International Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2016, Volume 10, Issue 4, 645-654.
A Role of Household Empowerment to Alleviating Poverty Incidence and Participatory Poverty: Qualitative Insights from the Literature Muhammad ABRAR-UL-HAQ* School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia . E-mail:
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Mohd R. M. JALI School of Economics, Finance and Banking, Universiti Utara Malaysia . E-mail:
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Gazi M. N. ISLAM Tun Abdul Razak Universiti, Malaysia. E-mail:
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ABSTRACT Poverty is defined as the lack of access to basic human necessities and can be stated as a situation of destitution which can be harmful and might affect the lives of individuals at numerous levels moving around the psychological, mental and physical aspects. In order to elaborate poverty in a simpler way, we can define it as scarcity of fundamental human needs including food, shelter, clothing, medical care and safety, information, education and access to capital. This research has aimed to analyze and discuss the role of household empowerment in relation to incidence of poverty and participatory poverty. Moreover, current research also suggests that household empowerment can contribute to poverty reduction. The relationship between poverty and household empowerment have been discussed. Fundamental assumptions inherent in the meaning and measurement of household empowerment and its impact to reduce poverty have been discussed. JEL classification: D13; D14; H31; I32; P46; Q12; R29. Keywords: Household Poverty; Economic Empowerment; Politics; Social Fundamental. *Corresponding author. 1.
INTRODUCTION
Poverty is the incapability to maintain a minimum living standard anticipated with respect to basic consumption needs or some amount of income required for satisfying them (World Bank, 2006). The poor living condition, violence, economic exploitation, no shelter, no access to a local political system, hunger, malnourishment, no access to schooling and uncertainty of tomorrow are all the dimensions of poverty. Freedom, lack of representation and powerlessness are also called poverty. Types and nature of poverty are to change time to time and also changed place to place, it is also portrayed in diverse behavior. In the 1990s, the United Nations Development Program set its first and third Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The goals are (a) “the eradication of extreme hunger and poverty” and (b) “the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of the year 2015”. But the incidence of poverty has been disproportionate higher over the past decades. In 2010 the United Nations reported that fifty percent of the world population is living below the poverty line ($ 1.25 of a day). Job loss, high unemployment rates, and economic recessions are the main factors for prolonging the poverty. The world’s population is approximately 7 billion and the population living below the poverty line ($ 1.25 of a day) has sharply declined from 1.8 billion to 1.4 billion between 1990 and 2005 (UNDP, 2010). According to the National Poverty Center (NPC, 2011), poverty is defined as the lower pretax than the destitution edge grounded in a view of the extent of the family. World bank characterized poverty as any earning lower than the United States $1.25 per day for the poorest countries and the United States $2 a per day for poor developing countries (World Bank, 2011). Poverty is stated as the shortage of numerous resources leading to physical destitution (World Bank, 2011). Poverty is the deprivation and lack of having access to the much-needed human International Journal of Economic Perspectives ISSN 1307-1637 © International Economic Society http://www.econ-society.org
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