Poverty is a situation of deprivation, failure to fulfill the
minimum basic physical and psychological needs of an individual due to
unavailability of sufficient economic resources at its disposal. It is
associated to insufficient outcomes with respect to nutrition, health
and education, to deficient social relations, to insecurity and to low
self-esteem and powerlessness. So poverty can be analysed from monetary
and non-monetary indicators of well-being. In Pakistan Poverty have
manifold expressions, many dimensions and indeed, many root causes.
Given such multidimensionality, it is not difficult to see why poverty
cannot be reduced or summarily expressed, in terms of a single
quantitative or qualitative indicator alone. Similarly, for alleviating
poverty, all routes matter, recognising the heterogeneity of the voices
and the perspectives of the poor expressed in economic and non-economic
terms. Such a multidimensional approach, moreover, brings into forefront
the importance of recognising the causal factors of poverty at the local
level and addressing area-specific problems based on perceived needs and
demands of the poor. An essential pre-requisite of institutionalising
the approach, however, is the existence of decentralised and
participatory structure of local governance that can introduce
participatory development in which citizen at the grass-root are
involved in planning, formulating and implementation of programs for
themselves. In Pakistan, a local government system has been installed in
the form of “Devolution Plan 2000” after the promulgation of Local
Government Ordinance 2001 by all
Provinces.....................
An Analysis of Poverty at the Local Level