Archive for category: Poverty Reduction

Information and stories about poverty reduction.

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How Does the Community Care Fund Fight Poverty?

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Community Care Fund in Hong Kong has decided to increase their poverty giveaways by helping those who are inadequately housed. They will be giving away more cash subsidies than ever before that will end up helping many people. Community Care Fund is a relatively new organization that was created in 2011. The organization is overseen by an “Executive Committee,” and there are four subcommittees that represent the topics and issues that the organization deals with each day – education, home affairs, medical issues, and welfare. The Community Care Fund works closely with the government’s Commission on Poverty (or the CoP). The Chinese government officially announced the creation of the CoP in the end of 2012. Since then, the Community Care fund and the Commission on Poverty have worked closely in their projects in order to do as much for the country as possible.

The Commission on Poverty has the primary objective of reducing poverty in Hong Kong, and for setting a poverty line for the city. Although poverty is the main goal, this is done in several ways – for instance, by supporting the underprivileged, stimulating social mobility, and promoting employment and education for all. The Commission works with the government, of course, and also works with NGOs, other businesses, and the community. The community at large is supported through the Societal Engagement Task force, which are also a part of the Commission. Attention will be paid to those with disabilities, minorities, and single parents. According to the Commission, they use the Community Care Fund in order to give relief immediately to those who are in dire need. They have also supported a Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Fund.

The Community Care Fund was created under the Secretary for Home Affairs Incorporation Ordinance to help those with economic difficulties, especially the underprivileged that are not a part of the social safety net or who are facing special circumstances. Some of the examples of their subsidies are the following: Provision of Special Subsidy to Persons with Severe Physical Disabilities, Special Care Subsidy for the Severely Disabled, Subsidy for Elders who are on the Waiting List of Integrated Home Care Services, Training Subsidy for Children who are on the Waiting List of Subvented Pre-school, and so on and so forth. Basically, the Community Care Fund gives cash to those who are in desperate need and cannot get it in any other way.

Recently, the Community Care Fund has announced they will be adding another subsidy to help those who are “inadequately housed.” Primarily this will expand a previous subsidy that had only helped those living in subsidized housing – around 150,000 more people will qualify for the cash subsidies and have a good chance of being helped, and drawn out of poverty. This expanded subsidy was only one of four schemes that were announced by Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the chairwoman of the Commission on Poverty (which, as mentioned before, works with the Community Care Fund in regards to immediate relief). Those living in premises deemed inadequate, such as squatter housing, will receive lump sums based on family sizes – thus far, 26,000 families have been helped by the subsidies.

Overall, just giving money to those in need is not the only or even best solution to reduce poverty, but it is definitely a start. The Community Care Fund allows immediate relief, and the Commission on Poverty keeps those families from falling back into poverty with other programs and initiatives. Basically, the Community Care Fund does as much as it can, and helps those who were previously “missed” by the system. Perhaps these two programs are helping contribute to the overall reduction of poverty in China.

– Corina Balsamo

Sources: SCMP, Community Care Fund, SWD
Photo: Amusing Planet

What is Poverty Reduction?

UNDP Assist Sudan's River Nile State's Villagers
From hand-outs to hand-ups, nations, non-profits, and individual donors do a great deal towards poverty reduction efforts. These efforts see varying levels of success, as judged against many diverse standards. Though most people have a general idea of what it means to reduce poverty, the concept of poverty reduction as such seems to evade a static definition. On the contrary, “poverty reduction” continues to evolve and grow, alongside poverty reduction strategy innovations.

Many years ago, the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID, began to address global poverty by way of financial contributions to governments of poverty-stricken nations. Early relief initiatives also included donations of agricultural commodities, often dropped in shipments from airplanes and helicopters. The idea was simple: people are hungry, give them food. Since then, the concept of poverty reduction has become a much more complicated idea.

Traditionally, the term has been used as short hand for the kind of economic growth pursued in less-developed nations, by more-developed nations, to achieve a goal of lifting as many people above the poverty line as possible. As years have passed, there has been a shift from hand-outs (i.e. simple financial and agricultural donations) toward long-term poverty reduction, which includes extended relief programs and education programs focused on sustainability in target communities.

At least one paper from the Center for Global Development in Washington D.C. argues that the traditional definition of poverty reduction fails to encompass efforts to reduce poverty that, though not falling into a category of efforts to promote long-term growth in target communities, nonetheless contribute to an ethically tenable position in the fight against global poverty. In this paper, Owen Barder argues that poverty reduction has other dimensions, for example, in the trade-offs between tackling current and future poverty or dealing with the causes and symptoms of poverty.

The danger of ignoring the various dimensions of poverty relief, Barder suggests, lead to the adoption of poverty reduction strategies that fail to take a holistic view of poverty. As a result, relief and aid programs may be less efficient, while aid agencies may be operating on underdeveloped objectives and incentives. For a more in-depth discussion of poverty reduction as an evolving concept and the working paper on this topic, click here.

– Herman Watson

Sources: Center for Global Development,UNDP, UNFPA, USAID

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Proposed Begging Ban in Finland

Begging Ban in Finland
Politicians from the National Coalition Party, Centre Party and Swedish People’s Party have proposed a ban against begging in Finland. Ban supporters see begging as an annoyance and want to fine perpetrators, predominately the Roma (or “gypsies”) who are most infamous for begging in Helsinki, the Finnish capital.

Proponents of the ban see it as a positive move for human rights in Finland, where many are coerced into begging by sex traffickers and street criminals. The European group The Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) advocates for the ban for this very reason.

Opposers of the ban see it as a violation of human rights, as it prevents those who are begging out of free will from obtaining help from the more advantaged. The Roma population has substantially increased over the last few years due to their migration from Eastern Europe into Scandinavia, increasing the number of poor people in need of assistance there. University of Helsinki’s Professor of Constitutional Law, Tuomas Ojanen points out the problematic implications of the fledgling law, stating: “(m)eans other than a prohibition on begging should be pursued to deal with the human rights issues related to the poverty of, and systematic discrimination against, Roma people.” Historically, the Roma have been treated poorly and shouldered the blame for many societal problems. One must not forget that the Roma were persecuted in the Holocaust in much the same way as Jews, with anywhere from 200,000-1,000,000 killed by the Nazis from 1939-45.

Is a ban on begging really necessary in Finland? The ban may curb the “annoyance” of beggars asking for money, but what will it accomplish in the long run? It certainly will not result in a greater reduction of poverty. After all, a beggar is begging for money, and will be unable to pay a fine if he or she is required to pay one. Yes, a ban may be conducive to ending forced begging and sex trafficking in Finland, but it will only worsen the situation of the Roma in the region. Further disenfranchising an already downtrodden people is a high price to pay for ending a petty irritation.

– Josh Forgét

Sources: Romanies and the Holocaust: A Reevaluation and an Overview, Ice News, The Human Rights Blog

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MIT Researchers Find the Viral Gene in Microfinance

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The central problem of many anti-poverty efforts is a failure to actually reach the poor. Often, the programs themselves are faulty or broken. Much of the time, however, the problem is demand-side: The poor don’t trust the aid programs and don’t want to participate.

Two MIT researchers think they have found a solution, however. Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, co-founders of the Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), decided to measure an oft-overlooked factor in community development: social influence, or what they call “diffusion centrality.” Using their new metrics, they think they have found a key to motivating demand-side participation in charitable efforts.

In their recent paper, “The Diffusion of Microfinance,” they argue that finding the right “social injection points” is key to successful beneficial programs. They studied microfinance programs in 75 villages in southwestern India for five years, conducting extensive surveys to determine how participation in microfinance flowed along social networks. They paid especially close attention to social pressure points like village leaders, teachers, and business owners. What they found surprised them.

Although some of the typically well-connected socialites were excellent vehicles for transmitting participation in the programs, they were not as good as you would think. Many ranked low on their diffusion centrality index. Even people’s friends—the quintessential source of social pressure—had little effect on participation.

What they did find is that, barring any presumptions about connectedness, individuals who ranked in the 90th percentile of diffusion centrality were the gatekeepers to large-scale participation. When they were the first ones targeted by microfinance efforts, the programs ultimately reached 11% more people—from their perspective, a huge jump in participation.

“I think this work will lead to more innovative research on how social networks can be used more effectively in promoting poverty alleviation programs in poor countries,” says Lori Beaman, a professor of economics at Northwestern University and a J-PAL affiliate. “It significantly moves forward our understanding of how social networks influence people’s decision-making.”

– John Mahon

Sources: MIT, Stanford, New Yorker
Photo: MIT

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How to Solve Poverty

How to Solve Poverty
The following is not a definite plan for how to solve poverty. There are many causes and factors to consider that promote and sustain impoverishment, thus there are also myriad of solutions. By embracing all possibilities related to global education and technology, we can put a sizable, irreparable dent into poverty.

 

How to Solve Poverty

 

Education for women: 70% of all women in the world live in poverty, and over 32 million women are considered “missing.” Poor health conditions, famine, and social injustice contribute greatly to the problem. Women work some of the most difficult but crucial hours worldwide, yet earn pennies on the dollar for their effort. This leads to desperation and informal employment which opens the door to problems like human trafficking. When women receive education, the results are indisputable: lower fertility and infant mortality rates, less instance of sexually transmitted disease, and a greater chance of employment and contributions to local economies. The benefits of female education are much broader than male education.

Using Positive Deviance: Somewhere in every community lives a person or a family that is not poor for a reason. Finding those positive deviants in the community and letting others around them learn from their experience is becoming a very popular approach in places. Lewiston Elementary in Utah is one of 300 schools to be nationally recognized for outstanding academics, despite the fact that half of their students are poor and 10% speak English as a second language. The kids consistently exceed what is expected of them all due to how they are taught, which includes, “…small group instruction; an evidence-based reading curriculum; progress monitoring; parent involvement; and instructional coaching.” Other schools have begun to take note of Lewiston’s success.

Entertainment Education: One might not immediately see the correlation between entertainment and poverty, but when considering impoverished or uneducated children, it becomes highly apparent. Education is clearly a poverty deterrent, thus using the media to promote education in communities in ways that will entertain can have major impacts. A well known example of this is the television program Sesame Street, watched the world over by young, hungry minds. Other prosocial programs and themes have been used with great results in the developing world, ranging from simple radio programs to a project called Soul City which has been running in South Africa for years. One organization leading the way with entertainment education is Population Media Center.

– David Smith

Sources: Women and Poverty, Learning The Lessons of Sesame Street
Photo: Infosur Hoy

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Poverty In Brazil

poverty in brazil
Poverty in Brazil impacts all aspects of the country. Last month, thousands stormed the streets of Brazil to protest increased transportation fares. As the protests persisted, the causes of the protests expanded to include government corruption, poor social services, and high taxes, while meanwhile, billions were being spent to host the World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Amidst this public upheaval, President Rousseff’s approval rating slipped from 73.7% to 49.3% in July. During Rousseff’s election campaign, she promised to eradicate poverty, saying it would be her top priority in office. Many are upset that these changes have not come soon enough.

With some of the highest paid executives in the world and an appreciating currency, the Brazilian economy appears to be well off. In addition, poverty in Brazil has been halved in the last two decades. The government is credited with lifting 28 million out of extreme poverty and bringing 36 million into the middle class. But despite being the sixth largest economy in the world, Brazil’s GDP per capita ranks 100th, behind Iran and Costa Rica. In Brazil, poverty disproportionately affects the young and those in the northeast. 8.5% of the population (16.2 million) lives on less than $45/month. Of the 16.2 million living below the poverty line, 4.8 million survive on no income at all.

 

Poverty In Brazil

 

To put it simply, Brazil is a nation of stark contrasts. Although the nation has some of the wealthiest in the world, many more suffer from extreme poverty. 26% of the population still lives below the poverty line. Brazil spends a lot of money on social programs, but because these programs are pro-rich, Brazil’s poorest only see 13% of all total benefits compared to 24% at the top. Increased social spending would not alleviate poverty in Brazil. Rather, Brazil must restructure its spending to reach the poorest. Maercio Menezes, professor of economics at the University of Sao Paulo, told the BBC, “Brazil is one of the most unequal countries on the planet… The reduction (of poverty) that has been taking place in the past decades is minor. If you are born into a poor family it is very difficult for you to eventually become rich.”

In June of 2011, President Rousseff expanded the country’s aid programs to reach the nation’s poorest. Rousseff launched a multi-billion dollar social assistance program called “Brazil without Misery,” and its aim is to eradicate extreme poverty from Brazil by 2014. The program expands a cash transfer benefit program started in 2003 by the Bolsa Family, which provided families with cash benefits in exchange for keeping their children in school and following a simple health and vaccination program. Since the program’s inception, it has helped tens of millions of Brazilians by providing food and basic social services. But, according to President Rousseff, Brazil cannot be content with just a big social program – it must do more to reach the nation’s poorest.

“Brazil without Misery” is made up of three components. First, it extends the cash transfer program to reach more people. The program increases the number of eligible children per family from three to five, in order to reach an additional 1.3 million children. Second, the government aims to improve access to health services, education, and improved infrastructure (running water, electricity, sewage disposal). Lastly, the plan intends to improve the economic means available to Brazilians through job creation, vocational-training and microcredit. To assist Brazil, the World Bank has offered $8 billion towards the program.

Several weeks ago, Pope Francis made a visit to one of Brazil’s most infamous slums. The Brazilian government was most worried about protesters during the Pope’s visit, but the Pope showed support for the nation’s poor and even criticized the government for not doing enough. “Here, as in the whole of Brazil, there are many young people… You have a particular sensitivity towards injustice, but you are often disappointed by facts that speak of corruption on the part of the people who put their own interests before the common good.”

In order to eradicate poverty in Brazil, it is clear that a social overhaul is necessary. The stark inequalities within Brazilian society keep the rich wealthy, but prevent the poor from attaining economic security. Social and economic restructuring will not come easily, nor will they come immediately. Moreover, Brazil will need to reassess “Brazil without Misery” once its term is up in 2014 to see if continuation or expansion is required to meet the needs of the nation’s poorest.

– Kelsey Ziomek

Sources:World Bank,Rural Poverty Portal,Rio Times,ISSA
 Photo: Paraiba Paradise

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5 Facts about Child Poverty

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Child poverty is a multifaceted issue whose impacts are far-reaching and pervasive. While adults may fall into poverty for a period of time, children in poverty are often trapped forever. Seldom are they able to start anew because their poverty that lasts a lifetime. Furthermore the depths of child poverty often lead to greater entrenchment in social inequality. Thus governments and individuals must commit to understanding and tackling global child poverty.
Child Poverty is real and it is poses a threat to millions of children. Here are 5 key facts about child poverty.

  1. According to UNICEF, 1 billion children are living in poverty throughout the world. Of these children, 121 million are out of education and 22,000 die due to poverty each day.
  2. 30% of the children in developing nations live on less than $1 a day. Of this 30%, 270 million children have no access to health care services.
  3. The result of this dangerous poverty is extreme malnourishment. 27-28% of all children in developing countries are underweight or stunted in growth. In 2011 alone, 165 million children under the age of 5 were stunted due to hunger and starvation.
  4. Child poverty does not only affect developing nations. In a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United States ranks 34th amongst 35 countries examined for child poverty rates. In fact more than one in five American children live below the poverty line today.
  5. Sadly, the Millennium Development goal to halve the proportion of underweight children will not be reached if current trends continue. The mark will be missed by 30 million children due in large part to slow progress in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Though these facts are bleak, the truth is that child poverty can be fought. For example, in the year 2000 it would have cost an estimated $6 billion a year to place every child in school. Though the cost may have fluctuated since then, such a seemingly large amount was only a tiny fraction of how much the world spent on weapons alone. Eliminating child poverty is indeed a feasible goal.

– Grace Zhao

Sources: Global Issues, UNICEF, Do Something, The Washington Post
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Top 10 International Poverty Statistics

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  1. Nearly half of the world’s population lives on less than $2.50 a day. More than 1.3 billion live in extreme poverty (less than $1.25 a day). In the developed world it is hard to fathom living on $2.50 a day, yet almost 3 billion people do so in their daily lives. The World Bank sets the extreme poverty line at $1.25 a day, and over 1.3 billion people live on such an extremely low income.
  2. More than 1.6 billion people lack access to electricity and modern forms of energy. Electricity is necessary for modern development, yet so many people are denied its use. With climate change on the rise, it is ever more important to find sustainable, renewable energy sources for the world’s poor.
  3. 1 billion children worldwide are living in poverty. According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. Many of these children live in single parent households, as many parents die from treatable diseases or leave their families for less poverty-stricken areas.
  4. 80% of the world population lives on less than $10 a day. Although it is not as extreme as $1.25 or even $2.50 a day, most in the developed world can’t imagine living on $10 a day. In fact, the poverty line in the US is set at just over $30 a day. Yet an overwhelming majority of the world’s population lives at less than a third of that.
  5. Preventable diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia take the lives of 2 million children a year who are too poor to afford proper treatment. Diarrhea takes many  lives annually, when just access to proper water supply could reduce around 40% of all cases.
  6. Women produce half of the world’s food, work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, earn only 10% of the world’s income, and own less than 1% of the world’s property.
  7. Women make up around 70% of the world’s 1 billion poorest people. Women’s empowerment and equality is the silver bullet to ending poverty. Enabling women to get the same opportunities as men, such as access to credit and education, would lift whole communities out of poverty. Women are much more likely than men to reinvest their wealth into their local communities.
  8. About 2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation – roughly two-fifths of the world’s population. The global water, sanitation and health crisis has reached an incredible level, to the point where it will soon not only be the developing world which is affected by it.
  9. Of the 22 countries where more than half the population is illiterate, 15 are in Africa. This underscores the fact that Africa, despite its vast natural resources, is the most underdeveloped and neglected continent on the globe.
  10. It would cost approximately $40 billion to offer basic education, clean water and sanitation, reproductive health for women, and basic health and nutrition to every person in every developing country. $40 billion may sound like a lot, but it is less than the operational cost of two US aircraft carriers (which cost $26.8 billion each).

– Martin Drake

Sources: Global Issues, DoSomething.org, Compassion.com, Convio.net, Face the Facts USA
Photo: Press TV

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What Is International Poverty?

What Is Global Poverty
Global poverty, at least on first blush, seems to be a rather self-explanatory concept. To be poor, we understand as Americans, is being unable to afford certain necessities. But what it is to be poor, that is, what it is to be unable to afford certain necessities would surely depend on who you are asking. What you consider necessary, such that it would constitute a necessity, would most certainly change your definition of what it means to be poor. So, is global poverty subjective?

Extreme global poverty, as defined by today’s standards, is living on less than $1.25 USD per day. To be considered extremely poor, therefore, would require living on about $450 USD a year or less. Worldwide, there are 1.2 billion people who would “qualify” as living in extreme poverty. But is living on less than a certain amount of money a day all there is to poverty?

The World Bank suggests that poverty is a pronounced and multi-dimensional deprivation in well-being. Rather than placing a number at which one is considered poor or extremely poor, the World Bank definition operates on a holistic approach that takes multiple factors into consideration. For example, communities with inadequate access to health services or education may be considered to be facing the circumstances of poverty, though they live on an amount in excess of the global standard for poverty. Likewise, living with insufficient physical security or certain basic human rights, say freedom of speech, may constitute poverty.

Clearly, what is poverty is not limited to a financial over/under amount, such that it demands a more inclusive, and perhaps malleable, definition. Because understanding what poverty actually is is so fundamental to addressing poverty as an important global issue, however, the United Nations has dedicated both time and resources to better recognizing and defining the many facets of poverty. As a result, the world’s largest multi-governmental organization has developed several working definitions of poverty, including “absolute poverty” and “overall poverty,” while the official United Nations definition of “poverty” is as follows: “Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and cloth a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living on marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation.”

– Herman Watson

Sources: United Nations, The Global Poverty Project, One Day’s Wages Brookings Institution
Photo: National Geographic

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Beyond The Military: How Drones Can Alleviate Poverty

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Drones have gained a negative reputation as aggressors, due to their military use in times of conflict, but the unmanned aerial technology is earning a positive reputation from those who are receiving aid from it. Matternet, a start-up company based out of Silicon Valley, is looking to use drones for social good. The company is trying to develop a network of unmanned mini-helicopters to help transport goods to rural areas and to places that are inaccessible due to lack of developed transportation infrastructure.

The mini-helicopters are capable of flying at heights of roughly 400 feet, and can travel up to six miles in each trip it makes. Matternet lays out a three-stage project which will utilize the technological power of the drones to deliver aid. The first stage will establish stations for drones to swap out batteries along their journeys and second phase will work to establish drone helicopters with solar-powered charging capacity, allowing the drones to travel without having to stop for a charge. The final stage of Matternet’s project will create a global network of drones, allowing for large-scale coordination and transportation of goods.

The mini-helicopters are capable of carrying 4.5 pound loads. While this capacity will not for allow for heavy shipments, it will accommodate most small aid packages. The company states that “80 percent of e-commerce packages are below 2kg,” or roughly 4.5 pounds. The drones should be able to carry items such as medicines for individual or household use, which is one of the main focuses of the project’s development.

Matternet gives an example of how its technology can improve health care in developing areas. Without Matternet’s drones, a mother in rural Africa could have to put off a day’s work and travel many miles to visit a doctor and receive medicine for her daughter’s ear infection. Or, by using the new technology, the same mother could call a doctor, and the medicine that her daughter needs could be shipped to her via drone within minutes, saving time and in critical circumstances, possibly saving lives.

Developers of Matternet emphasize their innovation’s ability to quickly and cheaply transport goods. The company states that it can establish 50 base stations and build 150 drones in Lesotho for $900,000 while it would cost about $1 million to build a single one-mile, one-lane road.

Matternet’s drones were first deployed to Haiti and the Dominican Republic for humanitarian purposes last year. The company says it needs to improve navigation and battery systems in its technologies before the drones can be used on a large scale, but Matternet hopes that in the future its drones will be utilized to help create enormous positive change in the developing world.

– Jordan Kline
Sources: The National, The Guardian Matternet
Photo: Kevin Byrant