Transcript Camfield

- chronic poverty in rural Ethiopia
Laura Camfield, UEA and Keetie Roelen, IDS

Big drops in poverty rates
poverty rates
1994/95
2004/05
2009/10
49.5%
38.7%
29.2%
Source: MoFED, 2010
However –
 Disparities between regions
 Seasonal fluctuations
 Persistent group of chronically poor and
food insecure
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
2
category
R1
R2
R3
ultra-poor
7
8.6
8.4
poor
49.8
24
17.2
nearly poor
35.6
55.5
41.8
not poor
7.7
12
32.6
Transition analyses show that 13% of households
have been poor across all three rounds (2002-9)
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
3



Ethiopia (rural sites and older cohort only)
3 rounds of quan data: 2002, 2006, 2009
Qual data from 8 sites in 2008, 2009
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
4
QUAL
QUAL
QUAN
QUAN
developing
an emic
taxonomy
classification of
children and households
(ultra-poor, poor, nearly poor, not-poor)
Papers: Roelen and Camfield, 2012; Camfield and
Roelen, 2012a; Camfield and Roelen, 2012b
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
5
Factor
Climate (e.g. drought,
timing of rains, storms)
Family illness
High food prices
Own illness
Death of animals
Exclusion from PSNP
Disputes (e.g.
neighbours, criminal
authorities)
Cost of fertiliser and
seeds
Lack of labour
Bad debt
Low prices for produce
Total no: of
households
reporting factor
(n=32)
No: of female
headed households
reporting factor
(n=8)
No: of older
household heads
reporting factor
(n=6)
30
7
6
24
17
17
17
16
6
4
2
2
3
5
5
4
4
3
16
5
3
15
1
5
13
9
7
6
1
1
3
2
0
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
6
Causes of poverty
 Most common combination of
causes (41% of cases) were:
◦
◦
◦
◦
i) climate, typically lack of rainfall
ii) family illness
iii) lack of labour
iv) high food prices
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
7
•
•
•
•
•
Female household head
Young household head (<35 years)
Disabled household head
Divorced, single or widowed head
More female than male labour within
the household
• Education of household head appeared
to have no effect
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
8

No single theory, but some common elements
◦ Structure and agency
◦ Tactics/ getting by vs. strategies
◦ Critique of life stages (age norms,
biographical scripts, ‘other’ life courses)
 Heyman (2009) – the waged life course vs. generational
sequencing in Sonora, Mexico
◦ Lives characterised by turning points, fateful
or critical moments, vital conjunctures
(‘zones of possibility’)
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
9
◦ Individuals and their social connections
(families, peers, etc.)
◦ Macro level change and institutions
 Mayer – transition of former soviet countries,
Elder – great depression, USA
◦ Influence of early life; cumulative effects (e.g.
Rutter and children’s resilience)
 O’Rand, 1996 - stratification over the life course
◦ Timing of events matters (and interventions?)
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
10

Subjunctivity (Whyte)
◦ what people as subjects are trying to do - what they are
hoping for, how they deal with their life conditions, and how
things unfold for them over time (p171)

Social navigation (Vigh)
◦ relationship between choices and the social bonds in which
they are embedded in a volatile and interactive environment

Relationality (Bledsoe, Lamb, Locke)
◦ inherently relational, made up of networks of ties that they
share with other people, places and things (Lamb, 1997:297)

Chance (di Nunzio, Cooper, others...)
◦ promises reversibility of trajectories of marginalisation and
exclusion but can be illusory

‘Managing’ (Langevang) or bricolage
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
11
Socio-cultural institutions
 Education ended early due to marriage
 Conflict with neighbour over land
State institutions
 Healthcare – asset sale, drop out from school
 Excluded from PSNP
Events
 Husband’s health affected by Eritrean war
 Two years of crop failure
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
12





Quantitative analysis flags risk (female household
head) and cumulative disadvantage
We also see effects of institutions (social
protection, healthcare, attitudes to women’s
education and landowning) and historical events
(Eritrean war)
And the timing of her husband’s death while her
children were still young
She is embedded in relationships, but has few
social ‘resources’
Still, she is ‘managing’ and pursuing a hoped for
if uncertain future through her children’s
education
DSA 2012_Camfield and Roelen
13