ISS-4202 Poverty, Gender and Social Protection: Debates,
Policies and Transformative Interventions
Code
Weight of the course
Period
Course Leader
Lecturer
Teaching Methods
Modes of Assessment
Contact
ISS-4202
8 ECTS
TERM 2
Erhard Berner, Amrita Chhachhi
Erhard Berner, Amrita Chhachhi
Participatory Lecture, Workshop, Tutorials
Assignment: 50%, Written Exam: 50%
Josée Haanappel
Learning objectives
Students will be able to:
 apply new gendered conceptualizations of poverty, vulnerability and social exclusion, and
analyse the multidimensional manifestations of poverty and impoverishment;
 analyse and assess debates on the state versus the market in relation to systems of social
provisioning and protection, and critically evaluate gendered/class/ethnic/caste outcomes;
 develop an in-depth understanding of the design, potentialities and limits of current poverty
reduction schemes and programmes at macro, meso and micro levels;
 identify alternative strategies, policy interventions and innovative subaltern responses aimed
at eliminating poverty on the basis of principles of gender justice and social and economic
justice.
Course description
This course examines debates, policies and interventions aiming at poverty reduction. It provides an
interdisciplinary and multi-dimensional gendered poverty lens to assess the experience of
poverty/vulnerability/social exclusion and programs of social protection and poverty reduction such as
corporate social responsibility, micro-credit, safety net programs, conditional and unconditional
cash transfers, housing/land rights, and slum upgrading. It provides a standpoint to address
asymmetry in access to resources and the care economy, the opportunity for voice and ‘citizenship in
practice’, and other aspects crucial to well-being such as self-respect, dignity, empowerment and
participation. By linking issues of redistribution of resources with issues of recognition of multiple
identities, subjectivity and agency, the course will enable students to conceptualize and apply an
intersectional approach to social, economic and gender justice .
Indicative Readings
Bangura, Y. (2010) Combating Poverty and Inequality: Structural Change, Social Policy and Politics.
Geneva: United Nations Research Institute on Social Development (UNRISD).
Barrientos, A. and D. Hulme (2008) Social protection for the poor and poorest. Basingstoke and New
York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Chant, S.H. (2007) Gender, Generation and Poverty: Exploring the ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ in Africa,
Asia and Latin America. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Hassim, S. and S. Razavi (eds) (2006) Gender and Social Policy in a Global Context: Uncovering the
Gendered Structure of ‘the Social’. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
Pearson, R., S. Razavi and C. Danloy (eds) (2004) Global, Export Oriented Employment and Social
Policy: Gendered Connections. New York, London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Rakodi, C. and T. Lloyd-Jones (eds) (2002) Urban Livelihoods: A People-centred Approach to Reducing
Poverty. London; Sterling, VA: Earthscan Publications.