Access to Participation
Decision-Making About Livelihood Choices
Direct involvement in institutional processes that affect their livelihoods, such as determining the course of agricultural research, is crucial for poor farmers. Often, there is no route for their input, but that does not have to be so. The West African Rice Development Agency uses participatory methods to involve farmers in selecting which new rice varieties should be developed, thus giving poor farmers an opportunity to share information on their preferences and needs with rice breeders (Chapman et al. 2003:20).
Participation in Broader Policy Processes
In many poor countries, poor people have participated in broader development initiatives dealing with poverty and poverty reduction. Citizen participation has been part of the process of crafting national poverty-reduction strategies in several countries, such as Bolivia, Kenya, and Uganda. The poor have also participated in creating citywide strategies for poverty reduction in approximately 80 cities around the world, including Cali, Colombia; Johannesburg, South Africa; Kampala,Uganda; and Haiphong, Vietnam (Narayan 2002:46, 70).
Citizen involvement is a central element in so-called “participatory poverty assessments”—an important tool to inform national policies and budgets. In several countries, participatory approaches to poverty assessments provided insights that had not been obvious from official survey data. In Uganda, for example, citizen participation led to increased investment in water supply and more flexible budget allocations allowing districts to respond to local needs. In Vietnam, people’s participation led to the targeting of urban as well as rural poverty, steps to address the ethnic and gender dimensions of poverty, and the piloting of “citizen report cards” on the delivery of basic services (Narayan 2002:38).
Participation in Planning and Budgeting
Pioneered by the city of Porto Alegre, Brazil, participatory budgeting processes enable the poor to have more say in how government resources are distributed. In participatory budgeting, citizen meetings generate information about people’s priorities for government budget allocations, which are then aggregated into neighborhood-level priorities. In Brazil, more than $260 million was allocated between 1996 and 1998 to projects selected by participants in citizen meetings, the vast majority of which addressed needs in poorer, underserved districts. As of 2003, some 180 municipalities in Brazil were engaged in some form of participatory budgeting processes (Serageldin et al. 2003:8-9).
Inclusion of Women and Marginalized Groups
In many countries, remedying deep, long-standing social inequality necessarily entails enacting laws requiring the inclusion of previously excluded groups. One example of such an initiative comes from Bolivia, where the Law on Popular Participation provides for the participation of indigenous people’s organizations in municipal decision-making. Under this law, which is meant to improve local governance and aid poverty-reduction efforts, “community vigilance committees” are empowered to investigate municipal decisions. These citizen committees even have the power to halt the distribution of central government funds to local governments if they determine that planning and expenditures are not in line with community demands (Narayan 2002:42-43). In India, it took a constitutional amendment mandating that women must make up at least a third of the councilors in panchayats (village-level councils) to create real opportunities for women’s voices to be heard in municipal leadership.
Access to Justice
Research shows that the poor are less likely to access the legal system to secure or enforce their rights to use natural resources. A study of seven countries in Africa and Asia found that poor communities are often reluctant to pursue legal claims based on their environmental grievances. In general, economically disadvantaged groups lacked familiarity with legal institutions as well as the necessary financial resources to use legal remedies effectively (Boyle and Anderson 1996, cited in ESRC/GECP 2001:18). Intimidation by local elites and government officials can also make the poor and others of low social status hesitant to assert their right to live in an environment adequate for their health and well-being. For the poor who lack formal, legally recognized tenure to their land and natural resources, the threat of retribution is especially chilling.
Securing and Enforcing Property Rights
Clearly defined property rights, and confidence that these rights can be efficiently defended against interlopers, are fundamental to governance systems built on the rule of law. As mentioned earlier, appropriate property rights regimes are also central to encouraging the poor to invest in their land or in resource management in ways that bring economic development and poverty reduction. However, in many developing economies, corruption, excessive regulation, and complicated property registration procedures significantly burden citizens,especially the poor.
In Guayaquil, Ecuador, for example, it has been three decades since the passage of land reform laws, and most households are aware of their property rights and the importance of securing title to land. But the majority of these poor households are incapable of navigating the legal labyrinth—including long delays and high costs—surrounding the land titling process. In theory, the process costs about $350, or as much as three months of a typical worker’s salary. In practice, the actual cost is closer to $750—a prohibitive sum for most poor families (Moser 2004:42-44). A similar situation exists in Peru, where land registration processes to secure property rights requires land holders to engage with 14 different agencies involved in conferring a single title (Narayan 2002:54).
In several countries, poor people’s associations and cooperatives are working with local authorities and financial institutions to address the need for secure land tenure rights and housing. In Mumbai, India, a slum-dwellers’ organization has been able to acquire land, housing, and basic infrastructure services for its members. In the Philippines, a scavengers’ association whose members live on a 15-hectare municipal dump in Quezon City has helped mobilize member savings to acquire legal rights to land through land purchase. And in Guatemala, 50,000 squatters have formed cooperatives, acquired land through legal means, and are now repaying long-term loans (Narayan 2002:66). Meanwhile, Ghana’s landregistration law specifically provides for registration of customary land rights, and pilot projects are now underway to build capacity among traditional-land administrators to improve record-keeping and land registries (Bruce 2005).
Procedural Injustice
The poor typically are most affected by procedural injustices in the legal and court systems. For instance, the poor are least able to afford the costs imposed by long delays in court proceedings. Also, the poor are more likely to be disadvantaged by language barriers in the legal system, such as court documents or hearings in languages not widely spoken by the rural poor (Girishankar et al. 2002:289).
Mechanisms for Alternative Dispute Resolution
For poor people living in remote rural areas, the existence of decentralized local processes for resolving disputes may make the difference in their ability to secure or enforce their rights. However, if such decentralized alternatives are poorly executed, they can end up disadvantaging the poor by reinforcing the dominance of local elites and incorporating local norms that discriminate against women, children, and other socially marginalized groups (Girishankar et al. 2002:289).
Fair Permitting and Licensing
A key element of access to economic justice for the poor is the ability to obtain permits and licenses for small business enterprises via processes that are transparent, fair, and efficient. The state of affairs in many developing countries departs considerably from this norm. In Zimbabwe, for instance, red tape and expensive licensing fees constrain the ability of poor communities to launch small businesses based on wildlife tourism or other products and services. Registration of a tourist company in Zimbabwe takes more than a year and costs about US$14,000 to obtain needed certificates and guarantees (Narayan 2002:55).
In Lima, Peru, registering a small garment workshop employing a single owner-operator takes on average 289 days and costs in excess of US$1,200, or more than 30 times the monthly minimum wage. In Indonesia, the official license fees for registering a small business are about US$400, but the actual costs often are typically triple that amount (Narayan 2002:54-55). (See Figure 3.6 Barriers To Doing Business.)
Fortunately, some state and local governments are starting to make it easier for small entrepreneurs to secure their rights to operate. In Bali, one municipality introduced “one-stop shops” for business licenses and permits. This has not only helped businesses obtain licenses more efficiently but has also augmented government tax revenues by 75 percent. In India the government of the state of Gujarat removed the requirement that gum collectors—virtually all of them poor women—must sell gum at artificially low prices to a handful of government selected buyers (Narayan 2002:56).
As the numerous examples cited above show, progress in empowering the poor in their rights to information, participation, and justice can be made. Such progress is central to giving the poor the political and business tools to take advantage of their nature-based assets and to participate in rural commerce that leads to sustainable economic progress—the route out of poverty.
