Poverty alleviation through community development : the case of PRO PRIDE-Ethiopia

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Misunderstanding of poverty and lack of sound poverty alleviating strategy, amongothers, are problems of some of the few NGOs existing in Ethiopia. There is aproblem of understanding their roles in relation to the State and other stakeholders.The principles they apply in their intervention are other problems. These are the issuesthat were researched in the PRO PRIDE case study.The legitimacy of PRO PRIDE as a poverty-alleviating programme in view of globaland Ethiopian poverty and the consequent policy focuses is justified.The principles of PRO PRIDE - community participation, gender equity, intersectoralcollaboration, appropriate technology, focus on prevention, participatorymanagement, cost effectiveness and sustainability of programmes - are soundprinciples. Reviewing the practices of PRO PRIDE as guided by the aforementionedprinciples it is understood that the community development principles - humanorientation, public participation, empowerment, ownership, release, social learning,adaptiveness and simplicity - are commendably achieved.PRO PRIDE well dealt with understanding poverty and its interwoven nature. Issuessuch as the deprivation trap that the poor are entangled in; the general explanation ofpoverty that are given by different authors; vicious cycles of poverty and social,economic and political causes of poverty which are operating at local, national andinternational levels; and the rural-urban dynamics that work in exacerbating the urbanpoverty are covered in its socio-economic study. The study of the programme areasshows that they depict a dismal picture as a result of the operation of these povertydynamics.Regarding the integrated rural-urban poverty alleviation strategy, the State has madefavourable policies and itself dwelled on rural poverty due to lack of financialcapacity to cover both rural and urban areas. The State's rural focus is accepted toimpact on the urban poverty through changing the migration pattern. PRO PRIDE isoperating in the urban setting to connect the nexus - the rural-urban strategy. PROPRIDE is operating with an integrated urban development strategy encompassingincome generation, basic education, primary health care, HIV IAIDS prevention andcontrol and environmental sanitation. Through integrating these areas of interventionPRO PRIDE is improving the quality of life, promoting sustainable urban economic growth, creating income and employment generating opportunities, giving peopleaccess to resources and opportunities, improving the distribution of income andwelfare, and applying sound developmental principles.The functioning of PRO PRIDE is proven to be in a well compliance with therequirement for organisations alike. It is functioning in collaboration and participationwith the popular sector - the people themselves and their community leaders. Itoperates with the agreement of the State bodies such as FRDCB and with other linebureaus such as Health, Education, Environmental Development, and Labour andSocial Affairs. It collaborates with donors the major being ActionAid - Ethiopia(AAE). Internal components of PRO PRIDE such as the Board and the staff as well asits organisational development influence its operation. All the programmes and theprojects are managed through PRO PRIDE's interaction with its internal and externalstakeho lders.PRO PRIDE as an agent of development has played as a catalyst to initiatedevelopment, focused on empowerment and using the people's latent potential,materialised capacity building and facilitation. These are basically the requirementsthat the current NGOs should fulfill, which PRO PRIDE commendably did.The study has indicated that although PRO PRIDE is an organisation of overallsuccess, there are some areas of future focus both by the State and PRO PRIDE.Recommendations are made as to what both parties should do in their future focuses.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University