~~~~~% ~ ~ ~ t 3, 4nL>-. 0 . C::9 C) ° t y X__ .f z 4_ _-. & 4 c r.. >eL <> 2 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-- - - =- CX : a S Z 00~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Uz INw - : .i __:_i', When Things Fall Apart Qualitative Studies of Poverty in the Former Soviet Union Cover Privatization of the nearby collective farm prompted this Kyrgyz family to return to a semi-nomadic life of herding sheep Photo by Kathleen Kuehnast When Things Fall Apart Qualitative Studies of Poverty in the Former Soviet Union Edited by Nora Dudwick, Elizabeth Gomart, and Alexandre Marc, with Kathleen Kuehnast Foreword by Ravi Kanbur THE WORLD BANK Washington, D.C 7 2003 The Intemational Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, DC 20433 Telephone 202-473-1000 Intemet wwwworldbankorg E-mail feedback@worldbank org All nghts reserved First Pnnting December 2002 1234 05 04 03 02 The findings, interpretations, and condusions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank or the govemments they represent. 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Chapter 10 repnnted, with changes, by permission of the Office of the United Nations Hligh Commissioner on Refugees (UNHiRC). ISBN 0-8213-5067-6 Cover photo Kathleen Kuehnast Design Naylor Design, Inc, Washington, DC Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data When things fall apart qualitative studies of poverty in the former Soviet Union / edited by Nora Dudwick, Elizabeth Gomart, Alexandre Marc p cm Includes bibliographical references and index ISBN 0-8213-5067-6 1 Poverty-Former Soviet republics 2 Former Soviet republics-Economic conditions I Dudwick, Nora, 1949- 11 Comart, Elizabeth, 1967- III Marc, Alexandre, 1956- HC340 P6 W46 2002 339 4'6'0947-dc2l 2002024162 Contents Foreword vtu Acknowledgments ix About the Authors xi Map of the Former Soviet Union xiv Introduction A Qualitative Approach to Understanding I "New" Poverty in the Forner Soviet Union PART I. BACKGROUND 7 Chapter 1: A Window on Social Reality. Qualitative Methods 9 in Poverty Research Chapter 2: From Soviet Expectations to Post-Soviet Realities: 21 Poverty During the Transition PART II. THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC, TAJIKISTAN, AND 29 UZBEKISTAN Chapter 3. Poverty Shock: The Impact of Rapid Economic 33 Change on the Women of the Kyrgyz Republic Kathleen Kuehnast Chapter 4: Between Civil War and Land Reform. 57 Among the Poorest of the Poor in Tajikistan Elizabeth Gomart Chapter 5. Standing on a Knife's Edge: 95 Doing Business in Uzbekistan Elizabeth Gomart vi When Things Fall Apart PART II. ARMENIA AND GEORGIA 113 Chapter 6: When the Lights Went Out: Poverty in Armenia 117 Nora Dudwick Chapter 7: No Way Back: Social Exclusion among the 155 Poorest in Armenia Appendix A: Losing Ground: The Education and 193 Health Sectors in Armenia Appendix B: Trying to Reach the Poor: The Paros 205 Social Assistance Program Elizabeth Gomart Chapter 8: No Guests at Our Table Social Fragmentation 213 in Georgia Nora Dudwick PART IV. UKRAIINE AND MOLDOVA 259 Chapter 9: "Children Have Become a Luxury " Everyday 263 Dilemmas of Poverty in Ukraine Catherine Wanner and Nora Dudwick Chapter 10: After the Return: The Struggle of the Crimean 301 Tatars to Reintegrate Elizabeth Gomart Chapter 11: Eating from One Pot: Survival Strategies in 333 Moldova's Collapsing Rural Economy Hermnine G. De Soto and Nora Dudwick PART V. LATVIA 379 Chapter 12: Prosperity and Despair. Riga and the Other Latvia 383 The Institute of Philosophy and Sociology (Riga), with Nora Dudwick Conclusion: Toward a Better Understanding of the 427 Multiple Dimensions of Poverty in Transition Societies Research Teams 431 Index 435 Foreword There are three interrelated reasons why this book is to be welcomed: atti- tudinal, methodological, and political. By attitudinal I mean that the book departs from the normal perspective of analysts in the international agencies and elsewhere, from seeing poverty in terms of dry statistics to seeing it in terms of human experience. Much of the analysis of poverty has been deeply technocratic in its orientation There is nothing wrong with this, except when it becomes the exclusive focus. It is important to take a dispassionate view of the causes and consequences of poverty, and to gauge the broad trends through reliable statistics But the motivation for attacking poverty has deeper wellsprings It comes from the human connection to the expenences of others-from the instinctive feel- ing that, but for the grace of God, those experiences could be ours Listen- ing directly to the voices of the poor, unmediated by national statistical offices, is an important part of establishing this connection. By methodological I mean that qualitative methods in poverty analysis complement the more standard quantitative techniques that international agencies have used to great effect. There is a misconception among quanti- tative analysts that qualitative analysis is 'soft" and without rigor. Nothing could be further from the truth. As the papers in a forthcoming conference volume I am editing have established, quantitative analysis often has only the appearance of hardness.' And as shown both there and in this book, anthropologists and sociologists have high methodological standards, too Moreover, this is not an either-or issue. Poverty analysis needs both quanti- tative and qualitative methodologies if it is to be complete and compre- hensive, and each can help the other This book demonstrates convincingly the insights that qualitative analysis can bring to standard quantitative analysis. By political I mean relevance to policy, and this encapsulates the method- ological and the attitudinal. I have often found that policymakers' suspi- cions of technical analysts stem from a feeling that they, the policymakers, inhabit the real world whereas the analysts do their work in some other world, one without real people. Some of the policy prescriptions that we viii I When Things Fall Apart analysts offer are dismissed, because a policymaker can see the difficulty of implementing them in a real world of real people with real feelings and real responses to the policy. The tension between the real world of policymakers and the more abstract worid of analysts is a healthy one, provided each group leams from the other. This requires analysts as a community to be more aware of real people, and this book is an important contribution to that process. The former Soviet Union is fertile territory in which to explore the inter- action between qualitative and quantitative analysis. The high expectations of the transition from central planning-ironically, a system that was driv- en by a seemingly rational and quantitative logic-have clearly not been met. The debate over why what happened, happened will no doubt contin- ue. But what did happen affected real people, and this book documents their stories. In doing so, it illuminates some of the causes of poverty and some of the reasons why the transition has had such devastating effects in terms of poverty. One may hope that, in combination with more standard quantitative analysis, the qualitative analysis presented in this book can help policymakers design better the next phase of the transition. Ravi Kanbur T H. Lee Professor of World Affatrs and Economics Cornell University 1 Qual-Quant Qualitatve and Quantitatve Poverty Appraisal Complementanties, Tensions and the Way Forward, Proceedings of a Conference Held at Cornell University, March 15-16, 2001, edited by Ravi Kanbur New Delhi Permanent Black Publishers Forthcoming Available online at www people comell edu/pages/skl45/papers/QQZ pdf Acknowledgments This volume has been many years in the making. The earliest study report- ed here was carried out in 1993, the most recent was completed in 1998. It was in 1999, however, that the editors first discussed gathering these stud- ies into a single volume. There are many people whose contributions over this long gestation we wish to thankfully acknowledge First, we thank the members of the research teams that made each of the studies possible. Many of them were already trained in the social sciences or were graduate students; the remainder came from a range of disciplines and occupations medicine, social work, teaching, joumalism, law, or non- governmental organizations. Some had worked with poor people before; others were deeply shocked by what they learned about their own country. Without their intelligence, willingness to work long hours in uncomfortable conditions, and serious commitment to the task, these studies would not have been as compelling as they are. Several colleagues have provided feedback at different stages of the process Deniz Kandiyoti (School of Oriental and African Studies, Universi- ty of London) and Michael Woolcock (World Bank) peer-reviewed the col- lected chapters and provided detailed and incisive comments on each. Kath- leen Kuehnast (Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University) provided extensive input on the volume as a whole, contributed to the introductory chapters, and, very important, inspired the title of the collection as well as those of several individual chap- ters. Meg Wilder provided early editorial support dunng the painful process of converting long reports to shorter chapters. Kim Kelley provided patient and hands-on guidance through the final publication process. And the authors are particularly indebted to Michael Treadway's sensitive and metic- ulous editorial input for the final stage of revisions. We are grateful for fund- ing received to help this undertaking from the team that produced the ear- lier World Bank publication, Making Transition Work for Everyone Poverty and Inequality in Europe and Central Asia. We would also like to thank Kevin Cleaver, former Sector Manager, Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development, Europe and Central Asia Region (ECSSD), for his strong x I When Things Fall Apart support throughout the long publication process, and Laura Tuck, current sector manager of ECSSD, for her strong support during the final phase of publication. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) commissioned an earlier version of the chapter on the Crimean Tatars-and kindly granted permission for its republication. Perhaps the final paragraph should be reserved for the people whose experiences and perspectives we have tried to capture in this volume. The people we interviewed throughout the eight countries covered in this vol- ume responded graciously, generously, and forthrightly, providing a rich and nuanced commentary on their own lives and on the changes under way in their societies. To the extent that this volume contributes to our knowl- edge of poverty in the former Soviet Union, it is due in huge measure to the willingness of poor people to talk about their lives About the Authors Hernine G. De Soto is a senior social scientist at the World Bank in the Social Development Unit of the Europe and Central Asia Region. She earned her doctorate in social and cultural anthropology at the University of Wisconsin in 1988. She has taught anthropology at the University of Wis- consin-Madison and held research appointments in the Women's Studies Program and Women's Studies Research Center, and at the Center for East- ern Europe, Russia and Central Asia at the University of Wisconsin-Madi- son. She was also a research scholar at the Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin and at the Bauhaus in Dessau, Germany Her recent publications include the co-edited volumes Culture and Contradiction: Dialectics of Wealth, Power, and Symbol (1992), The Curtain Rises Rethinking Culture, Ideology and the State in Eastern Europe (1993), and Fieldwork Dilemmas: Anthropologists in Postsocialist States (with Nora Dudwick, 2000), as well as "Reading the Fools' Mirror. Reconstituting Identity Against National and Transnational Politics' (Amencan Ethnologist, 1998) and "Contested Landscapes: Reconstructing Community in Post-Socialist Saxony-Anhalt" (in Martha Lampland, Daphne Berdahl, and Matti Bunzl, eds., Altenng States Ethnographies of Tran- sition in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union, 2000). Since joining the World Bank in 1999, she has conducted social assessments and studies of rural development and poverty in Albania, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Repub- lic, Moldova, and Tajikistan. Current activities include developing associa- tions for poor women and children in Tajikistan and cultural centers for the Roma, an ethnic minority group in Albania. Nora Duduwck is a senior social scientist at the World Bank in the Social Development Unit of the Europe and Central Asia Region. She received her doctorate in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1995; her research there focused on nationalism and historical memories in inde- pendent Armenia Since joining the World Bank in 1996, she has organized and carried out qualitative research studies of transition and poverty in Alba- nia, Armenia, Georgia, Latvia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, and Ukraine, as well as studies on the social impacts of transition xii I When Things Fall Apart on rural life, education, and social structure. Recent publications indude an edited volume, Fieldwork Dilemmas: Anthropologists in Postsocialist States (with Hermine G. De Soto, 2000) and several articles: "Political Structures in Post- Communist Armenia: Images and Realities" (in Karen Dawisha and Bruce Parrott, eds., Conflict, Cleavage and Change in Central Asia and the Caucasus, 1997), "Out of the Kitchen, Into the Crossfire" (in Mary Buckley, ed., Post- Soviet Women: From Central Asia to the Baltic, 1997), and "Independent Armenia: Paradise Regained or Lost?" (in Ian Bremmer and Raymond Taras, eds., New Politics, New States: Building the Post-Soviet Nations, 1997). Elizabeth Gomart received her master's in international affairs from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. She worked in Armenia for Save the Children (SCF) US in 1994 and 1995. There she conducted qualitative research for a joint USAID-SCF humanitarian strate- gy and community development program. Since 1996 she has worked as a social scientist for the World Bank and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees in Eastern Europe (Crimea). She has designed and carried out over a dozen qualitative poverty assessments, sec- toral assessments (education, health, small business development), and program evaluations in the former Soviet Union (Armenia, Moldova, Tajik- istan, IJkraine, and Uzbekistan) and the Caribbean (Dominica, Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Saint Lucia). She has also conducted a qualitative par- ticipatory evaluation on client perspectives for a Washington-based social service organization. She is a member of the Washington-Baltimore Center of the A. K. Rice Institute and operates an organizational consulting practice for U.S nonprofit and social service organizations. Kathleen Kuehnast is a research associate at the Institute for European, Rus- sian, and Eurasian Studies at the George Washington University. She received her doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of Min- nesota in 1997, where her research focused on the politics of gender ide- ologies in the transition in the Kyrgyz Republic. She has conducted poverty studies in Central Asia for the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank; these resulted in several co-authored books and various articles, induding Women and Gender Relations: The Kyrgyz Republic in Transition (with Armin Bauer and David Green, 1998) and A Generation at Risk: Children in the Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan (with Armin Bauer and David Green, 1997). She is the recipient of IREX, Wenner-Gren, Social Science Research Council, and other research grants and fellowships, indud- ing most recently a Mellon Foreign Area Fellowship at the Library of Con- When Things Fall Apart I xiii gress, where she researched the topic of 'Islam and the New Politics of Gen- der Ideologies in Central Asia " With Carol Nechemias she is co-editing a volume, The Role of Women in the Post-Soviet Transition, for the Kennan Insti- tute of Advanced Russian Studies. Alexandre Marc holds a doctorate in political economy from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris Before joining the World Bank in 1988, he con- ducted research on Africa at Oxford University and performed consulting work on economic and social development for the Societe d'Etudes Economtques et Sociales in Paris. At the World Bank he has worked in the Social Dimensions of Structural Adjustment Unit, assessing impacts of structural adjustment on the poor in Africa He subsequently designed social mitigation and social investment programs in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia and conducted studies on the design of such programs to better reach the poor. After joining the Human Development Department of the World Bank's Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region, he managed projects in health, education, and social protection. In 1999 he became manager of the ECA Social Development Unit. Consisting of 15 social sci- entists, the team focuses on local institutions, social inclusion, and conflict prevention, as well as the integration of social development concems into World Bank programs in ECA. Catherine Wanner is an assistant professor in the Department of History and the Religious Studies Program at The Pennsylvania State University. She received her doctorate in cultural anthropology from Columbia University in 1996. She has written articles on poverty and the role of social networks in mitigating poverty, the emergence of new forms of community in post- Soviet society, and migration and immigration. Her first book, Burden of Dreams: History and Identity in Post-Soviet Ukraine (1998), was based on ethnographic research into the rise of nationalism in Soviet Ukraine and on how the nationalist paradigm influenced cultural politics after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Her forthcoming book, Communities of the Converted: Religion and Migration After the Fall of the Soviet Union, focuses on the reset- tlement in the United States of refugees and recent immigrants from the for- mer Soviet Union. She has been the recipient of grants and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Science Research Council, and Fulbright-Hays. Since 1995 she has been an independent con- sultant to the World Bank, conducting and overseeing research on a variety of projects relating to transition and poverty in Ukraine. xiv When Things Fall Apart (,20°- ' -T1iinn 30 40° 500 Baltic Sea ,-; ESTONM '> r> RUSSIAN A._Rig4 ;_ FED1 j -2Viniu -_ PO ~~/Minsk Moscow R U S SI A N BELARUS t gKyiv 'V. UKRAINE MOLDOVA tCfVjl km 6Cthisinau x t 1 ';5' Black Sea , GEORGIA'S '. TK Tbilisi*_ \Caspian _. 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Introduction: A Qualitative Approach to Understanding "New" Poverty in the Former Soviet Union hen the World Bank first became actively involved in the coun- W A , tries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) close to a decade ago, it embarked on a program of poverty assessments. These Al v assessments were intended to deepen the understanding of the Bank and of the dient governments of the roots and characteristics of pover- ty in these countries and to provide a more informed basis for designing poli- cies and programs to improve living standards. This volume reports findings of qualitative studies of poverty in a selection of former Soviet republics, as well as some shorter studies of specific sectors, programs, and populations, all but one of which have been undertaken by the Bank since 1993. (The exception is the study of the Crimean Tatars in Ukraine in Chapter 10, which was conducted for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.) The chapters cover Armenia, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Latvia, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan The omission of the other countries of the FSU reflects only the fact that the Bank had not yet conducted large-scale qualitative poverty studies there when this volume was planned. The fundamental nature of the changes under way in the FSU, including changes in attitudes and perceptions, called for an approach that could illu- minate and enrich the data derived from quantitative poverty surveys The The original studies excerpted in this book can be accessed at wwwworldbank org/eca/poverty/ compendium 2 1 When Things Fall Apart studies undertaken in response to this need, many of which are presented in this volume, use qualitative methods such as in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and some participatory rapid appraisal methods. Chap- ter 2 describes the methods used and addresses some of the methodologi- cal issues they raise. The studies in this volume highlight certain aspects of the dynamics of poverty in the FSU and its interaction with gender, age, and ethnicity. They deepen the understanding of how poor people in these countries experi- ence, explain, and cope with their new circumstances; the studies also iden- tify the range of cultural and administrative barriers that hinder poor peo- ple from accessing public services and exploiting economic opportunities. Above all, they highlight important psychological dimensions of poverty in the FSU, including the collapse of values and beliefs that accompanied the increase in poverty and the resulting disorientation experienced by the poor. Finally, the studies demonstrate the continuing importance of informal sup- port networks and the persistence of paternalistic relationships and expec- tations that the old regime had fostered. When the centrally planned economies of the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, many people both inside and outside of these countries optimistical- ly assumed that, with the right policies, they would rapidly transform them- selves into successful market economies and participatory democracies. Indeed, these dramatic political changes created new opportunities, gave voice to many, and provided the population with grounds for hope The rapid collapse in production, however, led to a dramatic surge in poverty (see Table 1). Reversing this trend has proved extremely difficult. For large segments of the population, success in reestablishing macroeconomic sta- bility has not translated into better living standards. It is now clear that pos- itive change depends on success in reforming institutions, a daunting task that may take many years. Along with the collapse in production and the spread of poverty, the gap between rich and poor has rapidly increased. Although some FSU countries have experienced positive economic growth in the last few years, it does not appear to have meaningfully reduced poverty. As the opening paragraph of a recent World Bank report on poverty notes: In 1998, one of every five people in the transition countnes of Europe and Central Asia survived on less than US$2 15 per day A decade ago, fewer than one out of twenty-five lived on less than US$2 15 per day. While these esti- mates are at best an approximation given serious data deficiencies, there is lit- tle doubt that absolute poverty has increased dramatically in the region More- over, the increase in poverty is much larger and more persistent than many would have expected at the start of the process (World Bank 2000, p. 1) Introduction I 3 Table 1. Incidence of Poverty in the Former Soviet Union, by Country Percent of population living on Country Survey date $2 15 a day $4 30 a day Tajikistan 1999 68 3 95 8 Armenia 1999 43 5 86 2 Moldova 1999 55 4 84 6 Kyrgyz Rep 1998 491 841 Azerbaijan 1999 23 5 64 2 Georgia 1999 189 542 RussianFed 1998 188 503 Turkmenistan 1998 7 0 34 4 Latvia 1998 6 6 34 8 Kazakhstan 1996 5 7 30 9 Ukraine 1999 3 0 29 4 Lithuania 1999 31 225 Estonia 1998 2 1 19 3 Belarus 1999 1 0 104 Note Recent survey data were not available for Uzbekistan Pnvate consumption data were not available for Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, or Kazakhstan GDP per capita in current prices is used instead Private consumption data for Azerbaijan and Lithuania are for 1998, GDP per capita (first half of 1999) is used for Ukraine Because of errors related to survey design and implementation, poverty may be overestimated for some countries and underestimated for others Source World Bank (2000) Poverty in the FSU has unusual features that distinguish it from poverty elsewhere; these features have implications for the choice of policies and programs to alleviate it A weaker link between poverty and lack of educa- tion than in other parts of the world, for example, reflects the relatively high level of education achieved by most Soviet citizens. Similarly, poverty and unemployment are correlated more weakly than one would expect, because much of the labor force remains employed but receives very low wages, which are often paid late or irregularly. For many of the poor in the FSU, material standards of living, including housing and access to municipal services, remain better than in developing countries with the same level of GDP per capita. This is not surprising given the Soviet state's heavy investments in social and economic infrastructure. Today, however, the inability of poor households to contribute to maintain- ing this inheritance and the failure of govemments to maintain infrastruc- ture and provide services are worsening living conditions and contributing to the deterioration of valuable assets. Likewise, higher fees combined with demands for informal payments for services are serious barriers that often prevent poor people from accessing municipal and social services. The deepening and persistence of poverty since the collapse of the Sovi- et Union have contributed to a profound shift in values and in people's per- ceptions about economic and social reality. Unlike in poor countries else- 4 1 When Things Fall Apart where in the world, poverty in the FSU struck people who had been well integrated into their society. For the most part, the newly poor had enjoyed secure employment, access to basic services, and a sense of stability. Serious shortages of consumer goods and the intrusiveness of the state in everyday life were balanced by this sense of predictability All these changes have taken place in the context of a sweeping restruc- turing of state and society. Former citizens of the Soviet Union suddenly found themselves living in new nation-states that are fundamentally redefining the identity of their populations. This reordering of state and nation has created difficulties for new minorities as well as given rise to armed conflicts, which have greatly increased poverty and distress. In the context of such ideological, political, and social disruption, the hardships of poverty in the FSU have been accompanied by symptoms of enormous social stress These indude increases in suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, and crime and violence; the breakdown of families and the abandonment of children, and stress- and trauma-related illnesses that have contributed to heightened mortality rates. These issues appear with depressing regularity in the qualitative poverty assessments in this volume. Finally, increased poverty and weak institutions have severely weakened social cohesion and integration, putting some groups at serious risk of exclusion. Elderly people living on their own, female heads of households, the disabled, refugees and displaced persons, and some ethnic, linguistic, and religious minorities are finding themselves gradually excluded from many informal networks of solidarity or support at a time when deteriorat- ing public services make such support essential for survival. The rest of this book is divided into five parts. Part One consists of chap- ters on methodology and key findings. Chapter 1 discusses the rationale for using qualitative methods to link the experience and perception of poverty to the behavior and attitudes of the poor and describes how researchers applied these methods in the post-Soviet context. Chapter 2 identifies some of the most dramatic impacts of impoverishment on the perceptions, atti- tudes, coping strategies, and social pattems that have taken place over the past decade in the countries studied. Each of the remaining four parts of the volume is devoted to a specific region of the FSU. Part Two consists of poverty studies from the Kyrgyz Republic (Chapter 3) and Tajikistan (Chapter 4) and excerpts from a study of small businesses in the Karakalpakhstan and Khorezm regions of Uzbek- istan (Chapter 5). These three countries share many features of their histo- ry and culture, but there are also significant social and economic differences among them. Tajikistan, which had been the poorest Soviet republic, is now Introduction 1 5 the poorest of the FSU countries Its population has suffered from civil war, displacement, and widespread destruction. The resource-poor Kyrgyz Republic experienced a serious collapse of GDP after independence. Its pop- ulation is extremely poor, and inequality is rapidly increasing. Although richer in natural resources, Uzbekistan has been more reluctant to intro- duce economic reforms and continues to impose an autocratic style of gov- ernment on its citizens Part Three includes studies on poverty and access to social services in Armenia (Chapters 6 and 7) and a study of poverty in Georgia (Chapter 8) These countries are notable for their high level of educational achievement, the entrepreneurial spirit of their populations, and their strong sense of national and cultural identity. Yet the collapse of productive and trade links with other parts of the FSU left these countries, which had been tightly inte- grated into the Soviet Union, in a state of severe collapse Ongoing violent conflict and large-scale population displacement have deepened poverty in both countries Part Four includes two poverty studies from Ukraine (Chapters 9 and 10, the latter being a special study of Crimea's indigenous Tatar popula- tion) and one from Moldova (Chapter 11), which also contains excerpts from a study on rural reforms there. Although distinguished by vast differ- ences in size and population, the two countries share a border as well as a similar degree of difficulty in reforming agriculture and industry Poverty in Moldova has steadily increased since the Soviet collapse, turning it into one of the poorest countries in the region despite its rich agricultural land. Part Five presents the case of Latvia, the richest country described in this volume. Like the other Baltic countries, Estonia and Lithuania, Latvia was less integrated into the Soviet economy, and it preserved some of the mar- ket traditions it had enjoyed before annexation to the Soviet Union during World War II. Although its reform-minded government has introduced important structural changes, deep pockets of poverty and despair persist in this relatively prosperous country. Taken together, these chapters offer new insights into how poor people in the former Soviet Union understand and cope with the host of predica- ments in which they find themselves. The authors hope that this volume will contribute to an increased appreciation of the important sociological, psychological, and existential dimensions of poverty in these countries. Reference World Bank 2000 Making Transition Work for Everyone. Poverty and inequality in Europe and Central Asia. Washington, D C PART ONE BACKGROUND I - J~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~wi! Ft Xa M? I , g *1 == r - WP-; w|Xst ) > > Q~~~~~~~~~-V . - ;- - -e -. "Al 11 1 > - c., s- 7- I' _ X - k_ ~~~toc.<_* . M '. o ' t - . - . .t - ffi -_ ffi s_s * '4t-N Jo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ w - ,- t- 4, fi X,, _ . l - } ; CHAPTER 1 A Window on Social Reality: Qualitative Methods in Poverty Research R ecent years have seen an increasing consensus among develop- ment specialists that poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon that is not adequately captured by measurements of income or enditure. Broadening the concept of poverty to include vulner- ability, social isolation, insecurity, and voicelessness, however, has increased the demand for a broader range of qualitative and quantitative methods, particularly in countries undergoing rapid change, where the usual concepts and categories for measuring poverty are in flux. Since the mid-1980s the World Bank has relied primarily on its Living Standards Measurement Surveys (LSMS) and Priority Surveys to measure poverty at the household level. The LSMS provides detailed household-level information ranging from measures of consumption, income, and expendi- ture to the use of health and educational services. The Priority Survey is based on the same methods but uses shorter questionnaires and larger sam- ples. In the mid-1990s, in the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU), the Bank began implementing the LSMS to replace the Soviet-era household budget panel surveys, incorporating additional sectoral modules, which var- ied depending on the country. The need to use qualitative research tools to complement the LSMS is particularly pressing in societies in transition from socialist central plan- ning, where the rapidity of change and the dearth of information about the 9 10 I When Things Fall Apart direction of change or the extent of local variation can seriously undermine the reliability of the usual categories and definitions that such surveys employ. This chapter identifies some of the comparative advantages and some of the limitations of qualitative and quantitative methods for poverty research; discusses relevant issues of representativity, generalizability, and validity, and finally, describes how qualitative methods were employed in the studies in this volume. Characteristics of Qualitative Methods Most social scientists concur that the dividing line between qualitative and quantitative research methodologies is far from rigid, and that poverty research should ideally integrate both (Carvalho and White 1997; Kandi- yoti 1999). Hentschel (1999) argues that it may be more useful to analyti- cally separate "methods" from "data," since qualitative methods (such as observation) may yield quantifiable data, such as the number of people attending a given event, and quantitative methods (such as the LSMS) may provide insights into qualitative issues, such as household relationships or political participation. A key characteristic of qualitative methods is their focus on understand- ing human behavior in its social, cultural, political, and economic context. Within this framework, studies that use ethnographic and participatory methods, as well as longitudinal village studies camed out in a single com- munity, can be more "contextual" than large-scale household surveys, even when the latter are adapted to the particular country in which they are administered. Contextual methods that take account of local perceptions, norms, and practices may be more difficult to generalize to an entire coun- try. On the other hand, depending on the care taken in selecting sites and respondents, they can produce findings with significant implications for policy (Hentschel 1999). Despite general agreement that understanding local perceptions and practices is important for designing sensible policies, qualitatively oriented researchers differ from quantitatively oriented researchers in how they eval- uate the validity of their findings. Validity must be considered in relation to the specific objectives of qualitative research. Although most qualitative researchers avoid extreme positivist assumptions about "objective reality," they do assume a shared social understanding of reality against which the descriptive validity of an account can be evaluated. Whether the research is quantitative or qualitative, the validity of the account can stand or fall A Window on Social Reality I 11 according to the training, competence, and integrity of the interviewers. The objective of accurately representing people's experiences and perceptions also raises the issue of interpretive validity, which researchers often try to address by grounding their accounts or narratives in the actual words and concepts of the people studied, and submitting their report to the commu- nity for feedback before making it public. (See Maxwell 1992 for a useful description of validity in qualitative research ) Another frequent reservation about qualitative research concems its gen- eralizability Much qualitative research is not intended to lead to findings that can be immediately applied to a wider population (external generalhz- ability). For the most part, generalizability in qualitative research involves the use of case studies to develop a theory about how observed social processes can make sense of similar persons or situations. On the other hand, internal generalizability-the extent to which one can make accurate inferences from limited data, such as an interview-is very important in qualitative research (Maxwell 1992). Perhaps the more relevant issue, however, is designing qualitative tools that can elicit data that meet the specific needs of policymakers Designing local or regional policies, for example, generally requires greater under- standing of local values and expectations and social norms and networks, all of which qualitative methods are designed to elicit. Large-scale surveys may be more appropriate for generating the kind of data necessary for policymaking at the country level. Yet even here, qualitative studies that include diverse sites and households or individuals representing a broad range of personal and social characteristics can complement quantitative research by generating hypotheses, by explaining anomalies or unexpected trends, and by illustrating how different aspects of poverty come together in concrete cases. Because qualitative research often involves smaller samples than quanti- tative surveys, it generally makes use of purposive rather than probability or random sampling. Done well, purposive sampling allows the research to include sufficient variation in the phenomena under study (Maxwell 1992, p 293); of course, done poorly, purposive sampling can introduce consid- erable bias into the findings. Although qualitative research sometimes makes use of probability sampling, it often focuses on analyzing the behav- ior of outliers to understand why they deviate from the usual pattem (Bam- berger 2000, p. 10). Both qualitative and quantitative methods are only as good as the instru- ments used and the interviewers who use them. Because qualitative meth- ods are inherently flexible, and their data analysis is less systematized than 12 1 When Things Fall Apart that for quantitative research, their success in providing valid and useful findings depends perhaps even more heavily than that of quantitative meth- ods on the interviewing and reporting skills of the interviewers, as well as on the analytical skills of the lead researchers. How Do Qualitative Studies Complement Quantitative Surveys? Qualitative and quantitative methods can complement each other in a number of ways, depending on how they are sequenced Qualitative meth- ods can be used to develop hypotheses, refine the design of quantitative sur- veys, or explain anomalies in quantitative findings. Quantitative methods can be used to determine the extent to which qualitative findings can be generalized to larger populations. Spalter-Roth (2000, p. 48) suggests that research intended to influence social policy ideally indudes both numbers, to define the scope and pattems of a problem, and a story, to illustrate how the problem manifests itself in daily life and to evoke empathetic under- standing. Qualitative research can allow the individual subjects themselves to chal- lenge and revise the categories of inquiry. The LSMS and other quantitative poverty surveys use closed-ended, prepared interview questions to which people respond by choosing among a set of limited, precoded answers. The design and objectives of such surveys predude the possibility of interviewees contextualizing or qualifying their answers or taking issue with the way in which a question or a choice of answers is formulated. Although this type of research design may not pose significant problems in countries that have been studied for a long time, it can undermine the accuracy of data in such volatile and poorly understood regions as Eastem Europe and the FSU. Pre- liminary qualitative work can therefore complement quantitative survey methods by providing more context-sensitive formulations. For example, local strategies for circumventing Soviet-era registration laws, along with adaptations to recent poverty, have affected the very com- position, definition, and function of "households' in a way that can make responses to questions about household income, expenditure, and deci- sionmaking extremely unreliable (Kandiyoti 1999). Pattems of employ- ment are important for devising poverty reduction strategies, but the very definition of "employment" is now at issue in these countries. Qualitative research has demonstrated that many people who are engaged in informal or private sector activities respond to questions about their employment sta- tus by describing themselves as "unemployed," not because they are hiding A Window on Social Reality 1 13 information, but because they equate "real" employment with state sector employment. Qualitative methods allow subjects to introduce issues about which researchers may be unaware In Eastern Europe and the FSU, for example, where deep and widespread poverty is a recent phenomenon, many of the newly poor feel profound humiliation and shame at a predicament once associated only with the most marginal and dysfunctional members of soci- ety. Understanding this experiential aspect of poverty has become impor- tant for analyzing why people respond to their situation the way they do. By giving interviewees the freedom to introduce new issues, qualitative methods complement the extensive data produced by surveys such as the LSMS with information on the range of innovative and unusual strategies that people use to cope with poverty. A strength of qualitative methods is their ability to shed light on the rela- tionships between different behaviors as well as on issues of causality, because they encourage people to explain the reasoning that goes into their own decisionmaking and strategizing. in this way qualitative methods are a practical complement to quantitative methods, in which asking "why" questions often yields responses that are too general or superficial to be use- ful (Kozel and Parker 2000, p. 61; Chung 2000). Qualitative methods are essential for getting at issues of process and the nitty-gritty details of how people pursue and achieve their goals or overcome obstades. Because of the relatively smaller sample size and case study methodolo- gy, qualitative approaches can encourage the delicate probing often neces- sary to move to the more complex reality that may underlie the informant's initial response. In the post-Soviet context, understanding why many peo- ple were reluctant to leave their state sector jobs even when their salaries were months, even years, in arrears was at first a baffling issue In-depth interviews that probed for motivations found that people often remained at work because of nonsalary benefits, such as the social status and self-respect associated with their position, and because their work collectives continued to be an important source of information and informal social support. Qualitative methods provide a contextualized description of attitudes and behaviors that help in understanding why and when people respond to certain events or circumstances in an unexpected way. For example, extend- ed family networks and a strong ethos of reciprocity among relatives can obscure the reasons that some elderly people or families do not benefit from such assistance. Open-ended interviews in Armenian villages, for example, revealed that although people asserted that they would never let a member of the community starve, they were less likely to give assistance to 14 1 When Things Fall Apart needy elderly people who had adult children, on the grounds that it was the responsibility of the children to support their parent. Likewise, certain peo- ple-in one case, a disabled couple who had married and had children- were seen as "undeserving" of assistance and therefore were allowed to fall into deplorable conditions. Qualitative methods can also complement quantitative survey methods by eliciting information on behaviors that violate social norms or laws (including unusual domestic arrangements, prostitution, stealing state property or using it for private business, bribe taking, smuggling, and nar- cotics use and sale). Obtaining such information depends in part on pur- posive sampling, which benefits from personal introductions or already established relations of trust between interviewee and interviewer, from careful choice of "expert" informants, and, most important, from the rap- port and trust that can build up in the course of an interview that is only minimally structured, lasts several hours, and takes place in the home. Such interviews have produced significant information about different forms of corruption, induding the role of "connections" in obtaining access to val- ued resources or information. The Assumptions and Tools of Qualitative Methodologies Qualitative methods rest on the assumption that reality is socially con- structed through ongoing communication and negotiation within commu- nities or groups, and therefore that every member of the community pos- sesses important local knowledge. Because social reality and "local knowl- edge" are constantly evolving through this ongoing process (an example of which is how local mores evolve in response to outside influences or eco- nomic pressures), it is more realistic to assume that there will never be complete agreement within a community about "reality," but instead a range of opinions and judgments. This assumption about the nature of real- ity and knowledge strongly shapes qualitative methodology Purposive sam- pling also allows the researcher to construct a better picture of local social relations, by selecting further respondents on the basis of a given interview Another important assumption underlying the studies in this volume is that perceptions are important because they influence behavior Because the short-term, applied nature of poverty research does not allow for extended participation in and observation of host communities, qualitative poverty studies often rely on teaming outsiders, who are less prone to take local practices for granted, with insiders, who may share local concerns, under- A Window on Social Reality 1 15 stand culturally appropriate ways to approach communities and pose ques- tions, and can interpret responses in ways that make sense to outside researchers Local interviewers are in a good position to probe, because they are better able than outside researchers to identify responses that appear incomplete, ambiguous, contradictory, or evasive. They are also better posi- tioned to share information about their own experiences and perceptions as a means of increasing rapport and stimulating a freer exchange of informa- tion. Insiders are also more able to judge the relative social position of a household. For example, an outsider might not even notice the brand of a television set in a home, whereas local interviewers are often able to relate the brand of an item (such as a more or less expensive or even an imported model) to the relative social status of a household in a particular commu- nity The most important methods employed by the studies in this volume include discussion, particularly in the form of semistructured individual, household, and "expert" interviews. The semistructured nature of the inter- view loosely directs the conversation to issues central to the research but allows informants opportunities to raise new issues, or even to challenge the very assumptions underlying particular questions. Even the order in which an informant addresses issues can provide useful data regarding his or her relative priorities. Household interviews provide a wealth of data on how different household members experience or cope with poverty Moreover, observations of interactions among family members or with neighbors often provide information about the psychological or social ramifications of poverty (including lack of privacy or the presence of domestic tension) that respondents may be unwilling or even unable to discuss. They are also a rich source of data about intrahousehold and intrapersonal dynamics and the norms that govem, for example, relations between the sexes or between generations. Whereas each qualitative interview provides a window on social reality, information from additional individuals (or groups, or households, or other units of analysis) further ennches understanding of this social reality. Thus, although qualitative researchers distinguish between "expert" infor- mants (people assumed by virtue of their formal or informal position or job to have a broader than usual understanding of a particular issue) and ordi- nary individuals or households, in qualitative research every informant is implicitly considered an "expert" in describing and interpreting his or her own reality. In addition, local specialists or socially recognized experts are often able to provide a broader or more analytical, even if locally rooted, perspective on a given topic 16 1 When Things Fall Apart Qualitative interview methods encourage flexibility and allow researchers to reflect upon their observations and use their intuition to question (but not argue with) interviewees' responses and delve beneath their surface. Focus groups, which often group people according to an important social characteristic presumed to shape their views (such as sex, age, educational level, or occupation), are useful for rapidly assessing and characterizing group-specific interests, needs, and concems. Focus group discussions can reveal the parameters of an issue and raise new concerns. Finally, the very process of dispute and negotiation during discussions provides information about how much diversity exists (or is tolerated) within a given social group or community. Careful observation and description of interviewees' housing, furniture, and living conditions, their clothing and general appearance, and the social interactions that take place during the interview act as an important validi- ty check. They can significantly add to, corroborate, or in some cases cast doubt on what people say about how they are coping with different dimen- sions of poverty. Researchers' observations are enriched by the fact that peo- ple often respond to the qualitative interview, which resembles a sponta- neous discussion rather than a question-and-answer session, as a social occasion. Interviewers in these studies were frequently offered coffee or tea and sometimes invited for meals. These provided even richer opportunities to observe the extent to which people were able to live up to basic social expectations about hospitality, or, conversely, the extent to which poverty had reduced their ability to interact socially. How Qualitative Research Methods Were Implemented in These Studies Open-ended interviews (with individuals, households, and local or inter- national experts), focus group discussions, and observation were the key data-gathering methods used in the studies reported in this volume. In most cases the principal researcher prepared an interview guide based on her background knowledge of the country and regions in question. These guides outlined the areas of inquiry-perceptions of poverty, access to health and education services, the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and so forth-as well as key issues for each. After discussions with local researchers, these guides were revised and translated into the appro- priate language. A Window on Social Reality 1 17 Although interviewers were asked to address certain specific issues con- sidered relevant for the particular interviewee, they were given a free hand to change the order and emphasis of questions and to decide how much detail to probe for. Interviews were particularly useful for obtaining detailed and concrete accounts of people's experience, as well as linking their behav- iors to the particular strategies they devised. Since these studies focused on the relationship of perception and practice rather than on opinions, researchers were encouraged to probe on issues most relevant to respon- dents, and where they were likeliest to draw upon their own experiences Given the unwillingness of many people in the FSU to share their personal experiences of poverty or the details of their coping strategies in front of their peers, the researchers found focus group discussions most useful for eliciting attitudes toward certain aspects of poverty, general experiences with social service delivery, and opinions about reforms under way. Findings from these discussions were then used to revise the interview guide, ensur- ing that all of the relevant issues raised were pursued in greater depth dur- ing the individual and household interviews. Key informant interviews were carried out with local specialists with rel- evant professional experience or experience in working with the poor. Key informants included hospital and school directors, local religious leaders and NGO activists, journalists, economists, local officials, and in some cases entrepreneurs. Interviews with representatives of international donors and NGOs also proved useful, since the perspectives of outsiders who were knowledgeable about the local situation often shed new light on certain phenomena, or simply offered information about which local people were unaware. All of the studies relied on purposive sampling. The aim was to focus pri- marily or exclusively on poor people while including a range of household types, a balanced representation of ages and of both sexes, a wide range of educational backgrounds and professions, and a representation of major ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups. For national poverty studies, sam- pling was also stratified according to geographic sites, which were chosen to include as much diversity as possible in environmental conditions, level of urbanization, kinds of livelihood strategies, social and cultural practices, and proximity to roads, markets, and borders, as well as particular local con- ditions, such as ongoing conflict or recent natural catastrophe. Although the researchers made the initial selection of sites, they usually consulted with local officials to confirm the final choice. Several studies deliberately includ- ed communities where quantitative surveys had recently been carried out, so that findings could be compared and integrated. 18 1 When Things Fall Apart Researchers selected individual and household respondents by combin- ing sources and methods, induding lists of persons receiving social assis- tance, identification by officials or other informants, and limited use of ran- dom selection (within selected neighborhoods or buildings) to ensure the inclusion of representatives from major categories potentially relevant to the study objectives. Each research team was responsible for achieving this balance, often beginning by meeting with local town hall or social service officials, who were able to provide them with names of families known to be poor. Interviewers generally followed up by 'snowball sampling" asking interviewees to suggest the names of people even poorer than they In countries with sizable ethnic and linguistic minorities, care was taken to ensure they were represented among the interviewers, to facilitate rapport with minority interviewees. For interviews in Georgia's South Ossetia region, for example, interviewers were recruited locally so that they would have credibility among local officials and the population. In the same study, interviewers who spoke Armenian were used to carry out interviews in regions predominantly inhabited by ethnic Armenians. Interviewers were also encouraged to write their reports in the language they felt most com- fortable with. All the studies relied extensively on the knowledge of local interviewers to guide the choice of sites, to follow appropriate protocol when approach- ing officials or potential interviewees, and to complement information obtained directly from interviewees with their own observations. Because most Soviet research in social issues had relied on large-scale surveys, how- ever, it was difficult to find interviewers trained in qualitative methodolo- gies. As a result, research teams were recruited from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds and then received dassroom and field training in interviewing techniques and report writing In many cases the outside researcher accom- panied the interviewers into the field for a considerable part of the field- work itself and participated in daily debriefing sessions designed to think through and modify or add questions in response to findings. The studies in Armenia, for example, were carried out by ethnographers with consider- able interviewing experience, although their previous focus had not been on contemporary social issues In the other studies, interviewers included soci- ologists, joumalists, and members of local civil society organizations, as well as teachers, doctors, and other professionals. The authors of the studies prepared the final synthesis and analysis of the data collected, working either from individual interview reports or synthe- ses of interviews from each site. Working hypotheses were discussed at dif- ferent stages with professionals within the country, and in most cases the A Window on Social Reality l 19 final draft was submitted to them for further comments. The authors believe the studies succeed in providing an interpretive account of how a diverse group of poor people in a given country experienced and coped with pover- ty. The studies also highlight trends, pattems, motivations, and dynamics that account for findings or anomalies from other kinds of studies, includ- ing quantitative poverty studies, and make sense to policymakers and other clients As with any research, the validity of the final reports rests signifi- cantly on the competence and conscientiousness of the researchers, as well as on the use of data from a variety of other sources to confirm or discon- firm hypotheses and conclusions. References Bamberger, Michael 2000, "Opportunities and Challenges for Integrating Quantita- tive and Qualitative Methods." In Michael Bamberger, ed, Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Development Projects Washington, D C World Bank Carvalho, Soniya, and Howard White 1997 "Combining the Quantitative and Qualitative Approaches to Poverty Measurement and Analysis The Practice and the Potential " World Bank Technical Paper 366 Washington, D C Chung, Kimberly 2000 "Issues and Approaches in the Use of Integrated Methods." In Michael Bamberger, ed, Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Development Projects Washington, D C.: World Bank Hentschel, lesko 1999 "Contextuality and Data Collection Methods-A Frame- work and Application to Health Service Utilization." Joumal of Development Stud- ies 35(4) 64-94 Kandiyoti, Deniz 1999. "Poverty in Transition An Ethnographic Critique of House- hold Surveys in Post-Soviet Central Asia " Development and Change 30- 499-524 Kozel, Valerie, and Barbara Parker. 2000 "Integrated Approaches to Poverty Assess- ment in India " In Michael Bamberger, ed , Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Development Projects Washington, D C World Bank Maxwell, Joseph 1992 "Understanding and Validity in Qualitative Research Harvard Educational Review 62(3) 279-300 Spalter-Roth, Roberta 2000 'Gender Issues in the Use of Integrated Approaches." In Michael Bamberger, ed, Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Research in Development Projects. Washington, D.C.. World Bank A Il I a CHAPTER 2 From Soviet Expectations to Post-Soviet Realities: Poverty During the Transition he studies in this volume cover eight countries, each with a dis- T tinctive pre-Soviet history and culture. Carried out at different times in each country during the volatile and fast-changing period between 1993 and 1998, the studies are not strictly comparable. Rather, for each country they document a particular moment in the emer- gence and institutionalization of poverty. Poor people throughout the world share many concems, as recent World Bank studies of poverty demonstrate (see, for example, Narayan and others 2001, Narayan and Petesch 2002). Yet for most, poverty has long been a fact of life, and the meaning of "poverty" and 'the poor" are clearly defined and articulated in their understandings. By contrast, in the former Soviet Union, except for the older generation who lived through World War II, the massive and sud- den impoverishment witnessed after the collapse of the Soviet state is unprecedented. Thus, in these countries, poverty itself and the way in which people interpret it have undergone a dramatic transformation in less than a decade. This chapter highlights three moments in this transformation. During the first years following the Soviet collapse, because of shared material con- ditions, practices, and ways of interpreting the social world, people through- out the former Soviet territory reacted to impoverishment in strikingly sim- ilar ways. Over time, however, differences in the ways in which these new 21 22 1 When Things Fall Apart countries have approached the task of nation and state building, differences in legacies of resources and assets, and differences in social and cultural tra- ditions called forth increasingly differentiated individual and household responses to poverty. By the late 1990s, serious poverty, along with coping mechanisms initially thought to be temporary or deviant, had become a normal aspect of everyday life. Responding to the Shock Between the 1960s and the 1980s, the standard of living of Soviet citizens had steadily improved, and the remaining serious poverty remained hidden in prisons, labor camps, long-term care hospitals, and residential institu- tions for children, the elderly, and the disabled. During the 1980s, howev- er, inflation, unemployment (particularly in Central Asia), continuing con- sumer shortages, and increased rationing of items such as sugar and butter forced Soviet citizens to rely more heavily on extensive informal networks and the shadow economy to obtain necessary goods and services. Never- theless, the state continued to convey the strong ideological message that poverty reflected individual rather than societal failure Poverty as a social phenomenon was depicted as a feature of capitalist rather than socialist societies. When the economic collapse occurred, however, it spared no social group, with the exception of the top political and economic elite, who were able to convert power over resource allocation into ownership of important assets. Although the newly poor came from all walks of life, they had in common the fact that they (or at least the overwhelming majority) had been employed, housed, and socially integrated into their communities before the collapse They also shared many ideological convictions: that the state should provide full employment, free education and health care, and a wide array of social supports, and that it should prevent the emergence of huge economic inequalities. Accustomed to strong official and public disapproval of poverty, most respondents in the studies reported in this volume resisted describing them- selves as poor, instead saying they were "living on the edge of poverty" or "just making ends meet." Even those living in the direst conditions tried to identify others who were even worse off. Or they responded to questions about who in their community was poor by asserting, "We are all poor." Occasionally, respondents acknowledged that they found it too painful to admit even to themselves that they were indeed poor. From Soviet Expectations to Post-Soviet Realities 1 23 Bewildered at finding themselves in such a shameful predicament, peo- ple groped to understand the reasons. Generally, people blamed their own poverty on the failure of the Soviet state and the corruption, indifference, and incompetence of their new leaders At the same time, however, they often attributed the poverty of others to individual failure, such as laziness, alcoholism, having too many children to support, or having too few chil- dren to provide for their old age. Although cynicism about labor relations had been widespread during the Soviet period-"we pretend to work and they pretend to pay us"-work had nevertheless played a central role in the lives of most Soviet citizens. Employment had provided a socially recognized position and status, and "work collectives" had served as important networks for exchanging infor- mation and favors of all kinds Having lost jobs or positions from which their status and income derived, people who had once enjoyed respect and authority in their communities simultaneously lost material security and self-esteem Many respondents reported depression, even suicidal feelings, resulting from their multiple losses: loss of employment and social position; loss of confidence and self-respect; loss of opportunities to participate in social, cultural, and intellectual life; and, most profoundly, a lost sense of stability and predictability that had previously allowed them to plan their future. Striking differences emerged in the way men and women responded to impoverishment. W/omen, perhaps because they had multiple identities as workers, wives, and mothers, were able to adapt more successfully to the loss of formal employment than did men, whose social identity was more tightly bound to their role as worker and breadwinner. Unemployment thus contributed to a deep sense of emasculation, which intensified already- existing pattems of self-destructive behavior. Poor men and women expressed feelings of shame and guilt for failing to fulfill ritual and social obligations, and of depression at their exclusion from social and ceremonial life. At the same time, because formal and infor- mal socializing remained essential for cultivating support networks and exchanging information, poor people felt increasingly abandoned in their hour of need. They described the rich and the poor as increasingly inhabit- ing separate worlds, with the poor fighting for survival and the rich fighting to protect their wealth Initially, people responded to their sudden loss of income, savings, and services by building on and expanding strategies already in place during the Soviet period. When reducing consumption, pilfenng from state-owned industrial or agricultural enterprises, or finding cheaper alternatives did not 24 1 When Things Fall Apart suffice, people sold funmiture, appliances, clothing, jewelry, and cars. In some cases they sold centrally located apartments, bought cheaper housing in poorly served urban outskirts, and lived off the difference. People also borrowed extensively, in some cases becoming so indebted to professional moneylenders that they were forced either to surrender apartments they had unwisely offered as collateral or to go into hiding. Where garden plots had once been used to supplement diets, subsistence gardening and farming became important survival strategies, even in urban areas, where people continued to work for the state sector while commut- ing to villages or planting small gardens next to their high-rise apartments. Rural inhabitants relied almost exclusively on their own production, both for consumption and, in the absence of cash, to exchange for manufactured goods and services. People experimented with small, informal enterprises, induding money- lending, financial speculation, petty commerce, provision of skilled ser- vices, and artisanal production. When the poor attempted to expand into formal entrepreneurial activity, however, complicated administrative proce- dures and the corrupt and exdusionary practices of local officials often proved insurmountable. People with more effective personal networks were better able to overcome these obstacles, while those without the right con- nections were pushed out of business Similar problems confronted people employed in the emerging private sector, where lack of formal contracts made them vulnerable to harassment, summary firing, and late or partial payment. Men, especially, revived old traditions of labor migration, and the Rus- sian Federation became the most important destination for men working in construction as well as for highly skilled professionals. The practice of returning from organized tourist trips abroad with suitcases full of scarce, foreign-produced commodities to sell expanded rapidly into an interna- tional "shuttle trade." Women, in particular, moved into this arena, ignor- ing the low social estimation of commerce as "speculation." Women sought service sector jobs locally and abroad as housekeepers, nannies, and wait- resses Some engaged in prostitution locally, in new urban brothels, or abroad. For most respondents, income poverty was worsened by the failure of the state to honor what they considered its basic responsibility: provision of low-cost or free services. A once-comprehensive social safety net and a host of subsidies shrank to minimum levels. Access even to those services that remained was often inhibited by application procedures that were compli- cated, inconsistent, or humiliating. For example, deteriorating public health From Soviet Expectations to Post-Soviet Realities 1 25 practices, undernutrition, lack of heat, poor hygiene, and stress contributed to increased illness even as access to affordable and reliable health care rad- ically diminished. Demands for formal and informal payments put essen- tial medical care out of many poor people's reach. As a result, the poor increasingly resorted to self-treatment, home remedies, or faith healers, avoiding the formal health care system until illness or injury became life- threatening or chronic Respondents were angry and bewildered by their govemments' failure to meet traditional responsibilities, and they felt that this failure violated basic tenets of social justice they had intemalized during the Soviet period. Many suspected government officials of exploiting the political and economic turmoil for their own gain, at the expense of ordinary citizens. Indeed, many suspected that anyone who had managed to become rich during this period of widespread impoverishment must have done so through illicit activities. Yet most respondents believed their govemments should and eventually would reassume their previous responsibilities of providing jobs, low-cost housing, and utilities and maintaining affordable prices for con- sumer goods. The Normalization of Poverty Poverty as a mass phenomenon had been seen as an aberration in the Sovi- et period Ten years later, however, street children, "bag ladies," beggars, and refugee camps, as well as the poverty that manifests itself in the deteriora- tion of dwellings and public buildings, in the spread of contagious illness, and in crowded social assistance offices, had become commonplace. If, 10 years ago, the newly poor expected that the govemment would eventually restore their jobs and benefits, by the end of the decade it had become clear that they could no longer depend on the government for help. A significant underclass of poor has emerged, and reduced access to good education, health care, and social services has created conditions for its perpetuation. Increasingly exduded from the old, overlapping social networks of col- leagues, friends, neighbors, and kin, the newly poor drew such support as they could from those who were equally impoverished Others moved into clientistic relationships with the new elite, where the absence of legal recourse made them vulnerable to severe exploitation. The newly poor felt their voices no longer mattered, and they found themselves cut off from the previous last resort: appealing to Moscow for protection against local abus- es of power. As a result, cynicism about the interest or ability of the govern- 26 1 When Things Fall Apart ment to respond to their needs, and lack of confidence in their own ability to create change has contributed to passivity and voicelessness among the poorest of the poor. The lack of adequate social safety nets and legal protections, together with the weakening of old support networks, has made even the nonpoor vulnerable to impoverishment. Knowledge that job loss, crop failure, a health crisis, or a legal problem could easily push a struggling household over the edge has created a pervasive sense of insecurity. Particularly among the poor, insecurity and social isolation have increased the level of alcohol and drug abuse. Especially in countries such as Ukraine and Latvia, where heavy alcohol use was entwined with a host of cultural practices, alcoholism has become one of the most serious social ills, throwing many families into dire poverty and contributing to the dramatic increase in male mortality. Although alcohol has traditionally played a less significant role in Tajik- istan, Uzbekistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic, in those countries a growing narcotics trade has resulted in greater drug use among the population. Short-term responses to hardship have gradually evolved into longer- term strategies for surviving the harsh new conditions. For example, crimi- nal organizations have transformed prostitution into large-scale trafficking of women and girls for the sex trade with Europe and the Middle East. Not only has drug use increased throughout the region, but large-scale narcotics trafficking has successfully recruited poor people, induding women and youths, from impoverished mountain regions in Central Asia to produce and transport drugs The largely institutionalized corruption of the socialist period has expanded and diversified, often taking on violent forms, and often severely restricting the ability of those who are poor and marginalized to move out of the shadow economy. This striking reorganization of social relationships and the collapse of formal and informal institutions of indusion have undermined the ties with neighbors and communities that once linked people to each other. Although the ideology of social justice still resonates among the poor throughout the formerly socialist countries of Europe and Central Asia, the dominant theme of these emerging market economies is one of unfettered individualism. The economic and political changes of the last decade have given new opportunities and freedoms to people in the former Soviet Union like those enjoyed in the West, but they have also brought them dos- er to the West in terms of social ills: increased inequities and new forms of social and economic exclusion and alienation. From Soviet Expectations to Post-Soviet Realities 1 27 References Narayan, Deepa, Meera Shah, Patti Petesch, and Robert Chambers 2001 Crytng out for Change (Voices of the Poor senes, volume 2) New York and Washington Oxford University Press and World Bank Narayan, Deepa, and Patti Petesch, editors 2002 From Many Lands (Voices of the Poor series, volume 3). New York and Washington Oxford University Press and World Bank PART TWO THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC, TAJIKISTAN, AND UZBEKISTAN 30 1 When Things Fall Apart he Kyrgyz Republic, with a population of 4.8 million people, is a T mountainous country with abundant water but few exportable nat- ural resources besides gold and hydroelectric power. During the Soviet era, cultivation of sugar beets was central to the agricultural economy in the north. In the southern oblasts of Osh and Jalal-Abad, silk and tobacco were key agricultural products. With a tradition of nomadic pastoralism, the Kyrgyz were first introduced to agriculture by the Russians in the early part of the 20th century. Unlike their Uzbek and Tajik neigh- bors, whose cultural lives have centered around Islam since the 10th centu- ry, the Kyrgyz converted to Islam from their shamanistic beliefs only in the late 18th century. After 1991 the Kyrgyz government embraced the people's Islamic and nomadic roots but also advocated democratization and marke- tization. By 1993, however, impoverishment was increasingly evident. Unemployment and a lack of market opportunities for the majority (65 percent) rural population have pushed an estimated 51 percent of the pop- ulation into poverty. Tajikistan is one of the poorest countries in the world and has the lowest income per capita of any country in the former Soviet Union. Its legacy of poverty dates from the Soviet era. With a civil war raging on and off between 1992 and 1997, Tajikistan has had a difficult time in its economic recovery, and the poverty rate among its 5.9 million people currently hovers around 93 percent. A small, mountainous country with borders on Afghanistan, China, Uzbekistan, and the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan has long had a sig- nificant relationship with Russia, on which it relies to help maintain secu- rity at its southern borders. But today the Russian Federation provides little economic support, and Tajikistan depends largely on exports of cotton and a few other agricultural goods, which amount to only $120 million a year. With salaries in Tajikistan averaging only about $10 a month, the outlook for the future is bleak.' During the Soviet era the capital city of Dushanbe was considered one of the most Europeanized and cultured centers in Cen- tral Asia, partially because of the many Russians exiled there by Stalin. Dev- astation by war and a dearth of economic opportunities have triggered a major emigration of non-Central Asian ethnic groups. With ongoing strife in Afghanistan, Tajikistan has experienced a surge of Afghan refugees in the last five years, which has added another burden to its fragile government. The country has also become a crossroads for drug and arms trafficking. Uzbekistan, recognized as one of the most powerful Central Asian states, has experienced its own share of difficulties over the past decade. With a largely rural population of nearly 28 million people, the country has attempted to navigate through the transition with its abundant oil resources The Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan 1 31 and dependable cotton production. By contrast with the Kyrgyz Republic, its economy is still highly centralized. The poverty rate is rising and is estimated at 35 percent. With a highly arid climate, water shortages and scarcity of arable land are becoming increasingly volatile issues, not only internally but also with its neighbors Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, and Talikistan. The Uzbek government has traditionally resisted outside influ- ences, and did so even during the Soviet era. Today it is viewed as one of the more authoritarian of the post-Soviet states Exchange rates Kyrgyz Republic $1 = 17.7 som (April 1998) Tajikistan: $1 = 754 Taiik rubles (1998) Uzbekistan: $1 = 81.32 sum (February 1998) _~. mEhE.E..1i I%t -E _ 9 \ _rjJfl j1 s' '' j :b~.*19 -' r 'I r w w4s*! i-~~~~~ ?1h.-t;-,; j *_; _ * ; F- r , - t , ., r,_ - - !RKi ( ivr % k I l _ (Ct Ac ~ @ - s, -9 I A¼ "- r g jz"K.i. . .f 1 .[9rL } CHAPTER 3 Poverty Shock: The Impact of Rapid Economic Change on the Women of the Kyrgyz Republic Kathleen Kuehnast he qualitative study reported in this chapter was conducted T between August and October 1993, with the intention of identify- ing groups of women vulnerable to the effects of the transition in the newly independent Kyrgyz Republic. The study examined the various coping mechanisms these women employed during the early years of the transition It was among the first qualitative studies of poverty in the former Soviet Union executed under the World Bank's direction, and the qualitative forerunner to the Kyrgyz Poverty Monitoring Survey, a quantita- tive study conducted in the fall of that year. Proud of their newfound independence from the Soviet Union and seek- ing to be a part of the global economy, the citizens of the Kyrgyz Republic instead found themselves in 1993 confronted with erratic inflation, a break- down of social supports and economic infrastructures, deteriorating living conditions, and a growing problem of poverty An already difficult situation was made more serious when, in May of that year, a new national currency, the som, was introduced. Inflation soared, and shortages of the new cur- rency left many banks without reserves to pay monthly benefits or salaries. A year later many people living in the rural regions of the country had yet to see the new currency, salaries were months in arrears, and the economic process of "market shock" had tumed into the experience of "poverty shock."' Those first affected by the economic transition included the newly 33 34 1 When Things Fall Apart unemployed, pensioners, the disabled, households with large families, and students who had relied on government subsidies to further their educa- tion. Women were especially vulnerable to the economic uncertainties of the transition, because they found themselves without the state supports and benefits that had constituted an important social safety net. Women came unexpectedly to the realization that they were on their own the gov- ernment and even their once-dependable social networks could no longer provide the needed daily support to help them run their households, espe- cially child and eldercare supports. Surviving Change The women and girls of the Kyrgyz Republic make up 51 percent of a pop- ulation of 4.5 million. They are multiethnic, the majority are literate, and the average woman has at least three children. Although some have embraced the decade of change with optimism, many have found them- selves in a hopeless predicament. Despite differences among them, several common features are evident: the vast majority continue to maintain a strong work ethic as well as a deep commitment and daily orientation toward assisting their immediate and extended families. According to the women interviewed in this study, the gap has widened dramatically between their recollection of the familiar social assistance pro- grams of the former command economy and their expectations of the yet- nascent market economy. In their own words, women expressed the view that they were the first to be affected by the economic changes, because they were typically the first to lose their jobs. They were also the first to deal with the lack of child care, because many of the government-supported kinder- gartens and child care centers had been closed. Because women in this soci- ety are the primary caretakers of both the young and the old, they were also the first to experience the implications of the lack of medicine and medical assistance, and the first to struggle with the daily decision of whether to buy milk or meat when their small and irregular incomes could not keep up with rapid inflation Because women were dealing directly with the collapse of the socialist system's supports, it comes as no surprise that women were also the first to inititate self-help programs and to engage in the new non- governmental organizations being formed to assist those in a more desper- ate position than themselves. Some women found such changes in their everyday lives not only diffi- cult but indeed insurmountable. The most common problems cited were Poverty Shock Women of the Kyrgyz Republic 1 35 economic in nature lack of jobs, low salaries, terminated benefits, high prices, unfair privatization, and an inability to buy necessities. The elderly, the unemployed, mothers with many children, and young rural women were especially vulnerable. They lost not only their economic security, but also, and just as troubling to many, their self-respect and social position in society This change in status was particularly noted by the elderly, since in both the Soviet system and Kyrgyz nomadic tradition the elderly were high- ly revered and cared for. Even women who had large families felt this enor- mous shift in societal respect, from recognition under the Soviet system for being "mother heroes" to disparagement as poverty cases. For younger women the sudden change in the education system, from one that was free for all to one fraught with hidden costs and bribes, was extremely disap- pointing. Recent alterations in government social policy and support were deeply unsettling for all of these women, for they recognized that their cur- rent sense of alienation could well continue for a long time. A government official tells the interviewer frankly, "It is a very hard life for women here When it comes to women, we have to admit that we have a problem " The economic breakdown had an indelible impact on social norms. For example, among the Kyrgyz a strong sense of reciprocity and relationships was built upon the shared ability to provide things for one another. Eco- nomic changes had curtailed this capability in many families. With an informal economy so dependent on the capacity for gift giving, women spoke often of their shame when they were unable to offer a sheep to their relatives as a gift, and instead had to sell it at the bazaar in order to feed their family. Thus, in addition to the personal degradation of being unem- ployed, many women experienced a deep sense of demoralization. A Kyrgyz woman describes the situation in her village: "Here, women are not living, they are just surviving They have extremely low salanes They cannot go anywhere They cannot visit family members The situ- ation is breaking apart family ties that are based upon being a guest, or having a guest, which is a central feature of Kyrgyz culture " Throughout the country, for ethnic Kyrgyz and non-Kyrgyz women alike, the ideological and material shift from a state of socialism to the new, unfamiliar market economy was troublesome. Socialism had provided free 36 1 When Things Fall Apart education, full employment, child care benefits, and food subsidies. Now these familiar realities had fallen away. This early stage in the transition process was precarious; the outward excitement had turned inward, and people were feeling disoriented. They recalled the past nostalgically, and even the problems and limitations of those troublesome former days looked more appealing than the uncertainties of their present predicament. An administrator in an unemployment office expresses the general sense of disorientation 'Imagine traveling along in a car for 70 years and suddenly the road disappears and your car crashes You don't know where to go The Study This study was designed to provide a more complete picture of those women who were most vulnerable to the effects of economic change and social disorientation under way in the Kyrgyz Republic. A small team of researchers interviewed over 600 women throughout the country; 572 women responded to a 47-question survey, and 30 participated in in-depth interviews.2 The respondents were drawn from ethnic, regional, and age cat- egories in proportions that reflected the variation in these categories in the country at the time. Respondents were selected through formal and infor- mal channels, induding local employment, pension fund, and social ser- vice offices; local authorities and regional governors' offices; bazaars and kiosks; collective and privatized farms; the local press,3 mosques and Rus- sian Orthodox churches, and interviewers' personal acquaintance with offi- cials and other people in each oblast (administrative region). The respondents were interviewed either in their home or at their work- place. Direct observation by the interviewers provided additional informa- tion regarding the availability of food, living conditions, and the overall health status of the respondent and her family. One of the interviewers, a Kyrgyz doctoral candidate in sociology, attests to the value of on-site observation 'I saw the poverty with my own eyes The situation in the women's homes told everything I saw what they ate, wore, and how they live. Sometimes people would say that things were fine, but when I entered their house, then they told me the truth.' Poverty Shock. Women of the Kyrgyz Republic l 37 In addition to individual interviews, meetings of three different focus groups consisting of women from the rural regions addressed more specif- ic questions about unemployment and difficult living conditions. These allowed for a more free-flowing exchange of ideas, as women tended to challenge one another if they felt that their conditions were being misrep- resented. One purpose of this form of social inquiry, as described by Salmen (1992), is to amplify the voices of those for whom development is ulti- mately intended. Thus, throughout this chapter, the statements of individ- ual respondents are quoted. Short vignettes offer additional perspective on the conditions of women in the country. Unemployment According to the survey results, the women most vulnerable to the effects of the transition in the Kyrgyz Republic fell into four categories- elderly Rus- sian women residing in urban regions, Kyrgyz mothers with more than three children, women living in remote mountainous regions, and women who had lost jobs and social support as the result of enterprise and collec- tive farm privatization. Of the women interviewed, 77 percent described themselves as unem- ployed. Most had been laid off from their jobs within the past year, other reasons given for being unemployed included maternity leave, quitting work, and health problems. Among the unemployed, 50 percent had not applied for unemployment benefits, and 20 percent did not even know such benefits existed. Because many of the unemployed were not registered with the employment services office, maintaining an official count was dif- ficult. Complicated bureaucratic processes and transportation problems were the primary reasons women gave for not applying for benefits. For those who did apply, the process was a discouraging one. only one in four had ever received any payment from the government. The disappearance of jobs, especially in the service industries, was reflect- ed in rapidly rising unemployment among women of all ages in both urban and rural regions, but especially where collective farms had been privatized and thousands of workers laid off. In urban regions very few new industries had emerged to fill the demand for jobs. Of the 77 percent of respondents who described themselves as unemployed, more than two-thirds had attempted to find another job. Most expressed considerable confusion about why they had lost their job, where they would find other work, and 38 1 When Things Fall Apart where they would find help. Many women (47 percent) indicated that they relied primarily on themselves, but some (25 percent) relied on their par- ents and other relatives for assistance. Only 18 percent of the women expected any sort of help from the govemment. When asked "Where have you searched for a job?" the women responded as follows: Response Percent Not applied anywhere 29 Government enterprises 24 Employment services office 22 Former workplace 5 Private enterprises 2 Cooperatives and associations 2 Other 16 Unofficial unemployment appeared much more widespread in the rural regions. Many rural enterprises that had dosed-kindergartens, hospitals, canteens, camps, barbershops, hairdressers, and service organizations-had primarily employed women. Some of these were seasonal positions. Even health resorts were no longer an employment option for many rural women, because their jobs were being filled by employees from the city. The rural women expressed resentment toward urban women (whom they called "migrants") who had moved to their region and taken their jobs. The disintegration or privatization of the collective farms ended up dis- mantling entire community infrastructures. The collective farm system had provided comprehensive social assistance: in-kind food donations, educa- tion of children, and distribution of benefits. The economic networks that had managed these transactions had been severed, and the workers them- selves, in the case of coal supply, for example, did not have the bartering power to orchestrate such trade. A 38-year-old Kyrgyz woman from a rural area compares the past and present systems "Right now, we don't know whom to turn to for help. Things were better when the collective farms were working. At least there was a director, and we had someone to complain to Now it is as if the govemment didn't exist. The only one you can rely on is yourself." In those areas where collective farms had not yet been privatized, people appeared to be weathering the economic crisis better. The collective farm was still able to address local problems, such as fuel or food shortages. Poverty Shock Women of the Kyrgyz Republic 1 39 The unemployed rural women seemed the least informed about the eco- nomic changes under way in the country, and especially about the govern- ment services still available to them, including employment services and unemployment benefits Many of these women had been associated with a collective farm, which had acted as a central clearinghouse for nearly all their social needs. Thus they lacked extensive social networks outside the collective farm for gleaning information about the emergent economic ter- rain These women had been receiving not only their monthly salaries through the farm, but also in-kind assistance in the form of free food and fuel. Women who used to work at the collective farm indicated that privati- zation has meant that the few people hired were either relatives or fnends of the new owner A government official comments, "People don't understand privatiza- tion-they think of it as what you can grab Ignorant people now have become millionaires." Many rural women discussed how unready they had been, psychologi- cally and economically, for privatization of the collective farms. Their ideas about work were based on a collective model, and they pointed out that, for all intents and purposes, the largely nomadic Kyrgyz people had a collective orientation long before the Soviet collectivization. They expressed confu- sion about why people did not have jobs under the new system. On the collective farm, the women explained, they had worked hard, but many of their daily concerns had been taken care of They indicated that they preferred the collective model of livelihood over that of the market economy, where, in their opinion, only a few can work, and the owners seemed to no longer care about their workers. A Kyrgyz sociologist explains that "The liquidation of collective farms is the reason so many rural women are unemployed Even though there's privatization, many owners of these new farms don't know how to man- age them. I talked to many people who want to return to the collective farm model They were used to this unification of work and family life." In the urban regions as well, female unemployment had become ram- pant. In Bishkek (the capital, formerly known as Frunze), where 85 percent of the registered unemployed were women, layoffs were a common occur- rence. Unlike their rural counterparts, unemployed urban women seemed 40 I When Things Fall Apart more likely to utilize assistance from employment services, and they sought out career consultations more than did men. More women applied for unemployment benefits in Bishkek, which may reflect the fact that access to the employment services office was easier and that services were better understood in this larger urban region. During the first six months of 1993, approximately 777 people went to the employment services office for con- sultations, including career testing. Of these, 625 were women. When asked, "Where have you looked for a job?" the percentage anwering "Employment services office" varied by oblast as follows: Oblast Percent Bishkek 41 Talas 28 Issyk Kul 25 Jalal-Abad 22 Osh 19 Naryn 13 Chui 4 When asked, "Have you applied for unemployment benefits?" the per- centage answering "no" varied by oblast as follows Oblast Percent Talas 66 Osh 64 Issyk Kul 53 Jalal-Abad 51 Naryn 49 Chui 42 Bishkek 27 Among the unemployed, the group most affected was women between the ages of 17 and 30. They often lacked experience and connections that might lead them to other jobs. They were generally discouraged, and many talked about getting involved in small business ventures, including prosti- tution. A Kyrgyz graduate student in sociology observes, "The most vulnerable group, and the one that potentially will cost the government and our culture the most if we do not pay attention to it now, is our young peo- ple between 18 and 25 years of age " Poverty Shock Women of the Kyrgyz Republic 1 41 Young mothers were experiencing difficulties because they were often laid off during their maternity leave Even though, in theory, they were pro- tected by law, several of the respondents gave pregnancy as the reason they had lost their job. Among young married women there was a new phe- nomenon: absent husbands Many young women who had been laid off in the city retumed to relatives in the rural regions while their husbands either stayed in the city to earn money or moved to other regions for employment. Commuting between city and countryside to maintain the family's integri- ty was quite difficult. Women in this predicament described their awkward dependency on parents and the difficulty of separation from their hus- bands Women were actively searching for work, significantly reducing their expenditure, and selling homemade products or household goods. Some were involved in "speculation," buying at one price and selling at a higher price at some other location. Some of the young students were engaged in prostitution. Most women were not looking to the government for help, nor were they relying on nongovernmental groups. In fact, 90 percent of the women interviewed had never heard of any women's organizations. A multitude of new social problems had arisen as a result of women's unemployment. Particularly in urban areas, women reported a perceived increase in crimes committed by women, an increase in suicide among elderly Russian women, an increase in the number of pregnant teenagers, and the rapid development of semilegal prostitution nngs. It was estimated that about 20 new prostitution businesses were operating in Bishkek in 1993 In some instances these companies resembled a small version of a collectivized enterprise. Up to 10 prostitutes lived together in an enterprise- paid apartment, received low-maintenance medical attention, shared food and other expenses, and kept approximately 50 percent of their earnings The prostitutes were not working outside of the law, but their manager or pimp could potentially receive up to five years in jail. Considering that each company had its own policeman paid monthly by the company for protec- tion, however, it was doubtful that many had had problems with the law. Wandering into an apartment in urban Bishkek, two young prostitutes are surprised to find no men who want them this late evening, but only an American woman who wants to talk to them about their work. Both younger than 22 years, the two were school friends before beginning their latest line of work Her bleached blond hair gives Gulya, a Kyrgyz, the stereotypic look of such workers of the night. But her hardened exte- rior, well developed after three years in the business, is easily betrayed 42 j When Things Fall Apart by the candidness of her comments 'I am often afraid. I am relieved when I find it is a foreigner or even a Russian dient. They are nicer But if it is a Kyrgyz man, they are usually drunk, but what is worse is that they think so badly of me." Her friend Elena, just six weeks on the job, adds that she does not like the work. It makes her nervous in spite of the fact that she has to keep on smiling When asked why she chose to go into prostitution, she responds, "I was unemployed. I was laid off at the radio factory in Tokmok I didn't work for six months and I needed the money I tned to find work in my training as a kindergarten teacher, and also I type well But schools are closing and there are few jobs for secretaries I reg- istered at the unemployment office and qualified for benefits. But after three months, these ended. Gulya told me about her work. Well, I had few choices." Without being asked and in a confessional voice, Elena recounts her first night on the job. 'I cried a lot. I thought I was so bad. I didn't con- sider myself a woman, a human When I went to the hotel, I was so angry, I destroyed the room I couldn't stand myself. But after my first night, I returned to my girlfriends as they were counting their money, and the pain went away" Elena describes the awful feeling of having to depend on her parents and their pensions when they, too, were strug- ghng so much "There's a saying in Russian, 'He who doesn't work must not eat"' Alhough unconcerned about HIV/AIDS, both are worried about other diseases Elena interrupts to explain that their company has its own doctor, whom they are required to see every Monday morning. They cannot work without a "clean bill of health " Gulya, a seasoned prostitute at 20 years old, says that the work is harder on one's psy- chology than on one's body. Sometimes suicide or alcohol is the out- come if people don't know when to leave the profession "But it's diffi- cult to leave," she smiles. "You know, this business, it is like a narcotic " Despite daiming to depend only on themselves, both rural and urban unemployed women repeatedly said that they turned to their relatives for help, especially in locating work In 59 percent of cases, women first sought out family or extended family members for assistance before going to an employment services office. Women consistently expressed their trust in their relatives. As one older woman said, "It's better to work with your own family than to be employed by some stranger." When asked what it meant to work with nonrelatives, she explained that it could lead to problems. Without further elaboration, she implied that it was a shared value among Kyrgyz, since trust within a small group had been essential for survival at Poverty Shock Women of the Kyrgyz Republic 1 43 times during the Soviet era In this context it was not uncommon for Kyrgyz women to tell stories about family members who had been killed under Stalin because someone they thought was a friend had accused their relative of some anticommunist activity. In summary, unemployment for the women interviewed represented more than simply being without an income: losing one's job had many other social ramifications, such as loss of status. Women raised and educat- ed during the Soviet period had come to value being a member of the work force. Some considered it a personal failure not to contribute to the overall productivity of the country. The demoralization that accompanied unem- ployment was apparent in many interviews: many women were embar- rassed to discuss their unemployment, as they felt it was an indication of their own lack of ability to adapt or to find other work. Some explained how unemployment also meant the loss of access to many important socioeco- nomic networks. For women who had worked under the socialist system, a job was rather like a one-stop service center that distributed everything from family benefits and child care support to an apartment to live in and in-kind contributions of food and fuel. In an economy where many informal trans- actions took place as the result of an intricate network of cohorts helping one another out, survival in the command economy encouraged a high degree of interdependency. The loss of social networks for rural women was compounded by their lack of mobility due to increasing costs of public transportation. In addition to the loss of a community, some interviewees explained that the physical and psychological isolation was giving rise to more and more alcoholism among unemployed rural women. Living Conditions The rapid rate of economic reform had taken a devastating toll on many households- some respondents compared it to an earthquake-much more an abrupt shock than a smooth transition. Almost half of the respondents described their current living conditions as extremely difficult; 58 percent of this group were older than 50 years. Slightly more of them were non-Kyrgyz (47 percent) than Kyrgyz (43 percent; about half the total population are ethnic Kyrgyz) Most of the other respondents (49 percent) described their living conditions as worse than one year ago, and most of these were under the age of 40 years. Only 6 percent of the women evaluated their family liv- ing conditions as sufficient, and over half of these were under 29 years of age. From survey results and interviews, it was evident that elderly women 44 1 When Things Fall Apart were suffering most from the everyday deterioration of their living conditions: some elderly women indicated that they were eating only bread and tea. The respondents unanimously stated that the first coping mechanism they used in their new economic predicament was the curtailment of unnec- essary foodstuffs. During the first half of 1993, the majority also stopped buying clothing (70 percent) and household items (75 percent); some had stopped purchasing butter (20 percent), meat (14 percent), and milk prod- ucts (14 percent). Many households with more than six children were buy- ing day-old bread and giving their children tea instead of milk, which they could not afford. Although only a small percentage of women had expected assistance from the government, 71 percent actually received some form of social ben- efits. However, the amount was steadily being reduced, as the lag time for receiving benefits averaged from one to four months, and such benefits accounted for very little of their usable incomes given the increase in con- sumer prices. When asked, "What kind of benefits do you receive?" the answers given were as follows: Response Percent Child or family benefits 37 No benefits 29 Retirement pension 16 Pregnancy leave benefits 8 Disability benefits 3 Unemployment benefits 3 Veterans benefits 1 Other 4 The reduction in benefits, coupled with inflation and the introduction of the new currency, left many families without cash to buy food. When asked how they were paying for things without cash income, the rural women said that they were selling both their household belongings and food from their gardens that was originally intended as a winter cache for their family. This new behavior was particularly disturbing to older Kyrgyz women, because during the Soviet period selling one's produce at a local bazaar was seen as a form of family disgrace It was expected in this highly gift-based society that this food would be offered as a gift to a relative or friend. The changing economy also was affecting informal social networks. Amid the reduction in governmental assistance, 58 percent of the women surveyed indicated that they did not receive any financial or food support Poverty Shock. Women of the Kyrgyz Republic 1 45 from family or relatives. Among those who had received help from their family, food (15 percent) was the primary means of support, although some received cash (11 percent). Very few received clothing, animals, or support in building a house. When asked about this lack of traditional, and former- ly dependable, support from relatives, the women explained that everyone was struggling and that surplus food and other goods were not as available as they had been in the past. Without governmental and familial support, two systems that were key factors in their social protection network, women were left to their own resources. Elderly urban women, especially Russians, appeared to be among the most vulnerable. In most cases, they were women. Seldom did they have more than one or two children, and in many cases their adult children had migrated to the Russian Federation. It was nearly impossible for an elderly Russian to leave, since she would lose her pension. A survey of retirees in Bishkek indicated that most of these women were coping by engaging in small-scale trade, selling off saved-up possessions and producing handi- crafts or homemade food products obtained from garden plots. In 1993 the majority of the population (62 percent) resided in the rural regions, where living conditions continued to be more difficult than for urban women Although many families had private gardens in the fertile valleys of Chui, Ferghana, and Issyk Kul, they were not immune to the gen- eral breakdown in transportation and communications infrastructure, and large parts of these regions are mountainous. Deteriorating roads inhibited travel to employment services offices, banks, and jobs. Fuel shortages, breakdowns of buses and trucks, and difficulty in finding spare parts had seriously affected food production and distribution. In addition, few rural households had telephones; most depended on a central telephone station to call other family members. Many rural women indicated that they lacked running water in their homes, instead relying year-round on a pump located in the street. Even more problematic than water was fuel for heating homes and schools. One nine-person family living on the northern shore of Lake Issyk Kul stated that, as a result of their farm being privatized, they had not received their annual allotment of coal. They anticipated passing the winter in their sum- mer kitchen, because it could be heated more easily with green wood than their house. Trees in this mountainous area were few to begin with, and so there was great concern about an increase in spring mudslides because of the number of trees being felled for winter fuel. In addition, many rural respondents described the large numbers of chil- dren who were quitting school by the age of 14, because rural schools were 46 1 When Things Fall Apart losing qualified teachers. Teachers were choosing to sell at the local bazaar in order to eam a better income. Older children were also being recruited to work to help bring in needed cash for the family. A Kyrgyz family of 10 in the rural southern part of the country is housed in one room. Everyone shares the floor for sleep. The cup- boards have a few cups and dishes on them, but there are no obvious signs of food stocks of any sort The woman of the household, 37 years old, offers the interviewer some dark bread It is old, but it is a gift that cannot be refused in Central Asia. Her twins are two months old, but they are small, more the size of a one-month-old The woman's face is worn, almost grandmotherly. The other sLx children hang out around the new twins They have not gone to school this past year, she explains, and there is little food or clothing. "My hus- band works in Uzbekistan," she says. "This year is more difficult than last year. There are few products and no clothes for my children I am worried about my new twins. They are not growing very quickly I haven't received my family benefits for five months. We are waiting. We don't know what else to do I am busy with my twins, and so my oldest son, who is 11 years old, goes to the market and sells small produce " Finally, her husband arrives home with a can full of apples The chil- dren jump up and down as he hands them his pickings. He tells of his daily difficulties crossing the Uzbek border in order to work. When asked why he works in Uzbekistan and not in the Kyrgyz Republic, he says that there is work there now He works in the fields harvesting tobacco and cotton, which is usually done by women, but now men, too, must work in the fields in order to have any work at all. A common concem among rural women was the increase in drinking and crime among the young males. There was little entertainment available, since many of the youth clubs had shut down and most movie theaters could not afford to show films. But with surging imports of alcohol, drink- ing had become the major social activity. One rural coroner in the town of Cholpon Ata reported a rising number of knifings and beatings among drunk youth. Rural women reported the use of opium and marijuana among the young. A 43-year-old Kyrgyz woman expresses her concerns "It worries me a lot that children have started to quit school in eighth grade Children should study in school like they used to. Without school it is difficult Poverty Shock Women of the Kyrgyz Republic 1 47 for teenagers-for boys-to get along. Attention especially has to be paid to filling vacancies in schools, where there aren't enough teachers in various disciplines Also, we have to keep our children from selling cigarettes and alcohol, since there's a danger that they will try it all themselves first " Rural women may have had the advantage of gardens or orchards on which they could depend for food production during the summer, but even rural respondents repeatedly expressed their concem about their food sup- plies lasting beyond the winter. Further, not all rural regions had gardens, because of the high altitude and short growing season in the mountains, which make up 90 percent of the country. Certainly these regions were experiencing more difficult conditions. In Susamir, in Chui oblast, gardens were few, and the transport that had formerly brought produce from Bishkek was becoming infrequent. Some of the women who had been employed by the collective farms had no idea where they would find coal for heating their homes this winter; the farm used to provide them with such in-kind assistance. The lack of trees at the higher altitudes made pro- curement of fuel for heating particularly problematic The women expressed great concern for their children's health. A Kyrgyz interviewer summarizes her observations "We see the disin- tegration of the family: men are working in one area, and their families are living elsewhere. The relationships between people are tense because of the impoverished situation It affects the husband-wife and the parent-child relationship. I think it is quite likely that the number of divorces will increase as the result of these social and economic problems We have identified the symptoms We have to get to the cause As the socialist infrastructures collapsed during the early 1 990s, people in rural areas often expressed their worries about the deterioration of the health care and education systems. Embedded within their general con- cerns were more regional concems. Kyrgyz women with many children in Naryn oblast were troubled most about the lack of medicines and growing infant mortality, whereas Russian women in Talas oblast were concerned more about educating their children in their native language without hav- ing to move to another region or another country. Women were anxious about the approaching winter, when temperatures would fall below freez- ing for at least five months of the year. They had no money to buy clothes 48 1 When Things Fall Apart or shoes for their children; the last time they had bought any children's clothes was over two years ago. Now the clothes were wearing out, and the children had outgrown the shoes Some women doubted that their chil- dren would be able to continue their schooling with clothes and food so limited. When respondents were asked what kind of humanitarian aid would be most helpful, children's dothing was the third most frequent answer, after medicine and flour. A Russian woman in rural Chui oblast says, 'High prices worry me most of all I really want prnces to stop rising and salaries to increase. Come winter there's no coal or firewood, and children are running around without shoes or warm clothes." Increasing Incidence of Poverty Reflecting the dramatic fall in living standards for much of the population, most women (79 percent) said that they had observed signs of poverty in their neighborhoods. When asked to describe what they meant by poverty, most (74 percent) said it was a condition in which people could not buy food. It was easier for most women to report on a neighbor's difficult situ- ation than to tell about their own predicament. A larger share of non-Kyrgyz (86 percent) than of Kyrgyz respondents (74 percent) perceived poverty among the people they knew. A sharp decrease in the standard of living of the urban elderly was evident from both respondent surveys and direct observation. There was an increasing number of suicides among the elderly Russians. A priest at the Bishkek Russian Orthodox church reported that another problem among the elder- ly was that many families could no longer afford to bury their dead, and bodies were being left unclaimed at hospitals. Russian women were devas- tated by this prospect. Some in the bazaar described selling their few fam- ily heirlooms, such as silver samovars and jewelry, in order to pay in advance for their burial plot. In Naryn oblast, govemment officials and the interview team concurred that this oblast was one of the most impoverished in the country, yet in eval- uating their own living conditions, more women in Naryn answered that they enjoyed an "average lifestyle" (55 percent) than in the other five oblasts. This discrepancy between observed hardship and reported satisfac- tion could be explained by the degree to which the Kyrgyz people value optimism and maintain a discreet attitude about their own problems: 96 Poverty Shock Women of the Kyrgyz Republic 1 49 percent of the women interviewed in Naryn oblast were Kyrgyz, a propor- tion that reflects the overall population of this region but exceeds that in other oblasts. A Kyrgyz sociologist says, 'Our people are heroic people. They will never tell you that they are in a bad situation. If you ask a dying Mus- lim, he'll respond, 'I am getting better every day."' Through observation in nearly 600 respondents' homes, the research team saw the deteriorating living conditions firsthand. They found a num- ber of women, especially among the elderly and mothers with more than five children, having great difficulty feeding their families. The poorest group was those who lived in the more remote and mountainous rural areas, where some women lacked the means to buy food and could not grow it because of the short growing season. An unemployed Kyrgyz woman says of her household, "You can see for yourselves that we are poor But don't say that to the other people in our village We consider ourselves to be living like everybody else " The issue of food shortages seemed related more to problems of distri- bution than to low production. Some farners reported that their produc- tion was down because of seasonal storms and because they could not afford to hire enough farmhands. Natural disasters, such as the large earth- quake that hit in 1992 and several small ones in 1993, had also added to the rapidly deteriorating living standards, especially in the south. The result- ing landslides had affected transportation to the more remote areas, and dangerous mudslides were predicted for the following spring. Local assistance for newly impoverished women and their families was minimal; such assistance was first allocated to the disabled and to the elderly. Forty-eight percent of the women interviewed expressed little or no confidence in the local government's ability to assist families in need. Even some of the most impoverished families felt that they could not depend on assistance from the government. Nor had women received support from local businesses, which as a rule only helped their own employees. The sig- nificant sums of money spent by these enterprises on philanthropic projects did not ensure a fair distribution of social aid. Some women said that they had expected help from their collective farm, but that they could not depend on it as they had the previous year In general, they relied only on 50 i When Things Fall Apart themselves, their immediate family, or relatives; but they, too, were in a sim- ilar predicament. A Kyrgyz student interviewer notes that "The number of unemployed people is increasing every day As a result, there are many problems, the main one is poverty. Poverty has its own consequences It begins with the problems of feeding oneself and ends with psychological problems We used to talk about the quality of the food Now we talk about the quantity of it The main foods eaten are tea and bread." Intemational humanitarian aid first arrived in the Kyrgyz Republic in August 1992, but women in Jalal-Abad oblast discussed how discouraged they had been when cases of outdated medicine and spoiled foods were delivered. Assistance to the earthquake victims was still needed. In some ways conditions were even worse now, because the transition was one year farther along in dismantling the Soviet infrastructure There was little food and medicine available in these regions. In 1993, the Kyrgyz earthquake refugees, many of whom had lost their homes and villages, had congregat- ed in Osh, and some in Jalal-Abad. They were among the poorest; they received no social assistance, since they did not have propiska (residence per- mits) to work in Osh. Despite the wide range of opinions among respondents regarding setting up soup kitchens for those in need, the survey results spoke to the necessi- ty of this type of aid for elderly women and single mothers. Although most people reported that they themselves would never use a soup kitchen or other forms of public support as a coping mechanism, 34 percent of the women agreed that these services should be available to the poor. The high- est level of support for this sort of assistance was found among respondents in Chui oblast (56 percent) and the lowest in Issyk Kul oblast (10 percent). This difference may be due to Chui's proximity to Bishkek and thus greater familiarity with intemational assistance. In general, however, the women interviewed for this study were wary of intemational assistance. They worried that it meant borrowing money from international banks, which would greatly burden their children's generation with debt. One regional govemor refused at first to allow the interview team to work in his oblast because, as he put it, aid organizations kept coming to him for information, and so far he had not seen any benefits. After a lengthy discussion, he agreed to assist the team and ended up providing cars and drivers so that interviewers could travel to some of the more remote areas in the oblast. Nevertheless, govemmental officials were in general far less Poverty Shock Women of the Kyrgyz Republic 1 51 patient with the interviewers than the local women were The officials dis- cussed the stress they were under as advocates for their country before the international organizations An employed l