tailieunhanh - Assessing the Impact of Transport and Energy Infrastructure on Poverty Reduction - Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION - Lo ngại về đói nghèo và bất bình đẳng kinh tế đã thúc đẩy chương trình nghị sự phát triển quốc tế. Tuy nhiên, mối quan tâm này đã đưa ra các hình thức khác nhau theo thời gian. Trong hậu quả của chiến tranh thế giới thứ II, mối quan tâm về các hậu quả kinh tế của chiến tranh và đảm bảo phục hồi nhanh chóng ở các nước đánh bại, để tránh một sự lặp lại của hiện tượng xã hội đã tăng lên đến cuộc chiến tranh ở châu Âu và châu Á | Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Background Concern about poverty and economic inequity has long driven the international development agenda. However this concern has taken different forms over time. In the aftermath of World War II the concern was for the economic consequences of the war and for ensuring rapid recovery in the defeated countries to avoid a repetition of the social phenomena that gave rise to the war in Europe and Asia. The success of postwar reconstruction efforts in Europe andjapan led the international community to turn its attention to the poorer countries of the Third World where poverty was more deeply rooted. In the 1960s development investments often focused on large infrastructure projects designed to promote the economic growth of poor countries such as ports bridges and power plants. In the 1970s however it was recognized that such investments did not necessarily bring benefits to the majority of people mostly poor in those countries. In particular they promoted the development of urban areas and industries while failing to address the needs of the generally poor rural population. Consequently attempts to address poverty in the 1970s and early 1980s became more focused on rural development. Subsequent studies Chambers 1983 Cernea 1985 showed that rural development programs were difficult to implement successfully and often failed to reach the poorer parts of the rural population. Following the publication of the first United Nations Development Programme UNDP Human DevelopmentReport m 1990 the focus of poverty alleviation efforts shifted to the development of human capital by improving education and health care services complemented by structural and institutional change to alleviate the indirect burdens of debt and inflation on the poor. More recently these concerns have extended to the physical social and cultural environment of the poor. Meanwhile resource constraints have encouraged the withdrawal of the State from economic activities and .