How Effective Are the Strategies to End Poverty - Research Paper Example

Hunger was not just hunger, but rather a measure of man. cold and wind were also measures. The proud man racked up a hundred hungers, then fell. Pedro was buried at the hundredth frost. Injustice by Pablo Neruda The direct definition of poverty is a number of things, it is quite simply, hunger that cannot be satiated due to lack of means to purchase food, it is lacking a house to live in, being unable to seek medical care, having no means to acquire education and thus being illiterate, drinking not potable water, etc. Poverty is in deduction being led helpless by a number of great limitations (“Understanding Poverty”). With almost half of the entire population of the world living under poverty, the World Bank has categorized it into three degrees, extreme, moderate and relative. Extreme poverty is characterized by having less than $1 a day income; these are those who are unceasingly hungry and do not have access to acceptable living conditions. This is often described as the type of “poverty that kills.” While moderate poverty is described as those living in $1 or $2 a day, fundamental needs are met but scarcely and through tremendous effort. And relative poverty is a family with an income that is below the average nationally but is not within the same level as those in the middle income range (Sachs, 2005). Poverty estimates published in 2008 showed that approximately 1.4 billion of the entire population which equates to 1 in 4 in developing worlds is living on an income that is not even $1.25 in a day for the year 2005. This is an improvement in comparison to 1981 wherein 1.9 billion or 1 in 2 families are living under the same circumstances. This set boundaries for poverty line is based on 2005’s mean for the about 10-20 poorest countries. And the adjusted estimate which is higher than those previously conceived for the almost one billion getting by for $1 a day based on prices in 1993. This is seen to be an improvement towards the goal of cutting the poverty in half on the base point of year 1990 by the year 2015. Yet, poverty is seen as more persistent than estimated particularly in parts of Africa and other major factor’s lack of data that greatly affects the issue (“Understanding Poverty”). There is no single thing that is attributed as the general cause of poverty. There are a number of reasons that contribute to the generalization of the reasons for poverty. One is the absence of education which eventually hinders children from being able to acquire jobs that would provide suitable living. Children are needed to help their families and therefore take any possible job to be able to provide food on their tables in a daily basis. Next is health, body decline limits the amount of work that can be done by those who are afflicted with it. Diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS which results in high mortality rates takes away essential members of the family who are sources of income for the family. Added to that is the exorbitant cost of medicines and health care that these people cannot afford. Another reason is economics which is a vicious cycle in these cases. Their choices are limited as they are barred from receiving necessary benefits that could enable them to overcome their situation. While another that is attributed are governments wherein many developing countries’ corrupt and dysfunctional officials cannot provide for the alleviation of poverty. It is quite obvious that education could probably lead to higher earnings. But it is not in itself the ultimate and only tool to eliminate poverty. It is imperative that the poor should be educated and should be trained for skills. There is also a necessity to consider the economic contexts to be able to achieve great returns to improve capital. This does not necessitate college education; on the other hand, it calls for institutions that establish the connection between income and skills specifically for workers who did not attain any particular college degrees. This should be able to show the benefits that advancement in education could provide (Bernstein, 2007). A study found that a mere year in school could raise the income by 7% for those who are able to attain it but the drawback of this is that this was recorded in the 1990’s which does not pose relief for poverty given the timeframe. If education is united with job training and adequate job searching then it could lead to a 21% boost in employment and a reduction of 22% decrease on welfare. This then indicates that programs of general education combined with training for individuals and the labor market are better to those who fail in combining them. The author recognizes that education is simply a fractional answer to poverty due to the other changes present in the availability of employment. The year 2005 recorded the highest income-inequality data since 1929. But their research shows that premium for college graduate’s wages has been flat since late 1990’s. Wages were up but only for nearly 2% within the years 2000-2006. This shows that even those who are equipped with high education, only a number are progressing significantly while the others are staunched (Bernstein, 2007). Another window to the debate of the elimination of poverty is the effectiveness of aid. Professor for Economics at the New York University William Easterly says that the $2.3 trillion of aid over the past 50 years would not work because it cannot imitate the complex mechanisms in the market of affluent countries. While those on the other side of the argument perceptibly disagrees. United Nations Millennium Development Goals top economist Jeffrey Sachs argues that more aid is needed and not the other way to help these countries (Bernstein, 2007). With over eight million people dying each year because of poverty, it is miserable to think that a strong global action plan is not implemented. It necessitates a global network to establish cooperation for people who are anonymous to each other and does not necessarily trust one another (Sachs, 2005). Sachs provides tangible answers to remedy the problem while he was on a sojourn to Africa. First is to bring electricity to these poor villages thru a power line or with a generator ran by diesel. This includes providing lights and probably computer units for the educational institutions, water pumps, milling capacities, refrigeration and other necessities. Students expressed their desire to learn in the dark but are prohibited because of lack of electricity. Another is supplementing clean water and proper sanitation. This should salvage children and women from the hours that they spend fetching water. He also specified that this could be achieved by arranging for protected springs, rainwater and other technologies in due course to achieve these goals (2005). The next step is “committing to the task.” It is a myth he argued that the developed nations are already giving ample to those nations who need it. All things considered, the grand total of aid that an African received in 2002 came to 6¢ in the year. It is to say the least a failure on the part of the United States to follow through with no consequence locally due to the lack of knowledge of American citizens but it is not without salience internationally. An action plan is needed to meet the United Nation’s goal of achieving its 2025 deadline. The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) projects should carefully be executed and monitored. Awareness is another key factor for the ‘haves’ to help the ‘have nots.’ The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB) also play a vital role and their perception as debt-collectors should be replaced to a status where they can be seen as agencies of help. While the U.N.’s special bureaus like UNICEF, WHO and FAO play a central task in all of these projects. Science would also be a key in addressing the growth and in providing necessary data to be able to figure out what should be done and the areas where there are deficiencies. The link between poverty and the environment should also be scrutinized including industrial pollution which affects not only the present but also for the long haul. The media should also participate in this as they have the capacity to communicate the issues in a larger propensity. “Journalism with a Conscience” as the Time Magazine aptly titles its article is necessary in this advocacy (2005).The most important in all of these is commitment, ensuring a personal unrelenting commitment to address all of the necessary steps to end poverty (Sachs, 2005). Whether through a personal level or through a concerted effort, it is imperative that action is indispensable to address this entire dilemma. Action, at times any for that matter, is better than inaction. There are a number of things that could be done to realize this. Whether through a grand effort to eliminate poverty or through simple things such as individual awareness and the proliferation of information every single person counts. It is a basic sense common to humanity to help, disregarding any political or religious affiliations, the issue here is of human nature and compassion and nothing further should complicate it. Poverty is and continues to be a perennial problem of the world. It seems inhumane to allow for people to suffer and die when a great percentage of the population can and should be able to lend a helping hand to remedy the situation. This is no longer just an issue of political correctness and proper labeling where terms such as ‘third world countries’ are replaced by ‘developing countries,’ it does not pose a conceivable solution to merely identify things, it requires action and it demands commitment. It may be pessimistic of me to assume that poverty will be eliminated much less on their target year of 2025, but it is the optimist in me that hopes for the best and believes that at the very least we can alleviate poverty. Any human being who has experienced suffering, no matter the encompassing situation would not wish the same fate to another human being. All the arguments presented are with their greatly substantial merit. As with anything that is hard, the reward is immense. This should start with the most basic; it should start with ourselves that is fortified through the vast efforts by bigger organizations and the convergence of the different governments. This is not an issue of just politics or economics or sociology, it is a matter of justice. What is just and what is unjust? And hope against all hope should be directed to the former. Bibliography A Dollar a Day. (n.d.). Poverty overwiew: What is poverty? Retrieved April 5, 2009, http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00282/over_whatis.htm#intro Bernstein, J. (2007, April 22). Is education the cure for poverty. The American Prospect. Retrieved April 5, 2009, http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=is_education_the_cure_for_poverty Doyle, M. (2006, October 4). Can aid bring an end to poverty?. Retrieved April 4, 2009, http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=is_education_the_cure_for_poverty Fremstad, S. (2008). Measuring poverty and economic inclusion the current poverty measure, the NAS alternative, and the case for a truly new approach. Washington: Center for Economic and Policy Research. Hunger and world poverty (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2009, http://www.poverty.com/ Journalism with a conscience. (2005, March 6). Time. Retrieved April 6, 2009, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1034720,00.html Neruda, P. (1981). Injustice (A. Reid, Trans.). The Nation. Paul, K. (2009, March 22). The second worldsdebutante ball . Newsweek. Retrieved April 7, 2009, http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/wealthofnations/archive/2009/03/23/the-second-world-s-debutante-ball.aspx Sachs, J. D. (2005, March 6). The end of poverty. Time. Retrieved April 6, 2009, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1034738-1,00.html World Bank. (n.d.). The end of poverty: Understanding poverty. Retrieved April 5, 2009, http://go.worldbank.org/RQBDCTUXW0 Read More