Ending Poverty in South Asia : Ideas That Work

The case studies in this book were
developed as part of a year-long learning process initiated
by the World Bank in 2003-4 to examine large scale poverty
reduction programs in a wide range of developing countries
around the world. This volume presents 12 of the case
studies from South Asia. . The last two decades saw
substantial change in the countries of South Asia. All
countries of the subcontinent experienced more rapid growth
than in the earlier decades and also saw a definite
reduction in the incidence of poverty, resulting in the
improvement of the lives of hundreds of millions of poor
people. One common element was the adoption of broad based
economic reforms involving rethinking of earlier approaches
to development. The reforms in South Asia were notable in
that they were homegrown, gradual, and accompanied by
continual redesign and fine tuning. Individuals can make a
difference in fighting poverty when ways are found to
institutionalize creative ideas and apply them on a scale
extending beyond pilot projects. This book recounts 12 such
cases from a range of countries and sectors in the South
Asia region, with a focus on how these programmes scaled up
and on the potential for applying lessons in other settings.
These case studies do not offer a blueprint or model for
poverty reduction; there is no single model. Nor do they
cover every issue that is important. But they suggest the
range of ideas that can be successful and the underlying
principles that cut across these diverse initiatives. All
the programmes tap the imagination and ingenuity of the
South Asian people- in government offices, in civil society
organizations, in the private sector, and in the villages
and urban neighborhoods. All seek to empower poor people to
access the economic opportunities and basic services so
necessary to human dignity. The lessons are complex, and
applying them will undoubtedly require redesign and
fine-tuning to fit the initiatives to the local context.
What is important, however, is that the experience of the
last two decades has shown that reforms and scaling-up
innovations can work in South Asia-and if these examples can
be strengthened and expanded in the coming decades, the
dreams of a subcontinent free of poverty may be realized.