Synopsis
'No matter if I fall, I get up again. If I fall 5,000 times, I will stand up another 5,000 times.' -- William, a 37-year-old from El Gorrión, Colombia Why and how do some people move out of poverty―and stay out―while others remain trapped? Most books on growth and poverty reduction are dominated by the perspectives of policy makers and academic experts. In contrast, 'Moving Out of Poverty: Success from the Bottom Up' presents the experiences of poor people who have made it out of poverty. The book's findings draw from the Moving Out of Poverty research conducted in communities in 15 countries in Africa, East Asia, Latin America, and South Asia. The authors synthesize the results of qualitative and quantitative research based on discussions with over 60,000 people in rural areas. They offer bottom-up perspectives on the processes and local institutions that play key roles in escapes from poverty. The study finds that there are no differences in the initiatives taken by the poor, the rich, and the upwardly mobile. What, then, explains the difference in outcomes? The authors demonstrate how―in the face of deep social inequalities that block access to economic opportunities and local democracies―individual initiative and empowerment by themselves are often not enough to escape poverty. This book will be of interest to all concerned with equity in an increasingly unequal world.
About the Author
DEEPA NARAYAN is project director of a 15-country World Bank study, Moving Out of Poverty: Understanding Freedom, Democracy, and Growth from the Bottom Up. It builds on an earlier study also directed by Narayan, Voices of the Poor. Formerly a senior adviser in the Poverty Reduction group of the World Bank, Narayan has over 25 years of development experience in Asia and Africa, working for nongovernmental organizations, national governments, and the United Nations system as well as the World Bank Group. Her areas of expertise include participatory development, community-driven development, and social capital, and the use of these concepts to create wealth for the poor. Recent publications include Moving Out of Poverty: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Mobility (World Bank, 2007); Ending Poverty in South Asia: Ideas that Work, co-edited with Elena Glinskaya (World Bank, 2007); and Measuring Empowerment: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives (World Bank, 2005). LANT PRITCHETT is professor of the practice of economic development at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, USA. He is also a consultant to Google.org, a nonresident fellow of the Center for Global Development, a senior fellow of BREAD, and co-editor of the Journal of Development Economics. He earned a B.S. in economics from Brigham Young University in 1983 and a PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988. He joined the World Bank?s research complex in 1988 and worked for the Bank in Indonesia and India from 1998 to 2007, when he joined the Kennedy School. SOUMYA KAPOOR is a consultant to the World Bank in India. She was a key member of the Moving Out of Poverty study team between 2003 and 2008, coordinating the research in the South Asia region. She previously worked as a corporate banker with a leading bank in India and as a credit analyst with Moody's. Her research interests center on participatory development and finance and on how they can be linked for poverty reduction. She is a contributor (with Deepa Narayan) to Assets, Livelihoods, and Social Policy, edited by Caroline Moser and Anis Dani (World Bank, 2008).
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