The Hidden Role of Followership in Poverty Reduction

Abstract

Efforts to reduce poverty are typically framed as leadership challenges—calling for better strategies, stronger leaders, and more effective organizations. This lightning talk challenges that assumption by positioning poverty reduction as fundamentally dependent on followership. Drawing on recent research on social service organizations (Poudel & Kaufman, 2025; Varela, 2013), this presentation integrates insights from U.S. poverty measurement (e.g., Dalaker, 2022), global frameworks such as the Multidimensional Poverty Index (United Nations Development Programme, 2025), and practitioner perspectives on frontline work (Kaufman, 2025). Poverty is not a singular condition but a multidimensional and context-dependent phenomenon, shaped by how it is defined and measured. These choices influence which populations are seen, which interventions are prioritized, and how success is evaluated. At the same time, poverty alleviation efforts operate within complex systems involving networks of organizations, stakeholders, and communities, where coordination, shared purpose, and distributed action are essential. Within these systems, followership plays a critical yet often unacknowledged role (Matshoba-Ramuedzisi, et al., 2022). Frontline practitioners, partner organizations, and community members enact forms of followership that influence implementation, accountability, and ultimately outcomes (Fabiano, 2024). Building on prior work identifying “hard truths” about poverty reduction, this talk argues that overlooking followership limits both theory and practice. By reframing poverty reduction through a followership lens, this session contributes to emerging conversations on leadership–followership systems and offers practical implications for advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 1: No Poverty.