The meaning, causes and strategies of alleviating poverty are conceptualised differently by academics, politicians, policy makers and the poor themselves. Therefore, Chinake (1997:40) is of the view that the difficulty in defining and fighting poverty is more of a political and technical problem rather than a normal activity. Furthermore, Alcock (1993:3) blames politicians on the prevalence of poverty since they are the ones who run the country and are therefore responsible for the problems within it. For, Max-Neef (1991) we should talk about poverties not poverty since poverty is not restricted to a singular
49 | P a g e
situation. This is to avoid the traditional concept of poverty which is limited and restricted because it wholly refers to the plights of people who may be classified below a certain income threshold. The traditional concept is too economistic, thus, Max-Neef suggests that we speak of poverties not poverty. For him, unsatisfied fundamental human needs leads to poverty, for example, poverty of subsistence is as a result of insufficient income, food and shelter among others, poverty of protection is caused by bad health systems and violence among others. Poverty of affection is due to oppression, domination and manipulative relations with the natural environment among others, poverty of understanding is as a result of poor quality of education; poverty of membership is as a result of marginalization and discrimination of women, children and minorities and poverty of identity is due to imposition of alien values upon local and regional cultures, forced migration and political exile among others.
However poverties are not only poverties, much more than that unsatisfied poverty generates pathologies (Max Neef, 1991:16&17). Binga district suffers from the poverty of subsistence, poverty of protection, poverty of membership and poverty of affection. Thus, a number of NGOs are working in developing countries to satisfy some of the poverties identified by Max-Neef. In Binga CADEC focuses mainly on the poverty of subsistence (food security), understanding and sometimes the poverty of freedom. In other words CADEC in Binga is working towards the satisfaction of the poverty of subsistence, understanding and independence.
This implies that the problems encountered in implementing poverty alleviation strategies and the failure of some development efforts in Zimbabwe can largely be attributed to factors including a wrong definition of poverty and development, weak political backbone
50 | P a g e
to undertake radical change, inadequate resources for valuable jobs and lack of community participation in the development process by the poverty-stricken in projects that affect their wellbeing (De Graff, 1986; Alcock, 1993:3-6. UNPD (2001:24) advocates for the sustainable livelihoods approach since it involves action in enhancing the participation of people in planning their livelihood intervention options and adopting people-centred strategies; raising the human capital status of households and communities; promoting formal and informal employment and ensuring appropriate utilization of natural resources. In the case of CADEC, Binga people are being made their own bosses in terms of the projects they run, for example in Simatelele ward people are now doing their own projects without the directive of CADEC and in Manjolo ward people were given livestock and now they are breeding them on their own for themselves. They should be put first and participate in development because they know their real situation and they are aware of what they really need. Thus, development in this case should be a bottom-up approach. Nyerere, (1967) advocates for participatory development as a means of developing people which are the active involvement of people in planning, development, implementation and evaluation of projects and activities that affect them.
Therefore, the Binga people are being given an opportunity to realize their potential and be the biographers of their own history and accomplish self-actualization.
Nevertheless, the problem lies in the quantification of basic needs in monetary terms, and as a result poverty has often been defined in economic issue. As a result, the poverty of Zimbabwe is attributed to the deprivation of welfare, social power and lack of expanded human capabilities (World Bank, 1995:2). So as to break the culture of poverty, good strategies that aim to empower the poor are needed to give them voice and power. So
51 | P a g e
we cannot blame the poor because poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon with multifarious linkages. Similarly, Streeten (1981) supported that poverty is multi-dimensional since for him, poverty is not a single phenomenon. Poverty in Zimbabwe can also be attributed to other people’s arrogances, a lack of access to credit, and a lack of real choice over family size, drought and structural adjustment. It is sad to know that woman and children, aged and disabled are the ones who suffer a lot from poverty since they don’t have means to run away from it. This means that the effect of poverty on women and men is different. Women’s discrimination is due to the nature of their sex and this affects every aspect of their lives, including their participation in community development activities (Chinake, 1997:41).
Furthermore, the poor also lack the power to make decisions on matters that intimately affect their welfare. Again, the mechanisms of poverty are at a local level but also interlink in complex ways with national and international factors. Such factors may include government policies, international commodity prices, debts, unequal trading practices and conditional aid. Among the factors that cause poverty, geographical and climatic considerations also play an important role, since some natural conditions do no favour the production of people’s basic need for example high temperatures and low rainfall.
All what is needed is to come up with poverty intervening strategies that work effectively with the poor. NGOs, government and other stakeholders need to have a deep understanding of the causes of poverty. As a result in the bid to reduce poverty special focus should be directed towards the perception of the poor concerning poverty and solutions they dream of. Chinake (1997:41) believed that lack of understanding of poverty takes away the dignity and self-confidence from those with little or no knowledge of the
52 | P a g e
situation. Therefore, the aforementioned analysis for the understanding of poverty help to untie some of the meanings of poverty in Binga, Zimbabwe, Africa and in the world at large.