Voices of the Poor: From Many Lands

A multi-country research initiative to understand poverty from the eyes of the poor, the Voices of the Poor project was undertaken to inform the World Bank's activities and the upcoming World Development Report 2000/01. The research findings are being published in three books:

"Can Anyone Hear Us?" gathers the voices of over 40,000 poor women and men in 50 countries from the World Bank's participatory poverty assessments (Deepa Narayan, Raj...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195216032
• ISBN13: 9780195216035
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 526 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.2" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Voices of the poor from many lands

This book is the third in a trilogy of books on the issue of poverty and human development undertaken by the World Bank. This last book will tell you the case studies from 14 countries. In all three books information was gathered from more than 60,000 poor men and women from sixty countries, the true experts on poverty with many stories to tell together with relevant and important observations. The study is different from other poverty studies in the fact that participatory and qualitative research methods were used. The voices of the poor from the whole world can be heard from each page you read. The task for the research team and authors has been enormous, but they have passed with flying colours. This book has 16 chapters with the story of poverty in 14 countries (Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian federation, Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador and Jamaica) with each country chapter organized with a brief life story followed by the issues and discussions that emerged in the group sessions and individual interviews in each country. The book ends with advice for politicians and lawmakers, who have failed to address the issue of poverty that in many countries seem to make the rich more rich and the poor more poor. States should work towards reduction of poverty by promoting pro-poor economic policies, invest in poor people's assets and capabilities, support partnership with poor people, address gender inequity and children's vulnerability and protect poor people's right. We hope the three books and the material presented will be used in international forums in order to formulate efforts and plans to reduce global poverty, instead of collecting dust on the shelves...