The Politics of Poverty

Development professionals have recently started talking more about the role of politics in opportunities or constraints for poverty reduction, alongside the role of economic growth. This shows recognition of the role of governance in development and the need for appreciating politics when considering development opportunities. Even the notoriously economic-centric World Bank has begun to reassess its apolitical stance, through consideration of the role of corruption in development.

I write this because, in Kenya, every development goal we seek is hindered, affected, constrained or, occasionally, helped by politics and corruption. Policymaking is highly politicised, resource allocation is often unequal on the grounds of ethnicity (which is also a primarily political issue) and the inequality in the country, at an all-time high, has been made worse by corruption in all levels of politics, the judiciary, the police service and service delivery. It is an issue we deal with every day working in Kenya, and one I am particularly passionate about tackling.

Politics is in everything: governance, policy, institutions and the ‘bigger picture’ of political ideologies and systems- there is huge scope for poverty reduction strategies to be politicised. Politics and poverty will always be country specific, affected by history, political parties, ideology, civil society and the types of institution in that nation, as well as international interactions with regard to aid, trade and conflict, which all impact upon poverty and its alleviation.

The idea of pro-poor politics as opposed to pro-poor economics emerged out of the good governance debate. Good governance alone is insufficient for development- governance reforms will only benefit the poor if they have representation and influence over institutions. A pro-poor polity must have the capability and commitment to creating an environment that allows space for citizen participation to reduce poverty through empowerment and through accountability and responsiveness of the government for improved resource allocation and service delivery.

Kenyan citizens have huge political motivation. In my time living in England, I have been saddened by the lack of interest in the country’s political situation, and the lack of knowledge of politics even at the basic level (try asking a bunch of 15 year olds who the PM is). In Kenya, people have passion, commitment and interest in politics and reform. John Githongo (the former anti-corruption tzar, exiled for whistleblowing and now back in Kenya) has started a social movement called ‘Ni Sisi’ – "It is us". We, the people of Kenya, must work to hold our government to account, to not accept corrupt practice and to use the political landscape to our advantage, encouraging the implementation of pro-poor policies alongside supporting the country’s economic growth. Transparency in politics is also necessary, to provide the appropriate information to citizens to allow them to better influence policy debates and political discourse.

We need political leaders committed to poverty reduction through service delivery, economic stability, social and state security, well-devised policies, both social and infrastructural, with capacity to implement them equitably, and a state responsive to civil society. We need a state which allocates resources equitably and efficiently. We need a government that exhibits capability, responsiveness and accountability to all citizens. Only then can Kenya attract more investment potentially improving the environment for poverty reduction, and ensure equitable resource allocation.

The aim of pro-poor politics is to create a political system that allows space for citizen participation, leading to poverty reduction through empowerment and enhanced policy focus and implementation, via advocacy and improving accountability of those in power to all citizens. This process is limited by political structures and affected by the agenda set by the powerful elite.

Though a state may be considered broadly democratic, there are varying levels of democracy. Corruption, excessive Presidentialism and patronage politics may perpetuate poverty. This occurs more often in a fragmented political system where many political parties, with little regulation or commitment to the poor, compete to ‘rule rather than to serve’ the citizens.

Though it is political leaders that have official power in many polities, the civil service can affect implementation of policy and therefore poverty levels. If employment in civil service is highly politicised (and oversized), it diverts resources away from poverty reduction strategies and thus reproducing poverty in the country. Weak institutions, lacking capacity and commitment, mean the mixture of ‘formal and informal rules’ will affect policy formulation and implementation, determining whether outcomes are pro-poor or not.  Strong institutions are able to ‘rein in the power of individuals’ and produce the rule of law, via downward accountability. This will have positive effects in terms of poverty reduction, ensuring appropriate and equitable resource allocation. If institutions are weak, or informal rules dominate, the use of power cannot be regulated, leading to non-delivery of pro-poor policies, or formulation of policies which exacerbate poverty. Those who are unable to affect these informal rules therefore suffer disproportionately.

As a group, people can gain power and influence decisions that affect their lives, advocating for appropriate resource allocation and protest against ‘anti-poor’ political structures and informal rules. Influence can be used to ensure that the government use their power appropriately and effectively to improve the lives of the citizens.

But what if an environment for social mobilisation cannot be created? If political power has been gained through support from a regional group, ethnic loyalty or economic wealth, the poor feel powerless to effect change. If elites are governing in their own interests, the poor, who feel vulnerable, are unwilling and unable to challenge the state. Personal or patronage rule inhibits social organisation.

Poor governance structures affect the political capabilities of the poor, directly affect service delivery, through misallocation of resources and funds and hinder external investment and donor collaboration. Important aspects of poverty reduction are empowerment and service delivery, as well as security, from economic shocks, corruption and criminal activity. These will all be compromised by corrupt practices and informalised political structures. We need transparency and accountability measures to improve the situation, as well as decentralisation of power, thus providing citizens with knowledge about the resource allocation process. The new constitution may well help this in Kenya.

Politics is about power relations. It is the distribution of power that affects a state’s ability to implement successful poverty reduction strategies. This includes issues of corruption and conflict and can be somewhat counteracted by effective, appropriate institutions staffed according to merit rather than patronage, allowing for some regulation of power and therefore resource distribution, improving service delivery to the poorest. There must first be sufficient political commitment and capability to pro-poor politics to enable bottom-up advocacy for change. Poverty can be defined in terms of empowerment, service delivery, access to markets and security. The political system and informal rules can shape these aspects of poverty. The most crucial ingredient to political development is organisation and mobilisation of the poor, as it is they who can potentially influence those with the power to effect pro-poor change.

Education For All - a route to a future

In 2007, Kibaki's government promised free Secondary Education, following on from the universal free primary education policy rolled out in 2002. It has yet to be successfully implemented. The aim to provide children from poor backgrounds with fair access to education has been hindered by a lack of both government funding and government will. Without deviating from the topic into Kenya's issues surrounding corruption and tribalism, it is safe to say that a remote Maasai community, such as that around Ol Lentille, was never likely to be high on the list of priorities.

 

Consequently, many children from rural areas such as this have been unable to access secondary education. Primary education is often a struggle- there are no fees, but families are still required to supply uniforms, some books, there is often no food at school and in times of impending drought, pastoral families may move to better areas, or the father may be away with cattle, forcing children to stay home to look after the small livestock. Furthermore, with no electricity, water and firewood to collect, and parents who often did not have formal education, doing homework becomes impossible, meaning children from rural areas often struggle in school.

In the Lentille area, we have recently constructed a classroom, kitchen, latrines and store as the beginning of Kimanjo Mixed Day Secondary School. There is a fantastic teacher, Mr. Silanke (completing his B.Ed simultaneously), and a teaching assistant. The government are sending a headteacher (government partnership being at the heart of all our programmes to reduce aid-dependency). We are currently raising funds for a teacher/admin block and Class Two to allow the current crop of 25 Form 1 pupils to continue their education in 2012 and another form to be admitted. The next nearest schools are at Oldonyiro and Dol Dol, both of which are a public-transport ride or long walk away (several hours) and so children from Lentille area would have to board. This expense, on top of fees (which are high at the unsubsidised Dol Dol) is simply impossible for many families. At Kimanjo, costs are low, contributing only for lunch and the askari (security guard). This amounts to approx £25 per term and no child will be turned away for lack of fees.
In a letter to the primary donor, Mary, a Form 1 pupil wrote:

"Thank you for this golden chance, I could not have got education otherwise and would sit at home or become married. I now dream of becoming a secretary or a teacher when I finish and am a proud girl with my secondary education"

Jeremiah went one further with his ambitions- this is the sort of hope that this opportunity inspires in these youngsters:

“When I heard that the school was going to be built my heart melted with joy like butter exposed to direct heat. I want to be a politician and I promise that I will not be corrupt. All drug traffickers and corrupt politicians will rot in jail. I will fight hunger and poverty and kick HIV, malaria and cancer out of Kenya. I will work extra hard to make all of this come true”

So, why secondary education? Corruption and nepotism mean that the kenyan government are coming up short in several areas, so what made us focus on this for 2011? It is an extension of our support for Primary Education and Quality of Teaching and Learning, where we support 7 government primary schools with extra teachers, teacher training, resources etc., and we believe secondary education is crucial for the social, economic and political development that community members are striving for. Importantly, the decision to open a secondary school was taken by community members, including Kijabe Group Ranch chairman and Primary school head Mr. Monto, in partnership with the Ol Lentille Trust, and a lot of awareness raising and support gathering was done in 2010. It is a real community initiative, and here is why...

The Millenium Development Goals are an overview of the most important aspects of global community development. They specify Universal Primary Education (UPE) as a target for 2015 (Goal 2), but do not mention secondary education. However, it has been shown that secondary education feeds into many of the other MDGs.

Goal 1: Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger: Secondary education gives kids more opportunities in life including better chances at employment/higher income, better knowledge of how to access services and justice systems, and confidence/ability to interact in community and political systems, thereby increasing their potential to advocate for more services/food/development in their area.

Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women: education fosters confidence, knowledge and therefore empowerment. The more girls that can access secondary education, the more equal society will become. In order to improve access to education for girls, costs must be driven down so families can afford not to have to choose between children. Educating boys further in subjects such as social science also allows them to have an informed opinion on gender equality, and education often means access to more developed communities/cosmopolitan towns and cities where gender equality may be higher on the agenda than in rural areas. Educated women are far more likely to send their daughters to school. It is amazing to see the impact education has on Maasai girls' ability to participate in society as much as the men do.

Goal 4: Reduce Child Mortality Rates: This has been empirically proven by UN statistics- a mother with secondary education has 50% less chance of her child dying before the age of 5 than a mother with no education. Education also improves family and child nutrition, reducing incidence of malnutrition or disease and strengthening immunity. Secondary educated women are far more likely to immunise their children and seek medical care when necessary. Healthcare provision often has a huge stigma in traditional communities. The photo shows our healthworkers carrying out nutrition assessments in the community.

Goal 5: Improve Maternal Health: Again very well shown by UN stats. In the Ol Lentille community, Female Genital Mutilation was at a rate of 95% up until 18 months ago, despite being illegal. Now, girls with a good primary education and the prospect of secondary are choosing to say 'no' to FGM and pick an alternative ceremony instead. They see an alternative to early marriage, conforming to dangerous tradition and having many expensive children, as they believe further education can provide a better life for themselves and their children. It is estimated that each year of secondary schooling reduces fertility rate by 10-20%. The average primary school leaver in the Lentille community will have 4 children, for a woman with secondary education this falls to two. Secondary educated women are more likely to use appropriate contraceptives and seek pre and post-natal care. "It is estimated that an additional year of schooling for 1,000 women helps prevent two maternal deaths." (World Bank, 2009)

Goal 6: Combat HIV, Malaria and Other Diseases: As previously stated, education improves chances of appropriate access to health services. HIV, TB, malaria and hygiene are also key parts of the science curriculum in both primary and secondary school in Kenya, so the more kids are taught, the more likely they are to be able to prevent themselves from contracting diseases. Educated kids are more likely to access contraception, and are more likely to understand the economic and social impacts on communities and countries of pandemics such as HIV. Educated girls are less vulnerable, more able to say 'no' to sex and 'yes' to contraception, reducing HIV spread through extra-marital relations etc.

Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability: secondary education provides kids with the chance to integrate into a wider community, through ICT (including in Kimanjo secondary), teachers from cities with global knowledge and a well developed curriculum. This means they are exposed to global debates on things such as climate change. Children in Kimanjo Secondary are particularly exposed to this, since their school would not exist without the amazing conservation efforts of their community (conservation supports tourism which attracted the major donor to the school and provides the surrounding group ranches with a consistent income from bednights, conservation fees and rent from the investor/managers). There are wildlife/conservation clubs and the Solomon and David, KPSGAs (Kenya Safari Guides) impart their knowledge on environmental issues. The school is solar powered and rainwater collection is a primary concern. The children are sensitised to these issues and the importance of sustainable development, in the hope that they will advocate for 'green' ideas throughout their futures.

So, you see, Secondary Education is of utmost importance, particularly to the girls of Lentille and the girls and boys who would not otherwise be able to afford to continue schooling. These sorts of local community schools are key to providing education to as many of the poorest kids as possible, as the central government is financially unable and politically unwilling to become more involved in these communities.

If you'd like to support the cause, go to www.justgiving.com/teamlentille3p or for more information, download the '3 peaks info pack' from http://www.ol-lentilletrust.org/ which is packed with info about the programme, the charity and how you can get involved.

I'll leave you with a quote from Josephat, one of the Kimanjo students:

“When I finish my education I would like to be President of my country, so that I will be able to build more educational buildings for the poorest children like me, so that everyone will be able to learn just like me. Thank you Charlie and I hope that when you read this work of my brain you will be as happy as Sandyboy [I think he means the Sand Man]”