“Poverty trap” is a phrase often used in many studies on poverty. This phrase describes a structural condition that results in someone or a community becoming trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty that is difficult to break. Nevertheless, amidst the stories of those who remain trapped in poverty, we find various experiences of men and women who are able to free themselves from poverty. Who are they and how did they succeed in moving out of poverty?

To discover the answer to the above questions, SMERU undertook the “Moving Out of Poverty” study in 2005 and 2006 in several districts in Indonesia to examine how members of a community who had previously been poor had moved out of poverty and succeeded in maintaining their welfare level in different political, governance, and economic contexts.

In this edition, we mainly highlight those who have succeeded in moving out of poverty (movers). Through their experiences and their life stories we can learn the interaction and relationship between the various factors that have helped to stimulate the socioeconomic potential of the poor and support their movement out of poverty.

This edition also presents women’s social mobility patterns based on the experiences of female heads of poor households in West Timor, NTT, as well as through the experiences of PEKKA as described by Nani Zulminarni. To complete this discussion, anthropologist Aris Arif Mundayat analyzes the various key strategic factors influencing the movement out of poverty. It seems that poverty needs not be a vicious cycle but a labyrinth from which there is actually a way out.