Total Effort Approach: A
Strategy to Alleviate Poverty in
the Southern U.S.
Fisseha Tegegne, Enefiok Ekanem, Safdar
Muhammad and Surendra Singh
Tennessee State University
Institute of Agricultural and Environmental
Research
3500 John A. Merritt Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37209-1561
Paper presented at a Regional Poverty Conference, organized by the Southern
Rural Development Center, July 21-23, 2004, Memphis, Tennessee
Introduction
• Poverty involves a number of distinct but
interrelated issues. They include economic, social,
policy, and institutional dimensions.
• Data show that the magnitude of poverty in the
U.S. varies regionally with the southern region
characterized by significantly higher poverty level
than the other regions.
• There is however variation in poverty level among
southern states which have historically depended
on agricultural activities involving such
commodities as tobacco and cotton. The industrial
sector is also dominated by low wage operations
such as textiles and coal mining.
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Introduction Cont’d
• Decline in government support for tobacco;
regional and international trade agreements such
as NAFTA, WTO and globalization can
exacerbate the situation in the region.
• Many core issues pertaining to poverty involve
areas such as education, health and transportation
that require substantial investment and
management capability
• Given the above, there is need to adopt a
concerted approach to alleviate poverty.
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Total Effort Approach
• The total effort approach specifically seeks to
bring the effort of government agencies, the
private sector and individuals in communities to
bear on the poverty issue at the local level. This
contrasts sharply with the traditional approach that
primarily uses various types of transfer payments.
• The approach enhances stakeholders' participation
in identifying and addressing key problems
affecting their livelihood thereby empowering
them
3
Total Effort Approach Cont’d.
• The approach helps in economizing use of scarce
resources by focusing on correct priorities.
• It provides basis for developing communication
networks among various stakeholders useful for
effective planning; implementation, and impact
evaluation.
• Looking at the total effort can ensure consistency
of proposals by different stakeholders.
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Theoretical Framework
•
•
•
•
The total effort approach is supported by:
Community Development theory, which
underscores the importance of participation by
individuals in community development activities
Welfare Economics, which maintains that those
who reap benefits arising from an activity should
bear the costs.
Economic Development theory which emphasizes
the importance of resource mobilization and
allocation for community economic development.
The purpose of theory is to guide practice by
making action possible in a given setting.
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Measures of Effort
•
In this paper total effort is defined as a combined
effort by local and external groups made up of
government agencies, private organizations (for
profit and nonprofit), and individuals
participating in community activities
Government effort
• Adoption of Policies to promote community
development activities
• Share of tax revenue earmarked for various rural
community economic development activities.
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Measures of Effort Cont’d
Private effort
• Extent of participation in community development
activities in collaboration with government
agencies and community based organizations
– Selective/Strategic involvement
– Broad/diverse involvement
• Amount of resources provided to support poverty
alleviation
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Measures of Effort Cont’d
Individual effort
• Willingness to tolerate higher level of taxes
• Participation in poverty alleviation effort in
collaboration with government agencies, the
private sector and community based organizations
in planning and implementing community
development activities.
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Some Illustrations
Author(s) and Source
Issue (s)
Finding
G. P. Green. Journal of
the Community
Development Society,
vol. 34, No.1, 2003 pp.117
Civic Involvement,
Organizational Ties,
and Local Economic
Development
Found that Communities with
extensive civic involvement and
organizational networks have
economic development programs
that generate more jobs, in
comparison to those with less civic
involvement
D. Parisi et al, Journal of
the Community
Development Society,
vol. 33, No.2, 2002
pp.19-38
Capacity of community Found the capacity for community
efficacy for Economic efficacy depends on :
development
-Community social capital
-Local civic physical infrastructure
-Human and economic
characteristics
-Community spatial characteristics
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Illustrations cont’d
Author(s) and Source
Issue(s)
Finding(s)
M. R. Williams et al,
Journal of the
Community Development
Society, vol. 33, No.2,
2002 pp.61-71
Partnership/
collaboration for
leadership development
programs
Institutions of higher education
should work more closely with
community-based organizers to plan
and administer community
development programs
J. S. Sharp et. al., Journal
of the Community
Development Society,
vol. 34, No.1, 2003
pp.36-56
Involvement of
corporate businesses
and non-profit
organizations in
community
development activities
Using a case study and network
analysis found links between the
business sector and the non-profit
sector were beneficial to various
community development activities
including facilitating flow of
resources and developing local
networks to optimize community
capacity for local action
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Summary and Implications
• Assess tradeoff between different objectives to
establish priorities
• Policy plays an important role in promoting the
total effort approach
• There is need for Land grant Universities to
actively participate in poverty alleviation research
and outreach
• It is necessary to have a system for monitoring and
evaluating impacts/outcomes of community
development activities
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Challenges
• The performance of the macro-economy and
policies and their impact on the local condition
• Difficulty of getting people involved in
community activities and retaining those with
leadership abilities.
• The issue of what the best organizational form is
for effective use of the total effort approach
• Willingness of existing local power structure to be
flexible and work with others from outside
• Methodology for evaluating impact of community
development activities
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