Analyzing the status of multidimensional poverty of rural households by using sustainable livelihood framework: policy implications for economic growth

Poverty is a multifaceted and location-based issue that cannot be quantified using monetary metrics alone. This study aims to evaluate the multidimensional poverty status of poor households in Ha Giang province, Vietnam, by using the DFID (Department for International Development) sustainable livelihood framework, an integrating technique for spatial recognition of multidimensional poverty, was developed and deployed to conduct a county-level poverty assessment in rural Vietnam. The multidimensional poverty standard is considered a novel approach to assess poverty, identify causes of poverty, and encourage poor households to sustainably escape poverty. A household survey was conducted in three rural districts, namely Dong Van, Hoang Su Phi, and Bac Quang in Ha Giang province, Vietnam, during 2016 to 2021. The results of the study show that surveyed households are deficient in all five main sources of livelihood, in which the three most deficient capital sources are natural capital, social capital, and financial capital. The findings revealed that the majority of farming households were classified as multidimensionally poor. The multidimensionally poor regions were not only poorer in single-dimensional and aggregate ratings than the income-poor and recognized poor regions, but they also had several vulnerabilities and insecurity. The assessment of multidimensional poverty, by distinguishing the poor, marginalized, and dispossessed dimensions, should be extremely beneficial for each region to design and execute poverty reduction programs accordingly, and it would contribute to improving the persistence of alleviating poverty. The article also proposes a number of sustainable poverty reduction measures, in which the root is to improve the spirit of self-raising to escape poverty of households.