The effectiveness of poverty eradication mechanisms of donor

agencies --- Case study of Sunsari district, Nepal

 Introduction

 Literature Review

 Research Objectives

 Research Methodology

 Research Timeline

 References
Introduction

Poverty

According to Oxford Learners Dictionary [1], the term poverty is defined as the state of
being poor; a lack of something; poor quality. However, United Nations [2], states that
“Poverty entails more than the lack of income and productive resources to ensure
sustainable livelihoods. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access
to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion, as well as the
lack of participation in decision-making.”

World Context and Global Action

UN poverty facts and figures [2], shows that around 736 million people lived below the
international poverty line of US$ 1.90 a day in 2015. In 2018, almost 8 per cent of the
world’s workers and their families lived on less than US$1.90 per person per day. Most
people living below the poverty line belong to two regions: Southern Asia and sub-Saharan
Africa. High poverty rates are often found in small, fragile and conflict-affected countries.
As of 2018, 55 per cent of the world’s population have no access to at least one social
protection cash benefit. Some of the reasons for poverty are insufficient access to clean
drinking water and nutritious food, little or no access to livelihoods or jobs, conflict,
inequality, poor education, lack of infrastructure, climate change, limited capacity of
government, etc.

There has been remarkable progress in poverty reduction around the world in recent
decades. It is estimated that the world poverty reduced more than half till 2000. According
to the most recent estimates of UN [2] , in 2015, 10 per cent of the world’s population
lived at or below $1.90 a day. That’s down from 16 per cent in 2010 and 36 per cent in
1990. This means that ending extreme poverty is within our reach. However, the decline
has slowed. In April 2013, the World Bank set a new goal to end extreme poverty in a
generation. The new target is set to be no more than 3 per cent of the world’s population
living on just $1.90 a day by 2030. The UN General Assembly, at its seventy-second
session, decided to proclaim the “Third United Nations Decade for the Eradication of
Poverty (2018–2027).”The objective of the Third Decade is to maintain the momentum
generated by the implementation of the Second United Nations Decade for the Eradication
 of Poverty (2008-2017) towards poverty eradication. Further, the 3rd Decade is also
expected to support, in an efficient and coordinated manner, the internationally agreed
development goals related to poverty eradication, including the Sustainable Development
Goals. However, the Corona Virus pandemic and Climate change will aggravate this issue
further and might be major hurdles to achieve the objectives.

Nepal Context and Actions

Nepal is a landlocked country bordering China in the North and India in the east, west and
south. Most of its terrain is mountainous and hence the majority of population lives in rural
areas. Nepal has made significant progress in reducing the poverty in recent decades. Despite
the remarkable decline in overall poverty level, poverty in rural Nepal is still higher than
urban Nepal, even though rural poverty is declining at a faster pace than urban poverty. While
urban poverty fell from 21.6% in 1996 to 10.0% in 2004, it again rose to 15.5% in 2011. On
the other hand, rural poverty has declined continuously from 43.3% to 35.0% and to 27.4%
between 1996, 2004 and 2011. The HDI value for Nepal was 0.42, at the 152 nd position in
1990. The value has significantly increased to 0.48, improving the ranking at the 129 th
position in 2000. Using international poverty line of $1.25 per day, the incidence of poverty
has declined steadily from 68.0% in 1996 to 53.1% in 2004 and 24.8% in 2011[3]. Some of
the impact factors for poverty decline are (i) increase in remittance; (ii) growth in agriculture
sector and rise in farm income; (iii) poverty reduction development plans; (iv) greater access
to rural finance and increase in microfinance institutions; (v) growth in human capital
development; and (vi) increase in access to facilities such as roads, schools, health posts,
hospitals, public transportation, markets and financing.

Many national and international organisations are helping Nepal to eradicate poverty. Some
of the international donor agencies working in different sectors to eradicate poverty are World
Bank , UNICEF, UNDP, The Australian Government’s overseas aid program(AUSAID),
HEALTHY NEWBORN NETWORK(HNN), USAID, Department For International
Development(DFID), Netherlands Development Assistance(SNV), German Technical
Cooperation(GTZ), Canadian International Development Agency(CIDA), Korea International
Cooperation Agency(KOICA), Saudi Fund for Development(SFD), Japan International
Cooperation Agency(JICA), Norwegian Agency for International Development(NORAD) and
others as well. [4]

The sample area for this research study is Sunsari District, which lies in the eastern part of
Nepal. This district borders India in the South. The percentage of poor living in this district
are mostly from the bordering areas where there is lack of proper education, sanitation,
medical facilities as well as prevailing social differences. Many organisations are working
with such communities to uplift such people from poverty and raise their standard of the
living.
Literature Review

Although the United Nations is planning to bring absolute poverty to 3% by 2030 around the
world but the current situation has got more worst due to the recent Corona Virus pandemic
and climate change, which might affect in attaining this objective. Augustin Kwasi Fosu
(2017) presents the comparative global evidence on the transformation of economic growth to
poverty reduction in developing countries, with emphasis on the role of income inequality
[5]. M. Niaz Asadullah & Antonio Savoia (2017) provides an assessment of two key
dimensions: the global adoption of MDGs and state capacity by studying whether they
facilitated convergence in income poverty measures, using cross-section and panel methods,
with data on 89 developing economies for the period 1990–2013 [6] . Brown, Phillip &
James, David (2020) examines the role of education in alleviating poverty in a context of
high rates of income inequalities by improving school performance and widening access to
higher education, and thus poverty can be alleviated by increasing rates of social mobility
from disadvantaged families [7].
Ariel Fiszbein et.al. (2014) argues that social protection must be an integral part of the post-
2015 framework. [8]. Tony Addison et.at. (2015) discuss past and current social policy
strategies in the international aid architecture as an introduction to the UNU‐WIDER Special
Issue. The paper also clarifies that aid strategy and policy shifted to put a stronger emphasis
on human development which accelerated with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
[9]. Mary O’Neill Berry et. al.(2011) in his article reviews the research and practice of some
of the organizational psychologists presently engaged in poverty reduction and how
humanitarian work psychology might enhance the efforts of anti-poverty organizations[10].
Armando Barrientos et.al. (2009) argues that the rise of social protection constitutes a
response to global trends, but with considerable regional diversity examining the factors
determining the future course of social protection and identifies urgent research needs [11].

Barder, Owen Matthew (2009) in his article discusses the various aspects and different
objectives that are consistent with poverty reduction. His article also highlighted that the aid
could be more effective if there were greater recognition of the different dimensions of
poverty reduction which should be realized by the donors in the objectives for and incentives
in aid agencies.

Research Objectives

There must be a question in mind that why this research is important. Why it is necessary to
be conducted? Well, studying various literatures of previous authors, there is not such
researches that have been conducted to study the effectiveness of the poverty eradication
mechanisms and the satisfaction of the stakeholders. The effectiveness of such mechanisms,
at least in Nepal is still not studied so far. The satisfaction level of the communities
benefitting from such projects is still unknown. Hence, my research will focus on:

 To examine the effectiveness of poverty eradication mechanisms of donor agencies

Professor Suggestions:

1. Identifying the poverty eradication mechanisms of donor agencies in Nepal (case and
interview);
2. Think how do you measure their effectiveness (long term or short term? What indicators
do you use?)
3. Build a theoretical model to describe the impact of the poverty eradication mechanisms.
(This is the most difficult part. Read some theoretical papers/ research methodology
books to learn how to construct a model based on a theory. Also, you need to find an
appropriate theory.)
4. Design the questionnaire;
5. Distribute the questionnaire;
6. Collect and data analysis using SPSS.
7. Results and discussion.
8. Use references from good quality journals (ABS 3 Journals)

I think questionnaire would be appropriate. But DONOT manipulate data!

[1] Available at https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/poverty?

[2] Available at https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/poverty/

[3] Available at "Overview". World Bank. Archived from the original on 21 June 2019.
Retrieved 23 November 2019

[4] Available at Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission, Central Bureau of

[5] Augustin Kwasi Fosu, 2017 “Growth, inequality, and poverty reduction in developing
countries: Recent global evidence”, Research in Economics Volume 71, Issue 2, June
2017, Pages 306-336

[6] M. Niaz Asadullah & Antonio Savoia, 2017, “Poverty reduction during 1990–2013: Did
millennium development goals adoption and state capacity matter?” World Development
Volume 105, May 2018, Pages 70-82

[7] Brown, Phillip & James, David, 2020,“Educational expansion, poverty reduction and
social mobility: Reframing the debate”, International Journal of Educational Research,
100. 101537. 10.1016/j.ijer.2020.101537.

[8] Ariel Fiszbein, Ravi Kanbur & Ruslan Yemtsov, 2014, “Social Protection and Poverty
Reduction: Global Patterns and Some Targets”, World Development, Volume 61, Pages
167-177
[9] Tony Addison, Miguel Niño‐Zarazúa and Finn Tarp, 2015, “Aid, Social Policy and
Development”, Journal of international development, published by John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.3187

[10] Mary O’Neill Berry, Walter Reichman, Jane Klobas, Malcolm MacLachlan, Harry C.
Hui, Stuart C. Carr, Humanitarian work psychology: The contributions of organizational
psychology to poverty reduction, Journal of Economic Psychology, Volume 32, Issue 2,
2011, Pages 240-247, ISSN 0167-4870, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2009.10.009.
(http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016748700900110X)

[11] Armando Barrientos & David Hulme (2009) Social Protection for the Poor and Poorest
in Developing Countries: Reflections on a Quiet Revolution, Oxford Development
Studies, 37:4, 439-456, DOI: 10.1080/13600810903305257

[12] Barder, Owen Matthew, What is Poverty Reduction? (April 21, 2009). Center for Global
Development Working Paper No. 170, Available at
SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1394506 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1394506