What is Poverty?: The Aspirations and Obstacles of Participants in Anti-Poverty Programs

Despite the ubiquitous use of the term, the exact meaning of “poverty” is still debated and approaches to defining the construct may produce stigmatization in the population experiencing the phenomenon, further exacerbating the nature of the condition itself. To address this gap, an organization operating a portfolio of anti-poverty programs revised its procedure for conducting a community needs assessment to focus on the aspirations of its program participants and the obstacles related to those aspirations. A mixed methods grounded theory approach was utilized, leading to the development of a model that explicated the experience of individuals participating in an anti-poverty program. The results revealed strong, salient personal aspirations and perceived obstacles among program participants. Demonstrating commonality, these aspirations were generally aligned with those of donors to the program, with financially focused aspirations and obstacles more often cited among the program participants. In sum, the data illustrate the power of a participation-based approach to defining the experience of poverty through the lens of those experiencing it. Implications for practitioners and policymakers are discussed alongside limitations and suggestions for future research.