scholarly journals Challenges to Social Policies: A Critical Analysis of Youth Intervention Programmes in Botswana

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kabo Diraditsile
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Hiv And Aids ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Aids Epidemic ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Youth Intervention

Young people are an important human resource and Botswana is no exception. The critical challenge facing this Southern African country is to raise the rate of economic growth to levels incorporating broad based improvement in the standards of living and well-being of youth. The country faces high levels of poverty, unemployment, and inequality which have seriously affected young people. Significant pockets of poverty remain, especially in rural areas. The living conditions of the vast majority of Batswana are deteriorating rapidly. Unemployment has remained persistent at nearly 20% and the HIV and AIDS epidemic has further exacerbated the situation (Statistics Botswana, 2014). The country has devised many poverty reduction policies since independence, most of which have had little success. Despite economic progress, poverty remains widespread. Based on documentary analysis and the author’s experiential knowledge, this paper examines challenges facing social policies, in particular, youth intervention programmes in Botswana with a view to address the challenges by proposing coherent and effective means that will lead to sustainable development.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Impacts of Smallholder Farmer’s Participation in Modern Agricultural Value Chain Tactics for Facilitating Poverty Alleviation—A Case Study of Kiwifruit Industry in Shaanxi, China

Agriculture ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 462
Author(s):  
Hongyu Wang ◽  
Xiaolei Wang ◽  
Apurbo Sarkar ◽  
Lu Qian
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Reduction Degree ◽  
Poverty Level ◽  
Storage Technology

Market-based initiatives like agriculture value chain (AVC) are becoming progressively pervasive to support smallholder rural farmers and assist them in entering larger market interventions and providing a pathway of enhancing their socioeconomic well-being. Moreover, it may also foster staggering effects towards the post-era poverty alleviation in rural areas and possessed a significant theoretical and practical influence for modern agricultural development. The prime objective of the study is to explore the effects of smallholder farmers’ participation in the agricultural value chain for availing rural development and poverty alleviation. Specifically, we have crafted the assessment employing pre-production (improved fertilizers usage), in-production (modern preservation technology), and post-production (supply chain) participation and interventions of smallholder farmers. The empirical data has been collected from a micro survey dataset of 623 kiwifruit farmers from July to September in Shaanxi, China. We have employed propensity score matching (PSM), probit, and OLS models to explore the multidimensional poverty reduction impact and heterogeneity of farmers’ participation in the agricultural value chain. The results show that the total number of poor farmers who have experienced one-dimensional and two-dimensional poverty is relatively high (66.3%). We also find that farmers’ participation in agricultural value chain activities has a significant poverty reduction effect. The multidimensional poverty level of farmers using improved fertilizer, organizational acquisition, and using storage technology (compared with non-participating farmers) decreased by 30.1%, 46.5%, and 25.0%, respectively. The multidimensional poverty reduction degree of male farmers using improved fertilizer and participating in the organizational acquisition is greater than that of women. The multidimensional poverty reduction degree of female farmers using storage and fresh-keeping technology has a greater impact than the males using storage and improved storage technology. Government should widely promote the value chain in the form of pre-harvest, production, and post-harvest technology. The public–private partnership should also be strengthened for availing innovative technologies and infrastructure development.

Multiple Dimensions of Impoverishment in Iran

2020 ◽  
pp. 26
Author(s):  
Hosnieh Mahoozi ◽  
Jeurgen Meckl
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Income Poverty ◽  
Rural And Urban Areas ◽  
Rural And Urban ◽  
Multiple Dimensions

Concerning the demands of Sen’s (1984) Capability Approach to the assessment of human well-being, we estimate multidimensional poverty and compare the results with traditional measures of income poverty in Iran. We detect poverty in urban and rural Iran over 1999-2007, a period with relatively high GDP growth. The results reveal that the pace of income poverty reduction is much faster than the pace of multidimensional poverty alleviation. The pace of poverty reduction is much slower in rural areas than in urban areas and the capital city, Tehran. Hence, inequality between rural and urban areas increased over the time. We also show how policymakers may benefit from applying the multidimensional approach in targeting the subgroups by the most deprived aspects.

Rural Communities and Well-Being: A Good Place to Grow Up?

2003 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 129-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Glendinning ◽  
Mark Nuttall ◽  
Leo Hendry ◽  
Marion Kloep ◽  
Sheila Wood
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Young People ◽  
Young Women ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Aspects ◽  
Community Life ◽  
Social Lives ◽  
The Future

This study looks at young people's accounts of life in communities in rural northern Scotland, and considers in what ways affective and social aspects of community are bound up with well-being, over and above young people's concerns for the future, rural youth transitions, and out-migration. Interviews were held with 15–18 year-olds in four study areas (16 groups, N = 60+) and a parallel survey of 11–16 year-olds was conducted in eight study areas (N = 2400+). Themes to emerge from the interviews included: opportunities locally, the future and staying on, as well as local amenities and services; but older teenagers also spoke at length about their social lives, family and social networks, and their community, both as close-knit and caring and as intrusive and controlling. Rural communities were seen as good places in childhood, but not necessarily for young people. In parallel with that, the survey data paints a picture where feelings of support, control, autonomy, and attachment were all associated with emotional well-being. Importantly, links between emotional well-being and practical, material concerns were outweighed by positive identifications of community as close-knit and caring; and equally, by negative identifications as intrusive and constraining, where the latter was felt more strongly by young women. Certainly, beliefs about future employment and educational opportunities were also linked to well-being, but that was over and above, and independently of, affective and social aspects of community life. Additionally, migration intentions were also bound up with sense of self and well-being, and with feelings about community life; and links between thoughts about leaving and community life as controlling and constraining were, yet again, felt more strongly by young women. Thus, gender was a key dimension affecting young people's feelings about their communities with significant implications for well-being, and out-migration. The study illustrates the importance of understanding the experiences young people have of growing up in rural areas, and how they evaluate those experiences: particularly, how life in rural communities matters for young people's well-being; and especially, for young women.

scholarly journals Health shocks and vulnerability to poverty in Congo

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Séverin Aimé Blanchard Ouadika
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Household Survey ◽  
Generalized Least Squares ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Shocks ◽  
Health Shock ◽  
Vulnerability To Poverty ◽  
Future Consumption

AbstractThe analysis of the link between poverty and health status in developing countries is a major focus of development policy. However, few studies, particularly in the Congo, focus on a prospective analysis of poverty and consider the variability of future consumption after a health shock. The objective of this study is to estimate vulnerability to poverty and analyse the factors that lead to a loss of well-being after a health shock in Congo. The study uses data from the 2011 Congolese Household Survey (CHS). Estimation of vulnerability to poverty and modelling of the effect of the health shock on expected future consumption are performed using the three-step feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) method. This method is also used to identify the socio-demographic determinants of vulnerability. On average, 26.8% of households are vulnerable to poverty in Congo. Health shocks accentuate this vulnerability. Households living in rural areas are more vulnerable to poverty than those in urban areas. Furthermore, household size and the level of education and marital status of the head of household have an impact on vulnerability. In view of the results obtained, poverty reduction efforts should focus on strategies to develop social safety nets and/or health insurance programmes to stabilize consumption in the event of a health shock in the household.

Young People and Disadvantaged Environments in Affluent Countries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Visser
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Personal Characteristics ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
Structural Factors ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Rural Environments

Many social scientists over the last decades have focused on the question of the impacts of poverty on people. Studies in this field primarily examine the effects of social, cultural, and economic resources and structural factors on the development, social outcomes, and well-being of an individual. In the last decades, scholarly interest has increasingly focused on poverty among children and adolescents (hereafter “young people”). Young people are seen as a nation’s future, which forms a reason for societal concern with their well-being and developmental outcomes. In addition, scholars increasingly acknowledge that poverty is multidimensional and heterogenous: the effects of poverty differ according to personal characteristics such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, or disability, but they are also exemplified by the disadvantaged environments in which young people find themselves, such as dysfunctional families, deprived neighborhoods, and low-quality schools. This article gives an overview of the most important works in the field of the effects of poverty and disadvantaged environments on young people (0–18 years of age). As the nature of poverty differs significantly between affluent countries and low-income developing countries, this review is focused on studies in the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Given the fact that disadvantage, and the different effects thereof on young people, can be approached from the perspectives offered by different social sciences, publications from geography, sociology, social work, anthropology, economics, and (environmental) psychology are included in this review. This article departs from the idea of ecological models, assuming that poverty impacts children within their various contexts such as the home, school, and neighborhood. After presenting general works on poverty among young people, attention is given to the impacts of disadvantages in home, neighborhood, and school environments. Most studies that are discussed in this review deal with disadvantage in urban areas, reflecting the focus of the overall literature in affluent countries. However, poverty and disadvantage also differ between urban and rural environments. Therefore, the article ends with an overview of literature on poverty among young people in rural areas.

scholarly journals The Influence of Women’s Empowerment on Poverty Reduction in the Rural Areas of Bangladesh: Focus on Health, Education and Living Standard

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 6909
Author(s):  
Wei Wei ◽  
Tanwne Sarker ◽  
Wioletta Żukiewicz-Sobczak ◽  
Rana Roy ◽  
G. M. Monirul Alam ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Great Influence ◽  
Multidimensional Poverty ◽  
Women's Empowerment ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Women’S Empowerment ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Income Poverty

Women’s empowerment has a great influence on health, nutrition, education, and the overall well-being of societies as well as of the children and households. This study investigates the effect of women’s empowerment on poverty reduction and focuses on household deprivation, in terms of education, health, and standard of living. Primary data was collected from 914 married women from rural areas of Bangladesh using a well-structured questionnaire and a random sampling technique. Descriptive statistics, logistic regression, and ordinary least squares models were used in this study. The results indicate that increased women’s access to education, asset ownership, decision-making power on children’s health and education, and access to medical facilities, have caused a significant decline in income poverty and multidimensional poverty. However, gender violence, taking resources against women’s will, and preventing women from working outside, have caused a considerable decline in per capita income and an increase in income poverty and multidimensional poverty. Overall, it is found that women’s empowerment has a great impact on the reduction of income poverty and multidimensional poverty in society. The findings of the study can assist and guide policymakers to initiate appropriate strategies for women’s empowerment to reducing poverty in Bangladesh while making progress towards other social and developmental goals.

scholarly journals Internet-Based Promotion of Safer Sex and Condom Use among Young People

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 111-116
Author(s):  
Biljana Kocić ◽  
Marina Kostić ◽  
Tatjana Cagulović
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Condom Use ◽  
Sex Education ◽  
Safer Sex ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Behavioral Skills ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Aids Epidemic

Summary Sex education is aimed at equipping individuals with sex-related information, motivation, and behavioral skills that will enable them to avoid sex-related problems and to achieve sexual well-being. Safer sex promotion and condom promotion and distribution programmes have grown significantly since the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. Condom use among young people is especially important because the young are often at greatest risk of HIV infection and have the least access to condoms. In many countries, where the Internet is part of the media landscape, not-for-profit agencies, governments and commercial condom companies alike have started utilising the Internet to promote safer sex and condom use. Most young people have regular access to the internet, and there is some expectation that the Internet is helping to fill the sexual health information gap. The development of an Internet-based, theoretically-driven, innovative approach to sex education weds the special strengths of the Internet as a rich, interactive, individualized pedagogical tool in order to provide effective sex education to large numbers of individuals in a very cost-effective fashion. The proposed approach exploits the characteristics of anonymity, availability, affordability, acceptability, and aloneness of using the Internet. Within this approach, learners are first individually assessed in terms of information, motivation, and behavioral skills deficits that are relevant to the individual's sexual problems and sexual well-being.

POVERTY AND INEQUALITY IN LATIN AMERICA

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 152-164
Author(s):  
A. R. KELEKHSAEVA ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
The Impact

The article examines poverty and inequality as serious long-term and widespread problems in society. Research on poverty has been mainly conducted from the perspective of economics, now the focus has shifted to psychological aspects with an emphasis on the causes and consequences of poverty. The overall economic disaster that COVID-19 will leave in Latin America and the Caribbean remains to be seen, but its impact on social well-being portends a bleak future. After seven years of slow growth, the region's GDP fell 5,3%, the largest drop in a century. According to a joint report submitted by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the impact of the pandemic could plunge an additional 16 million people into extreme poverty in 2020, resulting in 83,4 million Hispanics will live in complete poverty. These organizations warn that hunger will be the biggest problem facing the region, where 53,7 million people are already surviving severely food insecure. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between poverty and inequality as economic categories in the context of their impact on the countries of Latin America. To do this, the authors examined the key factors affecting poverty and inequality, analyzed trends in poverty and inequality in Latin America and the Latin Basin. The article is based on research on poverty and inequality in macroeconomic theory. In particular, the works of Y. Amiel, F. Cowell, T. Buhard, P. Wizard, the study of socio-economic inequality and the fight against poverty – G. Babeuf, I. Bentham, J. M. Keynes, V. Paret, G. Spencer, L. Erhard, K. Arrow, D. Rocardo, A. Pigou and many others are devoted to the problem of inequality. Significant results of studies of poverty and welfare are given in the works of prominent foreign researchers: P. Townsend, A. Sen, D. Sachs, M. Orshan-sky, T. Marshall, F. Hayek, thanks to which the system of ideas about poverty was formed. The importance of poverty and its impact on government discourses, policies and programs has fueled much research on a Latin American scale. Publications on this topic have been rolled out over the past three decades and have created a veritable battlefield. Poverty reduction is a key development challenge facing Latin America and the Caribbean. Inequality is one of the historical problems in Latin America, one of the factors that most paralyzes the eco-nomic and social aspirations of most countries in the region. Poverty reduction can be understood in both a limited and a broad sense. The first involves a focus on programs and projects that target the poor – vocational training programs for low-income people, food stamps, productivity projects in the informal sector, and care for mothers and children in communities that do not have access to this service, etc. These programs are usually funded from so-called emergency funds and social investments, although they may also be specialized activities of the minis-tries or secretariats that make up the “social sector”. On the other hand, the broader definition of poverty reduction includes economic policies and traditional social policies (especially education and health). One of the main ways to solve this problem in the medium and long term obliges countries to move towards a universal basic income, giving priority to families with children and adolescents, and to maintain universal, comprehensive and sustainable social protection systems, increase their coverage as a central component of the new welfare state. A broad and lasting consensus and political commitment are required to make significant improvements in education, health and well-being. Unfortunately, some Latin American coun-tries have serious governance problems that hinder the effective functioning of democratic systems due to fragmentation and lack of policy consensus. For this reason, stability and continuity of economic and social policies are an indispensable element for the development of nations and the progress of peoples.

scholarly journals Nexus between Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining and Livelihood in Prestea Mining Region, Ghana

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Arthur ◽  
Williams Agyemang-Duah ◽  
Razak Mohammed Gyasi ◽  
Joseph Yaw Yeboah ◽  
Evans Otieku
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Mining Region

Drawing on the DFID’s sustainable livelihood framework, this paper explores the nexus between artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and livelihood in Prestea mining region, Ghana. A cross-sectional mixed method survey involving simple random and purposively sampled participants (N=151) was carried out. The results suggest both positive and negative relationships between ASM and livelihoods of the people. The study found various livelihood assets associated with ASM and how critical assets are adversely affected by ASM activities. Limited employment opportunities in rural areas (82%), economic hardships/poverty situations of people (59%), and “quick” income earnings from ASM (90%) were the major factors that influenced people to combine and use their personal assets to enable them to engage in ASM. ASM contributes to the livelihood enhancement through income generation, increased well-being and asset acquisition (50.7%), reduced vulnerabilities (31.1%), and empowerment of people (19.2%) to establish other economic activities. However, the small-scale miners and farmers as well as farmlands, forest, and water resources are most vulnerable to adverse effects of ASM activities. Accidents of various degrees, diseases, and death were the shocks in ASM. Regarding the massive impact of ASM on employment creation and poverty reduction in rural communities, it is recommended that stakeholders recast Ghana’s mineral policy to ensure concurrent environmental sustainability and socioeconomic development.

scholarly journals Nexus between Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining and Livelihood in Prestea Mining Region, Ghana

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Francis Arthur ◽  
Williams Agyemang-Duah ◽  
Razak Mohammed Gyasi ◽  
Joseph Yaw Yeboah ◽  
Evans Otieku
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Socioeconomic Development ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Sustainable Livelihood ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Mining Region

Drawing on the DFID’s sustainable livelihood framework, this paper explores the nexus between artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) and livelihood in Prestea mining region, Ghana. A cross-sectional mixed method survey involving simple random and purposively sampled participants (N=151) was carried out. The results suggest both positive and negative relationships between ASM and livelihoods of the people. The study found various livelihood assets associated with ASM and how critical assets are adversely affected by ASM activities. Limited employment opportunities in rural areas (82%), economic hardships/poverty situations of people (59%), and “quick” income earnings from ASM (90%) were the major factors that influenced people to combine and use their personal assets to enable them to engage in ASM. ASM contributes to the livelihood enhancement through income generation, increased well-being and asset acquisition (50.7%), reduced vulnerabilities (31.1%), and empowerment of people (19.2%) to establish other economic activities. However, the small-scale miners and farmers as well as farmlands, forest, and water resources are most vulnerable to adverse effects of ASM activities. Accidents of various degrees, diseases, and death were the shocks in ASM. Regarding the massive impact of ASM on employment creation and poverty reduction in rural communities, it is recommended that stakeholders recast Ghana’s mineral policy to ensure concurrent environmental sustainability and socioeconomic development.

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