Wen-Being Differentiation and Uncovering Poverty on the Basis of Poor People Tells: A Case Study at Two Communities in Oromiya Zone, North-Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

The article narrates the output oj field research that was undertaken in two communities in
Oromiya Zone on the basis oj participatory research approach. The participatory wealth
ranking was used to differentiate households on the basis oJlke community members' own
criteria Jar labelling households according to well-being status. The method allowed to
come up with wealth rank matrix that puts households in the case study communities into
Jour well-being strata: Of-danda'a (rich). Juddgalesa over age Iyyessa (poor) and Dhaba
(destitute). Among the main attributes that the participants  (in individual or in group) oj
wealth exercises considered include: livestock ownership, own landholding size
and the capability to access land by other mechanisms, size crop harvest (how long a
peasant his household from his own harvest), production oj cash crops. additional
income Jrom activities, labour supply, health situation oj a household's
breadwinner and other members. size oj remittance received, whether or not a beneficiary
from social and to use modern Jarm inputs. My central arguments in
this article are two-Jold. The first is related to methodological issue that participatory
wealth ranking can provide clearer and more complete oj well-being inequalities in
a community than when we apply a variable oj income data to be generated through
household survey. the approach empowers at community level giving
them the chances to narrate on their livelihood situations, and to explain in their own
terminology regarding the constraints and processes involved in their mobility between
different strata oj well-being. As such. it is suggested that there is a need to reconsider our
research approches to have deeper understanding oJpoverty.