Rural poverty

Problem tree

Constructing the model of change should start with a systematic problem tree which in this essay is used for the analysis of causes and results of poverty in rural China. After the brainstorming, there are several causes contributing to poverty and some negative effects on rural areas due to poverty. Remote geographic position is the main factor to hinder poverty alleviation. Rural areas in China are always located in remote regions which are far away from the urban cities. Most of these areas make a living by agriculture and confront with limited resources which conclude the limitation of funding aids, sanitation aids and natural resources (Glauben et al. 2012). The prevalence of agriculture means the less trade with urban areas and less participation in government decisions. Remote areas are also considered as isolation, lack of infrastructure and poor education (Brown & Park 2012). Lack of infrastructure could hinder the operation of normal social and economic activities of rural areas and hinder the development of society. Poor education increases the distinction between the urban and rural. Additionally, the persistent poverty in rural areas leads to the negative situation of sanitation, lack of opportunities, slow economy growth and fall behind educational resources. Negative situation of sanitation causes the prevalence of illness and increases the farmers’ financial burden. Lack of working opportunities, slow economic growth and poor educational resources lead to the low income. The completed problem tree assists to set the ideal model of change for rural areas in China.

Introduction

Poverty is a popular topic in discussing the development of countries and it is considered as one component to assess the development. Poverty is defined by the lack of basic material needs and people who live on less than $1.9 per day are considered as extreme poverty (World bank 2018). China is one of the developing country which need to solve the poverty distinction between the urban and rural. The poverty headcount ratio in China reduced from 66.6% to 0.7% for 1990 to 2015 (World bank 2018). Despite the economy growth and poverty alleviation have remarkable achievements since 1980s, the income gap between the urban and rural increases rapidly which means poor people still in the poverty situation (Wu 2016). This essay will introduce a new model of change for pointing out main factors to cause poverty and how to implement the poverty alleviation in rural China. It will discuss the principles of sustainable and participatory development, economy growth, social respect and environmental development.

Model of Change

Component 1: Participation of local people, community, government and NGOs

Participation for people, community, government and NGOs is beneficial for poverty alleviation. Participation means everyone should engage in or be considered in the decision making process, this will ensure that the residents of the areas are able to propose relevant actions that can be taken in order to elevate their poverty status. Through this, the community will be able to ensure that the micro or block grants are properly used for projects that will be majorly objective towards the elevation of the living standards of the rural residents (Food and Agriculture organization of the united Nations, 1990). The participation of the individuals at the grass root level will ensure that the resources that are provided by the government and the NGOs are well utilized at the grass root level and are properly allocated towards regional development of the rural areas (Cavaye, 2011). The involvement of the local community members will also assist in the evaluation of the existing skills and manpower within the rural areas which can be converted into assets of improving the livelihood of the community members. The promotion of local skills is a way of improving the livelihood of the locals. It’s important that the community members learn to utilize what they have to improve their livelihood other than focusing on the skills that they lack that is making them lag behind (Cavaye, 2011). During the implementation of the component, women should be involved in the participation process, this is because, research has shown that women are mostly disadvantaged as compared to men when it comes to access to vital resources and skills in the community (World Bank, 2010). Women are also known to be having good ideas towards the development of the communities however due to cultural believes and norms, women are always left out in the decision making process, therefore there is need to involve them in the process (Martinez, 2012).

Therefore, in order to elevate the living standards of the rural residents there is need to involve every entity in the community with the aim of empowering every single member in the society.

Component 2: Economic Encouraging Growth

Despite the high economic growth experienced by the country, rural parts of the country have not been able to experience the same rate of economic growth, this has led to low rate in poverty alleviation in these areas (World Bank, 2015). The model of change will aim at changing the poverty status of the rural residents through improving the economic growth of the economic growth of the rural areas. First, it will improve the agricultural practise within the rural areas, this will be done by educating the farmers on the modern means of agricultural practises that will ensure that they have high yields at the end of the production season (World Bank, 2000). Agricultural production in the rural areas will also be improved through improvement of the infrastructure to the rural sectors, this will enable the farmers to link themselves with the potential customers outside their communities thereby widening the market for their agricultural produce thereby increasing their profits (World Bank, 2010). The second mean of elevating the economic status of the rural sectors if the development of alternative sources of income other than farming from the local residents’ skills, this will broaden their income sources giving them security if agriculture fails at some point (Ramisch , 2012; Davis & Bezemer, 2004).  Through this two alternatives, the rural sectors will be able to generate constant revenue thereby improving the economic status of the rural sectors. These two components of the model component will be improved through the education of the rural population, through these, the residents will be able to acquire both agricultural and none agricultural skills that will improve their livelihoods (World Bank, 2000).

Component 3: Environment: Disaster relief and Isolation

The environmental status of the rural area affect their development is several ways, first most of the rural residents are majorly dependent on agriculture as a means of economic livelihood, however, they are experiencing problems due to the bad terrain that do not support agriculture and low fertility of the land due to low mineral content, this has made the agricultural production in the rural areas to be low (Le & Winters, 2011). The second factors that affect the rural areas too is the isolation of the rural areas from the rest of the country making it impossible for the farmers to be able to market their agricultural produce therefore cutting them off from potential customers (Ramisch, 2012). Lastly, rural area are prone to natural disasters such as flooding a vice that affect the agricultural produce of the local areas thereby resulting into low agricultural produce (Walle, 1998). Therefore in order to ensure that the livelihood of the locals in the rural sectors, there is need to solve these environmental problems. First, the locals should be trained on sustainable agriculture that will conservatively utilize the land as it keeps its fertility (World Bank, 2010). Secondly, the infrastructure to the rural areas should be developed in order to open the areas up to external markets. This could be done through use of local grants provided by the government and NGOs (Lefroy Bechstedt & Rais, 2000; Rasmisch, 2012). Lastly there is need to establish a blocked grant fund that will be given to the local to revive their livelihoods in case of lose through natural disasters (Thomas, 2011).

Component 4: Social: Dialogue & Culture

Racism and discriminations have been known from past studies as the sources of poverty in most rural areas, these has led to the isolation of the rural areas from the rest of the other parts of the country thereby causing poverty among the residents (IFHR, 2012). Therefore in order to fight the poverty in the rural areas, there is need to tackle these problem of discrimination. This problem can be tackled through dialogue. These dialogues can be organized by the NGOs together with the community members to determine the root cause of the state and the solution to the problem (Mannuthkkaren, 2012). Another social factor that can be used to improve the economy of the rural areas is the culture of the local residents. The locals can use their cultural practices as a means of tourism attraction thereby through this, locals can earn income and develop themselves (UNESCO, 2014).

Conclusion

It is identified that the causes of poverty in the rural china are economic, environmental and social factors. The solution model developed ways in which these problems can be solved. First there is need to have an all-inclusive participation of all community members in the community decision making process, which will ensure the solution of relevant community problems in appropriate ways. Secondly there is need to improve the agricultural income of the residents and also provide alternative income generating activities for the members. Third, the farmers should be educated on method of faming that will assist them in conserving the land at the same time as they improve production. Fourth, infrastructure to the rural areas should be developed to open up the areas to external markets. Fifth, there is need to come up with disaster grant that will assist the residents in case they are experience sith natural disasters. Sixth, there is need for the NGOs to dialogue with the locals on the causes of the discriminations and the solutions to them and lastly the locals to use their culture to promote tourism as a means of getting income.

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