Südasiens Armen helfen - aber wie? Über Probleme und (begrenzte) Möglichkeiten ländlicher Regionalentwicklung

Abstract

In South Asia we have witnessed various rural development programmes during the last decades which have more or less completely failed to achieve one of their main targets, namely the eradication of poverty. The positive impacts of non-governmental organizations engaged in "rural poverty eradication programmes" depend on outside resources, both in terms of material and bargaining power, which are typically not linked to the dominant structures of the region concerned, i.e. the results achieved are often rather transitory. Yet, despite their limitations, such programmes and their related agencies receive growing public and academic attention in first and third world countries. This is due to the fact that they legitimize "good fortune" and make us once again believe that poverty can be overcome by "target-specific" programmes without questioning its socio-structural and global context as well.