Other voices

“Poverty is pain; it feels like a disease. It attacks a person not only materially but also morally. It eats away one’s dignity and drives one into total despair” — a poor woman in Moldova

“Poverty is like living in jail, living under bondage, waiting to be free” — a young woman in Jamaica

What is poverty? Who are the world’s poor women and men? What are their aspirations? Why do the poor remain poor? At the turn of the new millennium, the World Bank collected the voices of more than 60,000 poor women and men from 60 countries, in an unprecedented effort to understand poverty from the perspective of the poor themselves. Voices of the Poor, as this participatory research initiative is called, chronicles the struggles and aspirations of poor people for a life of dignity. Poor people are the true poverty experts. Poor men and women reveal, in particular, that poverty is multidimensional and complex -- raising new challenges to local, national and global decision-makers. Poverty is voicelessness. It’s powerlessness. It’s insecurity and humiliation, say the poor across five continents.

Connecting the Local to the Global: Voices of the Poor by Deepa Narayan and Talat Shah. Framework Paper (184 Kb PDF)
Global Coalitions for Voices of the Poor Web Guide