ABSTRACT

Programs and policies to assist poor people and overcome deprivation are underpinned, either implicitly or explicitly, by ideas about ‘who’ is poor and ‘why’ they are poor. In recent years there have been three significant advances in the ideas that inform poverty reduction policies and programs. Theories about poverty have become increasingly sophisticated over the last 20 years. The multidimensional approaches encourage more complex program designs that seek to help poor people not only meet minimum material needs but also access health, education and other services. Social attitudes toward women’s economic roles have changed in the direction of acceptance of women working. Quantitative research on poverty dynamics is relatively rare in Bangladesh compared to the wealth of cross-sectional studies and comparisons of poverty trends. The dominant approach to poverty reduction targeted at the chronic poor has been food transfer which although vital only provides short-term food security.