A ripple in development? - Channel Research

3 Poverty, livelihoods
and economic recovery
3.1 Introduction
This thematic section will look at the relevance and effectiveness of
international and national initiatives to facilitate the economic recovery
of tsunami-affected livelihoods and at the intended or unintended
changes that were brought about as a result of such efforts.
The questions from the ToR are:
1. How have economic actors revived their activities after the tsunami,
and what has been the role of aid?
2. What is the relative importance of external aid in economic development?
3. To what extent have livelihoods efforts recognised differing livelihoods
circumstances?
4. Has recovery programming recognised the risk of chronic poverty?
The document review, as well as the survey, shows that external aid was
a significant factor during the relief phase – even a key factor. This is
especially so in terms of meeting basic needs such as food security, shelter,
water and sanitation. This helped to alleviate the short term or transitory
poverty associated with the tsunami.
While poverty has been traditionally measured in monetary terms,
it has many other dimensions. Poverty is associated not only with insufficient
income or consumption but also with insufficient outcomes with
respect to health, nutrition, and literacy, and with weak social relations,
insecurity, and low self-esteem and powerlessness.
However there are difficulties in measuring poverty reduction using
non-monetary indicators. This is because it is not possible to compare
the value of the non-monetary indicator for a given individual or household
to a threshold, or “poverty line,” under which it can be said that
the individual or household is not able to meet basic needs.
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