Can the Big Push Approach End Rural Poverty in Africa? Insights from Sauri Millennium Village in Kenya

Abstract

The greatest development challenge facing the low-income countries, especially Sub- Saharan African countries, has been making progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Sub-Saharan Africa still faces significant challenges in almost all dimensions of poverty and is not on track to achieve most of the goals, even as the MDGs are transitioned into Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Meeting the goal of halving poverty by 2015 has been a serious challenge, despite experiencing positive growth rates since 2001. Recent trends indicate that poverty levels for Africa (excluding North Africa) declined from 56.5 percent in 1990 to 48.4 percent in 2010, representing a 14 percent reduction, which was below the MDG target of 28.25 percent (United Nations, 2015). Some countries like Kenya, Zambia, Mauritania and Nigeria recorded notable increases in poverty rates between 1990 and 2010…