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Showing posts from March 1, 2015

Production Based Strategy for Making Poverty Reduction Programs More Effective

The Kenya Poverty alleviation strategy paper 2011 identifies three pillars for poverty eradication in Kenya. These pillars are economic growth rate, political stability and social cohesion. Considering the three pillars and the specifics under each pillar, it seems poverty reduction in Kenya is tied to economic growth rate. It does appear that making poverty reduction effective has to start with how poverty has been conceptualized and theoretical frameworks underpinning the conceptualization. It is difficult to come up with a poverty reduction strategy because of the difficulty in defining poverty. The poverty reduction strategy by government seems to be neo-liberal leaning whereby aggregate economic growth is assumed to provide all required for poverty alleviation. For theorists and development practitioners, Kenya faces structural challenges as well as cultural challenges in the fight against poverty; therefore, there is need for a structural as well as cultural pronged stra