358.The official poverty rate is the highesta m ong the five countri e s , at 44.2% ( p e rcentage of population below 1$/day –1993 US PPP $) though pove rty has beenhalved since the late 70s. The literacyrate increased from 4% in 1981 to 62%in 1999. However, gains had stagnatedand more than 50% of rural children,particularly girls, were suffering frommalnutrition. During the mid 90s India

had one of the 10 fastest grow i n geconomies in the world but the growthhad slowed down con s i d e ra b ly, to 4.5%, in 2001 (2.7% when adjusted forpopulation growth).

Ne p a l has a population of 23 mill i onof which over 88% lives in rural areas. Itis ranked 142nd in the world in terms ofHuman Development. The average percapita income is US PPP $1,327, thelowest in all five countries. The literacyrate is 41%. Access to basic services hasimproved but still remains low – 19% ofthe population is without access toimproved water sources and 73% has noaccess to adequate sanitation facilities.The current Head Count Index for rateof pove rty is 38% (population with incom eless than $1 per day – 1993 PPP US$)and the Gini Index of inequality in 1996was 0.367 (HDR 2002). The officialrate of unemployment in 1999 was 1.1%of the total labour force (WDI 2002).

Pakistan has a population of 141million, an intermediate level among thefive countries studied. Compared to theother four, it has the highest percentage ofu rban population , 33.1 %. Its HDI ra n k i n g


1 3

Source: Akash,2002.

B OX 3: BA N G LADESH – MARGINALIZED GRO U P S

In spite of the slow decrease in the rate of pove rty, Ba n g l a d e s hhas achieved impressive progress in some of the indices of social development at macro level as compared to otherlow-income countries of the world. Especially noteworthy isits relatively higher level of social development indicators ata re l at i vely low level of inco m e. Howeve r, these improve m e nt sa re only in te rms of ave rages of the whole po p u l ation co m p rising both rich and poor members of the whole society and may therefore hide the stark inequalities behindthem.In fact, the incidence of extreme poverty, poverty andsocial development level varies very much in accordancewith the gender, regional and socio-economic characteristicsof the households under co n s i d e rat i o n . In general the wo m e nheaded households, households headed by relatively youngor less educated persons, households with a lower tenurestatus, households living in poorly developed areas and theeffectively landless households are more likely to be poor orextremely poor in Bangladesh.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

7. Gini Index is a measure of inequality computedfrom the ‘Laorenz Curve’ of income distribution.

of 138 (HDR 2002) is com p a rable to thoseof Bangladesh and Nepal (see Table 1).The official extent of poverty is 31%(population with income of less than$1/day – 1993 PPP US$) (HDR 2002).Over the last three ye a r s , 7 mill i on peoplehad been pushed below the nationalpoverty line (Ahmed 2002). The GiniIndex in 1995 was 0.312 (HDR 2002).Between 1988 and 1998, the share ofincome of the top 20 per cent of thepopulation increased from 44% to 50%while the share of the bottom 20 percent declined from 9% to 7% (Ahmed2002). The growth rate over the lastdecade has been the lowest among thefive countries, at 1.2% (HDR 2002).The official rate of unemployment as apercentage of the total labour force is5.9% (WDI 2002).

Sri Lanka is the smallest countrystudied. It has a population of 19 millionand ranks highest on the HumanDevelopment Index of all five countries,89th in the world (Human Deve l o pm e n tReport 2002). As a result of its history ofinvesting in human capital it has thehighest litera cy rates (92%) and lifeexpectancy at birth (72.1 years), and thelowest poverty incidence (Head CountIndex of 6.6%) among the countriess t u d i e d . These indica t o r s , while accura t e,do not tell the whole story. In the firstplace, they describe the situation in non-conflict areas. Areas of conflict involve

nearly 15% of the population (including900,000 children), most of whom live inextreme poverty. Secondly, the statisticsdo not show regional variations. Finally,they reflect gains made some time ago.Absolute pove rty actually increased duri n gthe period 1990-95, as did inequality,with the share of income of the highestdecile rising from 36.5% to 39.8%. TheGini inequality index in 1995 was 0.344.The youth unemployment level is high,at 20%.The ave rage growth rate during the90s was 5% while the agricultural sectorwas lagging behind at 2% (Case Study,R BA P, UNDP 2002). M o re ove r, the civilwar consumes nearly a third of gove rn m e n trevenues or one fifth of governmentexpenditure and has resulted in lowerinvestment in health and education.

The pove rty profiles of the fivec o u n t ries demon s t rate notable similari t i e sand differences, as can be seen fromTables 1 through 3. For instance, whileall five may be classified as low-incomecountries, they are at different levels ofhuman deve l o pm e n t : Ne p a l , Pa k i s t a nand Bangladesh are close in their HDIrankings but Sri Lanka is significantlyhigher. Both Sri Lanka and India arere g a rded as medium Human Deve l o pm e ntcountries while the others are classifiedas low Human Development countries.Lo oking at the com p onents of theHuman Development Index, Sri Lankahas a much lower official Head Count Index of poverty, at 6.6%, while Indiahas the highest, at 44%. Literacy rates inB a n g l a d e s h , Nepal and Pakistan areclose to 41%, while in Sri Lanka literacyis 92%. The average income levels varyby a factor of almost three – with thelowest in Nepal at PPP US $1,327 andthe highest in Sri Lanka at PPP US$3,530, in the year 2000 (HDR 2002).

Geographically, the countries havenot attained demographic transition. Atleast two thirds of the population of theregion lives in rural areas. Nepal leads,with a rural population of 88%. In all


1 4

Source: Ahmed, 2002.

B OX 4: PA K I S TAN – UNEMPLOYMENT AND POV E RTY

The policy of pursuing stabilization at the cost of growth hasbeen socially damaging. The countr y’s unemployment rate,which increased from an average of 3.5 per cent during 1981-1990 to 5.7 per cent during 1991-2000, went up 7.4 per centin 2001-02. Consequently, the percentage of the populationbelow the poverty line, which had fallen from 31 per cent in1979 to 17 per cent in 1988,rose again to 33 per cent in 1999.It has further increased to 38 per cent in 2001. It appears thatduring the two years since 1999,about 350,000 people havebeen rendered unemployed and about 7 million people havefallen below the poverty line.

five countries except for Pakistan, theofficial poverty levels have declined overthe last decade. But inequality has eitherincreased or stabilized at higher levelscompared to the previous decades. All ofthese countries range between 0.31 and0.38 on the Gini Index of inequality.(See Figure 1.) While this is higher thanin the No rt h e rn European countri e s(0.21 to 0.26) it is much lower than inthe Latin Am e ri can countries (0.5 to 0.6).Growth rates, as measured by annualincrease in GDP per capita ranged from0.9% to 3.4% in 2001 (WDI 2002) withPakistan and Sri Lanka at the lowest endand Bangladesh and Nepal at the highest.

Mi c ro - l evel Initiat i ve sT h e re are a range of micro - l evel initiative sstudied in the country reports, almost allof them covering the period between1994 and 2000. As indicated in Table 5,initiatives by donors other than UNDPwere also included in the analysis.

One of the examples of micro - p ro j e c t sstudied was the South Asia Pove rtyA ll ev i a t i on Pro g ramme (SAPA P ) ,i n i t i a t edin 1993 following a SAARC summit inDh a k a . UNDP committed $9.5 mill i on tothe SAPAP and initiated the pro g ra m m e

3 . THE MAC RO E CONOMIC AND POLICY ENV IRO N M E N T

1 5

TABLE 1: CO U N T RY PRO F I L E

Country

Ba n g l a d e s h

India

Nepal

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Population(million) 2000

137.4

1008.9

23.0

141.3

18.9

UrbanPopulation as % total(2000)

25.0

27.7

11.8

33.1

22.8

LifeExpectancyat Birth (Years) 2000

59.4

63.3

58.6

60.0

72.1

Adult LiteracyRate (% age 15 andabove) 2000

41.3

57.2

41.8

43.2

91.6

GDP (PPP US$)2000

1,602

2,358

1,327

1,928

3,530

HDI Rank

145

124

142

138

89

UNDP Core FundsCommitted*(Million US$)

112.2(1995-2000)

116.8(1997-2001)

42.8(1997-2001)

37.0(1998-2003)

28.9(1997-2001)

Net ODA**(Million US$)1998-2000

3,650

4,588

1,149

2,489

1,047

* Country Cooperation Framework Documents of UNDP; ** Compiled by Author from OECD, World Bank StatisticsSource: Human Development Report, 2002.

Country

Ba n g l a d e s h

India

Nepal

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

% ofPopulationBelow$1/day(1993 PPPUS$)*

29.1

44.2

37.7

31.0

6.6

% ofPopulationBelow$2/day(1993 PPPUS$)*

77.8

86.2

82.5

84.6

45.4

% ofPopulationBelowNationalPovertyLine*

35.6

35.0

42.0

34.0

25.0

InequalityIndex,Gini

0.336

0.378

0.367

0.312

0.344

* Most recent official estimates availableSource: Human Development Report, 2002.

Country

Ba n g l a d e s h

India

Nepal

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Growth Rate (1990-2000)(Growth of GDP per capita)

3.0

4.1

2.4

1.2

3.9

Source: Human Development Report,2002.

TABLE 2: P ROFILES OF POV E RT Y AND INEQUA L I T Y

TABLE 3: G ROWTH RAT E

in parts of six countries, including thefive countries studied here, as follows:

■ B a n g l a d e s h :An Upazilla in Kishore gon jDistrict (KST)

■ India: 20 Mandals in three Districtsof Andhra Pradesh State

■ Nepal: Seven Village DevelopmentCommittees in Syangja District

■ Pa k i s t a n : Two Unions in La chi Te h s i l ,in Northwest Frontier Province

■ Sri La n k a : T h ree Divisions in Nu w a ra -Eliya District

The country re p o rts from India,Nepal and Sri Lanka focused only on t h eS A PAP pro g rammes as their examples ofm i c ro - l evel pro g ra m m e s . B a n g l a d e s hconsidered the cases of SAPAP and theSi rajganj local gove rnance project fundedby UNCDF. The Pakistan re p o rt c on s i d e red other projects such as the Pakistan Community DevelopmentProject for the Rehabilitation ofWaterlogged and Saline Land, fundedby UNDP and Australian AID. Thisinformation is summarized in Table 5.

The following section provides a briefsummary of the programme activitiesconsidered in each country report.

BangladeshThe Kishorgonj Sadar Thana (KS T) initiative covered all 202 villages in theKST area by the year 2000, c reating 1,031v i llage organiza t i ons (VOs) and inv o lv i n g38,662 households or 67% of all those inthe area. It was an Upazilla-level projectconfined to a single Upazilla. The VOstargeted all segments of the village population, not just the poor, and hadwomen’s participation of 46.7%. Thep roject stimulated household savings,having mobilized Tk.61.6 million (i.e.around US$1.1million) and disbursedTk.100 million (around US$1.7 million)by 2000. Am ong the other services re n d e re d , the project trained and prov i d e dadvice to villagers on specialized areassuch as livestock and poultry.

The other micro - l evel project con s i d e re din the country re p o rt is the Si rajganj Lo ca lG ove rnance Deve l o pment Fu n d ,i n i t i a t e dby UNCDF. This was implemented in asingle District of Sirajganj. It began with18 Unions and was expected to cover all81 Unions in the District by the time itends in 2004. The project aims to buildca p a c i ty for planning, financing andmanaging basic development activities;to deliver sustainable small-scale infra-s t ru c t u re ; and to draw lessons onimproved local governance practices.

Three meso-level programmes werestudied in the country report, namely,the Rural Community EmpowermentProject (RC EP ) , the Com mu n i ty Live s t o ckand Dairy Deve l o pment Project (CLDDP)and the Urban Com mu n i ty Empow e rm e n tProject (UCEP ) . Results were as foll ow s :

RCEP comprised four projects thathad generated 1,380 VOs and served27,646 members in 335 villages and 9Upazillas. They aimed to empower thepoor by encouraging participatory localaction and building capacity through


1 6

1985 1990 1995 2000

0.40

0.35

0.30

0.25

FIGURE 3: CHANGES IN INEQUA L I TY, GINI INDEX

Nepal - - - - - - -

Sri Lanka - - - - - - -

------- India

------- Pakistan

------- Bangladesh

Source:UNDP, November 2001

Source:UNDP, 2002.

B OX 5

National ownership entails an integration of projects into agiven national priority agenda;the participation of all stake-holders in the design and implementation of programmes;and commitment to target groups and beneficiaries.

social mobilization, micro-finance andtechnical training.

CLDDP was directed by the Gra m e e nBank of Bangladesh and not run by agove rnment agency. It covers 19 Upazill a ssituated in the Northwestern District of Bangladesh.

UCEP was located in the slums ofthree cities and eight municipal towns,targeting 37,420 poor households. Theprogramme sought to empower the poorby organizing small groups to identifyc om m on service needs of their re s p e c t i vec om mu n i t i e s ; to pre p a re Wa rd - l evel deve l-o pm e n t plans; to mobilize micro capital;and to develop income-generating skills.

IndiaThe SAPAP in India was initiated in 20Mandals of three Districts in AndhraPra d e s h . It cove red a population of194,000 of whom 53% fell below thepoverty line. It had strong backing fromthe state gove rnment and spawned5,201 self-help groups (SHG) federatedin 380 com mu n i ty organiza t i ons cove ri n g64% of the target households. Women’sp a rt i c i p a t i on in these com mu n i ty organizations was very high (98%).

The perf o rmance of SAPAP inAn d h ra Pradesh had led the state gove rnment to implement it at the state level, with the help of the WorldB a n k , t h rough the An d h ra Pra d e s hD i s t rict Pove rty Initiatives Pro j e c t( A P D PIP) and the An d h ra Pra d e s hRu ral Pove rty Reduction Pro j e c t(APRPRP). These incorporated the keylessons from SAPAP with appropriatemodifications and additions such as arisk management com p onent and acommon investment fund.

In addition, the APDPIP conceptwas extended to other states such asMadhya Pradesh and Rajastan, againwith support from the World Bank.

NepalSAPAP in Nepal was woven into theexisting deve l o pment administra t i ve


1 7

B OX 6 : BA N G LA D E S H

The Sirajganj Local Governance Development Project startedin July 1999 and is expected to continue until December2004. During this period it has to cover all the 81 UnionParishads (UP) of the district of Sirajganj. The brief aims ofthe project are:■ Delivery of small-scale local infrastructure services■ Building capacities of local government bodies to plan,

finance and manage basic development activities in aresponsive and accountable manner

■ Drawing lessons on improved local government practicesof wider relevance in Bangladesh

A base line study and capacity assessment was carried out inFebruary 1998, before the final formulation of the project.Three different participatory workshops were arranged, twoin Sirajgang and one in Dhaka to ensure the ownership of theproject at both micro and macro level. The documentationsuggests that these meetings were widely participated andsuccessful. After these dialogues the drafting of the projectdocument was finalized in April 1998 and the Governmentsigned the final agreement on July 1999. The key player ofthe pro j e ct is the UP, the lowest elected local body inBangladesh, which has thrived for more than a century inspite of many ups and downs in the country’s history. Newinstitutions above as well as below the UP were created tocarry out specific developmental work within the UP with thefinancial capital grant from UNDP.

network to realize its goals. The VillageD eve l o pment Committees (V DCs) wereon the lowest tier of such administrativeunits and constituted a federation of villages. They were already engaged inpoverty alleviation programmes under-written by the Government of Nepal(GON). By the year 2000 the SAPAPp ro g ramme cove red seven V DCs and hadset up 210 VOs with 5,910 members, or95% of the target population in theSyangja District. While the programmewas open to all households, 64% of thoseparticipating were classified as poor.

The success of SAPAP in Nepal hadprompted the GON to seek UNDPassistance to upscale the project, with a view to using the process of socialm o b i l i za t i on in other, similar pro j e c t s .T h eS A PAP appro a ch had been implementedin two meso-level programmes covering270,000 households across Nepal.These

Source: Akash,2002.

programmes, the Participatory DistrictDevelopment Programme (PDDP) andthe Lo cal Gove rnment Pro g ra m m e,were funded by the UNDP. In addition,the GON had been persuaded to extendthe programme to 15 other VDCs inSyangja District, as well as to 40 otherDistricts across the country.

PakistanThe Lachi project under SAPAP wasundertaken in Lachi Tehsil, in KohatD i s t rict in the No rth West Fron t i e rProvince (NWFP). It had spawned 321c om mu n i ty organiza t i ons inv o lv i n g10,502 members, and had mobilize dover Rs.3 mill i on (around US$52,300) ins a v i n g s , initiated 73 infra s t ru c t u re pro j e c t sand trained 1,108 village specialists.During the recent local body elections,when most of the special seats forwomen were filled uncontested, in theproject area every single special seat was

contested and had a very high turnout offemale voters.

Another micro-level project studiedwas the Project for Rehabilitation ofWa t e rlogged and Saline La n d ,s u p p o rt e dby UNDP and Au s t ralian Aid.This pro j e c twas a technical one. It sought to increasesoil productivity for farmers through thep rom o t i on of sustainable biologica lfarming systems for the reclamation andre h a b i l i t a t i on of saline-affected andwaterlogged land. The project covered53 villages in three Districts of PunjabProvince and targeted seven per cent of theaffected area. Altogether it rehabilitated2,300 acres at a cost of $1,800 per acre,w h i ch is ve ry expensive by local standard s .While this did not meet the technicale x p e c t a t i on s , it did succeed in mobilizingthe community.

The third micro - l evel project studiedin the country report was the NorthernA reas Deve l o pment Pro g ramme (NA D P ) .This inv o lved 250 com mu n i ty organiza t i on sand 250 Women’s Development Groups(W DG ) . It mobilized com mu n i ty cre d i tand trained villagers in activities relatedto agri c u l t u re, animal husbandry, p o u l t ry,e t c . , p roviding services for approx i m a t e ly10,000 households in one of the mostremote areas of Pakistan. In terms ofsocial mobiliza t i on , the La chi project andthe NADP were noticeably successful.

The meso-level area developmentproject in Balochistan was implementedto ach i eve sustainable human deve l o pm e n tin the ru ral areas there . It generated 1,200c om mu n i ty organiza t i ons and, using theirp a rt i c i p a t i on , rehabilitated lands fora g ri c u l t u re, enhanced human re s o u rces andestablished a well-equipped GeographicI n f o rm a t i on System (GIS) unit and thre esoil testing laboratories.

Sri LankaThe SAPAP programme covered threeout of five Divisions in a single District(out of the 25 Districts in the country),reaching 14,657 people. Women’s par-ticipation was significant, at 53%.


1 8

B OX 7: PA K I S TAN – CO O R D I N ATION WITH OTHER UN AGENCIES AND DONOR ORG A N I ZATIONS

I nte rn ational lending agencies and donors have placed s pecial emphasis on pove rty re d u ction in assisting theGovernment of Pakistan. In an effort to redress and nullifythe basic perception about the impact of policies of IMF,World Bank and WTO on poor people, the IMF has introducedpoverty reduction and growth facility to replace structurala d j u s t m e nt facility. The Asian Deve l o p m e nt Bank has re ce nt l yfinalized its long-term lending strategy, until 2015, whiche nvisages 40 pe rce nt of future lending for pove rty re d u ct i o n .The major expenditure of World Bank is also earmarked forpove rty re d u ction prog ra m m e s. UNDP and seve ral otherbilateral donors have shifted their interest more towardspove rty re d u ct i o n . Howeve r, these po l i cy changes have created problems of duplication, wastage and inefficient useof resources because most of the donors have invested inpove rty re d u ction prog ramme without effe ct i ve coo rd i n at i o namong themselves and with the government. The first levelcoo rd i n ation can ensure that all pro j e cts undert a ken by d i f fe re nt donors are co n s i s te nt with the gove rn m e nt’s ove ra l ls t rate gy of pove rty re d u ct i o n . This coo rd i n ation is theresponsibility of the federal government, but unfortunatelynot very strong in Pakistan. The second level coordinationamong donors is also very weak in Pakistan.

Source: Akash,2002.

The meso-level programme, AreaBased Growth with Equity Programme(ABGEP) was implemented in the UvaProv i n c e, one of the poorest of the country’snine prov i n c e s . Its objectives were tw o f o l d :to increase employment and incom ethrough expansion and diversification ofeconomic opportunities led by privatesector growth; and to build the capacityof the participating public sector agenciesto strengthen prov i s i on of serv i c e s .A B G EP’s pove rty re d u c t i on effort ssought to build horizontal and verticallinks among NGOs, CBOs, the privatesector and government agencies througha holistic sub-national deve l o pm e n tapproach at the meso-level.

M AC RO - L EVEL INITIAT I V E S

The purpose of this section is not toprovide an exhaustive list of povertyalleviation programmes for each country.Rather, it addresses poverty alleviationefforts and their consequences in eachcase in broad sketches. To this end, thecountry reports scrutinized governmenti n i t i a t i ves over the past one to fivedecades. The focus will be not on thee f f i ca cy of these effort s , but on their effe c t son poverty at large and their impact onthe environment in which micro-levelanti-poverty efforts can operate.

BangladeshFor the past 15 ye a r s , having adopted thestructural adjustment policy prescribedby the Wa s h i n g t on Con s e n s u s ,B a n g l a d e s hhas been seeking to balance its capitaland current account deficits. As Akash(2002) pointed out, the “modern privatesector did not perform well and the agri-culture has suffered from low growth”,resulting in higher poverty rates. WBhas acknowledged the failure, attributingit to the “lack of domestic ownership ofthese policies and the consequent lack ofstrong commitment by the Governmentof Bangladesh (GOB)”.

The assessment studied six macro-l evel initiative s ,n a m e ly: (i) building ca p a c i tyfor local gove rnance by providing tra i n i n gfor locals; (ii) non-formal sector employ-ment generation by providing necessar yt ra i n i n g ; (iii) mon i t o ring sustainabledevelopment; (iv) promoting policy onl o ca l - l evel gove rnance through advoca cy;(v) facilitating pove rty re d u c t i on thro u g hl o cal gove rnance by generating newk n owledge inputs such as GIS tech n i q u e s ,in combination with advocacy efforts;and (vi) the Local Initiative For UrbanE nv i ronment (LI F E ) ,w h i ch helps the urb a npoor build hori zontal links to improve theirliving conditions and influence policiesfor participatory local governance.

It is important to re c o g n i ze theinformal sector (which constituted 88%of the total work force in Bangladesh in1988) in poverty alleviation efforts, asillustrated by the effect of macro policieson the poverty level through its impacton the informal sector. For instance,

3 . THE MAC RO E CONOMIC AND POLICY ENVIRO N M E N T

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B OX 8: SRI LA N KA – PILOT PRO G RAMMES AT MESO LEV E L

The pilot programme implemented in the Province of Uva isaimed at fostering broad-based private sector-led economicgrowth with equity so as to create a sufficiently strong andsustainable economic basis for lifting the poor permanentlyout of poverty. Its interventions are guided by two objectiveswhich can through their interactions produce synergisticeffects. The first is expansion and diversification of econom-ic opportunities to increase employment and income. Thisrequires stimulation of private sector initiatives to achievehigher levels of productivity and production and market theoutput on the best terms possible. The second is to develop“f u n ctional ca p a c i t i e s” in the part i c i p ating public secto ragencies, with the aim of strengthening the provision ofresources and services from that sector on the basis of bettergovernance. From its meso-level position, the ABGEP canstrengthen linkages with both the local and national levelsto tap regional capacities and at the same time fo rg es t ronger partnerships with dece nt ra l i zed gove rn m e nt agencies,the Ch a m ber of Co m m e rce, N G O s, CBOs and the pri vate secto rfor regional development. While the programme’s equityobjective is not strategized as such, poverty alleviation isexpected to result as a matter of course from the creation ofemployment in one of the poorest provinces.

Source: Hewavithrana,2002.

fiscal cutbacks led to slower growth andincreased unemployment and resulted inthe expansion of the informal sector;s i m i l a rly, d ev a l u a t i on , while helpingsome sectors, adversely affected those inthe informal sector who relied onimported raw materials.

IndiaThe assessment rev i ewed the thre ephases of the poverty alleviation agendaoutlined in India’s past nine Five-YearPl a n s .The first phase was focused on assetredistribution such as land distribution,abolishing interm e d i a ry landholding likeZamindari and attaining food securityt h rough the infusion of new tech n o l o g i e slike those of the Green Revolution. Thesecond phase (70s, 80s) recognized theneed to rethink the strategy and adopteda direct attack on poverty, with a focuson income and employment generation.The last phase (90s) focused on growthand structural adjustment policies with

e m phasis on balancing capital and curre n ta c c o u n t s .The focus on pove rty shifted fromincome and employment to basic needs.

In addition , the State adopted targetedp ove rty all ev i a t i on through self-employm e n t ,wage employment, public distributions ystems and the national social assistancep ro g ra m m e . The latter was a social securi tysystem that was introduced in 1995 andwas the first of its kind in India.

India made significant stri d e s ,p a rt i c-u l a rly in the 80s. H ow eve r, it continues toface many difficult challenges, includingre l a t i ve ly high unemployment (7%),s eve re malnutri t i on among ru ral ch i l d re n(over 50%) and a high infant mortalityrate (IMR) (72 per thousand live births),stagnant for the past several years. Inthis context, Mahendra Dev et al (2002)h a ve questioned the claims of theGovernment of India (GOI) regardingthe success of its anti-poverty measures.They attribute the limited effect of anti-poverty policies mainly to the lack of

ASSESSMENT OF MICRO - M AC RO LINK AGES I N POV E RTY ALLEV I AT I O N : SOUTH ASIA

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TABLE 4: P OV E RTY ALLEV I ATION PRO G RAMMES STUDIED BY CO U N T RY REPORTS

Micro-Level

Meso-Level

Macro-Level:Donor sup-ported

Macro-Level:Statesupported

Bangladesh

SAPAP/KST, Micro Credit Subproject,Sirajganj Local GovernanceDevelopment Project (UNCDF)

Rural CEP, Urban CEP, CommunityL i ve s tock and Da i ry Deve l o p m e nt Pro j e ct

Building Ca p a c i ty for Local Gove rn a n ce(UNOPS,NILG), Non-formal SectorE m p l oy m e nt Ge n e ration (Pri vate secto r,NGOs, GOB), Monitoring SustainableDevelopment (UNOPS), PromotingPolicy on Local Governance andDecentralization (UNDESA,UNCDF,GOB), Facilitating Poverty Reductiont h rough Local Gove rn a n ce (GOB, p ri vatesector, NGOs),LIFE (UNOPS)

(ii) through (v) above.

India

SAPAP

APRPRP(WorldBank),D P I Ps in AP

Five-YearPlans, CDP,RWP, DPAP,SFDA,MFAL IRDP,NREP

Nepal

SAPAP

PDDP,LGP

SCDP,RUPP,REDP,SDAN

Five-YearPlans

Pakistan

SAPAP, Pakistan CommunityDevelopment Project for theRehab. of Waterlogged andSaline Land (AUSAID, UNDP),Northern Area DevelopmentProgramme (IFAD, UNDP)

Lachi Poverty ReductionProject (UNDP, DFID), AreaDevelopment Programme:Balochistan (UNDP, WFP),ADP/AJK (UNDP, IFAD)

PLUS

RDP, VAP,BD RWP, PP,TWP, SAP

Sri lanka

SAPAP

ABGEP

FPR/PS

Janasaviya(1989),Samurdhi(1994)

stakeholder part i c i p a t i on and the attendantproblems with targeting and delivery.

The GOI has taken corrective stepsto improve its anti-poverty measures by:(i) incorporating Panchayati Raj in anti-p ove rty pro g rammes to improve targetingand delivery systems;(ii) recognizing theimportance of self-help groups (SHGs)in credit mobilization; and (iii) reducingduplication by consolidating its efforts.

Adjustment policies like trade liber-alization were shown to affect the poorand rural farmers in diverse ways; somegain from new opportunities while otherssuffer competition from cheap imports.

Again, the importance and signifi-cance of the informal labour sector wasemphasized in the country report. Theauthors estimated that the informal sector constituted around 90% of thetotal labour force. Workers in this sectorw e re not offe red any legal pro t e c t i on as weretheir counterparts in the formal sector.In addition, environmental protectionlaws such as the Indian Forest Act andthe Fo rest Con s e rv a t i on Act affect mill i on sof people: nearly 35 million tribals whorely on the forests for their subsistence;275 mill i on of the ru ral poor whodepend on forest lands to varyi n gdegrees; and approximately 100 millionIndians who rely on the forests for thefuel wood, non-timber forest products,c on s t ru c t i on materi a l s , e t c . that con s t i t u t etheir main sources of subsistence.

Social pro t e c t i on in the formal sectorwas also found to be inadequate. Forinstance, in many states the minimumwages were lower than the minimumsubsistence wage and in many areas eventhese low minimum wages were not legallyenforced. As a result, unemploymentand low wage rate remained the primarycauses of rural poverty. It was noted aswell that 84% of rural women and 59%of urban women were employed asunpaid family workers.

Failures in the labour, credit andcommodity product markets were shownto adve r s e ly impact pove rty. For instance,

in Gu n dla Po ch a m p a lly there was ashortage of garment workers for the newapparel park while 150 kilometres away,in Sircilla, power loom and handloomworkers were unemployed. In 2001-02the total potential demand for ru ra lcredit of Rs.118,990 million (aroundUS$2.5 bill i on) far exceeded the supply ofRs.95,600 mill i on (around US$2 bill i on ) .The paucity of inform a t i on on new market opportunities had restricted theparticipation of the private sector.

NepalThe country report on Nepal traces thehistory of macro-level anti-poverty ini-tiatives since the late 50s. (See Table 4.)It became apparent that macro perspective sdominated these initiatives, which hadlimited input from micro - l evel stakeholders.

In initial development planning, asin the case of India and other countries,p ove rty was equated to underd eve l o pm e n tand this resulted in an emphasis on buildinginfrastructures and support systems.Thebasis for the choice of agenda, and thed e s i g n , was the policy makers’ (or don o r s ’ )perception of the micro-level realities.R e f o rms (to decentra l i ze and re d i s t ri b u t eassets,e.g. land reforms) were not imple-mented and the building of infra s t ru c t u returned out to be slow and limited due to resource constraints. Without infra-s t ru c t u re and sustained com m i t m e n tfrom the State, the programmes led toregional inequalities.

Subsequent rethinking led to a shiftin focus to productivity enhancementt h rough tech n o l o gy (e.g. the Gre e nR ev o l u t i on ) . H ow eve r, the ph i l o s o phy wass t i ll not poor-centre d . La t e r, a basic needsapproach was adopted in which povertywas seen as the deprivation of materialre q u i rements for the minimally acceptablefulfilment of human needs, includingfood. Considerable efforts were devotedto fixing the yardsticks of individualre q u i rements but the anti-pove rty effort sdid not move beyond promises.


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In the 90s a focus on pove rtybecame a national priority along withs t a b i l i za t i on and adjustment policies.However, as in other countries, thesepolicies had negative consequences for thepoor. For instance, the donor-imposedw i t h d rawal of agri c u l t u ral subsidiesreduced the competitiveness of Nepal’sa g ri c u l t u ral products vis-à-vis India,which had open borders with Nepal buts t i ll maintained subsidies. This wascompounded by reductions in the socialsafety net due to the curtailment ofsocial transfers.

M a c ro-policies of libera l i za t i ona d ve r s e ly affected the mountainousregions of Nepal where the imperativesof con d i t i ons such as fra g i l i ty, m a r g i n a l i ty,etc. put the population at a disadvantagein an open market driven by the profitm o t i ve and focusing on intensity of production. On the other hand, marke-tization could have opened up attractiveo p p o rtunities for this re g i on (e.g. t h ro u g hthe export of organic products and herbsand services like tourism). Harnessingsuch opportunities posed challenges inthe form of necessary skills, investment,organization of producers, etc.

Recognizing the need for decentra l i ze dand participatory approaches, the Statel a u n ched seve ral nation a l - l evel initiative ssuch as the Sustainable DevelopmentAgenda for Nepal (SDAN), the RuralUrban Partnership Programme (RUPP)and the Sustainable Capacity Deve l o pm e n tPro g ramme (SCDP), with the help of donors.

PakistanThe country report pointed out thatduring the period 1989-99, the pursuitof stabilization and adjustment policiesfailed to realize growth and stabilizationo b j e c t i ve s .Since then,s t a b i l i za t i on objective sh a ve been re a l i zed at the expense of growt h .Over the last two decades the persistentcontractionary fiscal policy has led to

a decline in public investment as a p e rcentage of GDP, f rom 18.3% to13.4%. In addition, increasing sales taxeson domestic manufactures reclaimed thedecline in fiscal income due to reducedi m p o rt tari f fs . These sales taxes adve r s e lya f fected income distri b u t i on as theyaffected the poor more than the wealthy.The unemployment rate increased from3.5% during the 80s to 7.4% in 2001-02.The incidence of poverty increased from17% in 1988 to 38% in 2001.

In the past five decades theG ove rnment of Pakistan (GOP) has initiated many macro-policies and programmes. These include the RuralDevelopment Programme (RDP), theVi llage Aid Pro g ramme (VA P ) , t h ePeople’s Work Programme (PWP), TheFi ve - Point Pro g ramme (FPP), the Pe o p l e’sProgramme (PP), the Tameer-e-watenProgramme and the Social Action Plan( S A P ) . Studies have con cluded thatwhile these initiatives did increase thel evel of output in ru ral sectors, t h ey failedto bring about qualitative changes in thelives of the rural poor (Ahmed 2002).

The Social Ac t i on Plan (1992-2000)had a total budget of Rs.127 billion(US$2.2 billion) and aimed at improvinghuman capital by targeting pri m a ry e d u ca t i on , p ri m a ry health ca re, ru ra lwater supply and sanitation, and popula-tion welfare.

Based on the household survey c onducted by the Fe d e ral Bureau ofStatistics of Pakistan, Ahmed (2002)concluded that the “social statistics noton ly failed to improve but actuallyregressed in most respects – in primaryeducation as well as in primary health”.

The bulk of the poor in Pakistanwere not covered by the social safetynets,particularly workers in the informalsector, estimated at 3% of GDP and providing a key source of income for thep o o r. In fact, estimated informal tra n s fe r swere three times larger than public ones.

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3 . THE MAC RO E CONOM IC AND POLICY ENVIRO N M E N T

TABLE 5: THE CONCERN FOR AND FOCUS ON POV E RTY IN NEPA L :SELECTIVE INDICATORS OF EVO LU T I O N

Contexts and Perceptions of Poverty

Beginning late 1950s, a g g re g at i veview of pove rty, pove rty equate dwith under development;devel-opment activities covered byFive-Year Plans I – III.

Emphasis on spatial dimensionof “aggregative view of poverty”;enhanced resource mobilization(though physical links) as pre-requisite for development(Plan IV 1970-75).

Harnessing the ecologicalniche/potential of productivesectors; continued focus on“aggregative view of poverty”.

Pleading for more inclusive/integrated and people-centreda p p roaches based on past learn i n gand donor perspectives and support (coinciding with Plans Vand VI,1975-80 and 1980-85).

Basic needs approach (Post Referendum slogan) todemonstrate Panchayat Systems’concern for the people (Plan VII,1985-90).

For first time, clear focus onpoverty alleviation as nationalpriority (Plan VIII,1993-97);Initiation of macro-economicstructural reforms continued to date with little attention totheir negative effects on poor.

Further deepening of povertyconcerns and expansion ofpoverty-focused approaches andmeasures (Plan IX 1997-2002plus approach to Plan X) focusing on decentralization and participation etc. as a partof PRSP.

Intensification of macro-economic structural reformprogrammes; focus on PRSP.

Thrusts and Orientations of Intervention

Economic growth-focused series of Five-Year Plans,building infrastructure and other main foundations ofdevelopment;“poor” and poverty unseparated fromgeneral situation. Donor-supported initiation of generalized community development programme,1964;unimplemented radical land reforms and decentralization initiatives.

Focus on Regional Planning with growth corridors,growth axis and growth centre approach linking highland-lowland towns;adherence to popular“growth models” of 1950s-1960s; period coincidingwith Plan IV, 1970-1975; focus on local resourcem o b i l i z at i o n / ext ra ction rather than ru ral deve l o p m e nt ;enhanced donor involvement.

Sectoral growth strategies covering agriculture,forestry, horticulture, irrigation/energy, tourism;initiation of IRDP approach; focus on GreenRevolution technologies.

World Bank-supported IRDP; top priority to agriculture(Green Revolution focus);local development throughPa n c h ayat secto r; pe o p l e - o ri e nted strate gy; I R D P; s pe c i a lgroup programmes and new District plans;integrateds t rate g i e s :I nte g rated Ru ral Area Prog ra m m e, Small Are aDevelopment Programme, and Integrated PanchayatRural Development Programme (IPRD);target grouporiented activities (SFDP, PCRW, etc.).

Elaborate preparations, fixation of norms/yardsticks of individual requirements (food, clothes, health,e d u cation ); goal to re d u ce pove rty and raise eco n o m i cconditions of people to Asian standard by 2000;“use of poverty”by the rulers.

Detailed spadework through research and analysis ofpast efforts;planning future approaches to reducepoverty through national discourse on p overty, NPC,involvement of donors and other agencies;promotionof simple para m e ters to identify poor and their phys i ca l ,economic and social location;building on past bestp ra ct i ces (ranging from credit to co n s t ru ction act i v i t i e s )initiated but partially implemented;decentralizationto increase participation;special programmes forpoor, backward areas to increase poor’s access toproductive resources and social services;enhancedand more proactive role of donors .

Initiation of different measures, assisted by donorsand NGOs, to:promote bottom up approaches,decentralization and participation-based initiatives;give attention to ultra-poor and methods to buildwo m e n’s and poo r’s capacities for self-help (e. g. m i c ro -credit),empowerment and social mobilization;effortsto enhance transparency and accountability at locallevels;efforts to recognize and use poor’s capacities.

Economic liberalization, external market linksenhanced;pressure of donor conditionalities reduced“social transfers”.

Constraints/Consequences/Outcomes of Interventions

L i m i ted donor inte re s t ; re s o u rce co n s t ra i nt s ;slow and limited infrastructure building;limited impact without infrastructureand prolonged political commitments;emergence of regional inequities.

Regional differentiation; Panchayat sectorprogrammes (initiated earlier) neglected;p rod u ct i ve sectors by p a s s e d ; only symbo l i cimplementation; rise in donor concern forpove rty, u n e m p l oy m e nt, d i s t ri b u t i ve justiceand integrated rural development.

Primary focus on resources, productivity,i n f ra s t ru ct u re suppo rt, e tc. d i s re g a rding the“pe o p l e”as a ce nt ral agency; g rowth of spat i a land group inequities;enhanced donori nvo l ve m e nt and rise of diversified appro a c h e s.

Strong focus on agriculture;neglect ofother productive sectors;donor-driven andtop-down focus;limited concern and localp a rt i c i p at i o n ; lack of unifo rm i ty and linka g e sof pro posed prog ra m m e s ; missing info rm a-tion base to plan,implement and evaluatethe multiple activities;decisions and gainsfavoured better off groups.

The programme (with high potential forpoverty alleviation) did not move beyondpromises, intentions and (unpublished)reports/recommendations;ambitious,un-implementable plans due to resourcescarcity and capacities.

Pe r s i s te n ce of common co n s t ra i nts affe ct i n gpast efforts: poor targeting and beneficiaryselection problems, top-down approachand disregard of micro-level diversities limited participation/involvement ofpotential beneficiaries;absence of p rovisions addressing ultra poo r; d o m i n a n ceof elites “excluding poor” in differentways; consistent support of donors, NGOparticipation,enhanced understandingand preparation of foundation for continuing the approach.

Area-wise differences in intensityand impacts of efforts;heavily donor-driven process; poor links/coordination of spatially (district-wise) scattered initiatives;problems of vertical or horizontal upscaling of success offered an important window for promoting bottom-up approaches.

Reduced social transfers;little gains of liberalization for the poor.

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Source:Joda,2002.

Sri LankaThe State had undertaken several anti-poverty initiatives and, till the late 70s,had a history of pri o ritizing human capital over working capital. During thelast decade there were two notable state-s p on s o red anti-pove rty pro g ra m m e s ,n a m e ly, Janasaviya (1991-94) and Sa mu rd h i( 1 9 9 5 - 2 0 0 0 ) . The Janasaviya project targeted the very poor, to mitigate theeffects of structural adjustment policies.This programme involved a full-timeca d re of human re s o u rces deve l o p e r swho were specifica lly trained in thetechniques of mobilizing the poor. Itfocused on social development, micro-f i n a n c e, n u t ri t i on and ru ral infra s t ru c t u redevelopment. Its successor, Samurdhi,was also aimed at mobilizing the poor,with over 30,000 full-time paid cadres.These ca d res were selected for theirpolitical allegiance to the Governmentof Sri Lanka (GOSL) and assigned tom o b i l i ze support for the incumbent government through their assistance tothe poor. The programme has becomean instrument of the disbursement ofpatronage for the GOSL.

Within the fra m ew o rk of the nation a lpro-poor growth approach, other anti-poverty initiatives were undertaken in

c o o p e ra t i on with don o r s . The Fra m ew o rkfor Poverty Reduction (FPR) was an“a n a lyt i cal and con s u l t a t i ve p ro c e s si nv o lving partners and re s e a rch institutes”.The Poverty Reduction Strategy andAgenda (PRS ) ,p re p a red according to theguidelines of the IMF and the WorldBank, operationalized the policies ands t rategies identified in the FPR.These werefocused on (i) building a macro - e c on om ys u p p o rt i ve of pro-poor growth with stake-holder part i c i p a t i on ; (ii) developing humanre s o u rc e s ; (iii) empow e ring the poor thro u g hdecentralization that ensures communityparticipation in resource management;and (iv) strengthening governance.

Another effort was to provide nation a l -l evel foll ow-up on the initiatives thro u g ha Pro g ramme of Catalytic Initiative s(PCI) for the social and econ om i cempowerment of the poor. This wasimplemented in nine (out of the 22) districts. Its mission was to identify andcorrect the weaknesses of the SAPAPprocess and to disseminate information.Its concerns were the sustainability ofCBOs and linkages for accessing funds,services and markets and influencingpro-poor policy through a bottom-upprocess (Hewavitharane 2002).


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4. Analysis of Micro-Macro Linkages

It is necessary to re c o g n i ze at the outset that the poor do not constitute amonolithic body throughout the region.C ri t i cal diffe rences exist in availablepolitical space and collective capacity toc ombat multi-faceted depri v a t i on ca u s e dby specific institutional, political andcultural factors. Consequently, strategiesto alleviate poverty also have to differ.H e n c e, the focus of this analysis is to dra wgeneral lessons for the future rather thanto produce a blueprint for interventions.In addition, it is necessary to keep inmind that the ultimate goal of anti-poverty strategies cannot be reduced toeliminating income pove rty alon e ;income poverty alleviation is the meansto achieve the elimination of humanpoverty. Hence, the focus is on linkagesthat might equip the poor to overcometheir human poverty.

M I C RO/MESO LEVEL POV E RTYA L L EV I ATION PRO G RA M M E S

The participatory micro-level initiativeswere undertaken partly in response toi m p roving the top-dow n , s u p p ly - s i d estate initiatives. Micro- and meso-levelprogrammes considered in this reporthad two-fold objective s . Fi r s t ,t h ey helpedcommunities (regions) to mobilize andbuild social networks and self-sustainingcommunity organizations. Ideally, theseo r g a n i za t i ons and netw o rks would genera t ethe necessary working and human ca p i t a lto make their efforts sustainable and tom onitor pro g ramme effe c t s . Se c on dly, t h eyaimed to use their concrete experience toinfluence the agenda and the efficiencyof macro processes against poverty.

As mentioned earlier, the purpose ofthis re p o rt is not to evaluate the success orf a i l u re of individual pro g ra m m e s .H ow eve r,to draw lessons for macro - l evel initiative s ,successful part i c i p a t o ry loca l - l evel pro j e c t sneed to be identified. Some key outcom e sof successful projects are:

■ Civic participation and social capitalmobilization

■ Enhanced institutional capacity torun programme

■ Capital accumu l a t i on to ensure sustainability of programme

■ Enhanced human capabilities■ I n s t i t u t i onal (hori zontal and ve rt i ca l )

links to resources and distributivechannels and the building of nation alentities

■ Links to markets for inputs and outp u t s■ National ownership of interventions

Civic Pa rt i c i p ation and Social Capital Mo b i l i z at i o nPe o p l e - c e n t re d , d e c e n t ra l i zed pove rtyalleviation initiatives seek to engage thestakeholders in active participation in allstages of the process – from design toi m p l e m e n t a t i on and mon i t o ri n g. C l e a rly,civic participation is a worthy end initself in the pursuit of deeper democracyand fre e d om . In addition , it has ani n s t rumental role to play in pove rty a ll ev i a t i on in terms of eliminating information asymmetries between thecentre and the periphery (or between them a c ro and the micro) that ch a ra c t e ri ze top-d ow n , s u p p ly-focussed macro - i n i t i a t i ve s .A mobilized civil society could betterarticulate local interests and demands tothe centre, s e rve as a defender of politica land social rights and become a providerof goods and services.

Malik and Wagle (2002) have pointedout that such mobiliza t i on has its dow n s i d eas well ,s u ch as the limitations of utilizingl e s s ons from micro projects in part i c i p a t o ryp rocesses of larger scale initiative s .Negative factors were recognized anddiscussed in the context of the countryre p o rt s ,w h i ch incl u d e d : the high tra n s a c t i oncosts of building and maintaining civicp a rt i c i p a t i on (part i c u l a rly that whichincludes the real poor); the risk thatthose mobilized will be captured by localelites (or serve to legitimate the majori tythat is actively excluding minorities);

ASSESSME NT OF MICRO - M AC RO LINK AGE S IN POV E RT Y ALLEV I AT I O N : SOUTH ASIA

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and the legitimacy of such mobilizations(most organizations mobilized were ofan ad hoc nature and not necessarilyrepresentative of any group). While civicengagement may be re g a rded as a genera lgo o d ,m a ny pra c t i t i oners have re s e rv a t i on son its universal applica b i l i ty. For instance,s ome con c e rns have been expre s s e dregarding civil society’s participation intechnical aspects of economic decisions.Another worry has to do with instancesinvolving potential conflict of interest,e.g. inter-temporal trade-offs (currenta u s t e ri ty measures to curb future inflation )or the significant risk of capture by theelite or dominant group (e.g. caste orclass elites in villages).

En h a n ced InstitutionalCa p a c i ty to Run Prog ra m m e sM e chanisms of part i c i p a t i on and effe c t i veprogramming require the building ofinstitutions such as VOs, SHGs, CSOs,l o cal NGOs, e t c . E x p e rience gainedf rom pro g rammes could lead toimproved institutional settings for theimplementation of future ones.

Ac c u m u l ation of Ca p i t aTo become sustainable and proliferate,w h e rever feasible pro g rammes shouldattain financial independence as quicklyas possible. G i ven the limited availabilityof grants, and the risk of falling into amacro, top-down governance orbit, suchan effort must begin in the early stagesof operation.

En h a n ce m e nt of Human Ca p a b i l i t i e sPoverty alleviation programmes shouldalso enhance the skills and levels of liter-acy of those involved.

Deve l o p m e nt of Ho ri zo ntal and Ve rt i cal LinksThe success of a programme depends onits accessing distributive channels andresource networks. Such vertical links

also provide channels of inform a t i ontransfer from the micro to the macro. Ina d d i t i on , c o ll a b o ra t i on with other similarprogrammes may add to the synergiesand enhance links to resources.

Deve l o p m e nt of links to m a rkets for inputs and outputsThe supply of inputs and market foroutputs of a programme were key to itssuccess. Without access to markets,localp ro g rammes are not sustainable.To preve n tlocals from being trapped at a low-levelequilibrium, village economy should beintegrated with outside markets.

M I C RO LEVEL I N I T I AT I V E S : F I N D I N G S

As pointed out, there is a strong need todemonstrate the viability of alternativesto the form e rly dominant ideas of supply -side focus and top-heavy poverty allevi-ation policy frameworks in the region –hence the micro-level interventions byUNDP and other donor agencies.Theseefforts also augmented the legitimacy ofsimilar micro initiatives that werealready in place in the region. Thus,these micro poverty initiatives were veryrelevant to poverty alleviation efforts.Within this context, the country studieshighlight a number of steps that wouldimprove the supply-side effectiveness ofsuch programmes, particularly those ofUNDP:

Assessing the demand for the prog ra m m eThere is a need for a structured wayof assessing the demand for the programme at the design/input stage,both to avoid failures and to allocatescarce resources equitably. In very fewinstances was failure directly tied to lackof demand. For instance, in theWaterlogged and Saline Land Project inPakistan, jointly undertaken by UNDP

4 .A N A LYSIS OF M ICRO - M AC RO LINKAG E S

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and AUSAID, the local population wasresistant to the idea of using saline landthat had been reclaimed. This pointed to a systematic need for streamlining the methodology for choosing the p ro g ramme to be funded. Similar situation sw e re observed in Sri Lanka andBangladesh. A demand stemming froml o cal needs increased the likelihood of civicparticipation, and national ownership.

I n co rpo rating existing stru ct u re sThe positive results in Nepal clearlyd e m on s t rates the benefits of incorp o ra t i n gexisting stru c t u res into pove rty interve n t i on sd u ring the implementation stage. I ninstances where parallel structures hadto be set up, results have been mixed.Forinstance, the Nuwara Eliya project in SriLanka was engaging in anti-pove rtyactivities along with state-spon s o re doperations. The Nuwara Eliya projectwas perceived as outside competition bythe state operations and faced difficultiesin becoming operational.

Mobilizing local ca p i t a l / re s o u rce sNe a rly all micro projects studied mobilize dlocal capital to provide micro-finance totheir members. At a broader level, thec oncept of micro-finance met with different levels of success in differentc o u n t ri e s . It was most successful inB a n g l a d e s h , as evidenced by the

phenomenal growth of the GrameenBank (GB). Starting from an operationin a single village in 1976, the GB todayhas over 2.3 million members and covers41,187 villages. However, the absence of a culture of savings at the local levelmay work against the success of such aventure elsewhere. This is evidenced bythe low savings rates in Pakistan and SriLa n k a , w h e re savings per householdhave been estimated by UNDP (2001e)as US$3.2 and US$4.5 per household,respectively, compared to US$30.1 perhousehold in Bangladesh. M o re ove r,even when micro-finance was effectiveat the local level it did not translate intom a c ro pove rty all ev i a t i on . While the GBis the largest bank of its type in the worl d ,it serves only 4.5% of Bangladesh’s totalpoor population (50.8 million).

The influence of micro anti-povertyefforts on similar macro efforts need notbe direct and immediate. As experiencef rom micro - c redit show s ,l o cal efforts couldp rovide fe rtile ground for institutional inno-v a t i on . For instance, t ra d i t i onal banks re lyon tangible assets as co-lateral for re c ove ri n gloans – a system that autom a t i ca lly excl u d e sthe assets derived from capital markets.Against this back d ro p, m i c ro - c re d i tbanks have successfully explored tappinglocal social capital as a mechanism forrecovering loans (e.g., for the GB, whichuses social capital as collateral, the loanrecovery rate is 98% and 356 of the GB’s1,176 branches show a 100% recoveryrate). In practice, however, it is quitepossible that the pre s s u re to re p ay exe rt e dby members of a peer network could leadto inefficiencies, s u ch as borrowers takingout loans at higher interest rates in orderto repay their original debts to micro-credit banks. At the conceptual level,theneed to make institutions and practicesless exclusionary is an important lessonthat macro efforts can learn from theexperience of micro entities.


2 8

B OX 9: P OV E RT Y ALLEV I ATION IN INDIA

The major criticism of the government based anti-povertyp rog rammes re l ates to lack of pe o p l e’s part i c i p at i o n .The approach seems to be more technocratic and top-downin implementing these prog ra m m e s. The micro level experiences have shown that there is a need for greaterengagement of Panchayats and NGOs, self-help groups andco m m u n i ty based org a n i z ations for strengthening gove rn m e ntemployment programmes.

Source:Mahendra Dev 2002.

M AC RO ECONOMIC POLICY REGIME: E F F E C TS ON POV E RT Y ALLEV I AT I O NMacro policies have yielded intendedand unintended consequences for thetarget population and the population asa whole. The impact of macro policieson poverty and inequality, analysed sincethe 60s, has received increased attentionsince the intro d u c t i on of stru c t u ra ladjustment policies in the 80s (e.g.C o rnia et al 1987). H ow eve r, it should bekept in mind that it is difficult to isolateand assess the lon g - t e rm effects of macropolicies as these will always be mediatedby the short-term effects of subsequentpolicies and institutional changes.

Lo cal pove rty all ev i a t i on pro g ra m m e sh a ve to negotiate with, and are shaped by,e c on omic and social welfare policies at thenational level that include: (i) short-runs ta b i l i zation policies, (ii) adjustment policies(liberalization packages), and (iii) comple-mentary policies. (See Table 6 for selectedmacro policies and their consequences.)

(i) St a b i l i z ation Po l i c i e sThe Wa s h i n g t on Consensus is that stabilization policies are essential pre-requisites for market-based adjustmentpolicies to promote growth withoutimpairing income distribution,at least inthe long-term. The stabilization policiesprescribed to these five countries by the Wo rld Bank and IMF re q u i re dimplementation of the following:

■ Fi s cal policies to curb deficit spending,■ Exchange rate policies to balance

trade, and■ M on e t a ry policies to contain inflation .

It is claimed that these have onlyshort-term implications and do not haveany direct long-term impact on poverty.However, the heterodox economists (e.g.Rao 2002, Wade 2001, Amsden 2000)argue that short - t e rm policies leavelong-term imprints on how public andprivate domains share resources, on the

4 .A N A LYSIS OF MICR O - M AC RO LINKAG E S

2 9

TABLE 6: I M PACT OF THE MAC RO POLICY E N V I RONMENT ON POV E RTY AND INEQUA L I TY

Macro Policies

Privatization

TradeLiberalization

Fiscal Policy

Monetary Policy

Sectoral Policies (e.g. agriculturaldevelopmentwith focus onGreen Revo l u t i o ntechnologies)

AssetRedistributionPolicies (e.g.land reform)

Indicative Poverty Impacts at Micro Level

■ Market-driven priorities, norms, resourceallocations, etc. resulted in marginalization of the production systems and sustenancestrategies of the poor.

■ Inequalities increased in the short term.

■ External competition had adverse impacts onmarket value of local commodities (affectingproducts and wage earnings of the poor).

■ Trade also produced cheaper goods thatbenefited those poor with purchasing power.

■ Inequalities increased be tween diffe re nt secto r s.

■ Cuts in public expenditure when revenuecannot be raised to balance the budget.

■ Increase in debt burden with rising servicecharges for past deficit financing.

■ Both lead to drain on productive investment/social sector investment affecting the poor.

■ This leads to added impact on wo m e n :t h ey haveto increase time spe nt on unpaid labour or re d u ceconsumption to cope with the reductions inhousehold income and social welfare.

■ Inflation (if money is printed to cover the fiscal deficit) harms the poor more since it has a regressive impact on real income.

■ Moreover, the poor also suffer a credit crunch,if contractionary monetary policy isimplemented to curb inflation.

■ Institutional and resource inequity-basedhandicaps.

■ Constraints on high input-based options forthe poor.

■ Disregard of diversification-based livelihoodsecurity systems.

■ Alters initial inequalities and enhances pro-poor growth,leading to gains for the poor.

■ Poo rly planned and implemented prog ra m m e smay lead to re-concentration of land in thehands of new class of landowners .

rates at which capital and labour areutilized, etc. Moreover, the orthodoxyp re s c ribes balanced budgets to curb public spending that is claimed to crowdout private investment. In contrast, theheterodoxy argues that there is comple-mentarity between public spending andprivate investment in the long term.Public expenditure is needed to develophuman capital (e.g. by eliminating ill i t e ra cyand ensuring accessible and affordablehealth ca re) and to provide social pro t e c t i onnetworks (in the form of social security,gender securi ty, a minimum level ofnutrition, preventive public health care,

access to clean water and sanitation,etc.) It must be categorically stated thatsuch efforts have intrinsic value in and ofthemselves. They also serve to boost thequality of the labour force available forthe private sector and, a l ong with pro - p o o reconomic growth, have proved effectivestrategies against poverty. As illustratedby their case studies, both Kerala (in India)and Sri Lanka were able to enhancep ove rty re d u c t i on , despite limited econ om i cgrowth, by investing in human capital.

It is clear that in this sub-region,s h o rt - t e rm stabiliza t i on policies had failedto provide the basis for lon g e r - t e rmgrowth. The mandate to balance thebudget even when a country was inre c e s s i on or low growth led to the c u rtailment of public expenditure and thed e t e ri o ra t i on of social pro t e c t i on netw o rk s ,w h i ch increased the incidence of pove rty.This was the case in Pakistan, where theincidence of poverty has doubled since1989, after stabilization policies wereintroduced. Similarly in Bangladesh, asseen earlier, stabilization policies and theconsequent cuts in social programmesled to increased unemployment ande x p a n s i on of the informal sector.Anticipated growth rates failed to materialize and investment in humancapital had not recuperated the cutbacks.

Contractionary monetary policies tob ring down inflation may limit the cre d i tavailable or increase the cost of credit forpotential investors and borrowers.

(ii) Ad j u s t m e nt Po l i c i e sThe World Bank and IMF mandatedthese policies to varying degrees in thec o u n t ries studied. The assumptionbehind this approach was that growthand efficient inter-sectoral all o ca t i on

would be ensured through policies of:■ financial liberalization,■ privatization/deregulation, and ■ trade liberalization.

E a ch of these policies has con s e q u e n c e sfor poverty and inequality. Privatizationof state-owned industries had led to anentrenched increase in inequalities inother sectors (for instance in Sri Lanka)and the rapid liberalization of trade hasled to negative growth. This approachcan be compared with the controlled andp a rt i a lly administered trade libera l i za t i onschemes of China and Viet Nam, whichhave been successful in attaining tradebalanced with growth. Again,heterodoxor alternative economists (e.g. Rodrik2001, Rao 2002) have pointed to marketfailures in the allocation of credit, thefinancing of human capital, and in thegove rnance of financial systems andi n t e rn a t i onal capital flow s .These econ om i s t shave argued for shifting the focus fromm a rk e t s / l i b e ra l i za t i on in matters oftrade, finance and property rights toalternative institutional arrangements.

Again, the reports revealed a patternof increased poverty and inequality thatwas directly tied to adjustment policies.For instance, p ove rty incidence andi n c ome inequality in Sri Lanka incre a s e din the 90s,during the period when manystate-owned industries were privatized( Du rham and Jay a s u riya 2000). L i b e ra l i z i n ge xchange rates by floating (or the dev a l u a t i onof) the currency would have at least hadshort-term implications for the cost ofimports. As pointed out in the case ofBangladesh, the devaluation of currencyaffected the segments of the informalsector that depended on imports fortheir economic activity.

L i b e ra l i za t i on policies cannot betreated as purely economic measures towhich socio-political developments areexogenous. Analysing the Sri Lankanca s e, Du rham and Jay a s u riya (2000)

ASSESSME NT OF MICRO - M AC RO LINK AGE S IN POV E RT Y ALLEV I AT I O N : SOUTH ASIA

3 0

“ L i be ra l i z ation policies cannot be tre ated as purely economic measures to which socio-political developmentsare exogenous.” — Durham and Jayasuriya

argued that the specific features of theliberalization policies and the manner inw h i ch they were implemented intera c t e dwith the existing structures of socio-p o l i t i cal re l a t i ons and netw o rks ofpatronage. This resulted in the erosionof democratic participation in resourcemanagement, as well as in the erosion ofsecurity for labour in the formal andinformal sectors and of human securityin genera l . The consequent socio-politica ld eve l o pments created difficult con d i t i on sfor micro poverty initiatives based onsocial mobilization.

(iii) Co m p l e m e nt a ry Po l i c i e sThese include policies that support thec o u n t ry’s deve l o pment pro g ra m m e, s u ch as:

■ Sectoral or regional policies ■ Policies for the re d i s t ri b u t i on of

assets (e.g. land and housing)■ Labour market policies to maximally

transform growth into productiveemployment for the poor

■ Social policies to develop humancapabilities

Se c t o ral policies selective ly targetthe enhancement of chosen sectors (forinstance, rural or urban areas). Havingexplored the role of initial conditionsand the sectoral com p o s i t i on of econ om i cg rowth in ove ra ll pove rty re d u c t i on in theIndian con t e x t , Ra v a ll i on and Datt (1999)pointed out that elasticities of poverty ton on - f a rm output varied appre c i a b ly,with consequences for overall povertyreduction. In other words, some sectorsneeded more attention than others tob ring about equal pove rty re d u c t i on .Thus sectoral policies were necessary foran equitable reduction of poverty.

Initial inequalities had a significantinfluence on growth and in translatinggrowth into poverty reduction. Early on,economic orthodoxy argued that dealingwith inequalities must be left to them a rk e t s . M o re ove r, as postulated by

Kuznets (1955), inequalities may be onlytemporary as mature stages of growthwould cause them to decline. Many arenot persuaded by these two claims (fori n s t a n c e, Alesina and Rodrik 1994,MacEwan 1999 and some key orthodoxf i g u re s ,e . g. St a n l ey Fi s ch e r, First DeputyManaging Director, IMF, 1995). Basedon a study of 48 countries, includingOECD countries, Alesina and Rodrik(1994) observed that economic growthis negative ly correlated with incom einequalities. Ravallion and Datt (1999)o b s e rved that higher initial inequality meanta lower elasticity of poverty to economicgrowth. Thus asset redistribution (e.g.land re f o rm) is an essential com p onent ofp ro-poor growt h .E m p l oyment genera t i onin the formal and informal sectors, withadequate wages, was a key strategy toreduce income poverty.

Social policies that enhance humancapital include those that invest in:universal education, particularly primaryeducation; delivering health care even toremote are a s , p a rt i c u l a rly preve n t i vepublic health services; and ensuring thatm i n i mum nutri t i onal needs are met.These initiatives were in com p e t i t i on withdefence imperatives in many situations.For instance, in Sri Lanka, anti-povertyinitiatives were undertaken in a climateof stabilization and adjustment policiesand a full-scale civil war. Though thepro-poor initiatives were implementedoutside the area of direct conflict, thewar had an impact on the whole econ om yas an increasing fraction of the publicfunds were being channelled to the wareffort. During the 1991-2000 period,defence expenditure as a percentage oftotal public expenditure rose from 11.2%to 17.7% while total social expendituresfell from 11.2% to 9.8%. The povertya ll ev i a t i on budget for Sa mu rdhi andJanasaviya suffered in particular, fallingfrom 5.3% to 2% (Central Bank, SriLanka, Annual Report).

4 .A N A LYSIS OF M ICRO - M AC RO LINKAG E S

3 1

M AC RO-POLICIES – NEED FOR A MORE HOLISTICAND DYNAMIC APPROAC H

As pointed out earlier, the poor are notmonolithic entities and their prioritiesare diverse and ever changing. To targetand deliver, poverty alleviation initiativesmust re c o g n i ze cleavages among the poorand their changing pri o ri t i e s . Po l i cymakers and planners in the sub-regionhad not adequately recognized the linksb e tween pove rty and gender. I n c ome pove rtyand human pove rty cannot be meaningf u llyaddressed without analysing the role ofgender inequality operating at the micro leve l .For instance, f a m i ly income may be distributed disproportionately in favourof males/boys if there is a gender bias.There was substantial evidence for theexistence of such bias in large parts ofthe sub-re g i on . This could be observed inthe relative rates of mortality, morbidity,l i t e ra cy, under nouri s h m e n t , e t c . b e tw e e nthe two genders. For disaggregated dataon life expectancy and literacy rates, seeTable 7. With the exc e p t i on of Sri La n k a ,a ll countries studied show dramatic d i f fe rences in litera cy ra t e s . L i fe

e x p e c t a n cy at birth for males and fe m a l e sis nearly identical (in Bangladesh andPakistan) or slightly higher for males (in Nepal). However, it should be notedthat in industrialized countries, womengenerally live five to eight years longerthan men. In the sub-re g i on , females enjoythis level of advantage only in Sri Lanka.

Moreover, the economic shocks dueto stru c t u ral adjustment re f o rms had d i f fe rential (social and econ omic) impactson men and women (Taylor 2001). Du ri n gadverse economic conditions (such asreduced household income and socialwelfare) the implicit elasticity of theunpaid labour of women translated intoadditional time spent on such labourand/or reduced con s u m p t i on for wom e n .For instance, cuts in social spendingwould result in women bearing thesocial cost of caring for the young andthe old, which might have been coveredby the public sector prior to the cuts.

The changing priorities of the poora re another aspect that anti-pove rty initiatives fail to address. For instance,the threat of HIV/AIDS is not just ahealth pro b l e m . On the Afri can con t i n e n tthe disease has produced an estimated14 mill i on orphans (sourc e :U NAIDS) whowill fall into poverty without adequates u p p o rt , pushed those affected intopoverty when they are stripped of theability to work, etc. In the sub-regionHIV/AIDS could wipe out any gainsrealized through anti-poverty measuresif unattended. As of 2001, there were3.97 million adults and children affectedin India (UNAIDS) and the disease wasat early stages in the other four countri e s .An t i - p ove rty measures should incorp o ra t ethis new priority in the sub-region.

Macro policy regimes should adopta more holistic and dynamic approachto poverty alleviation that proactivelyincorporates social cleavages among thepoor, such as gender relations, and theirchanging priorities, such as HIV/AIDS,in anti-poverty efforts.


3 2

“The number of women dying of maternal mortality eachyear far exceeds the total number of people dying in wars”.

Source:WHO, 2002.

Country

Ba n g l a d e s h

India

Nepal

Pakistan

Sri Lanka

Males

58.9

62.4

58.3

59.8

69.3

Females

59.0

63.3

57.8

59.5

75.0

Males

51.7

67.8

58.0

58.9

94.3

Females

29.3

44.5

22.8

30.0

88.6

Life Expectancy at Birth(Years)

Adult Literacy Rate(%, Age 15 and above)

Source: Human Development Report 2001.

TABLE 7: GENDER BIAS

M AC RO INITIAT I V E S :F I N D I N G S

Clearly the effect of the macro-policyregime at the household or communityl evel is not alw ays what the policy makersintend. The effects of policies are bestunderstood by looking at the demandside and the supply side simultaneously.The challenge of the demand side is tomeet the constraints of macro-balance( s t a b i l i za t i on) without depressing aggre g a t edemand, i.e. public investment to shieldthe income of the poor from damagingimpacts. The supply side challenge is toaugment supply rather than restrict it –by increasing the capabilities of thepoor, i.e. the supply response can bestrengthened through a pro-poor policy.The country studies showed:

■ Early efforts at poverty reduction inall countries suffered from a top-down approach with a supply-sidef o c u s . These efforts had left thepoverty fundamentals by and largeu n t o u ch e d . Su b s e q u e n t ly, the macro -level thinking has evolved.However,macro actors differ in their level of acceptance of the relevance ofc om mu n i ty part i c i p a t o ry appro a ch e sto poverty alleviation.

■ A ll countries shared similar experi e n c e sin having undergone stabiliza t i onand adjustment pro g rammes andc onsequent re d u c t i ons in publici nve s t m e n t . The results were re d u c e di nvestment in human ca p i t a l ,i n c re a s e dpoverty and inequality, and greaterinsecurity for the poor.

■ One of the key aspects of anti-p ove rty efforts is employment policies.E m p l oyment in all five countries wasprimarily through the non-formalsector ñ a sector that is particularlyv u l n e rable to sudden changes inmacro-economic variables.

■ With the exception of Sri Lanka,these countries have not demon s t ra t e dadequate commitment to counteringexisting asymmetric gender relationst h rough their appro a ches to deve l o p-ment in general and pove rty all ev i a t i onin part i c u l a r. In most instances,gender inequality at the householdlevel translated to a smaller share ofhousehold benefits and an increaseds h a re of the costs of econ om i cdownturn for women and girls.

■ For a number of reasons there werealso significant differences amongthe countries in the outcomes ofanti-poverty efforts. First, the initialc on d i t i ons and capacities of thecountries differed – e.g. Sri Lanka,had a smaller population and higherhuman development than the otherc o u n t ri e s , Bangladesh had the most developed NGO communityin the sub-region, etc. Secondly, theconfigurations and textures of thes t ru c t u ral con s t raints were diffe rent –e . g. the mountainous terrain ofNepal, the limited internal marketin Sri Lanka, very high populationdensity in Bangladesh, etc. Finally,the social investment priorities wered i vergent – e.g. the decision todevelop human capital over physicalinfrastructure in Sri Lanka.

4 .A N A LYSIS OF MICRO - M AC RO LINKAG E S

3 3

B OX 10: N E PAL – ADDRESSING TOP DOW N ,S U P P LY SIDE APPROAC H

As a principal pro m o ter of paradigm shift in “pove rty assessmentapproach” and partner in operationalizing the new conceptst h rough part i c i p ato ry dece nt ra l i zed deve l o p m e nt inte rve nt i o n s,UNDP has addressed two main springs of ineffectiveness ofpast pove rty allev i ation strate g i e s, namely “top dow na p p ro a c h” and “supply side foc u s” along with other stru ct u ra lfe at u res of pove rty allev i ation inte rve nt i o n s ; changes inthese may go a long way in changing the developmentculture in Nepal and South Asia in general.

Source:Jodha,2002.

M I C RO - M AC RO LINKAG E S

It is clear from Table 1 that the deve l o pm e n tassistance provided by UNDP is but afraction of the ODA received by the fivec o u n t ries con s i d e red here . In this con t e x t ,it would make strategic sense to focusUNDP efforts on a few select pilotinterventions to maximize the impact ofm i c ro initiatives on macro effort s .H ow eve rthis has not been the pra c t i c e . For instance,in India there were17 sub-programmesunder Com mu n i ty Based Pro - Po o rI n i t i a t i ves (CBPPI ) ,s u p p o rted by UNDPwith an outlay of US$11.1 million forthe period 1997-2002 (Country Evaluation :India, Evaluation Office, UNDP, 2002).C onve r s a t i ons with personnel fromUNDP Headquarters con f i rmed that thepreponderance of such small initiativeswill, in addition to posing problems interms of stretching the managerial andmonitoring resources of UNDP in alarge country like India, fail to providethe visibility necessary to impact them a c ro. Focusing re s o u rces more onh i g h - v i s i b i l i ty pilot initiative s , as inAndhra Pradesh or Nepal, will be moree f fe c t i ve in creating micro - m a c ro linkages.

Analysis of the local-level initiativesstudied in the country reports under alens of micro-macro linkages led to thefollowing categorization of results: (i)Interventions that failed locally withoutleaving any legacy; (ii) Interve n t i on sthat left positive outcomes at the locallevel but failed to influence the macro;and (iii) Interventions that succeeded atthe local level and influenced the macro.

Mi c ro Fa i l u res and Fa i l u re to Influence Ma c ro Ef fo rt sThe KST project in Bangladesh belongsto the first ca t e go ry. It was not re p l i ca t e dand had very limited impact on macropolicy making. To quote the countryreport, “there was no effort to replacemacro subsidies with local resources asthe project was getting matured”. It“ignored the collective goals of socialmobilization and rather concentrated onm i c ro - c redit business based on subsidize ds u p p ly of grant mon ey from the UNDP” .Though there was a high level of GOBsupport for the initiative in the earlystages, it waned quickly. The initiativefailed to become sustainable and had noownership towards the end.

Rehabilitation of Waterlogged andSaline La n d , in Pa k i s t a n , is anotherexample of an initiative that failed due tolack of demand and ownership. The lackof demand is attributed to the culturaldissonance regarding the goal of usingreclaimed land for agriculture.

Mi c ro Su c cesses withoutL i n kages to Ma c ro Ef fo rt sAt least three country examples illustratethis case, in Sri Lanka, Pakistan andIndia.The Nuwara Eliya initiative in SriLanka yielded mixed results locally. Thisi n i t i a t i ve came into conflict with existings t a t e - s p on s o red pove rty all ev i a t i on initiatives engaged in the same activities,such as Janasaviya and Samurdhi. Thestate-sponsored efforts were by and largep a t ronage-based and not inclined toa p p reciate the synergies gained by joining forces with similar initiatives. As


3 4

B OX 11: INDIA – TRENDS IN EMPLOYMENT POLICIES

Since many of the poor belong to the class of agricultural and landless labourers, labour intensive growth remains acritical part the Indian economy. Yet, this is an area wherei m p a ct of micro inte rve ntions has been we a k . The daily s t atus unemploy m e nt rate in ru ral areas increased fro m5.63% in 1993-94 to 7.21% in 1999-2000. Howeve r, the overall employment growth in the country declined from2.04% during 1983-94 to 0.98% during 1994-2000. Much ofthe decline in the growth was due to developments in twosectors – agriculture and community social and personalservices. These two sectors accounting for 70% of the totalemployment have not shown any growth during the 1990s.Agriculture still contributes 60% of the total employment inthe country, and has the potential of absorbing workers inregions with higher incidence of rural poverty, such as Orissa(48%), Bihar (44%0, Assam (40%), Madhya Pradesh (37%),West Bengal (31.8%) and Uttar Pradesh (31.2%).

Source:Mahendra Dev, 2002.

s u ch , this initiative lacked state ow n e r s h i p /commitment. However, the initiativedid succeed in mobilizing civil societyand there was successful mobilization ofhorizontal links as well.

In the Sri Lankan situation , a nadded dimension was dys f u n c t i on a ldecentralization, which contributed to adisconnect between the micro and them a c ro.The highly centra l i zed exe c u t i ve andlegislature had not completely devolvedpower to the fiscal and administratived e c e n t ra l i zed units. This led to con s i d e ra b l ec on f u s i on at the at the sub-national leve l s .The meso-level Provincial Councils werenot functioning adequately and did nothave clear institutional responsibilitiesand powers – as a result inhibiting flowof funds to the local leve l . In fact,UNDP was unable to re c over seed ca p i t a lprovided for productive physical infra-structure as funds could not be realizedat the local level. Given the limited p owers and their “n e e d” to distribute thesepowers among an extensive patronagen e tw o rk , the Provincial Councils essentiallyreduced the flow of information andresources between the macro and themicro. Thus inappropriately functioningdecentralization can hinder the micro-macro linkage.

The La chi and No rt h e rn Are aDevelopment Plan projects in Pakistanwere also local successes. However, theyentered the local scene as a part of thewider Rural Support Programme (RSP)that existed in the region with a provensuccessful tra ck re c o rd . It should benoted that initiatives like those in Lachiamounted to only 1.7% in terms ofmembership and 0.4% in terms of thecapital mobilized by the RSP. Thus thismodel of social mobilization coexistedwith a plethora of other pove rty all ev i a t i onprogrammes and was an extension of thed ominant institutional mechanism of theGOP to fight poverty.

Si m i l a rly, the Nu w a ra Eliya initiativein Sri Lanka was launched where organ-izations such as CARE, Sinhala and theTamil Ru ral Wom e n’s Association had been

i nv o lved with social mobiliza t i on activities.T h u s , to add value to the engagement

with the macro, UNDP initiatives haveto come up with distinct and more c re a t i ve models of civic engagementthan those that already exist. Withoutsuch innovations, these initiatives willfail to alter the blockages between themicro and the macro that are present inthe form of perceptions, informationasymmetry, institutional mismatch andasymmetric power relations.

M I C RO SUCCESSES W I T HL I N KAGES TO THE MAC RO

Despite the abject macro conditions thatcontinue to plague Nepal, the SAPAPi n i t i a t i ves in the country were “s u c c e s s f u l” .This is evidenced from the household-l evel data in Ne p a l . For instance, b e tw e e n1996 and 2000, the poorest of the poord e clined from 16.6% of the VO membersto 9.8% and the child immunization rateranged from 96%-98% in six out ofseven VDCs covered (UNDP 2001e). Itis essential at this point to digress anda d d ress the con c e rn that many deve l o pm e n tspecialists expre s s :h ow could a pro g ra m m ebe a success when all macro conditionspoint to abject levels of human poverty?A simple comparative analysis may yields ome insights. The Human Deve l o pm e n tIndex (HDI) trends of all five countriesover the past 25 years are presented in

4 .A N A LYSIS OF MICRO - M AC RO LINKAG E S

3 5

1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

0.75

0.50

0.25

FIGURE 4: TRENDS IN HUMAN DEV E LOPMENT INDEX

Sri Lanka

India

Pakistan Bangladesh - - - - - - -

------- Nepal

Source: Human Development Report 2002,UNDP.

Figure 2. HDI,being a composite indexof human poverty, captures not just thei n c ome dimension of pove rty butk n owledge and health dimensions aswell. The effectiveness of anti-povertye f f o rts are best re p resented by thechanges in HDI during the period c on s i d e re d . Note that the absolute magnitude of HDI reflects the cumu l a t i veeffects of past efforts. As such, it maynot be an appropriate representation ofoutcomes of recent ones.

Between 1975 and 2000, the HDIrate increase in Nepal was the highesta m ong all five countri e s . (HDI wasincreasing at a constant rate of 0.0074per year.) In India and Pakistan the HDIrate increase has actually declined since1990. If change in HDI is indeed a reasonable indicator of the effectivenessof anti-poverty efforts, the effectivenessof Nepal during the 90s is better thanthat of the other countri e s . Thus “s u c c e s s ”depends not only on the output but alsoon the rate of change of output.

As mentioned in the previous section ,the initiative in Nepal started in one district involving 5,910 members. It wasthen extended to the meso-leve l ,c ove ri n g270,000 households, thanks in part tothe strong commitment from the Stateand the UNDP. T h e re are seve ral re a s on sfor this success.

First, the initiative was designed toutilize the existing structures, such asVDC that were involved with povertyre d u c t i on measures underwritten byGON, NGOs and donors. This was ind i rect con t rast to the Sri Lankan experi e n c ew h e re, for valid re a s on s ,p a ra llel stru c t u re sto the existing Janasaviya and Samurdhiprogrammes were created and initiativesthus found themselves in competitionwith each other operationally.

Se c on d , at the design and function i n gstages, efforts were made to link the initiative with the macro. For instance,SAPAP was linked with the DistrictD eve l o pment Council (DDC) that serve das the focal point for local development

administration in Nepal. In addition,SAPAP formed a District CoordinationCommittee (DCC) that linked all lineagencies of the GON in the District and the SAPA P. The DCC met re g u l a rlyto rev i ew pro g ress and became the i n s t i t u t i on a l i zed interface of SAPA Pwith GON and a channel of informationtransfer from the micro to the macro.This became a simultaneous horizontaland vertical link for the micro.

Fi n a lly, the SAPAP pro g ra m m ere c e i ved strong commitment fromGON. The programme interface withthe GON has been institutionalized viathe DCC. This, as will be discussed indetail in the lessons learned section,provides a vertical link with all lineagencies of GON working in the distri c t .

The SAPAP programme in AndhraPradesh, India is another initiative thatestablished active linkages with loca lNGOs and had strong com m i t m e n tfrom the state government. Here too, asteering committee was established thatinvolved a senior state official and stateresource flows to the SHGs and COsw e re ch a n n e lled through SAPA P.Further, links were established betweenongoing state government programmesand SAPAP. The programme itself wassuccessful in terms of social mobiliza t i on,sustainability and interaction with themacro/meso.

However, the SAPAP here was as m a ll part of the pove rty all ev i a t i on initiatives undertaken by the state, GOIand NGOs. Pro g rammes like Deve l o pm e n tof Women and Children in Rural Areasand Rev o lving Fund of the District Ru ra lD eve l o pment Agency commanded are a ch that far exceeded that of theS A PA P. Unlike in Ne p a l , w h e re the socialm o b i l i za t i on appro a ch was re l a t i ve lynovel and likely to have influenced theapproaches of the macro, in India, theSAPAP entered an arena of pre-existingi n i t i a t i ves with more re s o u rc e s . T h i smitigated its impact on the macro andmicro-macro linkages.


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5. Lessons Learned

Over the last few decades UNDP extendedits work in well over one hundred countri e s .Working with limited resources it builth e a l t hy working partnerships with governments and policy makers aroundthe globe. Its interve n t i ons againstpoverty cover a wide range of arenas,f rom aid coord i n a t i on to loca l - l eve lsocial mobiliza t i on pro g ra m m e s , t oinfluencing macro policy through thed i s s e m i n a t i on of its experience frompilot initiatives at the local level. Itsi n t e rve n t i ons have demon s t rated itscommitment to anti-poverty initiativesand gained it the reputation of being at ru s tw o rt hy partner with sincere intention sand sound approaches against poverty.

That being said, it is also importantto re c o g n i ze that the deve l o pment

assistance provided by UNDP is only afraction of the total assistance receivedby all five countries considered in thestudy (See Table 1). C on s e q u e n t ly,UNDP cannot expect to wield influencewith governments based on the merits ofits financial con t ri b u t i on s . Na r rowing theconventional gaps that influence bothm i c ro - l evel practices and macro pri o ri t i e sre q u i res UNDP to be judiciously stra t e g i cin leve raging the strengths and experi e n c egained on the ground in each country.

Poverty alleviation strategies and theattendant micro-macro linkages shouldevolve with changing circumstances thatshape the constraints and opportunitiesavailable for interventions. For instance,m i c ro - l evel anti-pove rty interve n t i on soccurring before the outbreak of HIV/AIDS would have different strategiesand priorities than current ones. For itsefforts to influence macro initiatives tobe effective, UNDP should continue todemonstrate clear understanding of theissues at the local level. Such advocacyefforts are persuasive only when backedby commitment to a country’s anti-p ove rty measure s . D e cades of dire c ti nv o lvement in these South Asian countri e sprovides UNDP with credibility and itsd e m on s t rable commitment positions it wellfor advocacy efforts in these countries.Such commitment could not have beend e m on s t rated if experience in micro issueshad been obtained through the work ofother donor agencies. Thus UNDP needsh a n d s - on experience in com mu n i ty -based anti-poverty programmes for it tobecome an effective link between microand macro efforts in a given country.

While the country assessmentscommissioned by the Evaluation Officesought to identify the specific deve l o pm e n tcontexts of countries to which UNDPneeds to respond, this regional study hasfocused on the common themes and keyl e s s ons emerging from the diffe rent c on t e x t s . G e n e ral lessons have beenhighlighted so as to integrate them into


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B OX 12: SRI LA N KA – OBSTACLES TO MAC RO - M I C RO RESOURCE FLOWS

In principle UNDP’s seed capital shouldbe re cove red but cannot be be ca u s ethere is no levying of service chargesfrom the users. As a result, this was usedfor funding certain pro-poor initiatives.The proper source for such irrecoverablefunds are the Provincial Councils, whichare vital links in macro to micro resourcef l ows. A well functioning PC would a rt i c u l ate the co n ce rns of the poor and see to it that service providers wills e rve the poor without tra n s a ct i o ncosts. But PCs are malfunctioning bybeing ca u g ht up in the pe rva s i ve po l i t i ca lc u l t u re of revenge and pat ronage in theiri n f ra s t ru ct u re deve l o p m e nt pri o ri t i e st h at are dete rmined by po l i t i cal andpersonal gain co n s i d e rat i o n s, rat h e rthen by principles of good governanceand acco u nt a b i l i ty to their pove rtys t ri c ken co n s t i t u e nt s.In the ru ral po l i t i ca leco n o my so fashioned,it is the co m m u n i tybased organizations empowered not byelections but by social mobilization thathad to be engaged in the task of forgingthe linkages to empower the poor toa c cess re s o u rces ori g i n ating at themacro level.

Source: Hewavithrana 2002.

the design of UNDP’s future activities tomaximize its effectiveness in enhancingmicro-macro linkages.

1 . HOLISTIC APPROACH TOP OV E RT Y ALLEV I ATION FORS U S TAINABLE LINKAGES

Just as pove rty is mu l t i - d i m e n s i on a l ,strategies to alleviate poverty and theattendant micro-macro linkages are alsomulti-dimensional. For instance, micro-credit, which features prominently inmost of the local-level initiatives, derivetheir life from social mobilization effortsand generate local savings that are thenploughed back into the credit-starvedc om munities of the mobilized poor for entrepreneurial (and consumptive)activities. In some cases, particularly inB a n g l a d e s h , l o cal credit mobiliza t i onhas been successful. For this success tobe sustainable, however, it has to beattended by an expansion of productiveopportunities and market access for thep roducts pro d u c e d . Thus efforts tom o b i l i ze capital should build, s i mu l t a n e o u s ly,horizontal linkages for potential marketsand income opportunities to escape thelow-equilibrium trap, as well as verticalrelationships. In Nepal the absence ofc redit insurance as an institutional linkageis likely to prove fatal for credit mobiliza-t i on schemes in areas affected by con f l i c t .

It is also necessary to ensure thatpro-poor policies in the region, whereincome inequality is among the highestin the world, emphasize the “povertyequivalent growth rate” – i.e. the level ofeconomic growth in relation to effects ofrising inequality. This is because growthin different sectors of economy may havevariable impact on poverty reduction.Fu rt h e rm o re, it is important to re c o g n i zethat pove rty all ev i a t i on in the re g i on did notsignificantly improve the non-incomei n d i cators (e.g. i m mu n i za t i on , p o p u l a t i onc on t ro l ,n u t ri t i on ,m a t e rnal health, h u m a n

rights, vulnerabilities to violence andcorruption etc.) of the poor. The ratherm i xed deve l o pments on the pove rtyf ront provides a com p e lling case formuch greater focus on the followingcritical issues for meeting the currentchallenges in poverty alleviaition:

■ Support to the livelihood strategy ofthe poor and marginalized

■ Acceleration of the rate of income-poverty reduction

■ I m p rovement in the quality ofhuman development

■ Making deve l o pment more equitable■ Strengthening social capital and■ Ach i eving sustained social and

political peace.

The issue of HIV/AIDS alsorequires a holistic approach to povertyalleviation as an immediate imperative.The urgency of the problem is re c o g n i ze din the UN’s Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs). The CCF-I documentpoints to the need for inter-programmelinkages and integration with regard tothis cross-cutting issue. Within there g i on , on ly in India is HI V / A I D Sa l ready a looming pro b l e m , with an estimated 3.97 mill i on adults and ch i l d ren affe c t e d . This is not just ahealth problem. As mentioned earlier,on the African continent the disease hasp roduced 14 mill i on orphans who will bepushed to the ranks of the poor withoutadequate support. Micro-macro links top romote awareness and disseminate preventive measures are weak in theSouth Asian re g i on . La ck of inform a t i onaffect both the micro and the macro.M a c ro policies on health insura n c e,p reve n t i ve public health services andmaking HI V / A I D S - related drugs available at affordable prices shouldbecome responsive to micro-level needs.Micro-level initiatives are required atthe household level towards overcomingthe cultural stigma attached to the d i s e a s e, w h i ch is preventing affe c t e d

5 . LESSONS LEARNED

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people from mobilizing. SHGs and VOsthat are mobilized for anti-pove rtyefforts could serve as instruments tocombat this cultural stigma. Initiativesto combat HIV/AIDS should have anexplicit place on the agenda of UNDP-supported anti-poverty efforts,includingdevelopment of the capacities of thosealready, or at risk of being, affected.

2 . FOCUSED PRO G RA M M E SSELECTED FOR MAX I M U MV I S I B I L I TY AND INFLU E N C EON MAC RO

In the context of limited re s o u rc e s ,s u p p o rtfor micro-level programmes should notlead to mean proliferation of UNDP’si nv o lve m e n t . In fact, it becomes essentialthat programmes be judiciously selected,not on ly based on their potential to re d u c elocal poverty, but also on their visibilityand effe c t i veness in influencing macro effort s .Strategic prioritisation that consolidatesresources would relieve the burden onmanagerial and administrative personneland enhance UNDP’s performance.

The need to consolidate efforts wasa l ready re c o g n i zed by CCF-I in India fori n s t a n c e, in re g a rd to ove ra ll deve l o pm e n ta s s i s t a n c e . Attempts were made to re p l a c ethe plethora of on going small initiatives witha few holistic and focused programmes.However, in India for instance, CCF-Ihad 17 sub-programmes under CBPPIwith a combined outlay of US$2 millionin year 2000 (Country Evaluation : I n d i a ,EO 2002). While this could well be ani m p rovement over the previous situation ,with such a disparate array of small-scalep ro g rammes it would be difficult tot ra n s f o rm existing micro - m a c ro linkages.

Pro g rammes should be selected beca u s ethey make a distinctive contribution toenhancing micro-macro linkages ratherthan duplicate other anti-pove rty effort s .Poverty focal points at UNDP Head-quarters concurred that the role of the

m i c ro should be seen in terms of prov i d i n ga new outlook / a p p raisal of existing( m a c ro) deve l o pment practices andinstitutions – i.e.,UNDP’s interventionsshould add value to the existing anti-poverty efforts. The experiences in SriLa n k a , Pakistan and even An d h raPradesh confirm this. As pointed out inthe previous section, these interventionscoexisted with a plethora of similarmeasures that in most instances hadmore reach than the UNDP initiatives.These initiatives, while being effective intheir pove rty all ev i a t i on effort s , fe ll shortof altering the outlook of the macro or oflowering the barriers between the microand the macro. C onve r s e ly, a well -executed social mobilization approachwas re l a t i ve ly novel to anti-pove rtyefforts in Nepal and thus had an positiveeffect on the macro.

UNDP could maximize its resultson micro - m a c ro links by targetingg roups that are marginalized in tra d i t i on a ldevelopment practices.In this context, itneeds to identify regional groups that areso marginalized either because of theirspatial location (e.g. remote areas) and/or their social status (tribals, low-castes,ultra poor, etc.).

3 . P RO G RAMME DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION TO MAXIMIZE MICRO -M AC RO LINKAG E S

■ Avoid building conflicting parallels tru c tu re s . When formulating micro -level programmes, careful attentionmust be paid to avoid building s t ru c t u res of delive ry that are para ll e lto existing on e s . For instance, U N D P’sintervention in Sri Lanka ended upc reating stru c t u res para llel to existingstate anti-pove rty initiative s . T h eensuing conflict undermined thechances of success of the UNDPp ro g ra m m e . A l t e rn a t i ve ly, m i c ro -


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initiative in Nepal utilized existingstate institutions of delivery such asV DC s . This also provided a platformfor closer intera c t i on between the stateand the programme, which resultedin enhanced micro-macro linkages.

■ Institutionalize Linkages with theState to Improve Micro - M a c roL i n k a g e . Du ring the opera t i on a lexistence of the programme it wouldbe advantageous to establish hori zon t a land vertical links at various levels,with central and state governments,district level administrators, electedofficials, private sector, multilateraland bilateral organizations, NGOs,etc. Such links, and collaboration,i m p rove chances of sustainabilityand bring synergies in partnerships.Establishing formal links with statebodies at different levels that couldbe subsequently institution a l i ze dwould be very valuable in improvingm i c ro - m a c ro linkages. In India,Panchayat Raj Initiatives (PRIs) arelocal-level constitutional structuresmandated with re s p onsibilities for thedesign and implementation of a largenumber of anti-pove rty measure sand social sector programmes. PRIi nv o lvement with UNDP pro g ra m m e shas been minimal thus far. However,as mentioned previously, in Nepalthe successful SAPAP programmeestablished links with Distri c tDevelopment Councils and formedDistrict Coordinating Committeesthat linked the micro-initiative to allline agencies of GON in the Distri c t .Su b s e q u e n t ly, DCCs became ani n s t i t u t i on a l i zed ve rt i cal and hori zon t a llink for the programme.

■ Meso Level Constraints have to beR e c o gn i s e d . The disconnect betw e e nthe micro and the macro is som e t i m e sdue to institutional anomalies that arebeyond the control of programme

designers.One such set of anomaliesstems from the meso-leve l , as ill u s t ra t e dby the dys f u n c t i onal decenetra l i za t i onin Sri La n k a .The Provincial Councils,result of a partial decentralization,essentially constrained the flow ofinformation and resources betweenthe macro and the micro.

4 . S T RONG STATE OW N E R S H I POF PRO G RAMMES IMPROV E SM I C RO - M AC RO LINKAGES

C ommitment at the macro or meso level isvital for establishing vibrant links betw e e nthe micro and the macro. As evident inboth in Andhra Pradesh in India and inNepal,the governments were committedto the programme. Commitment of theState was demonstrated through directp a rt i c i p a t i on and through institution a l i s i n gthe relationship (e.g. DCCs in Nepal).In both ca s e s , the pro g rammes were sca l e dup to the meso level. When there wasambivalence in the State’s commitment(as in Bangladesh during the later stagesof the KST project), or when there wasnear hostility at the operational level (as in Sri Lanka), the programmes didnot succeed, and failed to influence the macro.

5 . GENDER MAINSTREAMING

This has emerged as a UNDP priority,as reflected in the St rategic ResultsFra m ew o rk (SRF) and themes ofUNDAF. Poverty alleviation strategieshave to recognize the cleavages amongthe poor in general, of which gender is as i g n i f i cant on e . Social and econ om i cd e p ra v a t i ons along gender lines are particularly important in a region whereaggregated data show women to be atconsiderable disadvantage (See Table 7).This implies that UNDP-support e dcommunity-level interventions that fail

5 . LESSONS LEARNED

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to explicitly recognize this reality run therisk of re p roducing and entre n ch i n gexisting gender inequalities. Accordingto the Bangladesh study (Akash 2002),the SAPAP process in Bangladesh wasnot intended to realign social authoritywith reference to gender in any of theparticipating communities.

Yet many macro institutions, fromproperty laws (restrictions on the rightto own property) to family laws (termsof divorce and child support) to nationalaccounting systems (failure to recognizethe value of household labour) entrenchgender hiera rchy. Households and vill a g e -level organizations are embedded in apatriarchal framework that supports thishierarchy and sustained, proactive andskilled efforts are required to identify theforces and the opportunities involved inthe struggle against it at both macro andmicro levels. This corresponds to theCBPPI experience in India that showedthat outcomes of gender interventionswere correlated to the “perspectives ands k i lls of the implementing NGOs”(Country Evaluation: India 2002).

The gender hierarchy conditions theinformation flow from the micro to them a c ro. Gender sensitive anti-pove rtye f f o rts could improve micro - m a c ro linkagesby empowering women stakeholders. Astrengthened micro will be in a betterposition to improve the linkages and to influence the macro. M o b i l i zed communities could also address cross-cutting issues of gender through theactivities of their SHGs and VOs. Tothis effect, SHGs in India, for instance,could address issues of women’s social

and political mobility, female literacy,widow remarriages, maternal mortalityrates and child marriages.

To strengthen these efforts UNDPshould active ly seek the input of gender experts, as well as relevant stateorganizations (e.g. the Department ofWomen and Child Deve l o pment inIndia) when formulating its pro g ra m m e s .

6 . D I S S E M I N ATING LESSONS IS ESSENTIAL FORI M P ROVED LINKAGES

To foster improved micro - m a c ro linkages,UNDP needs to persuasive ly com mu n i ca t eto the macro policymakers the lessons fromits micro-level anti-poverty initiatives.C o u n t ry re p o rts point to UNDP’sefforts such as dialogues with seniorofficials involved with a country’s macroi n i t i a t i ve s , seminars and documenting bestpractices and experience. These effortsneed to be strengthened, intensified andextended. For instance, soliciting actives u p p o rt from mobilized civil society gro u p sthat benefited from micro - i n i t i a t i ve swould be helpful in strengthening themessage to the macro. An exchange ofdocumentation and information couldbe extended beyond national borderswithin the South Asian region. Annualregional workshops on lessons learnedregarding micro-macro linkages and are g i onal re s e a rch centre inv o lving re g i on a le x p e rts to investigate related topics wouldalso con t ribute tow a rds enhancing micro -macro linkages within the region.


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6. Recommendations

Close study of social-mobilisation basedantipoverty interventions pursued in theSouth Asia region and their influence onmacro level initiatives point to few broadrecommendations to strengthen micro-macro linkages.

■ U N D P’s social mobiliza t i on pro-g rammes must be designed to incorporate in their mandates theneed to impact policym a k i n g, t h ro u g ha d v o ca cy and action throughout theirlife spans. Programmes should havebuilt-in components for informationt ra n s fer to the macro and to influenceits trajectory. Even when the size ofthe micro initiative is insignificant,appropriate design and functionalinnovations could establish positivemicro-macro linkages.

■ UNDP’s interventions to alleviatepoverty at the micro-level must bedemand driven, with representativesof the stakeholders making explicitrequests and demon s t rating com m i t-m e n t to the programme. In eachcountry, support must be providedfor a select few focal programmesthat can become pilot programmesp roviding a vision and map for futurem a c ro initiative s . Spatial dimension sof economic and social well-beingshould be given due attention inre s o u rce all o ca t i on ,p roject selection s ,and programme implementation.

■ U N D P’s existing com p a ra t i ve advan-tages in pove rty all ev i a t i on interve n t i on smust be nurtured and strengthenedso that UNDP can serve as one of the linkages between micro pro c e s s e sand macro policies. UNDP shouldc ontinue to disseminate lessons for the macro through ex-postanalysis of its own experiences inoperationalising micro-projects.

■ UNDP should continue to advocatefor more holistic and dyn a m i c

a p p ro a ches to anti-pove rty initiative swith policy makers and planners,while supporting such approaches atthe micro level. Design of holisticinitiatives would reflect:➧ the need for a multi-dimensional

a p p ro a ch in recognizing that the poor are non-monolithic (e.g.to address asym m e t ric genderrelations); and

➧ the need for a flexible and re s p on s i veapproach in recognition of thefact that the needs of the poor aredynamic and context dependent(e.g. to address the current imper-ative to incorporate attention toHIV/AIDS as a priority of pover-ty alleviation).

■ Poverty monitoring is critical forevaluating current results and prov i d i n gfe e d b a ck for future interve n t i on s ,p a rt i c u l a rly in the context of tra n s l a t i n gthe monitoring of progress towardsthe MDGs into changes in policy-making. To evaluate micro-macrol i n k a g e s ,m on i t o ring activities need tobe designed judiciously. B e n ch m a rk i n gand choice of indicators at the microlevel must take into account theirc om p a t i b i l i ty and com p a ra b i l i ty withthe national level data. G i ven the socialcleavages among the poor, emphasisshould be given to identifying thelinkages between those marginalize dat micro level and macro initiative s . Fo ri n s t a n c e, gender sensitive mon i t o ri n gf ra m ew o rk s , with gender disaggre g a t e dindicators are essential to accuratelyevaluate the linkages between microand macro level poverty alleviationinitiatives. UNDP has a comparativeadvantage in this area and shouldstrengthen not only its own povertym on i t o ring ca p a c i ty at all levels of interventions, but also nationali n s t i t u t i onal mechanisms to ca r ry outindependent assessment of trendsand impact of poverty and povertyreduction policies.


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Annexes

ANNEX I:TERMS OF REFERENCE

As s e s s m e nt of Mi c ro - Ma c roL i n kages in Pove rty Al l ev i at i o n :South As i a

A. BackgroundThe pove rty re d u c t i on strategies inSouth Asian countries, as influenced bytheir past experience, external advisory,financial support and demon s t ra t i one f fects of best practices developed thro u g htrial and error in different countries,have evolved over time. One of theimportant changes in poverty alleviationprogrammes in the region as a whole hasbeen the increased emphasis on povertya ll ev i a t i on through enabling andempowering the poor to contribute totheir own development, using their ownresources and mobilizing themselves toseek legitimate ri g h t s , re s o u rces andservices from the State for improvingtheir econ omic con d i t i on . This appro a ch ,once mainstreamed, can radically changethe poverty alleviation strategies, andUNDP – along with partners – has playe da major role in promoting this change.

However, the success of such effortswas con s t rained by the prev a i l i n gm a c ro - l evel policies and institution a ls t ru c t u re s ,w h i ch had complex unfavoura b l eimplications for such poverty alleviatinge f f o rts initiated at the micro leve l .Apart from the conventional gaps (if not disconnects) between macro-levelperspectives and micro-level practices,the emerging macro-level policies andprovisions associated with the process ofglobalisation generate yet another set ofconstraints for micro-level initiatives forpoverty reduction.

In Fe b ru a ry 2002, the UNDPE v a l u a t i on Office (EO) launched are g i onal initiative, “Assessment ofM a c ro - M i c ro Linkages of Pove rtyAlleviation Interventions in South Asia”to capture the performance of poverty

alleviation programmes in terms of theirresults (outputs and outcomes) – i.e.economic gains to the poor and howthey addressed the structural and macro-level policy constraints alluded to above.The key objective of the pro p o s e dassessment is to examine the outcome ofsuch efforts in terms of the emergence ofnew policy processes and macro-levelmechanisms, which were: (i) directed tore c o g n i t i on and prom o t i on of the initiatives that enable the poor to fighttheir own poverty; and (ii) explicitlyrecognize and address the componentsof macro - l evel policies and stru c t u ral issuesconstraining the micro-level initiativesfor poverty alleviation. Put differently,the study would attempt to see how andto what extent “projects lead the policy”.By implica t i on , it would also examine to whatextent macro - l evel policies were sensitiveto micro-level realities and diversities.

A closer understanding of theinvolved micro-macro links in the abovec ontext is a central thrust of the pro p o s e ddesk study. The equally important opera-t i onal purpose of the study is to identifyw ays (based on the above understanding)to strengthen the complementarities andconvergence between macro- and micro-l evel perspective s , policies and pro g ra m m e sfor poverty alleviation.The major infor-mation base for attempting the abovetask is the experience of UNDP andother donor agencies in promoting the“poor-led poverty reduction approaches”and their advoca cy at policy leve l s .Assessment studies were commissionedin five countries of the re g i on(Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan andSri Lanka) to assess the outcomes andimpacts of initiatives by UNDP andpartners, which focused on:

(i) C onceptual and methodologica laspects reflecting on the objectivesand processes guiding pove rty a ll ev i a t i on efforts by the UNDP and partners.


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(ii) Assessments of the genera l i ze d(rather than specific project-based)results in terms of social mobiliza t i one f f o rts at local levels and their outcom ein terms of sensitisation of higherlevel policy processes and decisions;

(iii) Space and capacities of the poor vis-à-vis the dominant power structure,a f fecting the poor’s access to re s o u rc e sat community and higher levels;

(iv) R e l a t i onship between micro - c redit andother pove rty all ev i a t i on pro g ra m m e s ,with special focus on micro-macrolinkages;

(v) Role and effe c t i veness of majornational interventions in addressingstructural issues (i.e., power relationsin the social context) and differentforms of poverty;

(vi) Se n s i t i v i ty of policies and pro g ra m m e sto the specificities of the povertys i t u a t i on in the country that determ i n ethe relevance and effectiveness ofdevelopment interventions.

The broad appro a ch and centra lt h rust of the sub-re g i onal assessment willbe to syn t h e s i ze key findings of the countryassessments that are primarily based ondesk study/rev i ew of re l evant pro g ra m m edocuments, strongly supplemented byinteractions with UNDP professionalsand representatives of other agencies,including NGOs, other donors, relevantgovernment agencies and communities.

B. Specific Objectives The Consultant will be responsible toEO for the production of a synthesisassessment report for South Asia, basedon the five country assessment reportsand other relevant information currentlyavailable on macro-micro linkages. Inconsultation with and under the generaldirection of EO, the Consultant willundertake the following specific tasks:

1. Undertake review of the five countryreports (Bangladesh, India, Nepal,

Pakistan and Sri Lanka) and anyother relevant documentation suchas current UNDP policy papersfrom the Bureau for DevelopmentPolicy (BDP), the Regional Bureaufor Asia and the Pacific (RBAP) andthe World Bank/IMF to analyse,refine and syn t h e s i ze key issues ari s i n gout of the country assessments.

2. Develop a structure for the proposeds ynthesis re p o rt , w h i ch will be discussed and agreed by EO;

3. Produce a synthesis re p o rt usinga p p ro p riate gra phs and tables toi lluminate key findings, l e s s on slearned and good practices, as wellas to propose future directions. Thesynthesis should highlight:➧ A critical assessment of poverty

a ll ev i a t i on interve n t i ons withspecial focus on their outcomes interms of changed (or unchanged)links between macro-micro levelissues and their analys i s , i n cl u d i n gidentification and understandingof the “outcomes, i.e. impact ofmicro-level initiatives on micro-l evel policies and stra t e g i e s ” ,using the experiences of UNDP(and others) at the regional level;

➧ I d e n t i f i ca t i on and analysis of the main aspects of the above-mentioned linkages;

➧ Assessment of the results ofU N D P - s u p p o rted pro g ra m m e sin particular with special focus onits comparative identification ofmajor lessons learned advantagevis-à-vis other partners;

➧ I d e n t i f i ca t i on of major lesson slearned based on UNDP experi-e n c e s ,e l a b o rating possible ch a n g e sor new dire c t i ons aimed atenhancing UNDP ca p a c i ty tom o re effe c t i ve ly address thepoverty alleviation issues.

ANNEX I: TERMS OF REFERENCE

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C. Overall MethodologyThe re g i onal assessment will supplementthe analysis gleaned from the countryassessments with insights from the experiences of other donor agencies suchthe Asian Development Bank and theWorld Bank. In addition, it will bei n f o rmed by pertinent academic andpolicy literature in the field of povertypolicy assessment. It will also criticallysynthesize the information from the fivecountry reports and relevant informationfrom other sources, and further refinethe analysis by integrating a wider perspective from UNDP’s experience.The analysis of the links between pove rtyalleviation efforts at the local (micro)l evel and macro - l evel policy regime will bebased on : a) a desk study of the individualcountry assessments commissioned by

EO and other related literature; and b)c on s u l t a t i ons with re l evant UNDP officialsin New York and country offices withexpertise in diverse areas of poverty-related policy and programme design.The analysis will focus on a summary ofkey issues emerging from the countryassessments, which provide the primaryreference documents. They assess theinfluence of micro-level programmes onmacro anti-poverty initiatives, includingthe number of macro policies that incorporated lessons from community-l evel pove rty all ev i a t i on pro g ra m m e s .The influence of macro policies on localp ro g ra m m e s , h ow eve r, w i ll not bedirectly measured, but inferred throughtheir impact on overall (income) poverty.The country assessments can be accessedfrom the EO website.

ANNEX II: AC RO N Y M S

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ANNEX II: AC RO N Y M S

ABGEP Area Based Growth with Equity Programme (Sri Lanka)ADP Area Development Programme (Pakistan)AJK Azad Jammu and Kashmir (Pakistan)APDPIP Andhra Pradesh District Poverty Initiatives ProjectAPRPRP Andhra Pradesh Poverty Reduction ProjectBCLG Building Capacity for Local Governance (Bangladesh)BD Basic Democracies (Pakistan, 1959-70)BDP Bureau for Development Policy (UNDP)BRSP Bureau for Resources and Strategic Partnerships (UNDP)CBO Community Based Organization (Sri Lanka)CBPPI Community Based Pro-Poor Initiatives (India)CCF Country Cooperation Framework (UNDP)CDP Community Development Programme (India, 1952)CEP Community Empowerment ProjectCLDD Community Livestock and Dairy Development (Bangladesh)DCC District Coordinating Committees (Nepal)DDC District Development Council (Nepal)DFID Department for International Development (U.K.)DPAP Drought Prone Area Programme (India – 70s)FPP Five Point Programme (Pakistan, 1985-88)FPR Framework for Poverty Reduction (Sri Lanka)FPRLG Facilitating Pove rty Reduction through Lo cal Gove rnance (Bangladesh)GOB Government of BangladeshGOI Government of IndiaGON Government of NepalGOP Government of PakistanGOSL Government of Sri LankaHDI Human Development IndexIFAD International Fund for Agricultural DevelopmentIMR Infant Mortality RateIRDP Integrated Rural Development Programme (India - 70s)KST Kishoregonj Sadar ThanaLGDF Local Governance Development Fund (Bangladesh)LGP Local Governance Programme (Nepal)LIFE Local Initiative Facility for Urban EnvironmentLPPA Local Participation for Poverty AlleviationLPRP Lachi Poverty Reduction Project (Pakistan)MDGs Millennium Development GoalsMFAL Marginal Farmers & Agricultural Labour’s Agency (India - 70s)MFO Micro Finance OperationsMSHD Sustainable Human Development (Bangladesh)NADP Northern Areas Development Programme (Pakistan)NFEG Nonformal Employment Generation (Bangladesh)NHDR National Human Development Report (UNDP)NILG National Institute of Local Governance (Bangladesh)NPC National Planning Commission (Nepal)OSG Operations Support Group (UNDP)


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NREP National Rural Employment Programme (India - 70s)PA Poverty AlleviationPCDP Pakistan Community Development ProjectPC Provincial Council (Sri Lanka)PCI Programme of Catalytic Initiatives (PCI)PCRW Production Credit for Rural Women (Nepal)PDDP Participatory District Development Programme (Nepal)PDSNP Public Distri b u t i on Systems and Nu t ri t i on Pro g ramme (India - curre n t )PLUS Pro g ramme for the Improvement of Livelihoods in Urban Areas (Pa k i s t a n )PP People’s Programme (Pakistan, 1989-90)PPLGD Promoting Po l i cy on Lo cal Gove rnance and Decentra l i za t i on (Bangladesh)PRI Panchayat Raj Initiatives (India)PRS Poverty Reduction Strategy and Agenda (Sri Lanka)PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy PapersPWP People’s Work Programme (Pakistan, 1972-82)RBA Regional Bureau for Africa (UNDP)RBAP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific (UNDP)RBEC Regional Bureau for Europe and the

Commonwealth of Independent States (UNDP)RBLA Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNDP)RDP Rural Development Programme (Pakistan)REDP Rural Energy Development Programme (Nepal)RSP Rural Support Programme (Pakistan)RUPP Rural Urban Partnership Programme (Nepal)RWP Rural Works Programme (Pakistan, 1963-72)SAARC South Asian Association for Regional CooperationSAP Social Action Plan (Pakistan, 1993-98, 1998-2002)SAPAP South Asia Poverty Alleviation ProgramSCDP Sustainable Community Development Programme (Nepal)SDAN Sustainable Development Agenda for NepalSEDG Socio-Economic Development Group (BDP, UNDP)SEP Self Employment Programmes (India - current)SFDA Small Farmers Development Agency (India – 70s)SFDP Small Farmer Development Project (Nepal)SHG Self Help GroupsSIDA Swedish International Development AuthoritySRF Strategic Results FrameworkSSP Social Security Programme (India - current)TWP Tameer-e-Waten Programme (Pakistan, 1991-93)UNCDF United Nations Capital Development FundUNDAF United Nations Development Assistance FrameworkVAP Village Aid Programme (Pakistan, 1952-61)VDC Village Development Committee VO Village OrganizationWB World BankWDG Women’s Development GroupWEP Wage Employment Programme (India - current)WFP World Food Programme

ANNEX III: LIST OF D O C U M E N TS CO N S U LT E D

Ahmed, Q.M. (2002) Country Report onM i c ro - M ac ro Linkages in Po vertyAlleviation Initiatives: Pakistan, Reportprepared for the Evaluation Office ofthe UNDP, September 2002.

Akash, M.M., (2002) Country Report onM i c ro - M ac ro Linkages in Po vertyAl l eviation Initiative s : B a n g l ad e s h ,R e p o rt pre p a red for the EvaluationOffice of the UNDP, August 2002.

Amsden, Alice (2000) Challenges to theWest from Late-Industrialising Economies,Oxford University Press, 2000.

Aslam Khan, M .( 2 0 0 2 ) , “Social Sa f e ty Ne t” ,Pakistan Human Development Report.

Asian Deve l o pment Bank, ( 2 0 0 2 ) , C o u n tryReport – Pakistan.

Baker, Judy L. (2000), “Evaluating theImpact of Deve l o pment Projects on Pove rty:A Hand Book for Practitioners”, WorldBank, Washington D.C.

B ro ck , Ka ren and Rosemary McGee( 2 0 0 2 ) , Knowing Po verty: C ri t i ca lReflections on Participatory Research andPolicy, Eds. K. Brock and R. McGee,Institute for Development Studies, U.K.

Bruno, Michael, Martin Ravallion, andLyn Squire (1998) “Equity and Growthin Developing Countries: Old and NewPe r s p e c t i ves and Po l i cy Issues”, i nIncome Distribution and Hi g h - Qu a l i tyGrowth, Ed. Vito Tanzi and Ke-youngChu, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.

“Case Study Research In Sri La n k a : On themacro-economics of poverty reduction”,Project proposal for Global ThematicFund for pove rty re d u c t i on , R BA P,UNDP www.asiapoorpro.net, 2002.

C e n t ral Bank of Sri La n k a , An n u a lReport, Various Years, Sri Lanka.

Cornia, Giovanni Andrea, Julius Court(2001) “Inequality, Growth and Povertyin the Era of Libera l i za t i on andG l o b a l i za t i on” , Po l i cy Brief 4, T h eUnited Nations University, WIDER.

Dreze, J. and A. Sen (2002), I n d i a :Development and Participation, OxfordUniversity Press, New Delhi.

Dunham, D. and S. Jayasuriya (2000)“E q u i ty, G rowth and Insurre c t i on :Liberalization and the Welfare Debatein Contemporary Sri Lanka”, OxfordDevelopment Studies, Vol. 28, no. 1, pp.99-110.

E ll e rm a n , David (2002) “R e t h i n k i n gMacro-Micro Linkages: An ApproachBased on Au t on omy-Respecting Assistance”,paper presented at UNDP workshop(see UNDP 2002a).

H ew a v i t h a ra n a , B. (2002) C o u n tryR e p o rt on Micro - M ac ro Linkages inPoverty Alleviation Initiatives:Sri Lanka,R e p o rt pre p a red for the EvaluationOffice of the UNDP, September 2002.

Jodha, N.S. (2002) Country Report onM i c ro - M ac ro Linkages in Po vertyAl l eviation Initiative s : Ne p a l , R e p o rtprepared for the Evaluation Office ofthe UNDP, October 2002.

Kabeer, Naila (1995) Revised Realities:G e n d er Hi era rchies in Devel o p m e n tThought, The University Press Limited,Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Kanbur, Ravi (2001). “Economic Policy,Distribution and Poverty: The Nature ofD i s a g re e m e n t s ” . C o rn e ll Unive r s i ty.www.wider.unu.edu Public Lecture, 12June 2001.

K e l e g a m a , Saman (2001) “Pove rtySituation and Policy in Sri Lanka”, AsiaPacific Forum on Poverty: ReformingPolicies and Institutions for Pove rtyR e d u c t i on , Asia Deve l o pment Bank,Manila, 5-9 February 2001.

K e m a l , A . R. ( 2 0 0 2 ) , “ M ac ro - e c o n o m i cPolicy and Poverty in Pakistan”, PakistanHuman Development Report.

Khan, Niazi Mohamed (2002), PublicE x p e n d i tu re Rev i ew from a Po vertyPerspective. Asian Development Report.

ANNEX III: LIST OF DOCUMENTS CO N S U LT E D

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K ri s h n a , An i rudh (2000) “ C h a n g i n gPo l i cy and Practice from Below:C om mu n i ty Experiences in Pove rtyReduction, An Examination of NineCase Studies”, Ed. Anirudh Krishna,C o e d s : Caitlin Wi e s e n , G e o f f rey D.Prewitt, Babar Sobhan, UNDP.

Ku z n e t s , Si m on (1955) “E c on omic Growt hand Income Inequality ” , Am eri ca nEconomic Review, 45,March 1955, 1-28.

La d e rch i , C a t e rina Ru g g e ri (2001)“Participatory Methods in the Analysisof Poverty: A Critical Review,” WorkingPaper No. 6 2 ,Q EH Wo rking Paper Se ri e s ,Ox f o rd , U. K .J a n u a ry 2001. h t tp : / / w w w 2 .q e h . ox . a c . u k / re s e a rch / wp a c t i on . h t m l ?jor_id=216

M a c E w a n ,A rthur (1999) Ne o - L i b era l i s mor Democracy? Economic Stra tegy, M a rk e t s ,and Al tern a t ives for the 21st Centu ry. T h eU n i ve r s i ty Press Limited,Dh a k a ,B a n g l a d e s h .

M a g u i re, Linda (2002) “ G ove rn a n c eand Poverty Alleviation”, EO internalreport, UNDP.

Mahendra Dev, S., Ray, S. and Galab, S.(2002) Country Report on Micro-MacroL i n k a ges in Po verty Al l eviation Initiative s :I n d i a , R e p o rt pre p a red for the EvaluationOffice of the UNDP, September 2002.

M a l i k , Khalid and Wa g l e, Sw a rnim (2002)“Civic Engagement and Development:Introducing the Issues”, in Capacity forD evel o p m e n t : New Solutions to OldPro bl e m s , E d s . Sakiko Fu k u d a - Pa r r,Carlos Lopes, Khalid Malik, pp 85-99.UNDP, Earthscan Publications Ltd.

M a n a s u ri , G h a za l a . and Vi s w a n a t h ,Ta ra (2000) “The District Pove rtyInitiative Project (DPIP): A Frameworkfor Monitoring and Evaluation – AndraPra d e s h” . Wo rld Bank South AsiaPove rty Mon i t o ring and EvaluationWorkshop, New Delhi,India,June 8-10,2 0 0 0 . h t tp : / / l nw e b 1 8 . w o rl d b a n k . o r g /s a r / s a . n s f / At t a ch m e n t s / a p d p i p / $ Fi l e /apDPIP.pdf

Ou t re a ch (2001): South Asia Po vertyAl l eviation Pro gra m m e : p o l i cy lessonsEmerging in Andhra Pradesh in India,Report of the Study commissioned byUNDP, India, Hyderabad.

Ranjani, K.M, Raju, K, and Kamath, A.(2002): Towards Women’s Empowermentand Poverty Reduction: Lessons from theParticipatory Impact Assessment of SouthAsian Poverty Alleviation Programme inAndhra Pradesh, India. Report of thestudy commissioned by United Nation’sDevelopment Programme.

Rao, Mohan, J. (2002) “The Possibilityof Pro-Poor Development: Distribution,G rowth and Po l i cy Intera c t i on” , p re p a re dfor UNDP.

Ravallion, M, and Gaurav Datt (1999)“When Growth Pro - Po o r ? : E v i d e n c efrom the Diverse Experiences of India’sStates”. Policy Research Working Paper2263,The World Bank Research Groupon Poverty and Human Resources andSouth Asia Region Poverty Reductionand Econ omic Management Se c t o rUnit, December 1999.

R e d d y, Sa n j ay and T h omas Po g g e(2002) “How Not to Count the Poor”,h t tp : / / w w w. c o l u m b i a . e d u / ~ s r 7 9 3 / c o u n t . p d f

R o d ri k , Dani (2001) “The GlobalGovernance of Trade as if DevelopmentReally Mattered”. UNDP, New York.

Siddiqui, Kamal (2000), Jagatpur: 1977-97 Poverty and Social Change in RuralB a n g l ad e s h , The Unive r s i ty Pre s sLimited, 2000.

Social Mobiliza t i on Experi m e n t a t i onand Learning Center (SMELC) (2002)Social Mobilisation and Concerns of theUltra Poor, A Study based on the SyanglaExperience. Institute of Agriculture andAnimal Sciences (IAAS), Ra m p u r,Chitwan, Nepal.

Su b ra h m a ny a m , P. ( 2 0 0 2 ) , “A s s e s s i n gLinkages between Micro-Macro LevelIssues with reference to SAPAP”, paperpresented at the workshop on macro-micro linkages, organized by UNDP,13th February 2002, New Delhi.


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Taylor, Lance, and Ute Pieper (1996)“R e c onciling Econ omic Reform andSustainable Human Deve l o pm e n t : So c i a lC onsequences of Ne o - L i b e ra l i s m” ,D i s c u s s i on Paper Se ri e s , Office ofDevelopment Studies, UNDP

T h om a s , P. V. , (2000) “Impact AssessmentStudies on Ru ral Deve l o pm e n tPro g rammes in India” , Wo rld BankSouth Asia Pove rty Mon i t o ring andE v a l u a t i on Wo rk s h o p, New Delhi, I n d i a ,June 8-10,2 0 0 0 .h t tp : / / l nw e b 1 8 . w o rl d b a n k .o r g / s a r / s a . n s f / At t a ch m e n t s / i m p a c t / $ Fi l e /impact.pdf

UNCTAD(2002) The Least DevelopedCountries Report.

UNDP (2002a) “Assessing the Linkagesbetween the Micro and Macro LevelIssues Meeting” , E v a l u a t i on Office,New Delhi, India, February 13, 2002.

U N D P ( 2 0 0 2 b ) , Terms Of R ef ere n c e :Country Assessment Of Macro And MicroLinkages: South Asia, March 2002.

U N D P ( 2 0 0 2 c ) , Terms Of R ef ere n c e :Assessment Of Macro And Micro Linkagesin South Asia, September 2002.

UNDP (2002d) C o u n try Eva l u a t i o n :India, Evaluation Office, UNDP.

UNDP(2001a) Po verty Reduction andG o vern a n c e. Nepal Human Deve l o pm e n tReport.

UNDP (2001b) Choices for the Po o r :Lessons from National Poverty StrategiesEds. Alejandro Grinspun.

UNDP (2001c) D evelopment Effective n e s s :R ev i ew of E va l u a t ive Evidence, E v a l u a t i onOffice, November 2001.

UNDP (2001d) Overcoming Hu m a nPoverty, UNDP Poverty Report 2000.

UNDP (2001e) Evaluation of the SouthAsian Po verty Al l eviation Pro gra m m e(SAPAP): An overview.

UNDP (2001f ) , G l o ba l i zation and Hu m a nD evel o p m e n t , Human Deve l o pm e n tReport 2001, Oxford University Press.

UNDP(2000), Programme of CatalyticInitiatives.

U N D P, U N O P S, N O RAD (1999) S o u t hAsian Po verty Al l eviation Pro gra m m e :Report of the Regional Workshop on thel i n k a ges Between Decentra l i zation andPoverty Alleviation.

UNDP (1997) Programme for ImprovingLivelihoods in Urban Settlement (PLUS),PAK/97/005.

UNDP (1996) Area Development Pro gra m m eAJK, PAK/96/005.

UNDP(1996) Area Development Pro gra m ,Balochistan, PAK/96/006.

UNDP(1996) Lachi Poverty ReductionProject, PAK/99/004.

UNDP(1996) No rt h ern Area Devel o p m e n tProject (NADP), PAK/96/026.

UNDP(1996) Pa k i s tan CommunityDevelopment Project for Rehabilitation ofSaline and Water Logged Land.

Wade, Robert (2001) “Showdown at theWorld Bank” New Left Review, No.7,pp.124-137.

Wade, Robert (2001) “The US role inthe long Asian crisis of 1990-2000” inThe East Asian Crisis and Its Aftermath(Eds.) F. B a t i s t a - R i ve ra and A.Luukaislas. London: Edward Elgar.

Wahiduddin Mahmud (2001), InformalSector in Bangladesh: A Macro EconomicPerspective, Report Prepared for ILO,Dhaka, May 2001.

Wo rld Bank,( 2 0 0 0 ) ,At tacking Po verty,Wo rl dD eve l o pment Report , Wa s h i n g t on , D. C .

World Bank, (2001), “A Brief Note onPo verty Estimates for Pa k i s ta n , in the1990s”, Washington D.C.

ANNEX III: LIST OF DOC UMENTS CO N S U LT E D

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ANNEX IV: LIST OF PEOPLE CONSULTED UNDP Nurul Alam, Deputy Director, Evaluation Office Naoko Anzai, Bangladesh Jean Barut, RBA Stephen Browne, BDP Sarah Burd-Sharp, NHDR Neera Burra, Assistant Resident Representative, India Michael Constable, OSG Khaled Ehsan, Evaluation Adviser, Evaluation Office Parviz Faratash, RBEC Enrique Ganuza, RBLA Selim Jahan, BDP Zahir Jamal, RBAS Henning Karcher, Resident Representative, Nepal Asoka Kasturiarachchi, Assistant Resident Representative, Sri Lanka Shoaib Sultan Khan, Senior Policy Adviser, SAPAP, Pakistan K.Seeta Prabhu, Head Human Development Resource Centre, India Kamal Malhotra, BDP Khalid Malik, Director, Evaluation Office Brenda Gael McSweeney, Resident Representative, India Kalyani Menon-Sen, India Balasubramaniam Murali, RBAP Subinay Nandy, RBAP Hafiz Pasha, Assistant Administrator & Director, RBAP Subrahmanyam Ponthagunta, Nepal Abdulla Rasheed, Maldives Siv Tokle, Evaluation Adviser, Evaluation Office Caitlin Weisin, BRSP Zhe Yang, RBAP Onder Yucer, Resident Representative, Pakistan

National Researchers and Experts, South Asia S.Galab, National Researcher, India N.S. Jodha, Policy Analyst, International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development, Nepal M.M. Akash, Department of Economics, Dhaka University, Bangladesh Imtiaz Ahmed, Dhaka University, Bangladesh Debapriya Bhattacharya, Centre for Policy Development, Bangladesh S. Behura, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India Samarjit Ray, Principal Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh, India Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Government of Bangladesh K. Raju , CEO, SERP, India S. Mahendra Dev, National Researcher, India Narendra Singh Sisodia, Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, India Ratna Sudarshan, National Researcher, India Mohamed Farook, Asst. Director, Ministry of Atolls Administration, Maldives Jay Singh Shah, Director, SMELC, Nepal Lokendra Paudyal, National Researcher, Nepal Khadija Haq, National Researcher, Pakistan David Ellerman, World Bank, USA Dr. Qazi Masood Ahmed, National Researcher, Pakistan Buddhadasa Hewavitharana, National Researcher, Sri Lanka

ANNEX V: LIST OF FIGURES AND TA B L E S

List of Fi g u re sFigure 1: Selected South Asian Economies – GDP Growth Rates (percent)Figure 2: Fiscal Deficit, South Asian Countries, 1996-2002Figure 3: Changes in Inequality: Gini IndexFigure 4: Trends in Human Development Index

List of Ta b l e sTable 1: Country ProfileTable 2: Profiles of Poverty and InequalityTable 3: Growth RateTable 4:The Con c e rn and Focus on Pove rty in Ne p a l : Se l e c t i ve Indicators of EvolutionTable 5: Impact of the Macro Policy Environment on Poverty and InequalityTable 6: Poverty Alleviation Projects in the Country Reports

ANNEX V: LIST OF FIGURES AND TA B L E S

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