Successfully addressing poverty requires that “people living in poverty must have a voice in deciding their own destiny, fighting for rights and justice in their own society, and holding states and the private sector to account.” It also requires that states act as effective managers and agents of change.
Oxfam has just published From Power to Poverty: How Active Citizens and Effective States Can Change the World, written by Duncan Green. Green argues that countries that have successfully narrowed the gap between the wealthy and the poor have two things in common. “They have had effective states which have actually managed the economy, managed security, delivered for the national developments and they have also had active citizens.” Thus the book argues for “this combination of active citizens and effective states as the key place where development happens,” and suggests various strategies to close the gap.
See a VOA article about the book.
Tags: Anti-poverty strategies