RANKING THE DIMENSIONS OF POVERTY THAT SHOULD BE ADDRESSED FIRST TO BRING THE GREATEST IMPROVEMENT IN THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY
Kitojo Kagome Wetengere
Abstract
Abstract: This study aimed to determine the most important dimensions of poverty that should be addressed first to improve the quality of life of people living in poverty. The study used quantitative and qualitative methods, with people in poverty participating as co-researchers on an equal footing with academics and practitioners. A “pair-wise comparison” tool was used to rank the dimensions of poverty. According to the study, the first dimension that should be addressed is Poor Quality Education, followed by Ill Health and deficiencies in implementing institutional policies. Vulnerability to Harmful Social Behavior ranked third, followed by Income Poverty and Tradition and Cultural Practices. Finally, the Constraint of Smallholder Agriculture Livelihood ranked fifth. The study recommends that since some dimensions have a more significant impact than others on the lives of people in poverty and since the government or development partners do not have enough resources to deal with all dimensions at once, it is recommended to tackle first the dimensions that have the most significant improvement in the quality of lives of people in poverty.
Cite this Article
Ranking the Dimensions of Poverty that should be Addressed First to Bring the Greatest Improvement in the Quality of Life of People Living in Poverty.University of Arusha Academic Journal, 19-38
References
- ATD, Tanzania. (2019). A new perspective of poverty in Mainland Tanzania: A Case study of five regions report. ATD Fourth World.
- Awasthi, A., (2019). Understanding the Relationship between Education and Health. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understand ing-relationship-between-education-health- awasthi (Retrieved on 14th January 2023).
- Bessell S. (2015). The individual deprivation measure: Measuring poverty as if gender and inequality matter. Gender and Development, 23(2), 223-240. Crossref
- Bray R., de Laat M., Godinot X., Ugarte A., Walker R. (2020). Realizing poverty in all its dimensions: A six-country participatory study. World Development, 134, 105025. Crossref
- Commission for Human Rights – CHR, (2012). Guiding principles on extreme poverty and human rights. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. Retrieved on: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publ ications/OHCHR_ExtremePovertyandHum anRights_EN.pdf (13 September 2021).
- CONCERN, (2023), How does Education Affect Poverty?https://concernusa.org/news/how-does- education-affect-poverty/ (Retrieved on 10th October 2023).
- ENGAGE, (2021). Merging of Knowledge. A Dynamic Process Enabling Sharing of Knowledge. https://engageplus.org/en/croisement- dessavoirs.asp (Retrieved on 15th September, 2021).
- Fricker M. (2007). Epistemic injustice: Power and the ethics of knowing. Oxford University Press.
- Godinot, X. and Walker, R. (2020) Poverty in All Its Forms: Determining the Dimensions of Poverty Through Merging Knowledge in Beck, V. Hahn, H. Lepenies, R. (editors) Dimensions of Poverty. Measurement, Epistemic Injustices, Activism. Springer. p. 263 – 281.
- Kuhanga, N., (2000). Nyerere’s Influence on Education. In Julius Kambarage Nyerere. 13th April 1922 – 14th October, 1999. Life TimesLegacy. https://www.juliusnyerere.org/uploads/nyer ere_lifetime_legacy_nicholas_kuhanga.pdf (Retrieved on 6th December 2022).
- Lister R. (2015). To count for nothing’: Poverty beyond the statistics. Journal of the British Academy, 3(0), 139-165. Crossref
- Magali, J-G., and Anne, S., (2022). What role does education play in environmental concerns? Training and Employment, n° 155, 2022, 4p.https://www.cereq.fr/en/what-role-does- education-play-environmental-concerns (Retrieved on 10th October 2023).
- Narayan, D., Chambers, R., Shah, M., and Petesch, P., (2000). Voice of the Poor: Crying out of change, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Ninh, L., K,. (2020). The economic role of education in agriculture: evidence from rural Vietnam. https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/d oi/10.1108/JED-05-2020-0052/full/pdf?title=economic-role-of- education-in-agriculture-evidence-from- rural-vietnam (Retrieved on 12th October 2023).
- Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), (2021). History of the MPI. https://ophi.org.uk/background-to-the- mpi/
- Patrick R. (2019). Unsettling the anti-welfare commonsense: The potential in participatory research with people living in poverty. Social Policy, p. 20. Crossref
- Pearson, M., J., (2018). The Impact of Income on Student Success and What We Can Do About It.https://resilienteducator.com/classroom- resources/income-impact-student-success/ (Retrieved on 24th October 2023).
- Sakmurzaeva, N., (2018). The Role of Education in Economic Development: A Comparison of South Korea and Kyrgyzstan. https://www.avekon.org/papers/2040.pdf (Retrieved on 10th November 2023).
- Santos, M.E. and Alkire, S., (2011). Training Material for Producing National Human Development Reports: The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI). https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents//mpitrainingmaterial2015pdf.pdf (Retrieved on 30th December 2022).
- Skelton, D., & Kalisa, M. (2017). People in extreme poverty act for change. In A. von Kotze & S. Walters (Eds.), Forging Solidarity (pp. 71-81). Sense Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6300-923- 2_7.
- Swantz M. (2015). Participatory action research: Its origins and future in women’s ways. The SAGE Handbook of Action Research (pp 489-496).
- The Guardian, 9th December 2010: 49 Years of Fighting the Three Enemies. https://www.jamiiforums.com/threads/49- years-of-fighting-the-three-enemies.94310/ (Retrieved on 4th December 2022).
- TU – Tulane University, (2021). Education as a Social Determinant of Health. https://publichealth.tulane.edu/blog/social- determinant-of-health-education-is-crucial/ (Retrieved on October 2023).
- UNESCO, (2020). Inclusion and Education: All Means All. Global Education Monitoring Report. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf00 00373718 (Retrieved on 14th October 2023).
- UNESCO, (2022). Education increases awareness and concern for the environment. https://world-education- blog.org/2015/12/08/education-increases- awareness-and-concern-for-the- environment/ (Retrieved on 20th October 2023).
- UNICEF (2017). How to halve poverty in all its dimensions by 2030. UNICEF. Retrieved on 10th September 2022:https://blogs.unicef.org/evidence-for- action/halve-poverty-dimensions-2030/
- United Nations – UN, (2019). Poverty Eradication. New York: United Nations. https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/topic s/povertyeradication (Retrieved on 20th June 2022).
- United Nations, (2023). SDG 1 Confidential. Consigning Poverty to History. https://stories.undp.org/sdg-1- confidential?gclid=CjwKCAjwv-2pBhB- EiwAtsQZFPQmlp3yM1oDYs- sr4Yw1uRnonAa8tGCEvVljaTqF97f0ZLM NBjFdhoCit0QAvD_BwE (Retrieved on 27th June 2023).
- VCU – Virginia Commonwealth University, (2015). Why Education Matters to Health: Exploring the Causes. https://societyhealth.vcu.edu/work/the- projects/why-education-matters-to-health- exploring-the causes.html#:~:text=Education%20can%20 also%20lead%20to,and%20may%20improv e%20cognitive%20ability (Retrieved on 14th January 2023).
- Vincent, A., M., (2021). Effect of Education in the Superstitious Beliefs of Tribals and Non- Tribals. The International Journal of Indian Psychology ISSN 2348-5396 (Online) ISSN: 2349-3429 (Print) Volume 9, Issue 3, July-September 2021 DIP: 18.01.005.20210903,DOI: 10.25215/0903.005 http://www.ijip.
- Walker R., Bantebya-Kyomuhendo G. (2014). The shame of poverty. Oxford University Press.
- Wetengere, K., Kashaga, F., and Saasita C. (2022). Applying “merging of knowledge” to disclose the hidden dimensions of poverty in mainland Tanzania. University of Arusha Academic Journal, 1(1). https://uoa.ac.tz/wp- content/uploads/2023/01/UoAAJ-Article1- 1.pdf.
- Wetengere K., and Saasita C., (2022). Ranking the Importance of Dimensions of Poverty with People Living in Poverty. Pan-African Journal of Education and Social Sciences (PAJES). Vol 3, No.2, 50-62, 2022.https://journals.aua.ke/pajes/issue/view/9/20
- Wetengere, K., Bray, R., Kalisa, M., & Bhallamudi, I. (2024). Applying ‘merging of knowledge’ in Tanzania: What can we learn about interrupting patterned relationships to reveal hidden dimensions of poverty? Action Research, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503231202628
- Wodon, Q. (2018). Faith and spirituality informing public policy: Joseph Wresinski and our understanding of extreme poverty: The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 16(2), 1-14.
- Wisor, S., Bessell, S., Castillo, F., Crawford, J., Donaghue, K., Hunt, J., Jaggar, A., Liu, A., & Pogge, T. (2016). The individual deprivation measure: A gender-sensitive approach to poverty measurement. Individual Deprivation Measure. http://www.individualdeprivationmeasure.o rg/resources/arc-report/
- World Bank (2018). Tanzania Mainland Poverty Assessment. World Bank. https://www.nbs.go.tz/nbs/takwimu/h bs/Tanzania_Mainland_Poverty_Assessmen t_Report.pdf.
- World Bank Group. (2021). Poverty. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/povert y/overview (Retrieved on 30th August 2022).
- Wresinski J., (1980). A knowledge that leads to action, In Godinot X., Wodon Q. (eds) 2006. Participatory approaches to Attacking extreme poverty: Case studies led by the International Movement ATD fourth world, World Bank Working Paper N ° 77. pp. 13-2. Zhang, S., & Xiang, W., (2019). Income gradient in health-related quality of life – the role of social networking time. International Journal for Equity in Health 18, 44 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-019-0942-1.