RUNNING HEAD: Poverty Analysis

University Of Guyana

Faculty of Social Sciences

Department of Sociology

Name: Tessa Reece

Lecture: Pearline Henry

SOC 3209- Poverty Analysis.

Question 1

Poverty is not simply about income.

Discuss the statement within the context of the multiple meanings of poverty.

With specific reference to Guyana, discuss the multiple ways that one specific

group of poor people experience poverty.

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Introduction
Poverty is a word that is being used commonly and unfortunately loosely without any deep

thought and proper context. However, there is no single definition for poverty. It is

multidimensional with many faces. Hence, a holistic approach is needed to have a better

understanding of how persons experience poverty.

Therefore, this paper will discuss multiple ways in which Guyana’s Indigenous People are

experiencing poverty.

As a result, this author will provide some definitions of poverty and allude to their meaning in a

Guyanese context relevant to the topic under review. Further, a discussion will ensue on the

nature of poverty and the disparities that exist amongst our indigenous population.

The paper will rely on data from several newspaper articles, government policy documents and

reports from reputable organisations that conduct work with Guyana’s Indigenous People.

Additionally, this author intends to give readers a clear understanding about multiple meanings

of poverty and how the Indigenous People living Guyana experience poverty different from their

counterparts in the Urban and Coastal area by adopting the view that poverty is as a result of

social structures and systems (Mosse 2010)

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Multiple Meaning of Poverty

Poverty is not simply about income, but it’s the way of life of any individual who lacks the

ability to have basic necessity in order for him/her to survive and live a decent life. The

definitions below help to prove or re-emphasize that poverty is not simply about income (World

Bank 2009).

 Poverty is the lack of shelter, poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor.

Poverty is not being able to go to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not

having a job, it is the fear of the future living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child

to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerless and the lack of

representation and freedom.

 Poverty in a its general sense is the lack necessities, such as food, shelter, medical care,

and safety are generally thought necessary based on shared values of human dignity.

However what is necessity to one person is not uniformly a necessity to others. Needs

may be relatives to what is possible and are based on social definition and past

experience (Sen, 1999).

 (Valentine 1968) posits that ‘’the essence of poverty is inequality. In slightly different

words the basic meanings of poverty is relative deprivation’’.

Meanwhile, this author is of the view that poverty is a state or condition in which a person or

community lacks financial recourses and essential for minimum standards of living. Poverty

means that the income level from employment is so low that basic human needs cannot be met,

poverty stricken people and families might go without proper housing, clean water, healthy food

and medical attention. Each nation may have its own threshold that determines how many of its

people are living in poverty.

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Poverty among Indigenous People living in Guyana.

The Guyana study on the Indigenous Women and their families who were living in poverty was

carried out in 2017 by the Government of Guyana, through the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples

Affairs in collaboration with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF). This study came at a

time when the Government of Guyana had intensified its efforts to ensure that the most

vulnerable women and children have equal access to services being offered to better their way of

lives. Guyana has the largest population of indigenous people in the Commonwealth and

Caribbean (Guyana Census 2012). Guyana has a population of over seven hundred (700, 000)

and of that amount, 10.3 % are categorized as Indigenous People. Most of whom settle within the

hinterland areas of Guyana.

Social Structures and Systems “The social processes that make poverty and inequality durable

include boundary making and exclusion which give particular importance to the effects of

identity and social categorisation. These effects are long-lasting because they operate on broad

categories regardless of the attributes of individuals” (Mosse, 2010: 1157)

As a result, social and cultural systems have impacted the quality of life of Guyana’s Indigenous

People in that the social processes of boundary marking, identity construction, social

categorisation, and exclusion essentially lead to low levels of attainment of success among

critical sectors such as education, health care, public infrastructure and economic activities and

structures.

Education - The latest data emanating from the Ministry of Education (MOE) reveals that whilst

there has been some progress made with respect to the quality of education being delivered to the

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Indigenous population, the reality remains dim when compared to other citizens from coastal

Guyana.

According to the UNICEF 2017 Report the lack of qualify education for adolescents and children

is mainly attributed to the lack of qualified teachers and resources, poor infrastructure at schools,

lack of schools- mainly secondary schools in the hinterland, and difficulty of accessing them;

financial situation of families influencing some adolescents to prematurely start working in low-

skill jobs; perception that education is not necessary; the inadequacy of the curriculum; lack of

employment opportunities, and teenage pregnancies are all reasons listed as factors for hinterland

children dropping out of school. (Guyana Times 2017)

However, the statistics for trained teachers and better access to modernized schools puts the

coastal students starkly ahead. Equality alarming is that in all the national and regional

standardized exams, Indigenous students fall behind by almost doubled when compared to their

coastal counter parts (MOE 2019).

Public Infrastructure- Indigenous women and children don’t have access to infrastructure and

modern life facilities to the same extent as their counterparts who live in coastal areas and cities.

This fact hinders their access to good quality education, health and other social services. Almost

44 % of households in the hinterlands do not have electricity and access to portable water. Road

networks and access to internet connections grossly lag behind.

Health Care- The saying that the health of a nation is important to its wealth is very applicable

to this analysis as all data indicate a significant disparity between what is obtained for health

facilities and health care in the hinterland villages ads compared to coastal Guyana. Thus the

wealth of the Indigenous people is appalling as figures of the last five national budget reveal that

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the Indigenous population of Guyana receives less than 30 % of what the citizens of coastal

Guyana receives for health services. (Parliament of Guyana)

Economic activities and structures

The Indigenous People of Guyana have had to resist several attempts to have their land overrun

and used by others for economic activities such as mining and logging. According to (INews

2016) Most Amerindian villages are finding that their untitled customary lands are being

overlapped by logging and mining concessions. The report further informs that “Two thirds of

the conflicts are disputes with miners and loggers on both titled and untitled lands. There are also

a few unresolved disputes about Church claims to land plots within the title area of Amerindian

Villages,” it stated, adding that in other cases, the village council has rejected outsiders’ claims

to land within a village title. This deprivation of access to land has caused economic activities

that can ultimately provide wealth for the communities to be setback. Therefore, contributing to

the impoverished conditions and lack of economic power that is needed to alleviate the socio

economic beings of the Indigenous People of Guyana. Unfortunately, the lackluster approach to

resolve these land disputes and address the issues of bullyism have impacted negatively on

wealth and development of these hinterland communities. Meanwhile, legal recourse is readily

available via the judicial system for residents of coastal Guyana. Judicial settlement of land

dispute among the Indigenous population is almost unheard of.

Unemployment and lack of employment opportunities was identified as a major problem among

Indigenous people. Most of the men are into agriculture, fishing, or mining and quarrying while

the women are employed in the educational, food and agricultural handcraft sectors. The male in

this family would usually migrate to seek a better economic circumstance for their families, but

in doing so some of them never return home evidences would have shown, that this put a strain

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on the women who is now left with the responsibility to fend for themselves and households. It is

reported that their children would seek employment to help with the economic situations within

that family.

Conclusion

In this paper, the author used the argument that poverty is as a result of social structures and

systems. An analysis was done by comparing the education, health care, public infrastructure and

economic activities and structures among the Indigenous People and that of the citizens of

coastal Guyana.

The evidence points that the Indigenous People are at a higher risk in experiencing poverty in

Guyana. This is due to the fact that most of the Indigenous people, lack access to the same

resources and facilities that are available to their coastal counterparts. Many of their children

have to leave school at an early age to assist their families. Poverty is not only lack of monetary

resources, but it involves access to land, quality education, modernized public utilities and

infrastructures and the ability to develop economically.

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References

1. UNICEF. (2017). Study on Indigenous Women& Children in Guyana. Retrieved from

https://www.unicef.org/guyanaSitAn on Amerindian woman and Children-Final-web.pdf

2. Bradshaw, T, k. (2007). Theories of Poverty and Anti-Poverty Programs in Community

Development. Community Development 2007(38) 1. ProQuest Research Library Page 7.

3. Forte, J. (1993). Poverty in Guyana- transition issues 20-21. Amerindians and poverty
Pages 53-75.

4. Guyana Times Newspaper Online edition 14th October , 2017

https://guyanatimesgy.com/educational-quality-gap-between-hinterland-and-coastland-
increased-unicef-2/

5. INews Online 24th December, 2016 https://www.inewsguyana.com/amerindian-customary-

lands-overlapped-by-mining-concessions-apa-report/

6. Mosse, D. (2010). A relational approach to durable poverty, inequality and power The
journal of development studies, - Taylor & Francis

7. (N.A). (May 29, 2018).What is Poverty, Types of Poverty Line Explained- Paper Tyari.
Retrieved from

8. Parliament of Guyana accessed 20th March, 2020

http://parliament.gov.gy/publications/documents-laid/

Http://www.worldbank.org/