How to identify ' target groups ' ?

The core challenges in contemporary development practice and research are to identify particular groups which struggle for control of available assets and resources (Oakley & Marsden 1984:9) and to categorize community members into specific groups (such as the ‘poor’, ‘marginalized’, ‘disadvantaged’, ‘socially excluded’, etc.) for the purpose of either targeting development assistance or focusing research. At present, such categorisation especially in development practice is influenced by concerns first of all for ‘poverty’, but also ‘social discrimination’, e.g. by caste, ethnicity, gender, or other forms of identity and distinction. In South Asia for example, Dalits or certain ethnic groups are defined as discriminated groups per se, without recognizing economic stratifications within such groups. As one consequence, gender, ethnicity, religion or origin (indigenization) become mobilized by different political parties, interest groups and individuals to establish power or to gain access to specific benefits. In contexts such as the Central American (with the exception of Guatemala, where indigenization is at stake), despite the existence of ethnic groups, it is not ethnicity but economic categories intertwined with other attributes of people (e.g. the poorest of the poor, the undeserving) which are used to construct ‘social categories’.