ABSTRACT
The problem is clear; to overcome poverty. And to do that we must begin by answering the question of why poor people are poor, why and how do some people get out, while some remain trapped in chronic poverty, what accounts for persistence of poverty in a rich world, what are the belief about the poor and the underlying causes of poverty, determine the action that development practitioners pursue, the policies that national politicians devise, and the action that we as concern citizens take. Most economists point to economic growth as the primary solution to poverty, on the assumption that increased prosperity will "trickle down" to everyone. Yet, even in advanced industrial countries, growth in recent decades has benefited only a tiny fraction of wealthy people, but those at the bottom of the economic pyramid has benefited only a little. So, what does account for the persistence of poverty in a rich world? Henry George an economist and social reformer ask. “why does poverty become a deeper problem as society become more prosperous?” that is the fundamental paradox he raised in “Progress and Poverty» An American Anthropologist Oscar Lewis (1959) in his “culture of poverty” argued that, children of the poor are socialize into believing that they deserved to be poor, leading to low aspiration, low effort and inability to escape poverty. But this is a cause, rather as an adaptive response to and consequences of persistence poverty as Lewis propose. Others go back to the legacy of slavery and colonialism to explain how the economic system created poverty and how it is responsible for the financial crises. This is the points advance by one American film “The End of Poverty» produced by cinema libre studio.
This is a complex research program carried out in the North West region of Cameroon. The study combines both quantitative and qualitative method. The focus is on learning from men and women their perception of the causes of poverty and solution, and to learn from men and women who have come out of poverty about the factors and processes that came together for their accumulation, and the role of the broader community, institution if any in supporting or obstructing their mobility. I offer in conclusion some ideas how the result from this study could inform development crises and serve as a guide for poverty reduction.
The problem is clear; to overcome poverty. And to do that we must begin by answering the question of why poor people are poor, why and how do some people get out, while some remain trapped in chronic poverty, what accounts for persistence of poverty in a rich world, what are the belief about the poor and the underlying causes of poverty, determine the action that development practitioners pursue, the policies that national politicians devise, and the action that we as concern citizens take. Most economists point to economic growth as the primary solution to poverty, on the assumption that increased prosperity will "trickle down" to everyone. Yet, even in advanced industrial countries, growth in recent decades has benefited only a tiny fraction of wealthy people, but those at the bottom of the economic pyramid has benefited only a little. So, what does account for the persistence of poverty in a rich world? Henry George an economist and social reformer ask. “why does poverty become a deeper problem as society become more prosperous?” that is the fundamental paradox he raised in “Progress and Poverty» An American Anthropologist Oscar Lewis (1959) in his “culture of poverty” argued that, children of the poor are socialize into believing that they deserved to be poor, leading to low aspiration, low effort and inability to escape poverty. But this is a cause, rather as an adaptive response to and consequences of persistence poverty as Lewis propose. Others go back to the legacy of slavery and colonialism to explain how the economic system created poverty and how it is responsible for the financial crises. This is the points advance by one American film “The End of Poverty» produced by cinema libre studio.
This is a complex research program carried out in the North West region of Cameroon. The study combines both quantitative and qualitative method. The focus is on learning from men and women their perception of the causes of poverty and solution, and to learn from men and women who have come out of poverty about the factors and processes that came together for their accumulation, and the role of the broader community, institution if any in supporting or obstructing their mobility. I offer in conclusion some ideas how the result from this study could inform development crises and serve as a guide for poverty reduction.
