Poverty is arguably the most critical and central concept of development. Indeed, without the poor, clearly 'development' would not be required. Nevertheless, our conceptual relationship to poverty over the years, at the very least, may be described as contentious. Equally problematic, how notions of poverty are accepted or contested by 'those who need to be developed' i.e. the poor themselves, is often unknown. Thus, from the outset, this thesis posits that despite recent attention to the 'voices' of the poor, it is likely that there is a large conceptual fault line between development actors and the poor themselves over the most central concept of development: poverty. Clearly any such schism will ultimately influence the ability of development processes to deliver, with regard to poverty alleviation.