Searching for a New Approach to Face Poverty on the Local Level, a Case Study in a Small Russian Town

Abstract

This paper re-examines poverty in a small Russian town, drawing attention to the public attitude towards the poor and the readiness of local society to be involved in the process of helping these people. The Russian official measurement and general approach to the study of poverty are not adequate to targeting the involvement of wider social groups in poverty reduction. This process needs a new approach for investigating poverty in Russia and the implementation of new social security services. A new approach could be based on interaction between people in difficult situations, local society, authorities and other stakeholders. This paper examines the opportunity to employ the idea of a participatory methodology for providing social security in the Russian Federation.

Keywords:

• poverty
• social insecurity
• participatory approach

Acknowledgements

I want to express my gratitude to our research team: Ann-Mari Sätre, Rebecca Kay, Leo Granberg, Mikhail Teodorovich, Alla Varyzgina, Alexander Soldatkin and Margarita Lobanova, who participated in research work in different important roles.

Additional information

Funding

The author greatly appreciates the support from Lobachevsky State University of Nizhni Novgorod, the research grant from the Swedish Research Council, the funding from Nizhny Novgorod Scientific Research Centre for Economics, Society and Science (EON) and the research collaboration grant from the Swedish Institute.