What is extreme poverty?
Life is multidimensional, and so is
extreme poverty. Extreme poverty
exists when a person is denied the
opportunity to lead a long, healthy and
productive life.
Extreme poverty is about a lack of
opportunities. People living in extreme
poverty cannot achieve their full
potential because they lack things that
most of us take for granted. These
include safe child delivery, vaccination,
health care, a caring family, education,
and the ability to find a good job.
Money by itself cannot get rid of
poverty. The richest landlord in a
mountain village in South America may
be quite helpless if there are no health
services available in the village. And
girls and women in some parts of the
world are denied the opportunity to
attend school regardless of whether
their families are rich or poor.
Why do people remain poor?
Much progress has been made in recent
years, but much more needs to be
done. To be successful in the long run,
poverty alleviation efforts must address
the roots of poverty, and not just
immediate needs. People remain poor
when they are denied access to basic
opportunities for human development. A
man who suffers from chronic disease,
such as diarrhea from unclean water,
cannot reach his potential. Nor can a
young girl who is unable to go to school
because of chores, or who attends a
school where the teacher shows up only
twice a week and there are no
textbooks.
The reasons behind this lack of
opportunities are not always simple.
They can be linked to any number of
factors, from geographic isolation to
ignorance of the causes of disease. But
one thing is certain: no one wants to be
sick, poor or uneducated. The problem
lies not with the poor themselves, but
with their lack of opportunities.
Tragically, extreme poverty is too often
passed from one generation to the next.
In many poor communities, schools are
overcrowded and teachers are
underqualified or even illiterate. If
children in these schools are not
learning, their parents might pull them
out of school to work instead,
drastically reducing their opportunities
later in life. In doing so, they are likely
reproducing the cycle of poverty for at
least another generation.
What needs to be done?
Efforts must be made to work with
people, governments, development
agencies and world leaders to raise
awareness of the roots of extreme
poverty and to help expand opportunities
for the poor. If a variety of factors
contributes to the persistence of
extreme poverty, then a variety of
actions is needed to break the cycle.
These actions include:
Expanding access to health
education and care so that people
do not die of easily preventable
diseases;
Making education and adequate
nutrition a priority so that children
can grow up to lead healthy and
productive lives;
Providing skills training and
support for small entrepreneurs to
increase opportunities for
employment and income
generation;
Protecting the environment, to
ensure that natural resources are
conserved and renewed for future
generations;
Addressing gender inequality, to
increase opportunities for women
and to ensure that they have a
say in decisions that affect the
lives of themselves and their
children;
Strengthening the role and
capacity of local organizations,
to make communities more
self-sufficient; and
Improving the situation of the
most vulnerable members of
society, including children,
women, ethnic minorities, families
affected by HIV/AIDS, street
children, and the disabled.
How can I learn more?
To learn more about extreme poverty
and what needs to be done, please visit
the following sites:
* Become a Netaid.org member.
* Stay informed about Netaid.org
programs and opportunities for
getting involved.
* Learn about the issues. Inform
yourself and others about the
challenges facing the poor and
what you can do to help.
* United Nations Development
Program's Human Development
Report 2000. A wealth of
information and statistics on
human development and extreme
poverty around the world.
* United Nations Development
Program's report on poverty.
* The World Bank on poverty.
* Articles and essays on poverty.
