Underpinning Poverty in the Asia Pacific Region - Essay Example

Essay #2

Challenges to underpinning poverty in the Asia Pacific region

Fighting poverty is a daunting task, especially if a society lacks the needed economic infrastructures. Whereas different international organizations through local NGOs such as AusAIDs are doing all in their power to reduce poverty in the region, stark challenges still persist. With high rates of inflation, feeding millions of people affected by famine in the region is becoming more challenging. Alleviating hunger has become more difficult to various NGOs working in the region. Moreover, effects of global warming, frequent natural calamities search as earthquakes; government policies on trade, soaring petroleum product prices; and the increasing use of alternative sources of energy are factors making the fight against poverty more complicated.

Soaring unemployment rates coupled with slow economic development especially in countries that were affected by long-drawn conflicts like East Timor continue to complicate poverty reduction efforts in the region. With high rates of joblessness, more people are idle and as a result tend to adopt criminal life. This creates a serious state of insecurity in the region, and as it is normally the case, places with ineffective security attract few if any investors.

Governments in the region have also failed to formulate effective poverty reduction policies. Most lands are still not under cultivation and as such the people continue to grapple with the problem of food insecurity, and malnutrition. Poor policies on agriculture are partly to blame for high rates of child mortality in the region. All these challenges continue to trouble the international community working through NGOs to try to engage the local members of the community to engage in capacity building programs in an effort to stimulate economic growth.

AusAID’s achievements on MDGs

Australia through AusAID, has helped poor countries to make progress toward achieving the MDGs by 2015. The NGO organizes children immunisations around the world, especially in West Africa, where children have benefited from vaccines against preventable childhood illnesses. These programs have been going on during the last decade. In Timor-Leste, Australian Aid groups have played a pivotal role in reducing the rate of infant mortality by providing better medical care and guarding against malnutrition of newborns. In Indonesia, the organization has supported education by ensuring that more junior secondary education facilities have been constructed or remodelled. These projects have expanded former tiny facilities to accommodate more students. In Zimbabwe, Kenya and Malawi, AusAID has offered assistance with the provision of clean water. The organization has provided thousands of families an access to safe water and sanitation following the construction of safe water infrastructures in communities.

The organization has directly and indirectly contributed to poverty alleviation programs around the world. Many more children now have access to education, especially girls. The organization has also enhanced life expectancy in different communities across the world due to better health care and nutrition services. Proper sanitation and health care programs funded or run by AusAID have resulted in lowering the rate of infant mortality in developing countries. The organization’s health care programs include prevention and management of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria among other diseases. Despite the tremendous progress that the organization has made in an effort to meet the MDGs, there are challenges that impede the programs. Australia, like any other country was affected by the 2007-2009 global recession, which led to high inflation rates. Natural disasters have also impeded AusAID’s efforts to realize the MDGs.

Collaborations between NGOs and Commercial consulting firms

There is an increasing demand for cross-sector collaboration in an effort to deliver development assistance. However, collaboration can only be successful if the parties involved resolve to abandon their parochial interests to chart a unified approach to the various global challenges. If NGOs and commercial consulting firms worked together, the new working relationship would develop a pool of different ideologies and cultures. This rich talent could then create effective solutions. Regardless of the theoretical unity of talent, the first problem arises when corporations and NGOs who are concerned with environmental conservation efforts decide to partner. In such a scenario, companies with poor environmental conservation efforts would get a thorough beating from their partnering NGOs. This tension between the two sectors is especially common now that the world is facing the threat of global warming. Many commentators have laid the blame on environmentalists for their ‘laxity’ in pressing for the enactment of stronger environmental policies. By being stiffer on environmental conservation, companies would be pushed against the wall.

Secondly, most of commercial consulting firms are reluctant to enter into partnerships with NGOs for fear of suffering damaged reputation. They would rather stay separate than enter into partnerships that may make to appear partial in the public eye.

Thirdly, in such collaborations openness, sincerity and equality may not be easily achieved. The creation of a chain of command where one party is subsidiary to the other in terms of managing the finances can be daunting. Usually, NGOs have a wide range of principles and programs, therefore, a deeper understanding of their scope of work is very imperative, but can only be realized over time.

Fourthly, commercial consulting firms and NGOs are diverse in terms of culture. This means a cultural clash may make their partnership a cropper. For instance, most NGOs are not-for-profit, where the consulting firms are. That alone puts them on opposing sides and could break a partnership of the two organizations.

In a nutshell, despite the current tensions between NGOs and commercial consulting companies over development assistance, the future appears merrier for such collaborations. When they function without a hitch, these collaborations can provide corporations with new ideas, added reputation, better corporate social responsibility, and positive challenges that need addressing. For the NGO, such partnerships can provide more resources, and the wider social reach, advanced knowledge and capacity to mitigate the complex challenges in the current world. The environmental movement has achieved tremendous progress and penetrated the communities that were previously unattended for prior to the massive cross-sector collaborations between the two organizations.