Sabina Alkire
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780199245796
- eISBN:
- 9780191600838
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245797.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The sixth and seventh chapters that make up Part II of the book consist of one practical and much narrower application of the capability approach, namely, a discussion of how economic analysis ...
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The sixth and seventh chapters that make up Part II of the book consist of one practical and much narrower application of the capability approach, namely, a discussion of how economic analysis (cost‐benefit analysis) and systematic qualitative information on human impacts can be combined in order to assess the relative effectiveness of particular development activities in expanding human capabilities. This seventh chapter comprises case studies of three small Oxfam activities in Pakistan on which both cost‐benefit analysis and the further assessment of impacts were applied. The methodology described in Ch. 6 was developed, and these case studies were conducted, over nine months of field research in Pakistan with non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) that undertake income generation activities among poor communities using participatory methods. The aim was to develop a participatory method for evaluating development activities (at different stages of implementation) that field staff could implement themselves, and that would facilitate the kind of self‐direction and scrutiny of values issues advocated by Amartya Sen's capability approach. The three case studies were of women's income generation activities in Pakistan: loans for goat‐rearing, involving the local NGO the Rural Women's Welfare Organization; adult literacy and community development—the Khoj literacy activity project; and rose cultivation, involving the Marvi Women's Organization in the village of Arabsolangi, Sindh.Less
The sixth and seventh chapters that make up Part II of the book consist of one practical and much narrower application of the capability approach, namely, a discussion of how economic analysis (cost‐benefit analysis) and systematic qualitative information on human impacts can be combined in order to assess the relative effectiveness of particular development activities in expanding human capabilities. This seventh chapter comprises case studies of three small Oxfam activities in Pakistan on which both cost‐benefit analysis and the further assessment of impacts were applied. The methodology described in Ch. 6 was developed, and these case studies were conducted, over nine months of field research in Pakistan with non‐governmental organizations (NGOs) that undertake income generation activities among poor communities using participatory methods. The aim was to develop a participatory method for evaluating development activities (at different stages of implementation) that field staff could implement themselves, and that would facilitate the kind of self‐direction and scrutiny of values issues advocated by Amartya Sen's capability approach. The three case studies were of women's income generation activities in Pakistan: loans for goat‐rearing, involving the local NGO the Rural Women's Welfare Organization; adult literacy and community development—the Khoj literacy activity project; and rose cultivation, involving the Marvi Women's Organization in the village of Arabsolangi, Sindh.
