A Donor Influenced by Local Dynamics

This article explores the relations between a foreign aid donor and local actors in the context of the dissemination of development discourses and practices in an authoritarian context. It addresses the question “To what extent may the local dynamics alter the original goals of a donor and lead to unintended consequences?” Based on archival research, interviews, and secondary literature, this case study examines the Yunnan Uplands Management Project (YUM) in 1990–95, the Ford Foundation's first grant program on rural poverty alleviation in China. While the Foundation did not attain its main goal of making YUM a national model for poverty alleviation, the local actors were able to use YUM to develop individual capacities and to build roles for themselves as development actors in the form of associations and nongovernmental organizations, resulting in further support from the Foundation. The study contributes to our understanding of donor-local actor dynamics by highlighting the gaps between the original goals of a donor and the perspectives and motivations of local actors. The study suggests that local dynamics may influence the goals of donors and the ways they seek to disseminate development discourses and practices to local actors, despite the common conception of donors as hegemonic or culturally imperialistic.

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Microfinance accountability in Cameroon: a cure or a curse for poverty alleviation?

Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change ◽

10.1108/jaoc-11-2015-0087 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 13 (1) ◽

pp. 112-130 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Fidelis Kedju Akanga

Keyword(s):

Poverty Alleviation ◽

Secondary Data ◽

Unintended Consequences ◽

Institutional Pressures ◽

Microfinance Institutions ◽

Content Type ◽

Study Approach ◽

Local Actors ◽

Accountability Practices

Purpose The purpose of this study is to use empirical findings to identify the different forms of accountability practices existing in Cameroon microfinance institutions (MFIs) and explore how such practices have evolved and institutionalised within the microfinance sector in Cameroon through time. Design/methodology/approach This study is designed to investigate if the institutionalised accountability practices within the microfinance sector in Cameroon are a cure or a curse for poverty alleviation. This study is based on the new institutional sociology (NIS) and on a case study approach and combines in-depth interviews and secondary data sources. Findings This study identifies three principal forms of accountability practices common with MFIs in Cameroon: dysfunctional, manipulative and dribbling accountabilities. Originality/value This paper is novel because it extends the NIS into the microfinance sector and explains how conflicting institutional pressures resulting from differences of accountability practices can be resolved and also exposes the unintended consequences of both resistance and passive actions of local actors on microfinance, the poor and poverty alleviation.

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The Effectiveness of the Ecological Forest Rangers Policy in Southwest China

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12060746 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (6) ◽

pp. 746

Author(s):

Yifan Wang ◽

Dengju Wang ◽

Rong Zhao

Keyword(s):

Poverty Alleviation ◽

Southwest China ◽

Rural Poverty ◽

Ecological Effect ◽

Income Growth ◽

Future Research ◽

Linkage Mechanism ◽

Short Term ◽

Forest Protection

To achieve the dual goal of poverty alleviation and ecological restoration, the policy of ecological forest rangers (EFRs) was implemented in rural poverty-stricken areas in China, where local residents commonly depend on nearby forest resources for livelihoods. This study aimed to analyze the short-term and long-term effectiveness of the EFRs policy in China mainly in poverty alleviation and income growth, with a brief discussion on the ecological effect of the policy. A questionnaire survey was conducted in four counties in the Karst rocky desertification region in southwest China. By combing through the early literature on REDD+, community forestry, leasehold forestry, etc., this paper summarizes the experience and lessons of similar community forest management models, aiming to explain the unsustainability of EFRs policy from the perspective of forest tenure and governance. The findings of the effectiveness analysis of EFRs policy in the four poverty-stricken counties reflect different degrees of effect in rural households with different income levels. We believe that the EFRs policy has played important roles in short-term regional poverty alleviation while its potential for long-term income growth has not been stimulated. For the amendment of EFRs policy, we put forward the following points: (1) It is necessary to redesign the selection and recruitment mechanism, as well as the exit mechanism of EFRs adapting to the local conditions. (2) It is advisable to further improve the local assessment and monitoring system of forest protection quality of EFRs and optimize the establishment of benefit linkage mechanism between protection effectiveness and EFRs remuneration. (3) The EFRs remuneration standards should be dynamically raised to assure the active participation of EFRs in forest protection. Furthermore, there is a need for one more effective integration model of forest protection and rural livelihoods improvement, which is considered as a potential future research direction.

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Commercializing-based Rural Poverty Alleviation Model (CBRPA Model) and Internal Cycle Growth

International Journal of Business Studies and Innovation ◽

10.35745/ijbsi2021v01.01.0005 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 1 (1) ◽

pp. 43-49

Author(s):

Chih-Hung Yeh ◽

Keyword(s):

Economic Growth ◽

Poverty Alleviation ◽

Rural Poverty ◽

Contract Farming ◽

Economic Strategy ◽

Model Based ◽

Cycle Growth ◽

Integrated Processing ◽

Opening Up

This paper explores and brings forth a persistent resilient self-motivated or self-growth-driven rural poverty alleviation model based on the commercializing-based rural poverty alleviation (CBRPA) model. The CBRPA model encompasses systems or mechanisms of integrated contract farming, regional integrated processing, and agricultural association. Although China has made brilliant achievements in rural poverty alleviation since opening-up in 1978, it still lacks a self-growth-driven rural poverty alleviation system or mechanism. Thus, this paper discusses the rural poverty alleviation achievements and policies of China. It explores various solutions, formulates proper structure, and proposes a CBRPA model. Implementation of the CBRPA model requires the establishment of the agricultural association, integrated contract farming companies (ICFCs), and regional integrated processing companies (RIPCs). The paper also discussed the importance and contribution of rural poverty alleviation to economic growth as well as China’s major economic strategy of double cycle growth. As the CBRPA Model generates a self-growth-driven rural poverty alleviation pattern that is implemented all over the country, it makes an important strategy for internal cycle growth to mutually facilitate external cycle growth.

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Wage Employment and Rural Poverty Alleviation

Rural Poverty in Latin America ◽

10.1057/9780333977798_5 ◽

2000 ◽

pp. 86-98

Author(s):

Alejandra Cox Edwards

Keyword(s):

Poverty Alleviation ◽

Rural Poverty ◽

Wage Employment

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Rural Poverty Alleviation in China in the Xi Jinping Era

EAI Series on East Asia - Chinese Society in the Xi Jinping Era ◽

10.1142/9789813279797_0006 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 115-132

Author(s):

Jiwei QIAN

Keyword(s):

Poverty Alleviation ◽

Rural Poverty ◽

Xi Jinping

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How Does Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy Influence Residents’ Perceptions of Rural Living Conditions? A Study of 16 Villages in Gansu Province, Northwest China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11246944 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (24) ◽

pp. 6944 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Meimei Wang ◽

Yongchun Yang ◽

Bo Zhang ◽

Mengqin Liu ◽

Qing Liu

Keyword(s):

Environmental Conditions ◽

Poverty Alleviation ◽

Public Services ◽

Rural Poverty ◽

Northwest China ◽

Living Conditions ◽

Gansu Province ◽

Housing Conditions ◽

Rural Living ◽

The Impact

Rural living conditions (RLCs) in China are influential on the overall development and stability of regions, particularly for populations in distant poverty-stricken villages. This paper takes 16 villages of Chedao town in Gansu province, Northwest China (NWC) as our case study. Using data from the Poverty Alleviation and Assistance (PAA) project launched by Lanzhou University in June 2017, and the perceptions of residents of Chedao, we pinpoint RLC changes in the targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) process. The three main results show that: (1) From the residents’ perceptions, the impact of alleviation measures on RLC is mainly reflected in improved housing conditions, infrastructure, and public services. We find no significant effect on cultural conditions. However, eco-environmental conditions have obviously weakened. (2) Housing size, accessibility, distance to shops, and safe drinking water are the most significant factors in housing conditions, infrastructure, public services, and eco-environmental conditions, respectively. (3) Out of the different levels of rural poverty households (RPHs), severe rurality villages are more strongly aware of the positive changes in RLC than residents of mild rurality villages. Moreover, in residents’ view, housing conditions are most improved in severe rurality villages, infrastructure is most improved in moderate rurality villages, and public services are most improved in mild rurality villages. Eco-environmental conditions worsen across all levels. Our findings shed light on the perceptions of residents on changes occurring in rural living conditions, and provide a basis for subsequent studies of RLC in Northwest China.

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Conceptualizing Development and Underdevelopment: From Classical Modernization to Contemporary Post-Development Discourse

Journal of Asian Development ◽

10.5296/jad.v4i2.13463 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 107

Author(s):

M. Saiful Islam

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Unintended Consequences ◽

Theory And Practice ◽

Development Discourse ◽

The People ◽

Local Contexts ◽

Global And Local ◽

Development Discourses ◽

Dynamic Trajectory ◽

The Way

Development, as an ideology and practice, has been a matter of much contestation since its inception at the enlightened period. The way development has been understood, explained and practiced has undergone various experiments and directions over the time. Yet, what development is theoretically and what it should be in practice remains as contested and vague. This article is an attempt to examine the trajectory of development from its origin in the classical modernization to the more contemporary neo-liberal and post-development discourses. It is argued that the way development has been propagated by the modernists as economic growth and positive change has been vehemently challenged by the post-modernists on the ground that development is not only hegemonic, authoritative and dependency creating mechanism that routinely fails and but also produces unintended consequences on the lives of the people. Thus, there has been a growing realization that development needs to be rethought in a way that would promote an alternative development or even an alternative to development. Such a shift in perspectives and continuing deliberations on development has given rise to the question whether development has reached an impasse which needs to be pushed forward. By reviewing the existing literature, this article aims at unfolding the dynamic trajectory of development both as theory and practice, and argues that development is and continues to be an interesting and stimulating topic in social sciences given its vibrant engagement with and implications on various stakeholders both at the global and local contexts.

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