What the Poor Say

Poverty is pain; it feels like a disease. It attacks a person not only materially but also morally. It eats away one’s dignity and drives one into total despair- a poor woman, Moldova.

The poor are the true poverty experts. The World Bank is preparing its annual World Development Report on the theme of poverty and development next year, and it wanted to make sure the voices of the poor -- their experiences, priorities, and recommendations — would be taken into account. 

The result was Consultations with the Poor, a series of studies trying to understand the voices of approximately 60,000 poor men and women from over 60 countries around the world. The voices are drawn from 95 participatory poverty studies. The field studies used participatory and open-ended methods, and were carried out mainly by local research institutes and NGOs, under the supervision of the World Bank.

The pattern of findings from across countries is similar and striking. Poor people describe repeatedly and in distressing detail what has only been glimpsed before, the psychological experience and impact of poverty. The trends are sobering. The large majority of poor people included in Consultations said they are worse off now, have fewer economic opportunities, and live with greater insecurity than in the past. They spelled out detailed reasons that varied by region. 

Poor people’s experiences with government institutions are largely negative, even when government programs were rated as important. Rudeness, corruption and poor quality services seemed to be the norm, whether in health care or in programs of social support. But the poor still greatly value government programs, and feel governments have important roles to play in their lives. The presence of NGOs in the various countries is uneven, but where they are at work their contributions are generally appreciated. The poor find their own local networks and institutions to be the most dependable. Gender relations are in troubled transition, with violence against women frequent.

Next: The Good Life and the Bad Life