Poverty, equity and access to education in Bangladesh

Bangladesh has made great improvements in the scale and quality of access to education in recent years and gender equality has almost been achieved in primary education (World Bank, 2008). Evidence from CREATE’s nationwide community and school survey (ComSS) confirms results from other research (such as Al-Samarrai, 2009) which suggests that poverty remains a barrier to education for many in Bangladesh, where 40% of the population remain below the poverty line (World Bank, 2009). The ComSS data suggest that policies that have been introduced to enable the poor to attend school such as free schooling; subsidised schoolbooks and stipends are not accurately targeted or having the desired effects. Targeted assistance for sections of society who are denied access to education in what is meant by equity in this paper. This goes beyond equal opportunity and seeks justice for those who have been left out. In this monograph we describe the influence of poverty (measured by income and food security) on indicators of access to education covered by CREATE’s conceptual model, such as children who drop out of school, children who have never enrolled and silent exclusion (measured through poor attendance, poor attainment and repetition). These relationships show a pattern of a series of interrelated links between poverty and exclusion from education. While the links between physical exclusion from education (never having been to school or dropping out of school) and poverty are relatively easy to understand, it is harder to understand why poor children who are in school do worse and repeat more than their peers from wealthier households. We explore correlations between indicators of silent exclusion from education and health, access to adequate school materials and the type of school attended. What we find is that those who have poor health, lack basic school equipment and live in the catchment areas of non-government schools (who are also often the poor) are more likely to be silently excluded – that is enrolled and overage, attending irregularly or poorly achieving. Using this detailed data we identify policies that will have the greatest effect on improving access to education for those currently out of school and those in school but not learning

Poverty, youth and rural-urban migration in Ethiopia

This paper explores the relationships between poverty and rural-urban migration in Ethiopia. It draws upon research particularly of migration for work in the construction industry and domestic work. The paper describes and analyses migration from a poor rural woreda (district) in northern Ethiopia, to the nearby city of Bahir Dar and the capital, Addis Ababa. Extreme poverty is one of the main driving factors behind these flows of migration. Our research suggests that migration of this type does not lead to immediate flows of remittance income from migrants to their households. We explain why this is, and how migrants and their households nevertheless plan to move out of poverty. We argue that there are important non-economic factors and long-term strategies that encourage migration even where working conditions are hard and returns are low

Does migration for domestic work reduce poverty? A review of the literature and an agenda for research

This review of the published academic literature on internal and regional migration for domestic work in Africa and Asia shows a dearth of studies on internal migration for domestic work in South Asia, and both internal and regional migration for domestic work in East Africa and West Africa. The existing literature is heavily dominated by papers on the transnational migration of domestic workers from South East and East Asia which examine in detail the shortcomings of the legal framework for regulating working conditions and recruitment practices resulting in little protection for migrant workers against exploitation. The paper highlights the serious lack of attention paid to the impacts of migration for domestic work on poverty levels within families in source areas. This is a significant gap in the literature given that migration is usually a household decision in which one member migrates to access more remunerative employment and remit money home. The paper offers a number of suggestions for improving the evidence base on this important migration stream

Internal and regional migration for construction work: a research agenda

This working paper reviews evidence from the literature on internal migration for work in construction in developing countries. The literature reviewed was found through a search of academic databases and selected by the authors. The review identifies cases and contexts in which migration for construction work leads to exits from poverty as well as those in which it entrenches poverty. We also focus upon migrant selectivity and discourses within the literature about migration for construction work. The review identifies gaps in the literature and important themes, in particular those issues and phenomena relating to poverty and development. The small and diverse set of literature, identified for the purpose of this paper, focuses mainly on South Asia. Several areas for future research are suggested throughout the paper and in the concluding section

Preschool attendance: a multilevel analysis of individual and community factors in 21 low and middle-income countries

This paper investigates how preschool attendance is shaped by individual and community factors for 71,806 children from 14,303 communities in 21 low-to middle-income countries using a multilevel analysis. We assess how these mechanisms vary by community and country wealth and the extent to which the variation of preschool uptake can be explained by the characteristics of children living in these communities. We find that of the total variation, 36% was attributable to communities and 12% to countries, with childrens demographic and socioeconomics characteristics explaining 23% of the between community variation. Community wealth and health are crucial determinants; in poor communities with high stunting rates, the chances of preschool attendance are at least halved. Our results suggest that the effect of community on preschool attendance is stronger in poorer countries with greater inequality between communities

Arguments for humility: lessons for anthropologists from six texts

In support of a lean and humble anthropology I discuss six key articles that provide indirect arguments for humility. In summary, these articles teach us that the terms of a discussion may be flawed and cannot be resolved by agreeing shared meanings (Gallie); we must accept limits on what we can know (Nagel); depictions, visual representations are potentially confusing, forms of translation across media types are ubiquitous; (Wolf); portraits are exemplary performances of the self, even the most casual depictions are of the act of posing; (Berger); varying meanings may be associated with a single item, which may convey different things to different people in different places and at different times (Miller and Woodward); and that accounts of a social group and its ideas must encompass vagueness and inconsistency rather than present a misleading coherence and consistency (Favret-Saada). Together these provide reasons for developing a humble anthropology, one that recognizes its incompleteness and revisability

Putting representational boots on other feet: Moukarim postcards from Cameroon c 1914-15

This paper analyses a set of 28 postcards taken in Cameroon during WW1 by a photographer of Lebanese origin, one of the Moukarim brothers. It throws light on a period of Cameroonian history, on the images and their place in photographic history. The postcards that the Moukarims took cannot be viewed simply as exemplifying the colonial gaze: the visual economy is more complicated than that. The images provide a lens on internationalism, lending a perspective from which to think about the complex set of actors who helped to make and to represent history. Résumé: Cet article présente un ensemble de 28 cartes postales prises au Cameroun pendant la Première Guerre mondiale par un photographe d’origine libanaise, l’un des frères Moukarim. Il met en lumière une période de l’histoire camerounaise, les images et leur place dans l’histoire de la photographie. Les cartes postales prises par les Moukarim ne peuvent être considérées comme un simple exemple du regard colonial : l’économie visuelle est plus complexe que cela. Les images offrent un regard sur l’internationalisme, une perspective qui permet de réfléchir à l’ensemble complexe des acteurs qui ont contribué à faire et à représenter l’histoire

A summary of Cameroonian administrative history

In this paper I consider the reasons why a question about changing patterns of administrative history in Cameroon is easy to ask but hard to answer. Exploring this raises many issues of changing terminology, differences between quasi-colonial and post-colonial administration of the administration of the state (as it were) and decisions that in some cases were superseded before being implemented. A summary table is presented with comments about the limits of reliability of the figures. Dans cet article, j'examine les raisons pour lesquelles une question sur l'évolution de l'histoire administrative au Cameroun est facile à poser mais difficile à répondre. L'exploration de cette question soulève de nombreuses questions d'évolution de la terminologie, de différences entre l'administration quasi-coloniale et post-coloniale de l'administration de l’état (en quelque sorte) et des décisions qui, dans certains cas, ont été remplacées avant d'être appliquées. Un tableau récapitulatif est présenté avec des commentaires sur les limites de la précision des chiffres