Global Social Policy - Essay Example

GLOBAL SOCIAL POLICY Student’s Name Course Professor’s Name University City (State) Date Introduction Poverty is when an individual is poor and cannot afford the basic needs implying that he will not live a comfortable life (Babb, 2009, 2). Most people in the developing economies live below the poverty line because of the poor economic policies. Research shows that about 80% of the people globally live in less than $10 per day. Most of these people live in economies where the gap is widening between the rich and the poor because of issues such as corruption (Anup, S 2013, 2). On the other hand, statistics indicate that 40% of the global population control 5% of the global income. It implies that the income is unevenly distributed. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the aspect of global poverty. Main actors in global poverty Global poverty is one the most urgent issues that global actors must consider and take appropriate measures urgently. Research shows that about 3 billion people globally live lives of below $@ daily and about 30, 000 children die every day because of the poor health conditions and they cannot access quality health services. It implies that poverty affects the well-being of the people globally because poverty leads to poor quality services (Brookings Global Economy and Development, 2015, 1). Traditionally, the main actor in fighting corruption was the responsibility of the bilateral officials who had the responsibility of taking initiatives to manage poverty in the global context. The aim of the bilateral officials was to support agencies to improve the well-being of the people globally by improving their economic status through projects and creating jobs for the people. Another main actor in the global poverty context in the 20th century was the multinational development banks. The development banks had the responsibility of developing development policies that could improve the well-being of the people (Brookings Global Economy and Development, 2015, 1). In the first place, it was the responsibility of the African Development Bank to initiative projects that can improve the income status of the people. Among the projects they initiate include educational programs and Agricultural activities. It implies that the bank had the sole responsibility to fight poverty in the developing economies especially in the African continent (Walker, 2014, 29). Another actor is the Islamic Development Bank. It is another bank that works to fight poverty especially in Islamic states. It aims to ensure that all Muslims have equal access to social amenities like education and health. However, the Islamic Development Bank focuses on supporting Muslim community and little support to other communities. In the 21st century, many actors work towards eliminating poverty in the communities. The agencies like the Non-governmental organizations support community programs with the aim of alleviating poverty. The NGOs work directly with communities where poverty has struck severely (Ferragina, et al, 2016, 45). However, it is worth to note that they worked directly with the community representatives to identify the most viable projects they can implement to improve the well-being of the people (Brookings Global Economy and Development, 2015, 1). On the contrary, the bilateral donors and multinational development banks worked directly with governments to introduce projects that can improve the economy of a country. However, because of the incidences such as corruption, the governments did not spend the aid given appropriately. It implies that they did not use the donor funds to improve the well-being of the people. In this regard, the development of multiple agencies has contributed significantly to eliminating extreme poverty issues in communities. Furthermore, the private sector is another main actor in fighting corruption and eliminating poverty in the society. Global and financially stable individuals have identified best approaches to reducing poverty levels globally. The visionary leaders have introduced creative approaches to managing poverty by developing institutions and programs that focus on engaging people to understand their needs and expectations (Anup, S 2013, 3). For instance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the private programs that visionary leaders have formed with the aim of improving the global status of the people. Specifically, the foundation focuses on improving the health status of the people by providing sable healthcare system and support (World Bank, 2001, 26). In this regard, many global actors are working towards fighting poverty. Despite the initiatives the government develops, the increasing global population requires joint approach to working towards eliminating poverty. The approach requires a vibrant approach to sponsoring various projects that can create jobs hence improve the income status of the people. The diagram below shows the poverty levels globally; (Anup, 2013, 1) Agendas of the main actors Like discussed above, the main actors in fighting poverty include bilateral donors, the multinational banks and the private sector. The common agenda of these agencies is to reduce poverty levels in the society. To start with, the United Nations has developed the program of ensuring sustainable development. The aim is to engage in projects that can have long-term impacts in the society taking into account the growing global population (Smith, 2005, 20). It means that countries must develop strategies that go hand in hand with the strategies and objectives of the donors. The aim is to have long-term impact and strategies that can sustain the programs using the available resources. Another agenda of these actors is to promote education system in the poverty stricken countries. Most of the countries especially in the developing economies have low education levels and this affects the economic development (Solley, 2005, 49). Therefore, the public and private sectors are working towards improving the education levels in the developing economies so that they can catch up with the developed states. One of the driving economic development factors is education (Sáez, 2005, 40). Lack of education in the society hinders creativity and innovation that lead to the development of economic activities. For instance, the World Bank has developed many educational projects especially in Africa where most children do not have access to quality education because of their low-income. Also, the actors work towards improving the health status of the people. It is worth to note that various elements work together towards building sustainable economy. Besides education, another agenda of the actors is to work towards providing quality healthcare services to the community (Perry & Olarreaga, 2006, 23). Like the saying that a healthy nation is a wealthy nation, health people improve their productivity in the society thus contributing to the economy of a country as well as individual households. They do this by supporting various healthcare programs and education in selected communities. All these agendas focus on minimizing poverty issues in the society. However, it should be a responsibility of every individual to engage in activities that can improve their well-being instead of waiting for the donors to provide their support (Partinos & Skoufias, 2007, 32). Besides, governments should formulate policies and strategies to eliminate unethical issues in the society such as corruption to ensure the funds are used to meet the required goals and objectives. Causes of poverty One can identify that many factors cause poverty. The first cause of poverty is history. Statistics indicate that countries which are poor are the colonies of the developed countries. It is because of the policies implemented during colonization. The slave trade affected economic development activities because it removed productive men from the colonies and left unproductive workforce behind (Kerbo, 2006, 34). As a result, they could not engage in productive activities affecting the economic development of a country. Besides, colonization led to the extraction of important minerals and resources from the colonies leading to poverty (Iceland, 2003, 32). It also led to alienation of the native of land that was productive affecting the economic activities of the people. Furthermore, the discrimination especially in the African continent made it hard for the Africans to access quality education just like the white people. In this regard, history explains the cause of poverty in many economies. Another cause of poverty is political instability. One of the contributing factors to economic development is political stability (Davis, et al, 2012, 120). In the first place, without political stability, the education system will not be hard and the people will not engage in productive activities be it individually or collectively. Political instability leads to lack of employment opportunities because people are not settled and they move from one place to another (Levy, 2006, 44). The most important thing is that lack of political stability leads to lack of appropriate laws and policies protecting the rights of individuals. As such, individuals do not have right to use their land for production activities. Besides, there is no market to sell the products and services. Therefore, political instability affects activities such as Agriculture because of the violence in the economy. In addition, social discrimination is another factor that leads to poverty in the society. It is important to note that social discrimination is among the greatest contributing factors to poverty because individuals do not have financial capacity to access necessary resources and equipment to engage in productive activities (Mason, 2005, 21). For instance, poor families do not have the financial capability to use modern technologies in the Agricultural activities and this affects their productivity (CIDA, 2003, 48). It means that the rich people can exploit the identified opportunities and will continue to be rich while the poor will continue to be poor and this increases the gap between the rich and the poor. In the developing economies, the main cause of poverty is corruption. In some instances, the efforts of the main actors in fighting poverty turn out to be useless because individuals access the support end up misusing the resources and they do not use them for the purposes intended (Moser, 2006, 25). For instance, the African Development Bank provides financial support to needy school students but the funds are misused and embezzled. In the end, the needy pupils do not get the aid required (O'Connor, 2000, 548). In this way, the poverty gap continues to widen. It is the responsibility of governments to formulate policies that ensure that they use the financial support provided effectively to improve the well-being of the people. It means that fighting poverty requires a collaborative approach so as to develop sustainable program and this improves the well-being of the people. Approaches to reducing poverty The actors in fighting the global poverty can use various approaches to reducing poverty. The first approach is that governments should develop a social development policy. The aim of the policy is to work towards improving the well-being of the people in the sectors such as education and economy by creating sustainable jobs (Philippou, 2010, 110). However, they should develop policies and guidelines by consulting all the sectors of the sectors so that they can formulate techniques that meet the needs and expectations of the citizens. Another strategy to create that can help to reduce poverty in the society is developing policies to curb unethical issues such as corruption. This is because unethical issues affect the allocation and usage of resources hence they do not meet the set goals and objectives (Brainard, 2006, 16). For instance, one of the contributing factors to poverty in most African countries is bad governance and corruption. Some individuals misuse the resources allocated to promote economic development and in the process they end up benefiting the rich and not the poor hindering the development of economic status of the low-income households. Besides, the government should develop strategies to develop public education system and ensure that all children have equal access to quality education so that they can learn basic skills they can use to engage in productive activities (Prashad, 2014, 2). The government and private sectors must work collaboratively to make sure all children access quality education and they can do this by sponsoring the education system. For instance, they can provide free primary education so that there are no children who do not attend basic education because they lack school fees (Bourguignon, 2002, 728). In this way, the government will manage to promote economic development since it supports individuals to identify their potentials and talents they can use to earn income as well as improve the economy of the country. Furthermore, the government should spend in low housing projects with the aim of reducing the cost of paying rent and utilize the funds to engage in constructive activities. The cost of acquiring accommodation in cities across the globe is costly (Banerjee & Esther, 2011, 3). The government should subsidize the accommodation services so that it can reduce the burden passed to the citizens and this encourages them to start business and other affordable projects to improve the well-being of their families (Berry, 2006, 12). Finally, the bilateral donors and multinational banks should follow up to determine how the governments used the resources they provides as a way of reducing the incidences of misusing the resources. In this way, partnership working can help to reduce poverty in the society. Conclusion Poverty is a state where an individual does not have adequate finances to access basic needs. The poverty levels in developing economies is high because most people live below $2 per day implying that they do not meet all their needs and wants. Traditionally, the main actors in fighting poverty were the bilateral donors and multinational development banks. However, the increasing global population has influenced the approach to fighting corruption. As a result, many actors have channeled their efforts to fighting corruption and they include non-governmental organizations and private entities alongside the bilateral donors and multinational banks. The agendas of these actors include alleviating poverty, promoting education and health standards of the people. Finally, the public and private sectors should work hand in hand to promote sustainability of the growing population or otherwise the gap between the rich and the poor will continue to decline. References Anup, S 2013, Poverty Facts and Stats, retrieved on 16th January 2017 from http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats#src2 Babb, S 2009, Behind the Development Banks: Washington Politics, World Poverty, and the Wealth of Nations. University of Chicago Press. Banerjee, A & Esther, D 2011, Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. New York: Public Affairs. Berry, A 2006, ‘A Review of Literature and Evidence on The Economic and Social Effects of Economic Integration in Latin America: Some Policy Implications’, paper presented at the IADB Workshop on Trade & Poverty, Washington, June. Bourguignon, M 2002, "Inequality Among World Citizens: 1820–1992", American Economic Review. 92 (4): 727–744. Brainard, L 2006, Transforming the Development Landscape: The Role of the Private Sector. Brookings Institution Press. Brookings Global Economy and Development 2015, Global Poverty: New Actors New Approaches, retrieved on 16th January 2017 from https://www.brookings.edu/wp- content/uploads/2016/07/200702_10poverty.pdf CIDA 2003, Gender Equality and Trade-Related Capacity Building: A Resource Tool For Practioners, Ottawa: CIDA. Davis, B. Gaarder, M. Handa, S. Yablonski, J 2012, "Special Section on Social Cash Transfers in Sub-Saharan Africa". Journal of development effectiveness. 4 (1): 1–187. Ferragina, E 2013, "Poverty, Participation and Choice". Joseph Rowntree Foundation: York. Ferragina, E.; Tomlinson, M & Walker, R 2016, "Poverty and Participation in Twenty-First Century Multicultural Britain". Social Policy and Society. Iceland, J 2003, Poverty in America: a handbook. Chicago: University of California Press. Kerbo, H 2006, Social Stratification and Inequality: Class Conflict in Historical, Comparative, and Global Perspective, 6th edition. New York: McGraw-Hill. Levy, S 2006, Progress against Poverty: Sustaining Mexico’s Progresa-Oportunidades Program. Brookings Institution Press. Mason, A 2005, Policy Approaches to Managing the Economic Transition: Ensuring that the Poor Can Benefit from DR-CAFTA, Washington, DC: World Bank. Moser, C 2006, “Asset-Based Approaches to Poverty Reduction in a Globalized Context.” Brookings Global Economy and Development Working Paper 01. O'Connor, A 2000, "Poverty Research and Policy for the Post-Welfare Era". Annual Review of Sociology. 26(3): 547–562. Philippou, L 2010, "Public Space, Enlarged Mentality and Being-In-Poverty". Philosophical Inquiry. 32 (1):103–115. Prashad, V 2014, The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South. New York: Verso Books. Partinos, H & Skoufias, E 2007, Economic Opportunities for Indigenous Peoples in Latin America, Washington, DC: World Bank. Perry, G & Olarreaga, M 2006, ‘Trade Liberalisation, Inequality and Poverty Reduction in Latin America’, paper presented at ABCDE, St Petersburg, January. Sáez, S 2005, Trade Policy Making in Latin America: A Compared Analysis, Santiago: ECLAC. Solley, B 2005, When Poverty's Children Write: Celebrating Strengths, Transforming Lives. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, Inc. Smith, S 2005, Ending Global Poverty: a guide to what works, New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Walker, R 2014, The Shame of Poverty, Oxford University Press World Bank 2001, Engendering Development—Through Gender Equality in Right, Resources and Voice. New York: Oxford University Press. Read More

It implies that the bank had the sole responsibility to fight poverty in the developing economies especially in the African continent (Walker, 2014, 29). Another actor is the Islamic Development Bank. It is another bank that works to fight poverty especially in Islamic states. It aims to ensure that all Muslims have equal access to social amenities like education and health. However, the Islamic Development Bank focuses on supporting Muslim community and little support to other communities. In the 21st century, many actors work towards eliminating poverty in the communities.

The agencies like the Non-governmental organizations support community programs with the aim of alleviating poverty. The NGOs work directly with communities where poverty has struck severely (Ferragina, et al, 2016, 45). However, it is worth to note that they worked directly with the community representatives to identify the most viable projects they can implement to improve the well-being of the people (Brookings Global Economy and Development, 2015, 1). On the contrary, the bilateral donors and multinational development banks worked directly with governments to introduce projects that can improve the economy of a country.

However, because of the incidences such as corruption, the governments did not spend the aid given appropriately. It implies that they did not use the donor funds to improve the well-being of the people. In this regard, the development of multiple agencies has contributed significantly to eliminating extreme poverty issues in communities. Furthermore, the private sector is another main actor in fighting corruption and eliminating poverty in the society. Global and financially stable individuals have identified best approaches to reducing poverty levels globally.

The visionary leaders have introduced creative approaches to managing poverty by developing institutions and programs that focus on engaging people to understand their needs and expectations (Anup, S 2013, 3). For instance, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is one of the private programs that visionary leaders have formed with the aim of improving the global status of the people. Specifically, the foundation focuses on improving the health status of the people by providing sable healthcare system and support (World Bank, 2001, 26).

In this regard, many global actors are working towards fighting poverty. Despite the initiatives the government develops, the increasing global population requires joint approach to working towards eliminating poverty. The approach requires a vibrant approach to sponsoring various projects that can create jobs hence improve the income status of the people. The diagram below shows the poverty levels globally; (Anup, 2013, 1) Agendas of the main actors Like discussed above, the main actors in fighting poverty include bilateral donors, the multinational banks and the private sector.

The common agenda of these agencies is to reduce poverty levels in the society. To start with, the United Nations has developed the program of ensuring sustainable development. The aim is to engage in projects that can have long-term impacts in the society taking into account the growing global population (Smith, 2005, 20). It means that countries must develop strategies that go hand in hand with the strategies and objectives of the donors. The aim is to have long-term impact and strategies that can sustain the programs using the available resources.

Another agenda of these actors is to promote education system in the poverty stricken countries. Most of the countries especially in the developing economies have low education levels and this affects the economic development (Solley, 2005, 49). Therefore, the public and private sectors are working towards improving the education levels in the developing economies so that they can catch up with the developed states. One of the driving economic development factors is education (Sáez, 2005, 40).

Lack of education in the society hinders creativity and innovation that lead to the development of economic activities.

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