scholarly journals How Does Targeted Poverty Alleviation Policy Influence Residents’ Perceptions of Rural Living Conditions? A Study of 16 Villages in Gansu Province, Northwest China

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 6944 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meimei Wang ◽  
Yongchun Yang ◽  
Bo Zhang ◽  
Mengqin Liu ◽  
Qing Liu

Rural living conditions (RLCs) in China are influential on the overall development and stability of regions, particularly for populations in distant poverty-stricken villages. This paper takes 16 villages of Chedao town in Gansu province, Northwest China (NWC) as our case study. Using data from the Poverty Alleviation and Assistance (PAA) project launched by Lanzhou University in June 2017, and the perceptions of residents of Chedao, we pinpoint RLC changes in the targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) process. The three main results show that: (1) From the residents’ perceptions, the impact of alleviation measures on RLC is mainly reflected in improved housing conditions, infrastructure, and public services. We find no significant effect on cultural conditions. However, eco-environmental conditions have obviously weakened. (2) Housing size, accessibility, distance to shops, and safe drinking water are the most significant factors in housing conditions, infrastructure, public services, and eco-environmental conditions, respectively. (3) Out of the different levels of rural poverty households (RPHs), severe rurality villages are more strongly aware of the positive changes in RLC than residents of mild rurality villages. Moreover, in residents’ view, housing conditions are most improved in severe rurality villages, infrastructure is most improved in moderate rurality villages, and public services are most improved in mild rurality villages. Eco-environmental conditions worsen across all levels. Our findings shed light on the perceptions of residents on changes occurring in rural living conditions, and provide a basis for subsequent studies of RLC in Northwest China.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Shakina Sultana Pomi

Microcredit and poverty alleviation have become the two sides of a coin as the role of microcredit on poverty alleviation is well accepted in the arena of economic development. This study is an attempt to analyse the impact of microcredit on poverty alleviation in the rural areas namely Hathazari, Mirsharai and Sitakunda upazilla (sub-units of district ) of Chittagong district, Bangladesh. A cross sectional survey was conducted on the rural part of these three upazillas. Data have been collected through a well-structured questionnaire from 100 microcredit-recipients/borrowers of Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and Association for Social Advancement (ASA) - two giant microcredit providers in Bangladesh and from 50 non-borrowers of the study areas. Respondents were selected randomly. Tabular method was used to describe the data. Hypothetically, the outcomes were found significant resulted from chi-square test (X ² -test) and ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) without an exception for clothing expenditure. The study revealed that microcredit disbursed through BRAC and ASA, plays a dynamic role to reduce poverty in the study areas by income generating activities of the poor women borrowers and by improving their living standard. It is found from the study that microcredit has  positive impact on income, expenditure, condition of dwelling house, education, health and decision making ability of the poor women borrowers who spent at least five years in BRAC and ASA comparing to the non-borrowers.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
Alice Boateng

Abstract Artisanal Small Scale Mining with its environmental, social, economic, and health impacts, is replacing agriculture as the main economic activity in sub-Saharan Africa. Mining activities have therefore become an economic activity in the rural mining areas, as a quick way to escape poverty. This exploratory qualitative study examines the factors behind the prevalence of women in the pit business, washing muddy sand for particles of gold, in the Atiwa district of Ghana. However, not much is known about the impact of the pit work on the women’s wellbeing. The goal is to understand the lived experiences of the women and explore ways they could be assisted. Findings from the study indicate that poverty, lack of economic opportunities, and unattractive rural poverty alleviation strategies have contributed to the plight of these women. The women could benefit from asset-based interventions that could redirect their work to projects that would enhance their livelihoods.


Author(s):  
Ifeanyi Nwachukwu ◽  
◽  
C.I Ezeh ◽  

Rural development is a veritable tool for fighting poverty and achieving economic prosperity at the grassroots level. The concept of rural development embraced by most countries connotes a process through which rural poverty is alleviated by sustained increases in the productivity and incomes of low – income workers and households. The major thrust of this study was to examine the impact of selected rural development programmes in Ikwuano Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. The area under study was purposively selected because of its agricultural potential, high proportion of farmers as well as concentration of agricultural institutions. The selection of programmes for the study was impinged on their long years of existence. The study sought to determine the number of available rural development programmes with poverty alleviation objectives in the area; assess the extent of awareness and participation of rural people in the programmes; and examine the impact of the programmes on farmers’ income, farm size, production and productivity. Multi – stage random sampling method was employed in the selection of communities and respondents. A well-structured questionnaire was used to elicit responses on socio – economic characteristics and other relevant variables from a random sample of 160 respondents comprising beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries from Ikwuano local government of Abia state, Nigeria. The results showed that the rural development programmes which had poverty alleviation objectives impacted significantly on productivity and farm income at 5 percent level of probability. Awareness was perceptibly high while participation was more in Agricultural Development Programme (ADP), with an overwhelmingly percentage representation of about 79, than in others. Programme planners and implementers are therefore urged to intensify awareness creation among rural dwellers and adopt the use of community driven development approach (CDD) in the execution of rural development projects with poverty alleviation thrust. Government, at all levels, was advised to adopt price support policy that raises income of producers.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Setsuko Matsuzawa

This article explores the relations between a foreign aid donor and local actors in the context of the dissemination of development discourses and practices in an authoritarian context. It addresses the question “To what extent may the local dynamics alter the original goals of a donor and lead to unintended consequences?” Based on archival research, interviews, and secondary literature, this case study examines the Yunnan Uplands Management Project (YUM) in 1990–95, the Ford Foundation's first grant program on rural poverty alleviation in China. While the Foundation did not attain its main goal of making YUM a national model for poverty alleviation, the local actors were able to use YUM to develop individual capacities and to build roles for themselves as development actors in the form of associations and nongovernmental organizations, resulting in further support from the Foundation. The study contributes to our understanding of donor-local actor dynamics by highlighting the gaps between the original goals of a donor and the perspectives and motivations of local actors. The study suggests that local dynamics may influence the goals of donors and the ways they seek to disseminate development discourses and practices to local actors, despite the common conception of donors as hegemonic or culturally imperialistic.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Izabela Grabowska ◽  
Radosław Antczak ◽  
Jan Zwierzchowski ◽  
Tomasz Panek

Abstract Background The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [1] highlights the need to create proper socioeconomic and political conditions for persons with disabilities, with a special focus on their immediate living conditions. According to the Convention, these conditions should be built to ensure that persons with disabilities have the potential to enjoy a high quality of life (QoL), and this principle is reflected in the notion of livable areas. The crucial aspect of this framework is the relationship between the individual QoL and the environment, broadly understood as the socioeconomic as well as the technical conditions in which persons with disabilities function. Methods The basic research problem was to assess the relationship between individual QoL for the population with disabilities as a dependent variable and livability indicators as independent variables, controlling for individual characteristics. The study used a dataset from the EU-SILC (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) survey carried out in 2015 in Poland. The research concept involved several steps. First, we created a variable measuring the QoL for the entire population with disabilities. To measure the multidimensional QoL, we used Sen’s capability approach as a general concept, which was operationalized by the MIMIC (multiple indicators multiple causes) model. In the second step, we identified the livability indicators available in the official statistics, and merged them with survey data. Finally, in the last step, we ran the regression analysis. We also checked the data for the nested structure. Results We confirmed that the general environmental conditions, focused on creating livable areas, played a significant role in shaping the QoL of persons with disabilities; i.e., we found that the higher the level of the local Human Development Index, the higher the quality of life of the individuals living in this area. This relationship held even after controlling for the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Moreover, we found that in addition to the general environmental conditions, the conditions created especially for persons with disabilities (i.e., services for this group and support for their living conditions) affected the QoL of these individuals. Conclusions The results illustrate the need to strengthen policies aimed at promoting the QoL of persons with disabilities by creating access to community assets and services that can contribute to improving the life chances of this population.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1901
Author(s):  
Ana Gonzalez-Martinez ◽  
Carmen De-Pablos-Heredero ◽  
Martin González ◽  
Jorge Rodriguez ◽  
Cecilio Barba ◽  
...  

The Guayas, located in Ecuador, is the largest basin in the Pacific Ocean and has an inventory of 123 native freshwater species. Most of these are endemic species that are threatened or at-risk due to anthropogenic activity and the modification, fragmentation, and destruction of habitats. The aim of this study was to determine the morphometric variation in three wild populations of Brycon dentex in the Guayas basin rivers and their connections to fishing management and environmental conditions. A total of 200 mature fish were captured, and 26 morphometric parameters were measured. The fishing policies (Hypothesis 1) and environmental conditions (Hypothesis 2) were considered fixed factors and were validated by t-tests. The morphological variation among the three populations (Hypothesis 3) was validated through a discriminant analysis. Fishing policies and resource management were found to generate morphological differences associated with body development. In addition, the environmental conditions were found to influence the size and structure of Brycon dentex populations. The analyzed populations were discriminated by the generated morphometric models, which differentiated Cluster 1 (Quevedo and Mocache rivers) with high fishing pressure from Cluster 2 (Pintado river) with medium–low fishing pressure. Morphometric differentiation by discriminant analysis is a direct and economic methodology that can be applied as an indicator of diversity maintenance.


Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 746
Author(s):  
Yifan Wang ◽  
Dengju Wang ◽  
Rong Zhao

To achieve the dual goal of poverty alleviation and ecological restoration, the policy of ecological forest rangers (EFRs) was implemented in rural poverty-stricken areas in China, where local residents commonly depend on nearby forest resources for livelihoods. This study aimed to analyze the short-term and long-term effectiveness of the EFRs policy in China mainly in poverty alleviation and income growth, with a brief discussion on the ecological effect of the policy. A questionnaire survey was conducted in four counties in the Karst rocky desertification region in southwest China. By combing through the early literature on REDD+, community forestry, leasehold forestry, etc., this paper summarizes the experience and lessons of similar community forest management models, aiming to explain the unsustainability of EFRs policy from the perspective of forest tenure and governance. The findings of the effectiveness analysis of EFRs policy in the four poverty-stricken counties reflect different degrees of effect in rural households with different income levels. We believe that the EFRs policy has played important roles in short-term regional poverty alleviation while its potential for long-term income growth has not been stimulated. For the amendment of EFRs policy, we put forward the following points: (1) It is necessary to redesign the selection and recruitment mechanism, as well as the exit mechanism of EFRs adapting to the local conditions. (2) It is advisable to further improve the local assessment and monitoring system of forest protection quality of EFRs and optimize the establishment of benefit linkage mechanism between protection effectiveness and EFRs remuneration. (3) The EFRs remuneration standards should be dynamically raised to assure the active participation of EFRs in forest protection. Furthermore, there is a need for one more effective integration model of forest protection and rural livelihoods improvement, which is considered as a potential future research direction.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Si-Yuan Qin ◽  
Ming-Yang Yin ◽  
Guang-Yao Song ◽  
Qi-Dong Tan ◽  
Jin-Lei Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Little information about the prevalence of gastrointestinal parasites in yaks (Bos grunniens) in northwest China is available. Therefore, the objective of the study was to quantify faecal egg counts of gastrointestinal parasites (helminths and coccidia) in free-range yaks from Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, Northwest China. Results Parasites were detected in 290 of 733 (39.56%) faecal samples. The results showed that Strongylidae, Trichuris spp. and Eimeria spp. were detected all year round, Strongyloides papillosus was detected in autumn and summer, and Nematodirus spp. was detected in both autumn and spring. In contrast, Fasciola spp. was only detected in spring. The prevalence rates of parasitic infections in different seasons were significantly different. Conclusions To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of gastrointestinal parasites in yaks (Bos grunniens) in Gansu, China. The results demonstrated a high prevalence of gastrointestinal parasitic infections, specifically GN infections, in yaks in GTAP and these infections can cause economic losses to the local cattle industry.


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