UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, 7th Annual International Postgraduate Conference

Inclusion Exclusion

16-18th February 2006

Friday 17 February 12:00 – 1:30: Panel E1: Social Exclusion

Babken V Babajanian (London School of Economics): ‘Social exclusion and poverty reduction strategies in Armenia and Tajkistan’

The paper examines how social exclusion has been understood and conceptualised in the official poverty reduction policies in the low income post-Soviet countries Armenia and Tajikistan. It is based on the synthesis of the existing literature and data on poverty and fieldwork that I carried out in both countries.

The paper maintains that social exclusion is an important determinant of poverty in both countries. In particular, it affects the ability of the poor to secure a job, access resources and social services, and take advantage of existing economic and social opportunities.

The paper suggests that social exclusion has not been adequately understood and addressed in the current poverty reduction policies in both countries. The definition of poverty that has informed poverty reduction policies in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) is primarily based on the concept of income (or subsistence) poverty. While this approach is useful for practical application, it is also narrow and rigid. The PRSPs do not focus on the social processes responsible for material and social deprivation. Instead, PRSPs place a strong emphasis on the need to improve economic growth, assuming that improvement of well-being of the poor will result from improvement in their material situation. PRSPs propose a rather top-down method of poverty reduction, in which the needs and preferences of the poor are not explicitly addressed, and in which there is little emphasis on the need to involve the poor themselves in poverty reduction efforts.

The paper then provides explanations for why social exclusion and poverty have been narrowly understood and conceptualised in the PRSPs in both countries. The paper examines the extent of ‘pro-poor’ orientation of poverty reduction policies in Armenia and Tajikistan within a comparative perspective.

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