CHAPTER TEN
new thrust and new form and content to go to the root causes of poverty and perhaps engender, nurture and develop the required responses.
This thesis provided an extension of the FGT which takes into account assets, income and debt (liabilities) in the measurement of poverty. The FGT extensions open up the possibilities of calculating geographic asset poverty indices, asset/income poverty indices, networth indices and asset gini coefficients etc. What should governments transfer, between assets and income? My answer would be assets to extricate the poor from poverty traps. While income is easy to distribute, assets are a different kettle of fish where the issues of: what, where, when, how much and in what order etc? what quality?
have still to be addressed. Thus, the issues of practicality still haunt the asset - based measures.
Clearly, from the evidence in focus group discussions, the state of being poor invokes trans-generational reproduction of poverty and it became clear that shocks minimise the chances of exiting poverty especially if their impacts are profound and prolonged such as drought. The findings also show that barter trade collapses in poverty, as the poor do not have items with which to engage in barter. It can be posited that barter works better where there is room for asset accumulation and a functioning economy where money and other assets are changing hands.
In creating a poverty index, it is imperative to place assets at the core of the index. It became evident from this paper that there is a need to properly manage economy-wide shocks such as hyper-inflation given their negative impact on the livelihoods of the poor.
Of critical importance, in that same vein, is the dire need to enhance the capacity and capabilities of the poor to accumulate assets as they open up the possibility of reducing their vulnerability.
The primary purpose of this thesis was to fill a gap in the measurement of poverty by defining a context-sensitive, fixed bundle of assets - the minimally adequate asset level.
This paper has managed to transform the asset threshold from a theoretical plane to a
practical platform. The MAAL is the asset threshold against which a person or household can be considered as poor or not poor. The MAAL reflects the ontology of existence and people's conception of necessary assets to achieve a socially acceptable standard of living based on consensus.
This thesis is important for policy because it proposes a shift in mindset from merely providing cash and food grants to interventions on the less ordained path of asset distribution. It is now possible to generalise, not with regard to populations or different universes, but about theoretical and practical propositions of distributing what people deem fit for the achievement of a contextually-defined standard of living: plough for plough in Mashonaland West. The identification and qualification modalities of who is poor and who is not, based on their asset portfolios, have to be worked out because there are costs related to the distribution of these assets. Indeed, there is an asset threshold below which people can fail to function within the confines of the norms and traditions of the communities in which they live. It can be argued, both on moral and economic grounds, that a poor asset base is a key precursor to poverty.
The need for different indices in different circumstances perhaps brings diversity to poverty studies. I looked at items that can be provided to promote self-reliance at a local level as well as encourage household economic diversification and still resonate with the people of Mashonaland West.
LAST WORD
The thesis provided some conceptualisation of poverty in rural Zimbabwe during a period of socio-politico-economic instability and provided critical commentary on the vital subject of livelihoods, struggles and strategies in a contemporary economic context.
The thesis looked at how inhabitants of Mashonaland West experience 'the economy' and at uselessness ofNGOs and government aid to those who do not fall into the target
groups (widows and children).
The thesis examined critical issues that threaten livelihoods and provided useful tools, namely programme design(PDM) and targeting (asset-by-asset point index). Noteworthy problems are natural calamities. However, economic-political interventions are also a major threat to livelihoods which have largely been ignored in literature. Furthermore, productive assets can be looked at from various perspectives: as a cause of or remedy for poverty; a cause of asset accumulation and exits from poverty; assets as better markers of material poverty; assets as repositories of value which can be sold in times of crisis;
assets as means of insuring against risk; assets as allowing for livelihood diversification and assets as providing a better guide for poverty reduction strategies. These are areas 1 posit for future investigations.
MAIN APPENDIX
QUESTIONNAIRE
Developing a Poverty Index for African economies using the Consensual Approach:
The Case of Mashonaland West, Zimbabwe
In developing this Questionnaire Guide the following considerations were taken into account:
1) The study objectivesviz:
• enhance knowledge in the area by interrogating what goes beyond money in the measurement of poverty;
• be useful to policy makers whose concern is targeting.
• deepening understanding of Consensual Measurement of poverty and flagging areas for further research from an African perspective.
• Develop a home grown poverty index.
2) Research concerns
What factors affect perceptions of poverty and thus should be taken into account in a consensual approach to poverty: Does age matter in the perceptions of poverty? Does income matter? Does gender matter? Does household type matter? Does region/location/context matter? What is the Minimally Adequate asset level that a person must have not to be poor?
3) Hypotheses to be tested:
While income may be an aspect of poverty in Africa, access to assets is important in a self-definition of poverty that uses local norms as the measure of well-being.
Sub-hypothesis: Issues such as age, gender, location and so forth matter in shaping this definition.
Focus Group Discussion
1. What is your understanding of poverty/or of the state of being poor?
2. What kind of assets do people need not to be poor?
3. How many of such assets do people need not to be poor?
4. Is there is a measurable threshold of assets that constitutes poverty?
5. Other than assets what else do people need?
6. What do you consider as necessities of life for a person in Mashonaland West?
6. What are the things that could make someone in Mashonaland West content in life?
7. How would one describe a poor family in Mashonaland West?
8. How would one describe a rich family in Mashonaland West?
9. How would one describe the assets of a poor family?
10. How would one describe the assets of a rich family?
11. What are the events in life that can make a person poorer in Mashonaland West?
12. What are the events in life that can make a household poorer in Mashonaland West?
13. How would one describe poor villages from rich villages in Mashonaland West?
14. How would one describe the attributes of a poor person (man/woman)?
How would one describe the attributes of a rich person (man/woman)?
15. How would one describe the attributes of a poor family?
16. How would one describe the attributes of a rich family?
17. What are the major problems in the community at present?
18. What are the problems that people are facing in Mashonaland West at the household level?
19. What living standards should all families in Mashonaland West have today?