The approach of the UNDP to poverty reduction : the case of Turkey

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the approach of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a well-known international organization in the field of development regarding the issue of poverty reduction. Throughout this thesis, where the issues of development and poverty stand in the United Nations‟ agenda and the role of the UNDP as well as its contributions to the development field will be discussed. An outline of the theoretical framework and the rhetorical position of the UNDP concerning the issue of poverty reduction will be presented. Finally, how the UNDP approach works in practice with its projects for reducing poverty and whether its perspective concerning reducing poverty in a country is compatible with its rhetorical and theoretical position will be examined. iv In this sense, UNDP Turkey‟s projects aiming at reducing poverty will be analyzed as an exemplary case. This thesis reveals that the UNDP is more aligned with the “Post-Washington Consensus” (ÖniĢ and ġenses, 2005; Thomas, 2008: 434- 439) perspective and this feature of the UNDP places itself in an alternative position in a global economic order which is predominantly based on liberal economic perspectives. This thesis concludes that the framework of the UNDP Turkey‟s projects concerning reducing poverty mostly overlaps with the UNDP‟s overall approach to poverty reduction presented in Chapter 4 and its theoretical position discussed in Chapter 3; however, it should be noted that the rationale of some of these projects is not totally independent of the dominant liberal economic perspectives.