Poverty Persistence and Transitions in Uganda: A Combined Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis

This paper examines a variety of individual, household and community factors to understand the factors underlying poverty transitions and persistence against the backdrop of the record of poverty reduction in 1990s in Uganda. It uses a combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis.

The key focus of this paper is to identify factors that are important drivers, interrupters and maintainers of poverty. The paper then synthesizes qualitative and quantitative insights on chronic poverty.

Two factors most strongly identified in both the analysis as drivers of poverty are:

• Poor gender relations: Practice of paying bride price, domestic violence, conservative attitudes among both men and women, polygamy;
• Alcoholic Abuse: Financed by sale of household assets.

Factors identified interrupters of poverty are:

• Education;
• Monogamy and small family size;
• Ownership of assets such as small land holding or cattle.

The paper attempts to demonstrate that there is considerable value add in combining qualitative and quantitative approaches equally and in a meaningful way to understand drivers, interrupters and maintainers of poverty in countries other than Uganda as well.