Poverty, institutions and interventions: a framework for an institutional analysis of poverty and local anti-poverty interventions

At a time when technological innovations are making our world increasingly smaller and our production systems are becoming increasingly more efficient, the benefits of economic growth and development as a whole have not been able to reach all of society. Indeed, many poor countries, characterised by their disadvantageous position in the global society and continuously plagued by weak governments, internal strife and natural disasters have missed out on many of the benefits of growth and development. Within countries that do gain advantage from the various developments of globalisation, significant groups continue to be excluded from the benefits of this new-found prosperity. It is quite significant that a generalised conclusion such as this is still a reality at the turn of the century, despite decades of national and international effort to promote development and combat poverty.