The end of global poverty is in sight. While this may seem like a difficult, if not impossible feat, in fact, the opposite is true. By adhering to these concepts, the United Nations states that poverty can be ended in the near future.

1. Economic Growth: Training and education are key for economic growth in the developing world. Once these two necessities are met, more jobs can be created and people will earn more money to fuel the economy.
2. Representative and Responsible Government: Corruption has been known to prevent foreign aid from reaching the most impoverished people. Open governments are less likely to be corrupt and more likely to provide social services to their citizens.
3. ‘Green’ agriculture and development: Due to climate change and population increases, environmentally friendly policies are critical for ensuring sustainability and healthy lifestyles.
4. Healthcare/Sanitation: Without access to proper healthcare, communities are affected by disease, illness and death, factors that contribute to lack of economic development and social progress. Access to clean water and sanitation will also improve health conditions. When children are healthy, they can go to school and grow up to have careers, thus ending their parents’ poverty cycle.
5. Global Partnerships: No one country can end global poverty on its own. In order to reduce poverty, everyone must work together to ensure that these other factors are met. Foreign aid, improving trading relations or diplomacy are ways that countries can contribute to eliminating poverty.

Although this is a simplified list, these big ideas are vital for finally ending world poverty. Once poverty is reduced, hunger, war, and illicit operations common to developing countries will no longer be prevalent because people will no longer be imprisoned by extreme poverty. The U.N. is on track for meeting its Millennium Development Goals and hopes to see the end of world poverty by 2030.

– Mary Penn

Sources: Plan Canada, Government of the United Kingdom
Photo: The Guardian