SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION EXPLORING THE LINKS

The author critiques five decades of poverty alleviation strategies, noting that while the percentage of people in absolute poverty fell from 28% in 1987 to 24% in 1998, the absolute number remained stable at 1.23 billion. The text argues that previous approaches—ranging from physical capital investment in the 1950s to the 'Washington consensus' of the 1980s—failed because they confused the means of growth with the end goal of poverty reduction. The author proposes a working model based on sustainable development and Joseph Stiglitz's stakeholder framework, emphasizing the role of social capital and the need for transformation to be driven from within developing countries rather than imposed by external donors.

• Global poverty statistics show limited progress over a decade: the proportion of people in absolute poverty (below the dollar-a-day line) decreased from approximately 28 per cent in 1987 to 24 per cent in 1998, yet the absolute number of people in this category stayed constant at 1.23 billion.
• Development strategies over the last 50 years are characterized as failures for most developing countries, with the exception of East Asia, where success was attributed to the local modification of approaches rather than donor-led strategies.
• Past development paradigms shifted through various phases: physical capital and infrastructure in the 1950s-60s, human capital in the 1970s, and the 'Washington consensus' in the 1980s which prioritized trade liberalization and privatization.
• A critical failure in previous strategies was the neglect of supporting institutional structures and the tendency to assimilate traditional institutions into modern ones, creating 'dual societies' and deepening the divide between the wealthy and the poor.
• The author proposes a sustainable development working model that integrates Joseph Stiglitz's five stakeholders—private sector, public sector, community, family, and the individual—and analyzes their needs across physical, human, natural, and social capital.
• Sustainable development is presented as a framework for addressing distributive and inter-generational justice, extending the definition of resources to include human, technological, and institutional assets alongside natural ones.

APA

Duraiappah, A. K. (2000). SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION EXPLORING THE LINKS. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pov_sd_overview.pdf

Chicago

Duraiappah, Anantha Kumar. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION EXPLORING THE LINKS. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2000. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pov_sd_overview.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Duraiappah |first1=Anantha Kumar |title=SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION EXPLORING THE LINKS |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=December 2000 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pov_sd_overview.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{duraiappah2000sustainable, author = {Duraiappah, Anantha Kumar}, title = {{SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION EXPLORING THE LINKS}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2000}, month = dec, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/pov_sd_overview.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }