Eight Structural adjustment and mass poverty in Ghana
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Kwabena Donkor
Abstract
Anti-poverty policies in and for poor countries deserve even more intensive appraisal to find why they are failing to work. This chapter describes the ever-worsening situation in Sub-Saharan Africa, recording the weakest economic-growth and development rates of all developing regions. In Ghana, 40 per cent of the population were recorded as being in poverty in 1998–9 and 27 per cent were in extreme poverty. The discussion argues that it is wrong to focus on the actions and responsibilities of individual governments. It was the role of global economic and political arrangements in the impoverishment of individuals, communities, and nations that had to be given most attention. In the late 1980s, the first instrument of poverty alleviation under adjustment was the Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Cost of Adjustment (PAMSCAD). However, it turned out to be fraud perpetrated on the poor of Ghana by the government and its international backers.
Abstract
Anti-poverty policies in and for poor countries deserve even more intensive appraisal to find why they are failing to work. This chapter describes the ever-worsening situation in Sub-Saharan Africa, recording the weakest economic-growth and development rates of all developing regions. In Ghana, 40 per cent of the population were recorded as being in poverty in 1998–9 and 27 per cent were in extreme poverty. The discussion argues that it is wrong to focus on the actions and responsibilities of individual governments. It was the role of global economic and political arrangements in the impoverishment of individuals, communities, and nations that had to be given most attention. In the late 1980s, the first instrument of poverty alleviation under adjustment was the Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Cost of Adjustment (PAMSCAD). However, it turned out to be fraud perpetrated on the poor of Ghana by the government and its international backers.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Notes on contributors v
- Acknowledgements ix
- The human condition is structurally unequal xi
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International anti-poverty policy: the problems of the Washington Consensus
- Poverty, social exclusion and social polarisation: the need to construct an international welfare state 3
- Is rising income inequality inevitable? A critique of the ‘Transatlantic Consensus’ 25
- The international measurement of poverty and anti-poverty policies 53
-
Anti-poverty policies in rich countries
- Social policy in the US: workfare and the American low-wage labour market 83
- A European definition of poverty: the fight against poverty and social exclusion in the member states of the European Union 119
- Welfare state solidarity and support: the Czech Republic compared with the Netherlands 147
- Targeting welfare: on the functions and dysfunctions of means testing in social policy 171
-
Anti-poverty policies in poor countries
- Structural adjustment and mass poverty in Ghana 197
- Social funds in sub-Saharan Africa: how effective for poverty reduction? 233
- Urban water supply, sanitation and social policy: lessons from Johannesburg, South Africa 251
- Round pegs and square holes: mismatches between poverty and housing policy in urban India 271
- Urban poverty in China: incidence and policy responses 297
- ‘A new branch can be strengthened by an old branch’: livelihoods and challenges to inter-generational solidarity in South Africa 325
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Future anti-poverty policies: national and international
- Human rights, transnational corporations and the World Bank 351
- Are we really reducing global poverty? 377
- 1% of €10,000 billion 401
- Conclusion: constructing an anti-poverty strategy 413
- Manifesto: international action to defeat poverty 433
- Index of material and social deprivation: national (UK) and cross-national 437
- Index 443
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Notes on contributors v
- Acknowledgements ix
- The human condition is structurally unequal xi
-
International anti-poverty policy: the problems of the Washington Consensus
- Poverty, social exclusion and social polarisation: the need to construct an international welfare state 3
- Is rising income inequality inevitable? A critique of the ‘Transatlantic Consensus’ 25
- The international measurement of poverty and anti-poverty policies 53
-
Anti-poverty policies in rich countries
- Social policy in the US: workfare and the American low-wage labour market 83
- A European definition of poverty: the fight against poverty and social exclusion in the member states of the European Union 119
- Welfare state solidarity and support: the Czech Republic compared with the Netherlands 147
- Targeting welfare: on the functions and dysfunctions of means testing in social policy 171
-
Anti-poverty policies in poor countries
- Structural adjustment and mass poverty in Ghana 197
- Social funds in sub-Saharan Africa: how effective for poverty reduction? 233
- Urban water supply, sanitation and social policy: lessons from Johannesburg, South Africa 251
- Round pegs and square holes: mismatches between poverty and housing policy in urban India 271
- Urban poverty in China: incidence and policy responses 297
- ‘A new branch can be strengthened by an old branch’: livelihoods and challenges to inter-generational solidarity in South Africa 325
-
Future anti-poverty policies: national and international
- Human rights, transnational corporations and the World Bank 351
- Are we really reducing global poverty? 377
- 1% of €10,000 billion 401
- Conclusion: constructing an anti-poverty strategy 413
- Manifesto: international action to defeat poverty 433
- Index of material and social deprivation: national (UK) and cross-national 437
- Index 443
