Livelihood strategies of the landless poor in Bangladesh : a social development perspective

Abstract

The study is about understanding the relevance of the institutional structural approach of social development (ISAS) to promoting the well-being of the landless poor in rural Bangladesh by improving their livelihood. In this regard, as an additional purpose, the study has attempted to understand the relevance of the existing legal and policy provisions relating to the landless poor's rights in Bangladesh to promoting their well-being. Here legal and policy provisions have been considered as supportive measures to the ISAS in promoting the well-being of the landless poor. Although the main focus of the study is the relevance of the institutional structural approach of social development, various approaches of the social development perspective have informed the study's theoretical frame. The research has adopted case study approach within the qualitative research framework. The philosophical stand of the researcher follows the constructionist, interpretivist and hermeneutics trends. Within this philosophical paradigm, the study has employed in-depth-interviewing, observation, focus group discussion and document analysis as the main methods of data collection. These methods are considered as best fitting for the adopted paradigm to work with the research problem. The study has used NVivo 10 qualitative data management software in the process of its data management and data analysis. However, in the case of document analysis, manual techniques have also been employed. As the referencing system, the study has followed the rules of the Australian Guide to Legal Citation (AGLC 3).1 The findings of the study show that although the institutional structural approach of social development is not completely used, many of its components (principles, features and Livelihood Strategies of the Landless Poor in Bangladesh-A Social Development Perspective strategies) are adopted in the livelihood strategies of the studied rural landless poor of Bangladesh. Many components of the landless poor's livelihood strategies are approximating to the components of the institutional structural approach of social development. Many of the components of the landless poor's livelihood strategies that are approximating to the components of the ISAS have been found effective for the well-being of the landless poor. However, if the initiatives for improving the landless poor's livelihood condition (see the meaning of poor's 'livelihood' and the 'livelihood strategies' in chapter 3) could adopt the strategies that are very much similar to the ISAS, more effective results could be obtained. In that case, some initiatives are required to address the barriers in the way to adopt the strategies. The results also show that the ISAS works better than the individualist approach (IA), the communitarian approach (CA) and the statist approach (SA) in this regard. The findings further have explored that the legal and policy arrangements relating to development and well-being of the landless poor of the studied rural area of Bangladesh are helpful to promoting the well-being of the poor and supportive to the institutional structural approach of social development (ISAS) as well as the greater social development perspective (SDP) that is mentioned as the social development approach (SDA) in this study. Findings of the study also show that the legal and policy provisions linked to the well-being of the landless poor are not implemented properly. There are some barriers that create impediments in implementing the provisions. However, the results suggest that if the available legal and policy arrangements could be enforced appropriately it would be easier to achieve an effective well-being of the studied poor. It should be mentioned that the result of this study is context specific, and only generalizable to the population that is similar to the 'study population' of this inquiry.

Date of Award	2016
Original language	English