Qualitative exploration of factors affecting progress in antipoverty interventions:experiences from a poverty-reduction program in Bangladesh

Understanding and addressing the factors that affect progress in antipoverty interventions is central to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. In Bangladesh this topic has been largely explored through quantitative approaches, and we believe in-depth qualitative analyses of household dynamics in the context of antipoverty interventions is lacking. This article addresses this lacuna. Based on 49 focus group discussions and 15 case studies, we analyse livelihood dynamics of beneficiary households within a national extreme poverty alleviation program. We identify five determining factors to the effectiveness of antipoverty interventions: 1) health shocks, natural hazards, and vulnerabilities; 2) household demography; 3) inappropriate IGA planning, implementation, and monitoring; 4) dependence/inaction; and 5) political and social instability. We argue that livelihood-based antipoverty initiatives often fail because they do not address these five factors, and call for a comprehensive approach that prioritises them in program design.