Programs that provide lower-skill employment are a popular anti-poverty strategy in developing countries, with India's employment guarantee program (MGNREGA) employing adults in 23 percent of Indian households. MGNREGA has reduced rural poverty, but some have raised concerns that guaranteeing lower-skill (or uncredentialed) employment…

This study aims to analyze the effect of lifelong, notably adult and informal, learning experiences on the business capability and productivity of poor women entrepreneurs in rural Indonesia. The measures of entrepreneurial ability of the research subjects were in terms of their engagement, as microcredit receivers, in adult learning processes…

A fit-for-purpose, functional program is the vehicle that guarantees the relevance of an education system by ensuring the sustainability of the society. Failure of a program to be relevant has the potential to cause crisis in a society. This basic qualitative research study explored the experiences of the beneficiaries of a skills development…

The study examined the linkages between Education and poverty and the possibility of poverty reduction through access to education and better employment opportunities. The paper also stressed that poverty acts as both cause and effect on lack of education. In particular the paper examined whether education is contributing to poverty reduction…

Effective poverty reduction programs require careful measurement of poverty status. Commonly used consumption or income-based classifications of poverty aggregate together households that are persistently poor with those who are only in poverty due to passing conditions. They also classify as non-poor households that are at risk of falling into…

"Workfare" schemes that offer poor participants unskilled jobs at low wages have become a popular alternative to cash or in-kind handouts. Yet little is known about a key determinant of the cost effectiveness of such schemes in reducing poverty: the behavioral responses through time allocation of participants and their families. These…

BACKGROUND INFORMATION IN IDENTIFYING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS NEEDED FOR THOSE LIVING IN POVERTY IN THE APPALACHIAN REGION IS PROVIDED. THE REGION INCLUDES 10 STATES AND 15.3 MILLION PEOPLE, IS RURAL, AND POSSESSES POOR RESOURCES. UNEMPLOYMENT IS HIGH, WHILE INCOME AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT ARE LOW. SCHOOLS ARE POORLY EQUIPPED, CLASSES ARE LARGE,…

Rural development is broader than just agriculture. Farm policy cannot solve rural community problems. Rural problems are sufficiently unique to require special emphasis and special programs. Since rural development has a broader focus than the local community, its problems need to be addressed by all levels of government as well as the private…

Describes the progress of the Day Care Center program in Talladega County, Alabama, started in 1970 by a small Office of Economic Opportunities grant to the Talladega-Clay-Randolph Community Action Committee. (Author/JM)

Developed as a program to help protect family life and children, the Colombian Institute for Family Well-being operates as a "Ministry for Children," providing a variety of medical, psychological, and educational services. (CS)

Describes the activities of the Southwest Florida Self-Help Housing, Inc., serving three counties in the Florida migrant and seasonal farming area, first funded by the Office of Economic Opportunity out of its Migrant Division funds in 1967. (JM)

The Appalachian Volunteers (AV's), conceived of by Federal, State, and private interests in February 1964, were sponsored by the Council of the Southern Mountains. The organization undertook weekend and vacation projects using college students to repair and renovate one-room schools in isolated areas of eastern Kentucky, later including summer…

The main objective of this project is to demonstrate how a community action agency can operate manpower and economic development programs with continuing impact. The program offers: (1) training in four areas, (2) supportive services, including counseling and basic education, (3) youth programs, (4) economic development efforts to help the local…

The study focuses on the problems of rural poverty as opposed to urban. In a discussion of the extent and location of rural poverty in Michigan, it is noted that rural poverty touches the lives of 350,000 individuals in the state. Data on welfare costs and related factors are also examined and brought up to date. Additionally, specific problems of…

Reports the effect of valuing in-kind benefits as income and contrasts the resulting changes in reported poverty rates in metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. Finds consideration of in-kind benefits such as food stamps and Medicaid does reduce the reported number of poor, but incidence of poverty remains higher for nonmetro areas. (LFL)