When analyzing progress created from global trade, employment opportunities and local equality, the world witnesses how to help people in Cabo Verde.

Tourism and Trade
With only 10 percent of land in Cabo Verde suitable for agriculture, it is essential for Cabo Verdeans to get support from outside sources. Thus, the fight to help people in Cabo Verde relies heavily on foreign support, trade and tourism.

As of May 2017, the Cabo Verde government has made efforts to create a trade, business and transport hub. Without witnessing the benefits that tourism created, the effort to increase trade would not exist. The poverty rate dropped from 37 percent in 2003 to 27 percent in 2008, largely because of Cabo Verde’s tourism sector.

To support Cabo Verde in its rise above poverty, the World Bank Group (WBG) committed funds for analytical work that enables accountable and strategic goals for reducing poverty. These activities would provide Cabo Verdeans with easier access to food and help ensure economic growth through trade and tourism.

Employment
The increase in tourism and trade helps develop more jobs for the locals. With low agricultural opportunities, Cabo Verdeans struggle to find employment: however, trade brings in consumer goods, allowing Cabo Verdeans to seek employment.

The new Cabo Verde government leaders, put in place after the 2016 election, are addressing the country’s macroeconomic challenges, with hopes of securing 45,000 jobs by 2021. To do so, the government teamed up with the United Nations and agreed to sign an annual work plan, aiming to reduce poverty and promote the new democratic government in Cabo Verde.

Equality
Reducing poverty and addressing how to help people in Cabo Verde means providing all Cabo Verdean adults the chance to be employed. Simply creating more job opportunities is not enough if the female population is not permitted to support their families and their country’s economy.

In 2015, Cabo Verde joined Step It Up for Gender Equality, meant to empower women and fight gender-based violence. The Government of Cabo Verde fights to implement the Gender-Based Violence Law and to provide women with equal roles within the country.

Cabo Verdeans have seen improvements in regards to female health because there was a decrease in the maternal mortality rate from 0.036 percent in 2006 to 0.026 percent in 2011. Hopefully with the new outlook on gender equality, those numbers will drop even further.

Cabo Verdeans are benefiting gradually from the World Bank Group granting Cabo Verde $78 million in 2017, the aid of the United Nation’s work plan and from the empowerment gained from Step It Up for Gender Equality. The progress in global trade, employment opportunities, and gender equality all contribute to the efforts of helping people in Cabo Verde alleviate poverty.

– Brianna White

Photo: Flickr