Assets, Livelihoods, and Social Policy

Aurelli1

Description

Given the lack of adequate universal social welfare for those unable to find jobs in the salaried formal sector, the livelihoods and well-being of most poor people depends heavily on their asset base. This includes their ability to access and accumulate assets, obtain decent returns from these assets, and use their asset base to manage risks. 'Assets, Livelihoods, and Social Policy' discusses the diverse strategies adopted by people in different contexts to accumulate assets through migration, housing investments, natural resources management, and informal businesses. An asset-based social policy can strengthen asset accumulation strategies as well as help the poor overcome the constraints of unfavorable institutional environments.
To a considerable extent, asset accumulation strategies depend on the agency exercised by people themselves through individual or collective action. At the same time, the status of policies and institutions can enable or hinder these strategies and affect livelihood outcomes. In synthesis, the case studies lead to the differentiation among three different types of policies:
- policies that affect outcomes by directly influencing access to assets by the poor-such as land, housing, natural resources, or credit.
- policies and public investments that change the nature of returns on assets-such as investments in rural roads, agricultural inputs, and market development.
- policies that transform the value of assets held by the poor by virtue of administrative decisions that increase or reduce value-such as re-classification of land from arable or pasture to protected lands, land use regulations affecting resource use, or modification in regulations governing labor rights or migration.
The chapters, originally commissioned to re-examine major gaps in knowledge and development practice ten years after the Copenhagen Summit on Social Development, are authored by leading scholars from economics, anthropology, sociology, geography, and development studies.
This book is part of a new series, New Frontiers in Social Policy, which examines issues and approaches to extend the boundaries of social policy beyond conventional social services toward policies and institutions that improve equality of opportunity and social justice in developing countries. Other titles in the series include Inclusive States: Social Policy and Structural Inequalities, and Institutional Pathways to Equity: Addressing Inequality Traps.

Informations

• Publié par: world-bank-publications
• Publié le: 14 mai 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 18
• EAN13: 9780821369968
• Langue: English

Extrait

Moser, Dani
ASSETS, LIVELIHOODS, AND SOCIAL POLICY
NEW FRONTIERS OF SOCIAL POLICY
Given the lack of adequate universal social welfare for those unable to fi nd jobs in the sala-
ried formal sector, the livelihoods and well-being of most poor people depend heavily on
their asset base. This includes their ability to access and accumulate assets, obtain decent
returns from these assets, and use their asset base to manage risks. Assets, Livelihoods, and
Social Policy discusses the diverse strategies adopted by people in different contexts to
accumulate assets through migration, housing investments, natural resources management,
and informal businesses. An asset-based social policy can strengthen asset accumulation
strategies as well as help the poor overcome the constraints of unfavorable institutional
environments.
To a considerable extent, asset accumulation strategies depend on the agency exercised by
people themselves through individual or collective action. At the same time, the status of
policies and institutions can enable or hinder these strategies and affect livelihood out-
comes. In synthesis, the case studies lead to the differentiation among three different
types of policies:
• policies that affect outcomes by directly infl uencing access to assets by the poor—
such as land, housing, natural resources, or credit
• policies and public investments that change the nature of returns on assets—such as
investments in rural roads, agricultural inputs, and market development
• policies that transform the value of assets held by the poor by virtue of administrative
decisions that increase or reduce value—such as re-classifi cation of land from arable or
pasture to protected lands, land use regulations affecting resource use, or modifi cation
in regulations governing labor rights or migration.
The chapters, originally commissioned to re-examine major gaps in knowledge and ASSETS, LIVELIHOODS, AND
development practice 10 years after the Copenhagen Summit on Social Development,
are authored by leading scholars from economics, anthropology, sociology, geography, SOCIAL POLICYand development studies.
Caroline Moser and Anis A. Dani,
Editors
ISBN 978-0-8213-6995-1
SKU 16995ASSETS, LIVELIHOODS, AND SOCIAL POLICYNEW FRONTIERS OF SOCIAL POLICY
ASSETS, LIVELIHOODS,
AND SOCIAL POLICY
Caroline Moser and
Anis A. Dani, Editors© 2008 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank
1818 H Street NW
Washington DC 20433
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Internet: www.worldbank.org
E-mail: [e-mail]
All rights reserved
1 2 3 4 11 10 09 08
This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and
Development / The W orld Bank. The fi ndings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in
this volume do not necessarily refl ect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank
or the governments they represent.
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ISBN: 978-0-8213-6995-1
eISBN: 978-0-8213-6996-8
DOI: 10.1596/978-0-8213-6995-1
Cover photo: ©Titus Fossgard-Moser/Eye Ubiquitous
Cover design: Naylor Design, Washington, D.C.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Assets, livelihoods, and social policy / Caroline Moser and Anis A. Dani, editors.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8213-6995-1—ISBN 978-0-8213-6996-8 (electronic)
1. Saving and investment—Developing countries—Case studies. 2. Structural adjustment
(Economic policy)— Developing countries—Case studies. 3. Developing countries—Social
policy— Case studies. I. Moser, Caroline O. N. II. Dani, Anis A. (Anis Ahmad)
HC59.72.S3A87 2008
332.609172'4—dc22
2008016693NEW FRONTIERS OF SOCIAL POLICY
In many developing countries, the mixed record of state effectiveness,
market imperfections, and persistent structural inequities has undermined
the effectiveness of social policy. To overcome these constraints, social
policy needs to move beyond conventional social service approaches
toward development’s goals of equitable opportunity and social justice.
This series has been created to promote debate among the development
community, policy makers, and academia and to broaden understanding
of social policy challenges in developing country contexts.
The books in the series are linked to the World Bank’s Social Devel op-
ment Strategy. The strategy is aimed at empowering people by transforming
institutions to make them more inclusive, responsive, and accountable. This
involves the transformation of subjects and benefi ciaries into citizens with
rights and responsibilities. Themes in this series will include equity and
devel op ment, assets and livelihoods, and citizenship and rights-based
social policy, as well as the social dimensions of infrastructure and cli-
mate change.
Other titles in the series:
• Institutional Pathways to Equity: Addressing Inequality Traps
• Inclusive States: Social Policy and Structural Inequalities
Anis A. Dani
Series Editor
Adviser, Social PolicyCONTENTS
Foreword xi
About the Editors xiii
About the Authors xv
Acknowledgments xvii
Abbreviations xix
PART I. THE CONTEXT
Chapter 1. Asset-Based Social Policy and Public 3
Action in a Polycentric World
Anis A. Dani and Caroline Moser
Chapter 2. Assets and Livelihoods: A Framework for 43
Asset-Based Social Policy
Caroline Moser
PART II. MIGRATION AS A LIVELIHOOD AND ASSET
ACCUMULATION STRATEGY
Chapter 3. International Migration and Challenges for 85
Social Policy: The Case of Ecuador
Anthony Hall
Chapter 4. Toward the Sustainable Return of West African 107
Transnational Migrants: What Are the Options?
John K. Anarfi and Sara Jägare viii • CONTENTS
Chapter 5. Public Policies to Support Migrant Workers in 127
Pakistan and the Philippines
Farooq Azam
Chapter 6. Transnationalism, Social Reproduction, and Social 149
Policy: International Migration of Care Workers
Nicola Yeates
PART III. HOUSING AS AN ASSET IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS
Chapter 7. Building Homes: The Role of Federations 171
of the Urban Poor
David Satterthwaite
Chapter 8. Upgrading Thailand's Urban Settlements: 195
A Community-Driven Process of Social Development
Somsook Boonyabancha
PART IV. THE EROSION OF LIVELIHOODS AND ASSETS IN
WEAK STATES
Chapter 9. Bitter Harvest: The Social Costs of State Failure in 217
Rural Kenya
Paul Francis and Mary Amuyunzu-Nyamongo
Chapter 10. Youth Gangs as Ontological Assets 237
Dennis Rodgers
PART V. ASSET-BASED LIVELIHOODS STRATEGIES AND
ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT
Chapter 11. Forest Rights and Asset-Based Livelihoods: 257
Catalyzing Rural Economies and Forest
Conservation through Policy Reform
and Collective Action
Augusta Molnar, Andy White, and Arvind Khare CONTENTS • ix
Chapter 12. Microenterprise and Sustainable Livelihoods 279
Vibha Pinglé
Chapter 13. Beyond Sectoral Traps: Creating Wealth for the Poor 299
Deepa Narayan and Soumya Kapoor
Index 323
BOX
2.1. Defi nition of the Most Important Capital Assets 50
FIGURES
1.1. Manifestations of Asset-Based Social Policy 30
2.1. Asset Building Over Time in Guayaquil, Ecuador 64
2.2. Components of Asset-Based Social Policy 65
3.1. Net Migration from Ecuador, 1990–2004 86
3.2. Migrants from Ecuador, by Socioeconomic Status, 2001 88
3.3. Remittances from Ecuadorian Migrants, 1993–2004 91
11.1. Changes in Community Forest Tenure—Now and in the 262
Next Decade
11.2. Community Conservation Overlay on Biodiversity in 264
Plant and Bird Distributions
12.1. Functionings, Capabilities, Desired Capabilities, and 285
Policy-Defi ned Desired Capabilities
13.1. Overview of the Conceptual Framework 301
TABLES
1.1. The Assets and Livelihoods Nexus 15
1.2. Range of Agents Relevant to Assets and Livelihoods 19
1.3. Asset-Based Social Policy—Implications of the 32
Case Study Chapters
2.1. Components of the Jamaican Government’s Social Policy 4