What Makes Resource Provision an Effective Means of Poverty Alleviation? A Resourcing Perspective.

The article examines the effectiveness of resource provision as a strategy for poverty alleviation, focusing on the role of "access schemas"—shared social understandings about who is permitted to use resources—in addition to "use schemas," which concern how resources are utilized. Using a longitudinal qualitative study of not-for-profit organizations (NPOs) introducing agricultural knowledge videos to rural Indian villages, the research identifies three mechanisms—precedence, complementarity, and scaffolding—that shape which access schemas become dominant in resource-scarce, socially stratified contexts. The findings reveal that while use schemas tend to converge over time, conflicting access schemas rooted in caste and gender hierarchies often determine who benefits from resource provision, influencing the overall impact on poverty and social inequality. The study contributes to grand challenge and resourcing theories by highlighting the critical importance of addressing social access barriers to ensure equitable and effective poverty alleviation through resource provision.