I agree with the comments made by Dr Mukherjee. There are many different ways of measuring poverty and the understanding that comes from people who experience poverty in varied ways in different environments adds a necessary element of complexity and concreteness to the more professional definitions that are more frequently employed.Inequality is a similarly complex idea. The economic inequality introduced by Khilji in his regional overview paper is simply one of the prevailling ways of understanding it. What is as salient and policy relevant is the idea of Horizontal inequalities, or inequality between culturally, socially and politically defined groups. In response to Khilji’s assertion that there are two Asias, I would contend that there are many, but that the factors that divide them are not necessarily economic. Other salient units are formed of groups that are bound together by common ethnic or religious ties. They exist and politic as minority groups within their countries and sometimes beyond. The region has many examples of these groups, and the political, social and economic impact of their struggles against the inequalities they experience.It is impossible to look at Sri Lanka’s development trajectory without acknowledging the impact of two conflicts. The conflict in the south in 1971 and again in 1989-1991 between the state and the JVP, and the conflict between the government and the LTTE in the North, that continues today.The ideological underpinning of both these conflicts is inequality. The JVP conflict was justified by its ideologues as being about the inequality in development gains and economic resources experienced by poor, rural, mostly sinhala, people in the South. The LTTE conflict is avowedly about inequalities experienced by the countries minority Tamil population. The objective validity of their claims has long been the subject of dispute, but their use as a source of grievance, and the manipulation of the perception of these inter group inequalities continues to affect development and policy in Sri Lanka.
With regard to the issues raised in the abstract for discussion from aregional paper on “Inequality, Trade and Growth Nexus in the AsiaPacific” by Taimur Khilji, UNDP Regional Centre, Colombo, I would like tosubmit the following points regarding local communities’ perspectives on povertyand increasing inequality. These can then provide broad indication to issuesrelated to the current state of worsening income inequality and how governmentsand institutions at national and regional levels can begin to address the problem.The note, which follow also tries to make the point it is important torecognize that one major policy option/instrument which governments have at theirdisposal to address inequality is listening and acting on the basis of ‘voicesof the poor’.
The following points are basedon findings from different field studies across countries of the Asia Pacificregion and some lessons learnt from micro/meso level practices and the ensuingmicro-meso-macro policy context.
(i)LocalPeople’s Estimates of Poverty and inequality - There is much fieldevidence worldwide including that from the Asia Pacific region to demonstratethat local communities are able to estimate/measure poverty and inequality fromtheir own perspectives, in their own way and based on local criteria whichthereby can lend meaningful implications for a range of policy interventionsand allocation of resources (starting form the bottom) towards revitalizingeconomic growth (by supporting neglected sectors and areas) and betteringeconomic and social justice. The local communities based on indigenousknowledge are experts in their own right and can best describe the gaps relatedto poverty and inequality.
(ii)Local Estimateswith ‘Breadth’ & ‘Depth’ of Information - The local communitiesgenerally have the breadth and depth of local information to estimate povertyand inequality which can help to provide practical building blocks to arrive atcomparable meso, macro and regional level policy pictures. Based on localcriteria the local people can describe their poverty types, rank theirindicators and explain what differentiates the socio-economic categories. Fieldfindings from 1500 villages in China (and later from several hundred villagestudies) as in table 1 illustrate how in publicly funded participatory povertymapping exercises under CPAP a minimum set of 8 poverty indicators wereidentified by the local Chinese people for poverty reduction and monitoring.The eight indicators, below describe three basic types of poverty - livelihood,infrastructure and human resource poverty and have also been attached weightsby the villagers.
Table 1: Components of the Participatory Poverty Index
Poverty Indicator in Rank Order/Measure/Importance
1. Livelihood Poverty 1st
a. Cash receiptsper person per year / Yuan/ i
b. Grainproduction per person per year / Kg / ii
c. Housequality (roof and exterior walls)/ %brick/ iii
2. Infrastructure Poverty 2nd
a. Access to all-weather access road/ days without/ i
b. Access drinking water/ Hours collecting water/ ii
c. Access to electricity/ Dayswith interrupted/ iii
3. Human Resource Poverty 3rd
a. Women’s morbidity
Days lost to illness, females >12 years / i
b. Children’seducation / eligible children in school/ ii
Source: Joe Remenyi’ paper “Poverty Analysis, Poverty Mapping andParticipation in China”
(School of International andPolitical Studies; Faculty of Arts, DeakinUniversity, Geelong,Vic 3217, Australia)
(iii) Significanceof Local Inequalities - Though inequalities are important, the localcommunities from the Asia Pacific region perceive, in general, that better accessto livelihoods, infrastructure and socio-economic resources are crucial forbettering quality of life. They often attach less significance to increasinginequalities and the digital divide, which nonetheless are important from themacro perspective.
(iv) Up-ScalingLocal Perspectives - Up- scaling perspectives of local communities isvery much a feasible exercise and helps to provide larger pictures on keyissues related to poverty and inequality. This is illustrated from Armenia’svoices of the poor exercise as summarized in Box 1.
Box 1: Key Issuesin Agriculture – From the Voices of the Poor, Armenia
(i) Common Occurrenceof Drought and Hailstorm and Lack of Related Services
(ii) Lack of IrrigationFacilities and Network
(iii) Lack of ability topurchase seeds and chemical fertilizers, pesticides, diesel, fuel
(iv) Lack ofAgricultural Machinery
(v) Lack of access toBank Credit
(vi) Lack of good Roads
(vii) Low Selling Pricesand Limited Local Markets
(viii) Lack ofagro-processing facility
(ix) Livestock-relatedissues and High Cost of Veterinary Medicines
(x) Lack of Access toTechnical Information and Technology
Source: Study on ‘Voices of the Poor’ –For PSRP Review of Armenia , 2007, A. Mukherjee, UNDP, Armenia
Note:Participatory assessment of agriculture-related issues and services wasundertaken in 9 regions of Armenia.The regions covered were (i) Shirak Marz,(ii) Aragatsoin Marz, (iii) Lori Marz,(iv) Gegharqunik Marz, (v) Ararat Marz, (vi)Tavush Marz, (vii) Syunik Marz, (viii) Armavir Marz and (ix) Vayots Dzor. Thefarmers – both women and men, freely expressed their views and opinions basedon their grassroots experience and local knowledge. The villagers from 58 studyvillages of Armenia(across 9 regions) listed 10 key issues in agriculture
(v) LocalPerspectives on Challenges and Inequalities - The local communities can notonly estimate poverty and inequality but also explain their challenges andopportunities. Table 3 provides a sub-national picture of selected provincesfrom Lao PDR on livelihoods of poor women and men and the perceived opportunitiesby local communities.
Table 3 – Livelihoods of Poor and Opportunities: ASub-National Picture, Lao PDR
Source/Type of Livelihoods
Women Engaged (%)
Men Engaged (%)
Constraints/Problems of Poor households
Opportunities
1. Shifting cultivation by upland villagers
80 - 100
80-100
Limited land allocation, soil not fertile, attack by wild animal, pest attack, policy to reduce shifting cultivation, limited sites allocated
Alternate IGAs, raising large animals, growing fruit trees and industrial trees, moving from upland to low land
2. Shifting cultivation by low land villagers
30-100
10-100
- same as above -
Alternate IGAs, developing low land, training in technique, seed and seedling bank, growing fruit tree and industrial tree in upland
5. Growing crop in home garden
10--50
10-50
Lack of technique, absence of proper fencing, animal attack; limited land;
Good fencing and good seeds;
6. Growing vegetables, maize, sesame
40- 100
30- 90
Lack of good seeds in adequate quantities; limited land, inputs and markets; lack of transportation;
Good seeds, expand land; setting up producer groups with revolving fund;
9. Livestock-raising
Buffalo- raising
Cow – raising
Pig – raising
Chicken raising
Duck – raising
Turkey – raising
30-100
50-100
Lack of funds to buy animals; lack of cheap credit; high incidence of disease in poultry and pigs; lack of veterinary support; lack of techniques;
Setting up revolving fund for livestock –raising; veterinary training at village level; setting up cold chain for vaccine; training for good practices;
10. Growing home garden
50-90
60-80
Lack of proper fencing; can grow only in dry season;
Require good techniques, good seeds, water tank and fencing;
11. Collecting NTFPs
30-100
40-100
Reduced quantities of many NTFPs; seasonal availability; with timber harvesting NTFPs are adversely affected; too many persons collecting NTFPs; lack of sustainable ways of harvesting;
Each village can have its own forest where many NTFPs can be grown as per the plans of the villagers, training in growing and harvesting NTFPs can help;
10. Catching fish and frogs
20-40
20-40
Population of fish and frogs declining; hard to find; one needs to walk very far to find them;
Setting up fish ponds for small groups, training them and supplying fingerlings and setting up revolving fund; setting up demonstration sites for frog culture;
21.Wage labour
10-20
20-30
Low wage; hard to find work round the year; mainly work available during rain-fed farming;
Providing vocational training centres for furniture –making; carpentry; exploring markets fro new skills;
Note::This table is an abridged version andillustrates a few activities. * Exploded/Unexploded pieces of ordinances and other items from USwar-hit areas; ** Not all villages do it. Source: From field notes of Neela Mukherjeeand team, Laos PDR.
(vi) Controlof Resources and Opportunities at Local Level - Another crucial aspectof ‘inequalities’ at local level is the ease with which it tends to translateinto ‘who controls how much of resources, opportunities and decision-making?’.It is in this context that the poor and the marginalized feel deprived anddejected. A field study based on 22study villages in 4 districts in India shows that around 10 per centof rural households are destitute; 50 per cent are engaged in wage labour and20 to 30 per cent are moderate poor; while 10 to 20 per cent are non-poor.Amongst the non-poor the top 5 to 10 per cent are locally perceived to controlmuch of the resources and local decision–making. Rest are controlled by thegovernment bodies but influenced by local elite groups constituting 5 to 10 percent of the upper tranche of the non-poor households. Similar pattern emergefrom another field study on 50 villages from 9 districts in India where the local elite tend toinfluence local institutions and control decision-making including location ofassets. Even when women and men from poor groups get elected to local governinginstitutions in India (against seats reserved for scheduled caste, scheduledtribe and women), serving as mere figureheads is quite rampant since localelite maintain actual control of resources and assets and is little sensitizedtowards needs of local poor groups.
(vii) Do-able at a regional level, a startingpoint is to locate/identify many regional hubs in Asiaand Pacific totally devoted to organizing, producing and sharing experience, documentsand videos on innovative practices, tools and choices in practical strategiesand frameworks for poverty reduction and bridging inequality. Translation anddissemination of community practices from regional languages can help to revealthe wealth of experience for the governments and institutions of the Asia and Pacific. This could be done on a continuousbasis, say every quarter. Opportunities for total immersions and exchange visitson a regular basis are also important.Theregional hubs can play an important role in assembling different stakeholdersfor building capacity of institutions and countries.
(viii) About the role of trade, several studies show that remittances, bothdomestic and foreign have played a major role in alleviating poverty andbridging gaps. Hence it is important to build capacities for migrant labour andalso create enabling conditions for transferring remittances. About the role oftrade, fair trade and SME’s, it is indeed a huge area and needs separatediscussion. One latest study by Saibal Kar and Sugata Marjit, CUTS, 2008(“Exploring the Post–1990’s Trade –Labour Linkages in India”) adds to the existingevidence. Also Box 2from Cambodiaas given below illustrates how regional trade can help poor farmers and alsohelp to cope with droughts.
Box2 – Cambodian Farmer Trading with Vietnamand Coping with Drought:
Sok Chham (male farmer), Village Bat Sleuk, Chrok Motes Commune, SvayTeap District
Sok Chham has 7 ha of land and cultivates rice. He has 7 persons in hisfamily including his wife and 5 children. They have never sold their labour sofar. Sok Chham sells his produce to Vietnamat a higher profit since he gets better prices in Vietnamthan in Cambodia.The price of rice is 420 Riels per kg in Vietnam as compared to 320 Rielsper kg. in Cambodia.
In recent years that area has faced severe drought, which was coped bySok Chham’s family through reduced food intake from 3 meals a day to 2 meals aday with rice, fish and vegetables with mostly no chicken. The drought sharplyaffected his yield falling from 1400 kg of rice per ha to 440 kg per ha. Thefamily coped with drought conditions by growing different crops in thehomestead (size 6m by 7 m) and also by livestock-raising but was unable tohandle livestock disease. Apart from that they were also doing new investmentin agriculture for minimizing the impact of drought for which, they borrowedmoney from local sources at a rate of 35 per cent a year for digging a well andinstalling a motor pump. This idea for new investment came after Sok’s visitto Vietnamwhere he saw this happening. The family had never borrowed earlier. Theamount borrowed was 5,00,000 Riels for 6 months. The new investment enabled thefamily to produce 2 rice crops, one from August to December and the other fromJanuary to May thus improving his income, consumption and resources for furtherinvestment.
Source: From the field notes ofNeela Mukherjee and Suon Seng, as quoted in the paper by Neela Mukherjee(2007), ‘Countering NTB’s/Supply SideConstraints by Small & Marginal Producers from Developing Asia: Exports asVehicle for Poverty Reduction (Case Studies: India, Cambodia, Armenia and SriLanka)’,for ITC World ExportDevelopment Forum 2007 (ITC, UNCTAD/WTO) global debate with focus on the theme "Bringing Down the Barriers:Charting a Dynamic Export Development Agenda"., 8 to 11 October 2007 inMontreux, Switzerland
I welcome this topic on the discussion forum provided by UNDP, but I have a problem with your two categories as its seems to me a kind of economical determinism of equality issues and with world markets in drastic decline I think this categorization is not a solid basis for understanding the diverse dimensions of equality of peoples in Asia. Today, many millions are falling back in poverty!
For me inequality, on the idvividual level, is first and foremost about the opportunity for having access to quality education, free for all(!) up to high school and an informal education system as a back up at all levels, as well as a broad range of vocational training opportunities for small scale producers, youth, women, elderly, indigenous etc. In any Asian country, there should be a solid national education development program which offers teachers, experienced crafts people, community development leaders, etc. a decent wage and career opportunities as educators. Universities should consider poor people's needs not just private sector demand and give higher priority to serving education needs in rural areas.
I think by sorting out the access to quality education issues in each country it would be possible to solve 50%of the inequality conditions.
A positive development is the phone and computer based horizontal communication revolution today that is reaching out, even in remote areas of Asia countries. This provides a potential opportunity for sharing daily realities, problems and solutions among rural and urban poor as equals. This is a great historic window of opportunity despite national policies in some Asian countries to control access to websites etc We need to promote such horizontal communication lines inlocal languages into all villages, in particular, remote areas of Asian countries. We need to provide effective linkages with informal and formal education programs and activities, but also with social cultural and political movements and their activities, and of course, with activities by local national and international businesses.
Each NGO, each UN or donor agency should be asked about what they do to promote horizontal communication within their over all development programs. Unfortunately, what I have seen is the contrary since the World Bank at the end of the eighties "advised" governments to reduce public sector spending, affecting, in particular, education training and extension in the agriculture and rural sector, while having false or too high expectations that the private sector would do the job for the governments. Over the last 2 decades, UN development agencies have cut their technical assistance for education training extension research contrarian to rising needs expressed by small producers, rural workers and indigenous peoples women in particular in the rural sector. We have today a large institutional deficit to address education and equality issues in rural areas.
Inequality is of course a complex issue, yet for rural poor it is about livelihood improvement and for millions of legally discriminated population groups in Asia (religious, cultural social etc) it is a daily reality. Each government in Asia should beasked to act upon legal discrimination to end it in all forms interms of Yes We CAN ! Inequality for rural poor is the lack of access to productive resources for rural livelihoods due to development policies and legislation which are exclusive not inclusive. A recent example is the unfettered uncontrolled large scale private sector investment inland, water, forests and other natural resources for profit taking. This situation is a major cause for inequality poverty and lack of food security in rural areas for marginal farmers, landless indigenous peoplesand women. There are several Asian countries that have adopted land tenurereform policies and legislation but they lack political will to implement as there are no adequate institutional channels for peoples participation in decision making by rural poor. Yet a lot can be learned from successful local experiences in land tenure reform with good local examples of peaceful and effective negotiations and consensus building among stakeholders leading to improved access to land natural resources for improved rural livelihoods.
My question is where are the international donoragencies that can and should backup Asian grassroots level NGO's inpromoting access to land for rural poor. Asian FAO rural development officer I collaborated in Asia with the regional NGO ANGOC and its coalition of grassroots NGO's on land issues as well as with the Centre for Integrated Rural Development, yet there is a lack of substantive international donor commitment and funding support for these activities.
Yet working 20 years in the Asian region, I see much potential for success in reduction of inequality as Asians have the drive and qualities at grassroots and national levels, there are many capable non governmental organizations working in allsectors of society and contributing to reduction of inequality. What I seeas a challenge is the lack of international support to genuine regional NGO's which are able to advocate and contribute in building institutional capacities for government-CSO dialogue and collaboration in education, access to land issues and related local economic development activities.
About the role of trade in reduction of inequality I personally still some problems with understanding how the DOHA negotiations in WTO will really benefit small scale rural producers and rural workers.. I am not against more free trade as i see the EU giving an example (e.g. huge success in Irelandand Spain), but there is not one trade liberalization solution for promoting economic and social inequality. There is a need for long term targeted social and regional subsidies for more equal social and regional development, including a broad range of education and training programs.
In general, equality in economic terms requires policies, investment, and capacity building which strengthen the small and medium enterprise sector in each Asian country and establish effective democratic control over incoming large scale investment by foreign and national companies.
I believe it is possible to develop a more solitarian economy in Asian countries based upon peoples participation in decision making in political and economic spheres at all levels. In particular, through community level membership based and controlled cooperatives servicing producers and consumers by providing cost effective access to food, nonfood products as well as credit, primary health services, educationand training opportunities. We need to ask all donor agencies what component in their aid package is committed to genuine cooperative development.
In conclusion, equality is a powerful subject for stimulating the imagination and ideas for action for the well being ofall Asian citizens.
Below are some comments under each of the issues highlighted
1. Given the current state of worsening income inequality, how do governments and institutions begin to address the problem?
First of all, Asia or Asia Pacific region is so diverse that it is "inevitable" that there will be differences in the development trajectories that in turn can result in inequalities. The difference in geographical and natural endowments that each country possesses puts it at a distinct advantage or disadvantage. More importantly though one has to see how countries were able to create value for its citizen from the resources that they inherited. Here we do have lessons to be learned. There are countries that have done better in reducing inequalities while others have not fared so well. That is why I would rather not lump inequality as a phenomenon across the region. During high economic growth before the economic crisis in 1997 the country was able to narrow the gaps with countries that were in lead when Indonesia embarked on a new wave of development in the seventies. What really helped in that period was not simply that the country was going fast, but that it was able to invest in creating opportunities and capabilities of its people. One area where the government focused in particular (at least in Java & Bali) was rural development which yielded rich dividends not only making the agriculture sector more productive but also helping it with industrialization. Moreover, the country made sizable investments in education and health that created a virtuous cycle. But that didn't happen across the country. Provinces and districts that although well endowed with natural resources had a disadvantage because of their location in the peripheries and perhaps because of lower population size and densities received less attention. I guess the lessons for countries like in Indonesia in future is how well income inequalities are addressed within the country rather than in the context of a region where it has done relatively well.
2. What policy options/instruments do governments have at their disposal to address inequality?
I would categorize policy responses broadly under a) redistribution b) investments in building sustainable human capabilities. The former I see more as measure to provide a social safety net for the most vulnerable. Redistribution should not be however carried out in such a way that it discourages those who are relatively better off from further improving their lives. An example of this is high tax burden for businesses. The idea is to help those who are behind in the race to run faster rather than make those who are ahead slow down. Investments in human capabilities is probably the most important policy measure that government can undertake. Often we mistakenly focus too much on social spending as a primary means for achieving human development objectives. I firmly believe that creating an environment for a inclusive development is essential for addressing structural poverty and inequalities. The government can play an important role here by enacting policies and regulations that give equal opportunities to all.
3 How does one attempt to address inequality at a regional level?
To reduce inequality at the regional level greater advocacy is needed. Using human development and MDGs are very important in this regard as benchmarks and as a frame of reference. I think both have helped tremendously to raise the issue of inequities of development at the regional level and even domestically. MDGs provide the standardization that is making even the smallest of provinces (at least in some parts of Indonesia) in the region conscious of where they stand. In a regional context, greater economic and South-South cooperation can considerably help reducing inequalities, but there needs to be a better way that enables countries to develop equities in each others development. An economic union like the EC can build that sense of equity but perhaps in Asia a move towards such a configurations - with again its socio-economic and cultural diversity- should be done in a phased manner.
4What is the role of global and regional governance institutions?
Global and regional governance institutions can promote knowledge sharing and become brokers for knowledge sharing and cooperation in the region. Also, these institutions can help set standards and norms that countries in the region can aspire to achieve.
5.What role does trade play?
Trade plays a key role in making the " world flatter" but we all know existing trade regimes are reinforcing inequalities. To trade is a natural human instinct. It creates demand and expands markets for people. Lack of progress on the Doha Round has meant that action against trade inequalities has been shelved for the time being. More effort is needed to create a level playing field for countries to trade and at the same time- which is also increasingly being recognized- there are countries that need additional support in order to compete even when a level playing field is present. Naturally, supply side interventions for those countries that are lagging behind is critical.
Regards
Owais Parray
Technical Advisor
TARGET MDGs PROJECT
BAPPENAS/UNDP
Wisma Bakrie II, 6th Floor.
Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav. B-2 - Jakarta 12920, Indonesia
Phone: +62 21 - 5794 5754
Fax: +62 21 - 5794 5753
The previous comments do a nice job of pointing
out gaps in the essay. I must say I enjoyed reading this essay as it offers the
opportunity to think about the root causes of inequality.
We all have personal
biases based on our own life experiences. To show my bias I would like to relate an
experience. – standing on the banks of the Chao Phraya river some 20 years ago
I was talking with a friend’s father as
we watched his laborer shovel sand from a cargo boat to truck. Knowing a bit
about wages I asked… isn’t it a shame
that such hard working people will never get ahead in life? They will not be
able to go to school, not be able to afford medical care and will most probably
die young. His remark was blunt… the world needs its ditch diggers too.
What he really meant is -- another persons’
struggles are my gains. Exploitation is a dirty cycle which starts with the
individual accepting or even encouraging the act of taking advantage of others
for their own gain while the exploited is given no opportunity to increase
their status in life.
To address the questions posed:
Given the current state of
worsening income inequality, how do governments and institutions begin to
address the problem?
If
we see inequality as a social construct then the process of reverse engineering
it involves changing cultures and attitudes towards those who have not. Every
society seems to have their own sort of “untouchables”, it may be that we must
start by changing the hearts and minds of a society if we expect lasting
progress.
This
will take real leadership. People who stand up to corruption, indecency and the
power brokers of this world… Where does
it start… it starts at the youngest
age, we need to teach each other respect for human dignity, respect for helping
each other, and a social awareness that working as a community is the only way
to change a nation and a world.
Government
and other major institutions are the entities that form our culture, thus poor
leadership from such institutions results in a poor society. When our examples continue to be greed, and narcissism we are clearly moving down the
wrong path as humans. Yet there are so many examples of the right path… the
path of sharing, caring and growing together. Therefore it is the responsibility of our
leading institutions to seek out good examples, promote them and ensure as many
people as is possible are exposed to a positive lifestyle.
What policy
options/instruments do governments have at their disposal to address
inequality?
Governments
have the most powerful lobby group available…
teachers and students. So often our school curriculum is built upon a
modern misconception of education as that which is only about income
generation. Thus we are failing to build human capital – those that are truly
capable of thinking out of the box, generating new ideas and contributing back
to society in great ways. In Cambodia
I watch as universities sprout up all over the place. There are now some 100
universities in a nation of 14 million. The major curricular objective of these
universities is to stamp out so- called white collar capable employees. Yet as
one of the previous posters mentioned…
we fail to recognize that the largest portion of an country is based on
the agricultural and rural sectors. In Cambodia 85% of the population is
rural. They have little need for the skills being taught in the universities
yet are not being given opportunity to learn what is necessary to advance the
nation. That being technical and vocational skills, agribusiness, community
development and the such.
The
government thus has an education sector that they need to focus on. Looking at successful
– at least in terms of economic success… Asian countries, we can see that
education is at the heart of their success. Singapore has built a highly
literate society boasting one of the highest GDP per capita in the world. The
secret to their success has been an undivided attention to building a world
class education for all Singaporeans. Vietnam is booming these days on
the back of an education system that is among the most equal in the region. Taiwan, Japan,
Korea
and others are doing well because they invested in education. Those who have
not invested in the intellectual welfare of their citizens and focused on
appropriate education remain in the lower rungs.
How does one attempt to address
inequality at a regional level?
It
seems that previously there was little to bring together this region called Asia. Yes it is the name given to a region of the world,
yet the region consists of great diversity found in language, histories and
societal/political leanings. Yet we are in the information age which brings the
power of information dissemination and sharing to the forefront. Regionally we
should be focusing on sharing materials, sharing educational curriculum and
assisting each other in the development of an ICT infrastructure that will
enable a technological revolution. Through cross border communication we will
see that those once isolated will then have a voice and eventually repressive
regimes are no longer capable of sustaining exploitation as their modus operandi.
What is the role of global
and regional governance institutions?
Aggregating
and sharing information, know-how while at the same time working from the
inside to open up closed minded institutions to appeal to mass development
needs.
What role does trade play?
Good and bad… Firstly
nations need a clear development policy which focuses on developing their own citizenry.
When anti-corruption laws are in place and enforced, then and only then can a
country move forth with the confidence to enter into international trade
negotiations in the hopes of assisting the people to build opportunities and alleviate
poverty.
The example of corrupt regimes moving forth on selfish endeavors
results in disenfranchised citizens. Governments that wield unchecked powers to
sell off public lands, enter and make deals with foreign powers and neglect
their own people are exacerbating inequality.
At the same time well off governments and large business
interests may practice good ethics at home, yet when they enter poorer nations
good judgment is forgot as they seem to have no feeling for the people who are
hurt by their corrupt dealings.
So on one hand trade can play an important role in bringing
badly needed exchange to isolated peoples, yet on the other hand trade can be
devastating when proper rules and regulations are not put in place to keep
corrupt powers in place.
_________________________________
John "Tim" Denny, Ph.D.
Consultant - International Development, Education and ICT
Executive Director, PC4peace http://www.pc4peace.org
International Journal of Multicultural Education, Electronic Green Journ
This paper mostly focusses on the inter- country inequlities. While this is of concern, and there are reasons for this, some time it is more important to focus on in-country inequalities. This is important not only because one is depriving certian sections of the population fruits of economic growth, but it can be politically sensitive, causing instability within the country. Sri Lanka, for example has achived most of the MDG goals, relative to some of her asian neighbours, realtively good economic growth (6% to 7%), just graduated to meduim income country level etc. Can we be happy with these statistics. The regional disparities are glaring, Most of the GDP and Growth is the western privince, inequality (gini Coeffcient) is increasing, the protracted war has displaced large number of people in the country. This obviously shows that some thing has gone wrong. One of the major problems Sri Lanka has been not practicing a consistant policy in many spheres. For example in some instances it is more rural biased, and certain instances, it is urban biased. In other instances, it is proposing import substitution policies, and then it changes into export promotion policies etc. Development of infrastructure has been mostly urban bised. Some of the areas that neet to be addressed are as follows: (1) It must strive for consistant policies, which does not change every five years. (2) Although Sri Lanka has a devolved structure of governmant, the fund allocations from the center is not very rational. The lagging provinces, get very little funds for development where as developed provinces tend to get the bigger share. Hence, if devolution to work, and inequalities to reduce, fund allocation has to be more rational. (3) To reduce urban migration and brain drain to the cities, the agriculture sector needs to be modernised, with mechanization, new technologies, forward marketing contracts etc. (4) The education sector needs to changed to meet employment opportunities. The education system is still geared only towards producing university graduates. It needs to focus on other vocational and tertiary areas. I strongly believe, that first we need to address inequality issues within the country.
Comparative development experiences provide evidence that developing economies initially grow on the basis of their primary sector (agriculture), and as they develop rely more on their secondary (manufacturing industries) and tertiary sectors (service) for growth. Asia’s recent economic powerhouses, Indian and China, have grown mainly due to the performance of their manufacturing and services sectors. In particular, the city-based boom in India is largely driven by service sector growth (e.g. ITES industry – IT-Enabled Services Industry). Unlike agricultural sector growth, higher levels of professional skills, including language skills become a prerequisite to reap the benefits of the booming ITES industry. In contrast, the human resources available in the rural sectors are not geared to avail these opportunities. Invariably, the urban areas have come to be seen as centers that offer a greater and more diverse range of opportunities.
In terms of what governments should do:
Given that the next development stage for a number of economies in Asia will be service-sector led, countries should reform their education system to match with the emerging service-sector-based job opportunities. One could think smart transfer programmes that help to change the behaviour of the poor through offering better incentives. An example would be school voucher programmes.
Rural-urban market linkages should be strengthened. This could be done by strengthening the rural infrastructure facilities; road and highway connectivity etc.
Increasing pro-poor government expenditure, meaning committing public expenditure where the poor live thus disproportionately benefiting them is another policy option to reduce growing inequality.
With regard to Millennium Development Goal Achievement and reduction in Inequality:
Quite often, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) may be achievable at the national level, but not at sub-national or district level (for all districts). Government policies should therefore focus on enhancing sub-national planning and implementation capacities.
Comments
.
Horizontal inequality
Response to Regional Paper
RESPONSE
by Dr. Neela Mukherjee (Ph.D. Economics),
Development Tracks RTC, NewDelhi
With regard to the issues raised in the abstract for discussion from aregional paper on “Inequality, Trade and Growth Nexus in the AsiaPacific” by Taimur Khilji, UNDP Regional Centre, Colombo, I would like tosubmit the following points regarding local communities’ perspectives on povertyand increasing inequality. These can then provide broad indication to issuesrelated to the current state of worsening income inequality and how governmentsand institutions at national and regional levels can begin to address the problem.The note, which follow also tries to make the point it is important torecognize that one major policy option/instrument which governments have at theirdisposal to address inequality is listening and acting on the basis of ‘voicesof the poor’.
The following points are basedon findings from different field studies across countries of the Asia Pacificregion and some lessons learnt from micro/meso level practices and the ensuingmicro-meso-macro policy context.(i) LocalPeople’s Estimates of Poverty and inequality - There is much fieldevidence worldwide including that from the Asia Pacific region to demonstratethat local communities are able to estimate/measure poverty and inequality fromtheir own perspectives, in their own way and based on local criteria whichthereby can lend meaningful implications for a range of policy interventionsand allocation of resources (starting form the bottom) towards revitalizingeconomic growth (by supporting neglected sectors and areas) and betteringeconomic and social justice. The local communities based on indigenousknowledge are experts in their own right and can best describe the gaps relatedto poverty and inequality.
(ii) Local Estimateswith ‘Breadth’ & ‘Depth’ of Information - The local communitiesgenerally have the breadth and depth of local information to estimate povertyand inequality which can help to provide practical building blocks to arrive atcomparable meso, macro and regional level policy pictures. Based on localcriteria the local people can describe their poverty types, rank theirindicators and explain what differentiates the socio-economic categories. Fieldfindings from 1500 villages in China (and later from several hundred villagestudies) as in table 1 illustrate how in publicly funded participatory povertymapping exercises under CPAP a minimum set of 8 poverty indicators wereidentified by the local Chinese people for poverty reduction and monitoring.The eight indicators, below describe three basic types of poverty - livelihood,infrastructure and human resource poverty and have also been attached weightsby the villagers.
Table 1: Components of the Participatory Poverty Index
Poverty Indicator in Rank Order/Measure/Importance
1. Livelihood Poverty 1st
a. Cash receiptsper person per year / Yuan/ i
b. Grainproduction per person per year / Kg / ii
c. Housequality (roof and exterior walls)/ %brick/ iii
2. Infrastructure Poverty 2nd
a. Access to all-weather access road/ days without/ i
b. Access drinking water/ Hours collecting water/ ii
c. Access to electricity/ Dayswith interrupted/ iii
3. Human Resource Poverty 3rd
a. Women’s morbidity
Days lost to illness, females >12 years / i
b. Children’seducation / eligible children in school/ ii
Source: Joe Remenyi’ paper “Poverty Analysis, Poverty Mapping andParticipation in China”
(School of International andPolitical Studies; Faculty of Arts, DeakinUniversity, Geelong,Vic 3217, Australia)
(iii) Significanceof Local Inequalities - Though inequalities are important, the localcommunities from the Asia Pacific region perceive, in general, that better accessto livelihoods, infrastructure and socio-economic resources are crucial forbettering quality of life. They often attach less significance to increasinginequalities and the digital divide, which nonetheless are important from themacro perspective.
(iv) Up-ScalingLocal Perspectives - Up- scaling perspectives of local communities isvery much a feasible exercise and helps to provide larger pictures on keyissues related to poverty and inequality. This is illustrated from Armenia’svoices of the poor exercise as summarized in Box 1.
Box 1: Key Issuesin Agriculture – From the Voices of the Poor, Armenia
(i) Common Occurrenceof Drought and Hailstorm and Lack of Related Services
(ii) Lack of IrrigationFacilities and Network
(iii) Lack of ability topurchase seeds and chemical fertilizers, pesticides, diesel, fuel
(iv) Lack ofAgricultural Machinery
(v) Lack of access toBank Credit
(vi) Lack of good Roads
(vii) Low Selling Pricesand Limited Local Markets
(viii) Lack ofagro-processing facility
(ix) Livestock-relatedissues and High Cost of Veterinary Medicines
(x) Lack of Access toTechnical Information and Technology
Source: Study on ‘Voices of the Poor’ –For PSRP Review of Armenia , 2007, A. Mukherjee, UNDP, Armenia
Note:Participatory assessment of agriculture-related issues and services wasundertaken in 9 regions of Armenia.The regions covered were (i) Shirak Marz,(ii) Aragatsoin Marz, (iii) Lori Marz,(iv) Gegharqunik Marz, (v) Ararat Marz, (vi)Tavush Marz, (vii) Syunik Marz, (viii) Armavir Marz and (ix) Vayots Dzor. Thefarmers – both women and men, freely expressed their views and opinions basedon their grassroots experience and local knowledge. The villagers from 58 studyvillages of Armenia(across 9 regions) listed 10 key issues in agriculture
(v) LocalPerspectives on Challenges and Inequalities - The local communities can notonly estimate poverty and inequality but also explain their challenges andopportunities. Table 3 provides a sub-national picture of selected provincesfrom Lao PDR on livelihoods of poor women and men and the perceived opportunitiesby local communities.
Table 3 – Livelihoods of Poor and Opportunities: ASub-National Picture, Lao PDR
Source/Type of Livelihoods
Women Engaged (%)
Men Engaged (%)
Constraints/Problems of Poor households
Opportunities
1. Shifting cultivation by upland villagers
80 - 100
80-100
Limited land allocation, soil not fertile, attack by wild animal, pest attack, policy to reduce shifting cultivation, limited sites allocated
Alternate IGAs, raising large animals, growing fruit trees and industrial trees, moving from upland to low land
2. Shifting cultivation by low land villagers
30-100
10-100
- same as above -
Alternate IGAs, developing low land, training in technique, seed and seedling bank, growing fruit tree and industrial tree in upland
5. Growing crop in home garden
10--50
10-50
Lack of technique, absence of proper fencing, animal attack; limited land;
Good fencing and good seeds;
6. Growing vegetables, maize, sesame
40- 100
30- 90
Lack of good seeds in adequate quantities; limited land, inputs and markets; lack of transportation;
Good seeds, expand land; setting up producer groups with revolving fund;
9. Livestock-raising
Buffalo- raising
Cow – raising
Pig – raising
Chicken raising
Duck – raising
Turkey – raising
30-100
50-100
Lack of funds to buy animals; lack of cheap credit; high incidence of disease in poultry and pigs; lack of veterinary support; lack of techniques;
Setting up revolving fund for livestock –raising; veterinary training at village level; setting up cold chain for vaccine; training for good practices;
10. Growing home garden
50-90
60-80
Lack of proper fencing; can grow only in dry season;
Require good techniques, good seeds, water tank and fencing;
11. Collecting NTFPs
30-100
40-100
Reduced quantities of many NTFPs; seasonal availability; with timber harvesting NTFPs are adversely affected; too many persons collecting NTFPs; lack of sustainable ways of harvesting;
Each village can have its own forest where many NTFPs can be grown as per the plans of the villagers, training in growing and harvesting NTFPs can help;
10. Catching fish and frogs
20-40
20-40
Population of fish and frogs declining; hard to find; one needs to walk very far to find them;
Setting up fish ponds for small groups, training them and supplying fingerlings and setting up revolving fund; setting up demonstration sites for frog culture;
21.Wage labour
10-20
20-30
Low wage; hard to find work round the year; mainly work available during rain-fed farming;
Providing vocational training centres for furniture –making; carpentry; exploring markets fro new skills;
Note::This table is an abridged version andillustrates a few activities. * Exploded/Unexploded pieces of ordinances and other items from USwar-hit areas; ** Not all villages do it. Source: From field notes of Neela Mukherjeeand team, Laos PDR.
(vi) Controlof Resources and Opportunities at Local Level - Another crucial aspectof ‘inequalities’ at local level is the ease with which it tends to translateinto ‘who controls how much of resources, opportunities and decision-making?’.It is in this context that the poor and the marginalized feel deprived anddejected. A field study based on 22study villages in 4 districts in India shows that around 10 per centof rural households are destitute; 50 per cent are engaged in wage labour and20 to 30 per cent are moderate poor; while 10 to 20 per cent are non-poor.Amongst the non-poor the top 5 to 10 per cent are locally perceived to controlmuch of the resources and local decision–making. Rest are controlled by thegovernment bodies but influenced by local elite groups constituting 5 to 10 percent of the upper tranche of the non-poor households. Similar pattern emergefrom another field study on 50 villages from 9 districts in India where the local elite tend toinfluence local institutions and control decision-making including location ofassets. Even when women and men from poor groups get elected to local governinginstitutions in India (against seats reserved for scheduled caste, scheduledtribe and women), serving as mere figureheads is quite rampant since localelite maintain actual control of resources and assets and is little sensitizedtowards needs of local poor groups.
(vii) Do-able at a regional level, a startingpoint is to locate/identify many regional hubs in Asiaand Pacific totally devoted to organizing, producing and sharing experience, documentsand videos on innovative practices, tools and choices in practical strategiesand frameworks for poverty reduction and bridging inequality. Translation anddissemination of community practices from regional languages can help to revealthe wealth of experience for the governments and institutions of the Asia and Pacific. This could be done on a continuousbasis, say every quarter. Opportunities for total immersions and exchange visitson a regular basis are also important. Theregional hubs can play an important role in assembling different stakeholdersfor building capacity of institutions and countries.
(viii) About the role of trade, several studies show that remittances, bothdomestic and foreign have played a major role in alleviating poverty andbridging gaps. Hence it is important to build capacities for migrant labour andalso create enabling conditions for transferring remittances. About the role oftrade, fair trade and SME’s, it is indeed a huge area and needs separatediscussion. One latest study by Saibal Kar and Sugata Marjit, CUTS, 2008(“Exploring the Post–1990’s Trade –Labour Linkages in India”) adds to the existingevidence. Also Box 2from Cambodiaas given below illustrates how regional trade can help poor farmers and alsohelp to cope with droughts.
Box2 – Cambodian Farmer Trading with Vietnamand Coping with Drought:
Sok Chham (male farmer), Village Bat Sleuk, Chrok Motes Commune, SvayTeap District
Sok Chham has 7 ha of land and cultivates rice. He has 7 persons in hisfamily including his wife and 5 children. They have never sold their labour sofar. Sok Chham sells his produce to Vietnamat a higher profit since he gets better prices in Vietnamthan in Cambodia.The price of rice is 420 Riels per kg in Vietnam as compared to 320 Rielsper kg. in Cambodia.
In recent years that area has faced severe drought, which was coped bySok Chham’s family through reduced food intake from 3 meals a day to 2 meals aday with rice, fish and vegetables with mostly no chicken. The drought sharplyaffected his yield falling from 1400 kg of rice per ha to 440 kg per ha. Thefamily coped with drought conditions by growing different crops in thehomestead (size 6m by 7 m) and also by livestock-raising but was unable tohandle livestock disease. Apart from that they were also doing new investmentin agriculture for minimizing the impact of drought for which, they borrowedmoney from local sources at a rate of 35 per cent a year for digging a well andinstalling a motor pump. This idea for new investment came after Sok’s visitto Vietnamwhere he saw this happening. The family had never borrowed earlier. Theamount borrowed was 5,00,000 Riels for 6 months. The new investment enabled thefamily to produce 2 rice crops, one from August to December and the other fromJanuary to May thus improving his income, consumption and resources for furtherinvestment.
Source: From the field notes ofNeela Mukherjee and Suon Seng, as quoted in the paper by Neela Mukherjee(2007), ‘Countering NTB’s/Supply SideConstraints by Small & Marginal Producers from Developing Asia: Exports asVehicle for Poverty Reduction (Case Studies: India, Cambodia, Armenia and SriLanka)’,for ITC World ExportDevelopment Forum 2007 (ITC, UNCTAD/WTO) global debate with focus on the theme "Bringing Down the Barriers:Charting a Dynamic Export Development Agenda"., 8 to 11 October 2007 inMontreux, Switzerland
access to quality education and land
Dear Colleagues,
I welcome this topic on the discussion forum provided by UNDP, but I have a problem with your two categories as its seems to me a kind of economical determinism of equality issues and with world markets in drastic decline I think this categorization is not a solid basis for understanding the diverse dimensions of equality of peoples in Asia. Today, many millions are falling back in poverty!
For me inequality, on the idvividual level, is first and foremost about the opportunity for having access to quality education, free for all(!) up to high school and an informal education system as a back up at all levels, as well as a broad range of vocational training opportunities for small scale producers, youth, women, elderly, indigenous etc. In any Asian country, there should be a solid national education development program which offers teachers, experienced crafts people, community development leaders, etc. a decent wage and career opportunities as educators. Universities should consider poor people's needs not just private sector demand and give higher priority to serving education needs in rural areas.
I think by sorting out the access to quality education issues in each country it would be possible to solve 50%of the inequality conditions.
A positive development is the phone and computer based horizontal communication revolution today that is reaching out, even in remote areas of Asia countries. This provides a potential opportunity for sharing daily realities, problems and solutions among rural and urban poor as equals. This is a great historic window of opportunity despite national policies in some Asian countries to control access to websites etc We need to promote such horizontal communication lines inlocal languages into all villages, in particular, remote areas of Asian countries. We need to provide effective linkages with informal and formal education programs and activities, but also with social cultural and political movements and their activities, and of course, with activities by local national and international businesses.
Each NGO, each UN or donor agency should be asked about what they do to promote horizontal communication within their over all development programs. Unfortunately, what I have seen is the contrary since the World Bank at the end of the eighties "advised" governments to reduce public sector spending, affecting, in particular, education training and extension in the agriculture and rural sector, while having false or too high expectations that the private sector would do the job for the governments. Over the last 2 decades, UN development agencies have cut their technical assistance for education training extension research contrarian to rising needs expressed by small producers, rural workers and indigenous peoples women in particular in the rural sector. We have today a large institutional deficit to address education and equality issues in rural areas.
Inequality is of course a complex issue, yet for rural poor it is about livelihood improvement and for millions of legally discriminated population groups in Asia (religious, cultural social etc) it is a daily reality. Each government in Asia should beasked to act upon legal discrimination to end it in all forms interms of Yes We CAN ! Inequality for rural poor is the lack of access to productive resources for rural livelihoods due to development policies and legislation which are exclusive not inclusive. A recent example is the unfettered uncontrolled large scale private sector investment inland, water, forests and other natural resources for profit taking. This situation is a major cause for inequality poverty and lack of food security in rural areas for marginal farmers, landless indigenous peoplesand women. There are several Asian countries that have adopted land tenurereform policies and legislation but they lack political will to implement as there are no adequate institutional channels for peoples participation in decision making by rural poor. Yet a lot can be learned from successful local experiences in land tenure reform with good local examples of peaceful and effective negotiations and consensus building among stakeholders leading to improved access to land natural resources for improved rural livelihoods.
My question is where are the international donoragencies that can and should backup Asian grassroots level NGO's inpromoting access to land for rural poor. Asian FAO rural development officer I collaborated in Asia with the regional NGO ANGOC and its coalition of grassroots NGO's on land issues as well as with the Centre for Integrated Rural Development, yet there is a lack of substantive international donor commitment and funding support for these activities.
Yet working 20 years in the Asian region, I see much potential for success in reduction of inequality as Asians have the drive and qualities at grassroots and national levels, there are many capable non governmental organizations working in allsectors of society and contributing to reduction of inequality. What I seeas a challenge is the lack of international support to genuine regional NGO's which are able to advocate and contribute in building institutional capacities for government-CSO dialogue and collaboration in education, access to land issues and related local economic development activities.
About the role of trade in reduction of inequality I personally still some problems with understanding how the DOHA negotiations in WTO will really benefit small scale rural producers and rural workers.. I am not against more free trade as i see the EU giving an example (e.g. huge success in Irelandand Spain), but there is not one trade liberalization solution for promoting economic and social inequality. There is a need for long term targeted social and regional subsidies for more equal social and regional development, including a broad range of education and training programs.
In general, equality in economic terms requires policies, investment, and capacity building which strengthen the small and medium enterprise sector in each Asian country and establish effective democratic control over incoming large scale investment by foreign and national companies.
I believe it is possible to develop a more solitarian economy in Asian countries based upon peoples participation in decision making in political and economic spheres at all levels. In particular, through community level membership based and controlled cooperatives servicing producers and consumers by providing cost effective access to food, nonfood products as well as credit, primary health services, educationand training opportunities. We need to ask all donor agencies what component in their aid package is committed to genuine cooperative development.
In conclusion, equality is a powerful subject for stimulating the imagination and ideas for action for the well being ofall Asian citizens.
Greetings from Rome
Wim Polman
FAO
comments under each of the issues highlighted
Below are some comments under each of the issues highlighted
1. Given the current state of worsening income inequality, how do governments and institutions begin to address the problem?
First of all, Asia or Asia Pacific region is so diverse that it is "inevitable" that there will be differences in the development trajectories that in turn can result in inequalities. The difference in geographical and natural endowments that each country possesses puts it at a distinct advantage or disadvantage. More importantly though one has to see how countries were able to create value for its citizen from the resources that they inherited. Here we do have lessons to be learned. There are countries that have done better in reducing inequalities while others have not fared so well. That is why I would rather not lump inequality as a phenomenon across the region. During high economic growth before the economic crisis in 1997 the country was able to narrow the gaps with countries that were in lead when Indonesia embarked on a new wave of development in the seventies. What really helped in that period was not simply that the country was going fast, but that it was able to invest in creating opportunities and capabilities of its people. One area where the government focused in particular (at least in Java & Bali) was rural development which yielded rich dividends not only making the agriculture sector more productive but also helping it with industrialization. Moreover, the country made sizable investments in education and health that created a virtuous cycle. But that didn't happen across the country. Provinces and districts that although well endowed with natural resources had a disadvantage because of their location in the peripheries and perhaps because of lower population size and densities received less attention. I guess the lessons for countries like in Indonesia in future is how well income inequalities are addressed within the country rather than in the context of a region where it has done relatively well.
2. What policy options/instruments do governments have at their disposal to address inequality?
I would categorize policy responses broadly under a) redistribution b) investments in building sustainable human capabilities. The former I see more as measure to provide a social safety net for the most vulnerable. Redistribution should not be however carried out in such a way that it discourages those who are relatively better off from further improving their lives. An example of this is high tax burden for businesses. The idea is to help those who are behind in the race to run faster rather than make those who are ahead slow down. Investments in human capabilities is probably the most important policy measure that government can undertake. Often we mistakenly focus too much on social spending as a primary means for achieving human development objectives. I firmly believe that creating an environment for a inclusive development is essential for addressing structural poverty and inequalities. The government can play an important role here by enacting policies and regulations that give equal opportunities to all.
3 How does one attempt to address inequality at a regional level?
To reduce inequality at the regional level greater advocacy is needed. Using human development and MDGs are very important in this regard as benchmarks and as a frame of reference. I think both have helped tremendously to raise the issue of inequities of development at the regional level and even domestically. MDGs provide the standardization that is making even the smallest of provinces (at least in some parts of Indonesia) in the region conscious of where they stand. In a regional context, greater economic and South-South cooperation can considerably help reducing inequalities, but there needs to be a better way that enables countries to develop equities in each others development. An economic union like the EC can build that sense of equity but perhaps in Asia a move towards such a configurations - with again its socio-economic and cultural diversity- should be done in a phased manner.
4What is the role of global and regional governance institutions?
Global and regional governance institutions can promote knowledge sharing and become brokers for knowledge sharing and cooperation in the region. Also, these institutions can help set standards and norms that countries in the region can aspire to achieve.
5.What role does trade play?
Trade plays a key role in making the " world flatter" but we all know existing trade regimes are reinforcing inequalities. To trade is a natural human instinct. It creates demand and expands markets for people. Lack of progress on the Doha Round has meant that action against trade inequalities has been shelved for the time being. More effort is needed to create a level playing field for countries to trade and at the same time- which is also increasingly being recognized- there are countries that need additional support in order to compete even when a level playing field is present. Naturally, supply side interventions for those countries that are lagging behind is critical.
Regards
Owais Parray
Technical Advisor
TARGET MDGs PROJECT
BAPPENAS/UNDP
Wisma Bakrie II, 6th Floor.
Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav. B-2 - Jakarta 12920, Indonesia
Phone: +62 21 - 5794 5754
Fax: +62 21 - 5794 5753
changes in cultural values are at the root of solving inequality
The previous comments do a nice job of pointing out gaps in the essay. I must say I enjoyed reading this essay as it offers the opportunity to think about the root causes of inequality.
We all have personal biases based on our own life experiences. To show my bias I would like to relate an experience. – standing on the banks of the Chao Phraya river some 20 years ago I was talking with a friend’s father as we watched his laborer shovel sand from a cargo boat to truck. Knowing a bit about wages I asked… isn’t it a shame that such hard working people will never get ahead in life? They will not be able to go to school, not be able to afford medical care and will most probably die young. His remark was blunt… the world needs its ditch diggers too.
What he really meant is -- another persons’ struggles are my gains. Exploitation is a dirty cycle which starts with the individual accepting or even encouraging the act of taking advantage of others for their own gain while the exploited is given no opportunity to increase their status in life.
To address the questions posed:
If we see inequality as a social construct then the process of reverse engineering it involves changing cultures and attitudes towards those who have not. Every society seems to have their own sort of “untouchables”, it may be that we must start by changing the hearts and minds of a society if we expect lasting progress.
This will take real leadership. People who stand up to corruption, indecency and the power brokers of this world… Where does it start… it starts at the youngest age, we need to teach each other respect for human dignity, respect for helping each other, and a social awareness that working as a community is the only way to change a nation and a world.
Government and other major institutions are the entities that form our culture, thus poor leadership from such institutions results in a poor society. When our examples continue to be greed, and narcissism we are clearly moving down the wrong path as humans. Yet there are so many examples of the right path… the path of sharing, caring and growing together. Therefore it is the responsibility of our leading institutions to seek out good examples, promote them and ensure as many people as is possible are exposed to a positive lifestyle.
Governments have the most powerful lobby group available… teachers and students. So often our school curriculum is built upon a modern misconception of education as that which is only about income generation. Thus we are failing to build human capital – those that are truly capable of thinking out of the box, generating new ideas and contributing back to society in great ways. In Cambodia I watch as universities sprout up all over the place. There are now some 100 universities in a nation of 14 million. The major curricular objective of these universities is to stamp out so- called white collar capable employees. Yet as one of the previous posters mentioned… we fail to recognize that the largest portion of an country is based on the agricultural and rural sectors. In Cambodia 85% of the population is rural. They have little need for the skills being taught in the universities yet are not being given opportunity to learn what is necessary to advance the nation. That being technical and vocational skills, agribusiness, community development and the such.
The government thus has an education sector that they need to focus on. Looking at successful – at least in terms of economic success… Asian countries, we can see that education is at the heart of their success. Singapore has built a highly literate society boasting one of the highest GDP per capita in the world. The secret to their success has been an undivided attention to building a world class education for all Singaporeans. Vietnam is booming these days on the back of an education system that is among the most equal in the region. Taiwan, Japan, Korea and others are doing well because they invested in education. Those who have not invested in the intellectual welfare of their citizens and focused on appropriate education remain in the lower rungs.
It seems that previously there was little to bring together this region called Asia. Yes it is the name given to a region of the world, yet the region consists of great diversity found in language, histories and societal/political leanings. Yet we are in the information age which brings the power of information dissemination and sharing to the forefront. Regionally we should be focusing on sharing materials, sharing educational curriculum and assisting each other in the development of an ICT infrastructure that will enable a technological revolution. Through cross border communication we will see that those once isolated will then have a voice and eventually repressive regimes are no longer capable of sustaining exploitation as their modus operandi.
Aggregating and sharing information, know-how while at the same time working from the inside to open up closed minded institutions to appeal to mass development needs.
Good and bad… Firstly nations need a clear development policy which focuses on developing their own citizenry. When anti-corruption laws are in place and enforced, then and only then can a country move forth with the confidence to enter into international trade negotiations in the hopes of assisting the people to build opportunities and alleviate poverty.
The example of corrupt regimes moving forth on selfish endeavors results in disenfranchised citizens. Governments that wield unchecked powers to sell off public lands, enter and make deals with foreign powers and neglect their own people are exacerbating inequality.
At the same time well off governments and large business interests may practice good ethics at home, yet when they enter poorer nations good judgment is forgot as they seem to have no feeling for the people who are hurt by their corrupt dealings.
So on one hand trade can play an important role in bringing badly needed exchange to isolated peoples, yet on the other hand trade can be devastating when proper rules and regulations are not put in place to keep corrupt powers in place.
_________________________________
John "Tim" Denny, Ph.D. Consultant - International Development, Education and ICT Executive Director, PC4peace http://www.pc4peace.org International Journal of Multicultural Education, Electronic Green Journ
In-country inequlity: Case of Sri Lanka
This paper mostly focusses on the inter- country inequlities. While this is of concern, and there are reasons for this, some time it is more important to focus on in-country inequalities. This is important not only because one is depriving certian sections of the population fruits of economic growth, but it can be politically sensitive, causing instability within the country. Sri Lanka, for example has achived most of the MDG goals, relative to some of her asian neighbours, realtively good economic growth (6% to 7%), just graduated to meduim income country level etc. Can we be happy with these statistics. The regional disparities are glaring, Most of the GDP and Growth is the western privince, inequality (gini Coeffcient) is increasing, the protracted war has displaced large number of people in the country. This obviously shows that some thing has gone wrong. One of the major problems Sri Lanka has been not practicing a consistant policy in many spheres. For example in some instances it is more rural biased, and certain instances, it is urban biased. In other instances, it is proposing import substitution policies, and then it changes into export promotion policies etc. Development of infrastructure has been mostly urban bised. Some of the areas that neet to be addressed are as follows: (1) It must strive for consistant policies, which does not change every five years. (2) Although Sri Lanka has a devolved structure of governmant, the fund allocations from the center is not very rational. The lagging provinces, get very little funds for development where as developed provinces tend to get the bigger share. Hence, if devolution to work, and inequalities to reduce, fund allocation has to be more rational. (3) To reduce urban migration and brain drain to the cities, the agriculture sector needs to be modernised, with mechanization, new technologies, forward marketing contracts etc. (4) The education sector needs to changed to meet employment opportunities. The education system is still geared only towards producing university graduates. It needs to focus on other vocational and tertiary areas. I strongly believe, that first we need to address inequality issues within the country.
Fredrick Abeyratne UNDP/Sri Lanka
Intra-country Inequality and Government Policy
Comparative development experiences provide evidence that developing economies initially grow on the basis of their primary sector (agriculture), and as they develop rely more on their secondary (manufacturing industries) and tertiary sectors (service) for growth. Asia’s recent economic powerhouses, Indian and China, have grown mainly due to the performance of their manufacturing and services sectors. In particular, the city-based boom in India is largely driven by service sector growth (e.g. ITES industry – IT-Enabled Services Industry). Unlike agricultural sector growth, higher levels of professional skills, including language skills become a prerequisite to reap the benefits of the booming ITES industry. In contrast, the human resources available in the rural sectors are not geared to avail these opportunities. Invariably, the urban areas have come to be seen as centers that offer a greater and more diverse range of opportunities.
In terms of what governments should do:
Given that the next development stage for a number of economies in Asia will be service-sector led, countries should reform their education system to match with the emerging service-sector-based job opportunities. One could think smart transfer programmes that help to change the behaviour of the poor through offering better incentives. An example would be school voucher programmes.
Rural-urban market linkages should be strengthened. This could be done by strengthening the rural infrastructure facilities; road and highway connectivity etc.
Increasing pro-poor government expenditure, meaning committing public expenditure where the poor live thus disproportionately benefiting them is another policy option to reduce growing inequality.
With regard to Millennium Development Goal Achievement and reduction in Inequality:
Quite often, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) may be achievable at the national level, but not at sub-national or district level (for all districts). Government policies should therefore focus on enhancing sub-national planning and implementation capacities.