The question of the poor

Abstract

Rejecting the neutral, managerial, donor-driven, and client-oriented developmentalism of the third sector, this chapter argues for reinventing the meaning and location of the third sector as a normatively and theoretically new paradigm that is anchored in the emancipatory political project of transforming dominant structures of power, protecting human rights, and increasing the sphere of democratic life for the poor. Based on an interpretive analysis of two popular pro-poor urban and rural civil society struggles in India, the chapter argues that the notion of the poor requires re-conceptualization of their agency and rights in general. Although the voices of the poor have become more pronounced and effective in the electoral space in India, NGOs and civil society organizations continue to create new modes of mobilizing the poor into a cohesive and robust political force and so redefine governance and democracy. In short, the chapter advocates and endorses a more citizen-centric and agency-oriented activist approach to defining the voluntary sector and abolishing poverty. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010.