Collective action in poverty reduction programs

CGIAR Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi). 2010. Collective action in poverty reduction programs. In Resources, rights, and cooperation: A sourcebook on property rights and collective action for sustainable development, CGIAR Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi). Fundamentals of Collective Action and Property Right, Chapter 1, Pp. 17-22. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/153859

Over half of the hungry people in the world are small-scale farmers, herders, and fishers, who produce food but cannot reliably feed themselves and their families. Nevertheless, poor people are themselves working to improve their lives. Even when their individual resources may be weak, Collective Action in Poverty Reduction Programs working together can help overcome limitations of wealth, farm size, and bargaining power. Collective action can provide an instrument for addressing poverty through natural resource management, income generation, reducing vulnerability, providing critical services, and allocation of rights. Collective action offers the potential to build assets and overcome poverty traps.