POVERTY ERADICATION AS SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

The notion that Poverty is relational and multi-dimensional remains an ideological contested terrain.
The position of this paper is that poverty eradication requires community action and the
empowerment and participation of the poor people themselves. Poverty speaks to the socio-
cultural-economic and political relations existing within communities, countries and the world. It is
historically specific and reproduced by socio-cultural and political structures in which it exists.

The fight against world poverty is well articulated in United Nations sponsored SDGs. The SDGs just
like the MDGs before them put a very high premium on the eradication of poverty. The causes of
poverty are varied which negates a universal acceptable solution for all. In Africa Poverty is mostly
associated with weak economic performance which is usually a result of conflicts, ineffective
policies, ethnic fragmentation and external shocks. Political stability and democracy tend to have an
elective affinity to the eradication of poverty.

Since the measurement of development is directly linked with the measurement of poverty, Seers
observed that, “The questions to ask about a country’s development are: What has been happening
to poverty? What has been happening to unemployment? What has been happening to inequality?
If one or two of these central problems have been growing worse, especially if all three have, it
would be strange to call the result development” (Seer, 1979:12 & in Allen & Thomas, 1990:121).

“Despite decades of development efforts, both the gap between the rich and poor nations and
inequalities within nations have widened....wide spread poverty remains the major challenge to
development effort” (Todaro, 1997:138).

Poverty Eradication in Botswana

Botswana has enjoyed a stable political climate since independence. The fact that Botswana has
been ruled by one party continuously for the past 52 years should have given her a competitive
advantage in the fight against poverty. Unfortunately very little is known and documented on the
causes and nature of poverty in Botswana. Until recently government preferred to talk about
alleviating rather than eradicating poverty. Poverty was seen as residual and economic solutions
were seen as all that is needed for people to graduate from poverty.

Although the poverty eradication programs are still in their infancy there is no doubt of the existence
of a political will to eradicate poverty by the current regime. The commitment of more than 1.2
billion Pula to the program since inception bears testimony to that effect. However, participation
and empowerment remain our only option for sustainable interventions.

One of the causes of poverty which is often given less attention relates to the collapse of traditional
family structures leading to social disintegration of communities and the erosion of social cohesion.
The community and indeed extended family networks played a very significant role in providing
support for all members of the community. The selective intervention by government to assist
community members it perceives poor without the participation of the community has only helped
to promote conflicts and further exacerbating the erosion of community values and social cohesion.
Perhaps we need to seriously examine how traditional and other community structure such as burial
societies can be used effectively for grass root mobilization against the scourge. Community youth
and women organization can be targeted in situation where empowerment of these groups is
desirable.

Chambers calls for a paradigm shift in which those who have in the past claimed to have knowledge
(professionals) learn from those who are marginalized and in whose name development is pursued.
Reality as seen by the poor and deprived should be accorded center stage in policy decision-making
processes. This represents a new epistemological reality which has given birth to new research
approaches in the form of Participatory Poverty Appraisals (PPA).

“The first step in assisting poor rural people into the path of development must therefore be an
analysis of the causes of poverty affecting a particular people in their own particular situation. The
analysis should preferably be carried out with the active participation of the poor people
themselves”. (Burkey, 1993:12). Of equal importance is the participation of the poor in transforming
their own situation.

“Popular participation has become a necessary part of the development agenda” (Rew, 1996).

Poverty eradication in Botswana has tended to focus more on individuals without any community
participation. The dependence on the government social worker in identifying beneficiaries and
projects has not always escaped the trappings of the “development in our own mirror image
syndrome”. The temptation to prescribe a universal solution for poverty eradication has become a
common phenomenon, disregarding differences in resource endowment.

“Development means change - change not only in our life, but in the attitudes and values, the ways
of thinking, which underlie that way of life. If people are to be persuaded to change their ways they
must understand why they are being asked to change .... If Government and their servants do not
know what people think about the problems of development, the choices they make will not have
sound foundations. And if change is not based on the consent and co-operation of ordinary people,
governments run into trouble.” Sir Seretse Khama, addressing the Teachers" Union Conference,
Lobatse 15th December 1969

Poverty in Botswana is no longer restricted to less literate members of society. It has become a
reality to many citizens with high qualifications including graduates. We therefore need to revisit our
definition of poverty to answer the question “who are the poor”, “where are they found” and “why
are they poor?” These questions cannot be adequately answered by government without the
participation of communities including the poor themselves. It is therefore imperative that all
stakeholder participation is a necessary condition for success in poverty eradication. We need a
comprehensive policy framework which would include the role of the private sector to eradicate
poverty among its employees. This might involve simple facilitating opening of bank accounts for all
its employees.

Sustainability and capacity building has not been a particular characteristic of poverty eradication
programs in Botswana. The projects are also characterized by poor monitoring and evaluation as
well as lack of accountability. The multiple poverty index will not only help in identifying the poor
and the invisible voiceless but will also be instrumental in the adoption of a multi-dimensional
approach to poverty eradication.

Poverty Eradication and women

The majority of the poor and invisible are women. Poverty among women is historical and reinforced
by gender traditional structural relations. African women continue to suffer from challenges arising
from poverty, inequality and unemployment. They do not have equal excess to resources to
compete favorably with their male counterparts. In Botswana women are in theory equal to men
since there are no laws which prevent them from owning land and other related resources. They are
however not likely or keen to be large scale land owners in their own right. Due to their historical
traditional circumstances, women are likely to be less skilled and motivated to undertake
entrepreneurial and incoming generating projects than men. As a result they remain largely
vulnerable and open to abuse and manipulation by men who usually claim to know what women
needs. The struggle for emancipation and equality by women has provoked high tensions of
resistance by their male counterparts. Women emancipation struggles have manifested themselves
in grassroots collaborative efforts in the form of informal and formal women community structures
such as thrift, burial and work party societies. Although membership of these schemes tends to be
exclusively women, the beneficiaries are not gender biased in any form. This is precisely because
women cannot afford to discriminate their children and relatives on the basis of gender. Indeed the
empowerment of women is the empowerment of the whole community. Men have however
interpreted these selfless initiatives as a threat to their traditional hegemonic interests and have
consequently subjected women to all forms of abuse, including rape and the so called passion
killings.

The management of women societies and schemes by women has proceeded relatively smooth
without involvement of men, free of any reported corrupt practices. This demonstrates the
effectiveness of women leadership and accountability. It is instructive to note that these women
organizations are intended for community capacity building. There is no intention of personal
enrichment for individual members through these schemes. Apart from generating income for
funerals, marriages and work exchange support services the collaborative schemes significantly
contribute in bringing families, clans and communities together. They help in creating an enabling
and positive environment for an inclusive socio-economic development.

The empowerment of women and other vulnerable members of the community should focus more
on supporting existing women structures. Intervention should aim at capacitating these structures
rather than introducing new ones. The biggest challenge to women SMMEs entrepreneurs is
ostensibly their lack of access to credit facilities. Women need finance to start income generating
activities. Since most of SMMEs are informal they do not qualify for any form of loan from financial
institutions. They may also not be literate enough to benefit from any government grant or financial
facility. It should however be noted that not all poor people including women are destined to
become entrepreneurs. Historically, women needed and engaged from time to time in borrowing
petty cash to meet immediate cash needs of their families. The repayments of such loans were
traditionally repaid without interest and time frame. Loan repayment defaulters, by women was not
common due to strong values underlining this African traditional ‘moral’ economy. Money was
however only borrowed from close relatives and friends who were expected to understand the
situation in which the borrower was facing.

Since women have developed modern structures and institution which are operating effectively, it is
perhaps wise to find a strategy to utilize these structures to reach out to all women who from time
to time may need financial assistance. A community based fund is required to facilitate women
access to financial resources as the need arises without them losing their dignity. Financial
regulations should take into consideration the needs of the poor by deliberately allowing for
deliberate operation of community thrift loan facilities to cater for the poor in general and poor
women in particular. A revolving community fund controlled by women with the support from the
VDC can go a long way in meeting the financial needs of poor members of the community. A Thrift
Fund facility by women for women.
We should take note that the poor people live in the global village like all of us. Poverty eradication
projects should have the potential to capacitate beneficiaries to compete in the knowledge
economy. They need to be exposed to the demands of the digital world.

Proposed Digital support to poverty eradication beneficiaries for participation in the knowledge
economy:
A knowledge economy is a product of a knowledge society.
1. Basic ICT concepts
2. Word Processing
3. Spreadsheets
4. Computer based file management
5. PowerPoint Presentation
6. Web site or blog development

21st Century Skills for the knowledge economy

 Collaboration - Networking
 Knowledge construction vs consumption
 Problem Solving -
 Innovation and creativity
 Emotional intelligence
 Skilled Communication – Use of the social media for good effect
 Use of ICTs and digital tools
 Financial Literacy
 Digital Literacy
 Multi-Culturalism

The above are practical skills which all individuals need in order to work in the knowledge
economy. My Input into the poverty eradication program would include facilitating the acquisition
of these critical skills by all beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries of the program.
Proposal on Community Thematic Mapping and Research (PPA)

The popular participation in the eradication of poverty is important for the empowerment of both
communities and Individuals. Definition and identification of poverty and poor members of the
community can be done strategically through purposive sampling. For an example a village can
produce the following Maps:

 Map of the village – may be drawn on the ground using local available materials. The popular
participation of people is desirable
 Resource Map – members of the community identify resources in their village
 Social Maps – Identify where poor and rich people live in the village
 House type Maps – t
 o identify all types of housing, structures and material used for construction
 Power relations Diagrams
 Monitoring and Evaluating strategies

I hope these brief proposals will open a dialogue and collaboration on effective poverty eradication
strategies.

Contacts:
Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso
P.O Box 812
Francistown
Mobile:((+267) 76946173/71553130
Email: flenyatso@gmail.com