Resources on POVERTY
Section A

"Women contribute to the economy and to combating poverty through both remunerated and unremunerated work at home, in the community and in the workplace. The empowerment of women is a critical factor in the eradication of poverty."
Beijing Platform for Action.

Websites and Electronic Resources

http://www.socwatch.org.uy
Social Watch is an NGO watchdog that monitors government commitments made at the World Summit for Social Development (WSSD) and the Beijing World Conference on Women to erase poverty and achieve gender equity. A facilitator of NGO networking, Social Watch publishes and disseminates NGOs’ reports on poverty, employment, social integration, gender equity, structural adjustment and more. An information well, use this website to find practically anything pertaining to the WSSD and Beijing conference and review, relevant UN news, current trends and assessments on social policy issues, and NGO initiatives and findings worldwide. This website is indispensable for anyone using the WSSD and Beijing Platforms in their work!

http://www.ifad.org
The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), working in 115 developing countries, is an UN agency whose primary purpose is to alleviate rural poverty. IFAD targets their programs to small farmers, the rural landless, poor rural women, indigenous people, nomadic pastoralists and artisanal fisherfolk. Their website is a gold mine of reports on rural poverty, popular initiatives and campaigns from around the world, calendars and conferences, and links to other websites. For anyone working in Latin America, IFAD has a Latin American website, FIDAMERICA, for your particular regional focus! Video-clips of conferences. In Spanish, English, and French (some documents).

http://www.wfp.org
The World Food Programme (WFP) is the frontline United Nations agency for emergency food relief and development. The WFP uses gender analysis in their policies, strategies and reports. This agency’s international reach allows the user to access country specific emergency reports, disaster and vulnerability maps, statistics, and news on field operations.

http://www.thp.org
The Hunger Project is a coalition of hundreds of NGOs and individuals organized to combat world hunger by using women as epicenters for mobilization. Since women bear the primary responsibility for family, health, education and nutrition, the Hunger Project’s work is grassroots. With 19 regional offices, the Hunger Project empowers women food farmers through local leadership, literacy, micro-business, credit and agro-training programmes. You can find on their website their latest newsletter and links to their country programmes.

http://www.worldhunger.org
The World Hunger Education Service produces the Hunger Notes website which acts as an information and news service about hunger issues around the globe. A regular CNN for anyone working with world hunger, you can find articles, features, editorials, initiatives, and book reviews. Furthermore, on this webpage, you will be able to find out about World Hunger’s programmes on nutrition, health and population.

http://www.workingwomensforum.org
Grassroots Organizations Operating Together in Sisterhood (GROOTS) in South Asia, pioneered the Working Women’s Forum (WWF) as a successful workable solution to alleviate poverty. WWF-India mobilizes the poorest and the most marginalized sector of the workforce—poor women workers constrained and oppressed in their occupations, caste, class, and gender—for education, training, leadership and counseling to improve their economic condition. WWF once an experimental venture has stood out as an impressive example of what collective action and bargaining can accomplish in bettering women’s lives. A must surf.

http://www.accion.org
ACCION International fights poverty through microlending. One of the world’s leading microfinance organizations, Accion nurtures tiny businesses in Latin America and the United States. You will be able to find in their Latin American Network— comprising of 14 countries--links to country programs, participating banks and initiatives.

http://www.grameen-info.org
The Grameen Bank reversed conventional banking practices by giving credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh without any collateral. Today, Grameen Bank has 2.3 million borrowers 94% of which are women--with a repayment rate of over 95%. Grameen Bank’s impact on Bangladesh’s poor has been a case study for many outside agencies working on poverty and development issues, and it has inspired 223 replication programs in 58 countries in the last decade. Browse slowly through this website about this fascinating microcredit program which has commanded world attention, its history, its successes, and its future challenges. Be sure to take a look at the "16 Decisions of Grameen Bank" for a wonderful visual portrayal of Grameen Bank’s principles and aspirations!

http://www.unchs.org
"Welcome to the Urban Millenium" is the greeting of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), the main UN agency on shelter and urban poverty. UNCHS has a ‘Women and Habitat’ program which includes gender in human settlements development and strategies. A highlight of this program is UNCHS’s "Our Homes, Our Lives, Ourselves"—a fun workbook for young people to understand women’s issues in human settlement development. Other areas of interest are links to their numerous programmes; information on their campaigns for land tenure, local self-government and good urban governance; and anything you want to know about Istanbul+5, the Review of the Habitat II World Conference.

http://www.fao.org/gender
The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has a wonderfully information-rich website dealing with gender and food security. Covering nine main topic areas---agriculture; division of labour; environment; forestry; nutrition; fisheries; rural economics; population; and education extension communication---this very user friendly site allows you to expertly navigate through each topic area to find whatever suits your needs. You will be able to find within each interest area general information, a fact file, related websites, documents, FAO programmes, and multimedia products. In English, Spanish and French.

http://www.crop.org
Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP) established by the International Social Science Council is a research institute on poverty issues. Though lacking an explicit gender component, CROP engages in poverty research from multiple dimensions such as social costs, human rights, best practices, the law, governance and social perceptions. You will be able to access some full length documents, poverty related news, relevant links, their bookshop, as well as their schedule of workshops. Be sure to in your travels to stop at CROPnet, a database of more than 1200 poverty researchers from more than 100 countries. Excellent poverty glossary.

http://www.idrc.ca
International Development Re-search Centre (IDRC) is dedicated to finding strategies for sustainable development. The website has reports on gender in agricultural research, an online library and resource centre, databases, a booktique, and an archive. Moreover, from this home page, you can springboard to over a hundred sub-pages of IDRC’s multiple programme initiatives worldwide by topic, including: biodiversity and indigenous knowledge; environmental sciences; fisheries, aquaculture and oceans; food, nutrition and agriculture; gender and development; health sciences; information and communication technologies; and social sciences. Good links to international and non-governmental organizations. In English, French, and Spanish.

http://www.sdri.ubc.ca/gender
This is the site of the Sustainable Development Institute of the University of British Columbia, Canada. It includes an Annotated Bibliography on Women and Sustainable Development with well over 100 annotations on the 100 policy recommendations from the 1994 Women and Sustainable Development Canadian Perspectives Conference, a preparatory event leading up to the 1995 Beijing Conference. Developed through a diverse collaboration of researchers and activists, this site brings together a wealth of information, reflecting unusual breadth and depth.

http://www.focusintl.com/statang1.htm
WIDNET-Women in Development NET work, has developed this databank on women's statistical information arranged by country and subject matter (population, health, education, labour and power). Also included are extensive weblinks to international women's organizations, online magazines, women's studies resources as well as reference documents on women's issues (UN, World Bank, and Beijing '95). In French and English.

http://www.netaid.org
Netaid.org is a collaborative effort of UNDO, Cisco Systems, Akamai, KPMG and many other corporations and NGOs. It brings people everywhere together with world-class artists, using the Internet, television, radio, and live events to fight extreme poverty. Netaid.org features a host of ‘programs that work’ from around the world on economic security, education, health, environment, and more. It also offers grants. You will be able to find on this website: poverty alerts, video-clips of artists on issues and concerts, and features of successful and effective poverty programs.

Selected Books

Many of these publications can be ordered online at http://ww.womenink.org

Gender and Development:
Rethinking Modernization and Dependency Theory Catherine V. Scott
This study applies a feminist critical reading to develop modernization and development theory further, including: conceptualization of tradition and gender in modernization theory; the role of the state in Africa; modernization theory in practice at the World Bank; Marxism, masculinity and dependency theory; and challenges to dependency in the context of Southern Africa.
1996. 149 pages. US$16.95

Gender and Migration
Caroline Sweetman (Ed.)
These articles stress the importance of seeing an individual migrant in her or his context as a member of a social network spanning different locations. They explore how migration may offer women a chance to challenge oppressive gender relations and, conversely, how it may be a route into continuing gender discrimination, isolated from support systems. List of resources.
1998. 72 pages. US$12.95

Gendered Poverty and Social Change
Shahra Razavi
This paper seeks to develop a new understanding of the gender/poverty interface, arguing that the gender analysis of poverty is not so much about whether women suffer more from poverty than men, but rather about how gender differentiates the social processes leading to poverty, and the escape routes out of destitution. Bibliography; summary in French and Spanish.
1998. 35 pages.

Microfinance and Poverty Reduction
Susan Johnson and Ben Rogaly
Giving an overview of the current debates on microfinance, this book explores the rich variety of informal financial services used by the poor; emphasizes the importance of the local context; discusses the design of a microfinance scheme; examines ways to sustain the provision of financial services in the long term; and reviews difficulties in and ways of assessing impact. Case studies.
1997. 134 pages. US$14.95

Migrant Women's Human Rights in G7 Countries:
Organizing Strategies
Malika Dutt, Leni Martin and Helen Zia (Eds.)
This book documents the organizing efforts of migrant women for improved living conditions, fair wages and human rights and celebrates their strength, resilience and wisdom. It offers strategies for migrant women to advance their own organizing; for women's groups seeking to understand the needs of migrant women; and for labour organizations to ensure that migrant women are included in their organizing.
1997. 69 pages. US$10.00

Whose Reality Counts? Putting the First Last
Robert Chambers
Citing the mistakes of early PRA (Participatory Rural Appraisal) efforts as well as the revolutionary breakthroughs of the method, Chambers proves again in this accessibly written, thoughtfully argued book that urban and rural people alike have an astonishing ability to express and analyze their complex realities-realities that are often at odds with the top-down analysis of development professionals.
1996. 297 pages. US$9.95

The New Middlewomen: Profitable Banking Through On-lending Groups
Malcolm Harper, Ezekiel Esipisu, A.K. Mohanty and D.S.K. Rao
Essential reading for all those with an interest in micro-finance issues, this book describes a unique approach to the delivery of financial services to poor people. Based on extensive research in Kenya and India, it demonstrates how banks, alone or in collaboration with NGOs, can organize groups of people into ‘micro-banks’ to reach a totally new and profitable market. The "new middlewomen," who are also moneylenders, have shown that their groups can develop into effective links between commercial banks and the poor, to the mutual benefit of both. Photos; bibliography.
1999. 125 pages. WE445W. US$25.00


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