Introduction
Poverty is described as a condition where an individual or individuals are not access to basic needs. When the term poverty runs into the minds of many people, they picture lack of food. Food is one of the main basic necessities that make people toil day and night. Poverty may differ from one person to the other and especially if it is measured in terms of what people consider as basic needs.
As much as people who are having some sought of shelter and food for their day many consider themselves poor, there are others who live a day at a time. They do not have a shelter and mainly live in the streets hoping that someone will drop something their way. They care less about their clothing and shelter and only wish they could get some food for their stomachs. Food being the main reference to the extremes of poverty, it comes with it many other situations that that are related to their conditions.
One of such issues is health which has a lot to do with what someone is eating and where they are staying. Places that are hard hit with poverty will also report a lot of cases of ill health due to poor leaving conditions. Other issues that are related to poverty include overpopulation, immorality and other criminal offences. In this paper, we will be looking at the situation of poverty in the world, its causes and the efforts of the international organizations to manage the same (Seabrook, p. 78).
The Situation of Poverty in the World
The rate and extreme of poverty differs from one nation to the other. All this has a lot to do with the growth domestic product of the nation. Poverty in developing nations is different from that in developed nations. Despite this difference, it can not be denied that every nation and society has a group of people who can not manage their daily basic needs. The causes of such poverty vary from individual to individual. Extreme poverty was being experienced before industrial revolution due to high levels of illiteracy. It was hoped that after industrialization, the problem will be solved greatly.
Even though a lot has happened since then, poverty remains to be a crisis that takes a different shape even with modernization. Improvements in the field of technology are also making some people that would have otherwise been considered to be well off to be lacking in a way. The world is growing at a very faster rate and requires people to have something extra that will enable them manage the changes. For instance, in the past, being without shoes was considered to be poverty, but as shoes flood the market, it is now illiteracy that is considered as poverty. This is the main reason why poverty shall remain to be a permanent crisis that is likely to increase with improvements in technology.
Poverty has hindered especially many developing nations from achieving their goals and targets. There is so much exploitation especially by the leaders who take advantage of the situations that their people are into. Most African nations that have records of extreme poverty are also having poor leaders who are doing little to deliver their nations from the pain of poverty. What happens is that they get so much exited about their leadership positions that they forget what they promised their people. All over a sudden they find that they have so much at their disposal and feel that it is their time to make themselves rich.
There is a general fear especially among political leaders that they may go back to their former status if they don’t make good use of their political positions. They will hence ensure that they pump a lot of wealth into their accounts and make investments with the hope that even if they are not considered back, they will have enough for the coming years. Their remunerations may not always be enough for them to make such investments and will hence steal into the government coffers. The generated income that is usually supposed to improve the status of the people ends up in the pockets of greedy and selfish leaders (Kerbo, p. 97).
Causes of Poverty
Poverty may be caused by a number of situations which differ with the environment and society. Poverty may be an unpredictable situation that may happen to a person unexpectedly. There may hence be two major cause of poverty, one that may be predictable and the other unpredictable. Some of the predictable causes of poverty may be illiteracy where by an individuals lacks the knowledge of earning a living and hence subjecting themselves to a lifetime of need. There are also cultural and religious believes that make certain categories of people to be poor.
For instance, some religious groups of people believe that lack of certain basic needs is a way of pledging allegiance to their gods. They will live a poor life by choice as a sign of showing, commitment to their faith. Other cultural beliefs subject people to poverty due to how they are looked at and their ways of living. For instance in some Asian communities, they believe in caste system where by some people are not supposed to own wealth. They can not be given some official duties to do despite their academic qualifications. They are also not allowed to venture into investments even if they manage to save enough (Myrdal, p. 86).
People may also find themselves into poverty due to other unpredictable situations such as accidents, wars or lose of their dependant. Accidents may render certain productive people of the society unproductive. That may either be paralyzed, have brain and spinal injuries, loose their limbs and legs and hence not being able to do what they used to do. A loss in any vital section of the body can affect an individually psychologically and mentally and hence leaving them at the mercies of other people. Such people, unless they get the support of their relatives, may end up borrowing to meet their daily needs.
Outbreak of war and violence may also make a dependent person to be poor. This is due to some of the situations that may come with such wars. Apart from destruction of property, other people may be displaced from their areas of locations. They will hence have to begin their lives a fresh which may not be easy to adjust. The pains of their situation many persist as long as there is still turmoil around them. This may be the most devastating time of their lives considering the means through which they found themselves poor (Bacci & Santis, p. 43).
Another cause of poverty especially in the modern world is the changes in the field of information technology. The world has mainly become a place of the swift and those who can adjust to the changes faster. People are adapting more sophisticated means of living which is leaving those with average facilities to feel out of place. Everything has become too technological that no one can live without it. There are no options for average facilities as business organizations adjust to manage competition. For most of the poor people that intensified their efforts to make their lives better still find themselves in similar situations as developments are made.
What they are now having which they can be proud of as a development, is what was being used by the rich probably five years ago. They may hence look at their own capacity and feel that they have advanced, but when a comparison is made with their richer counterparts, they realize that they still have along way to go. Due to such improvements, poverty may hence not be considered as an improvement in the living standards but rather the gap that distinguishes the rich from the rest. As long as such a strategy continuous to be used, poverty shall remain to be a lifetime battle (Kaul & Moschovitis, p. 98).
Efforts to Fight Poverty
Poverty is not only a national issue but has been considered to affect the world economy. This is the basic reason why the international community is employing a lot of efforts to ensure that the situation is solved. Poverty is being fought at all levels of society that includes the community, district, national and international level. It is hoped that despite the challenges that people are going through, poverty will be minimized. Some of the tireless efforts that are considered to have an impact if they succeed are to educate communities about creating wealth and managing it.
This is especially in societies and people that believe that they were born to be poor. It is however very difficult to convince an individual or society that is inclined to religious and cultural beliefs to change their ways. It takes a lot of effort to empower such individuals and let them know that they can still pay allegiance to their beliefs. There is a need for the communities to wake up from past beliefs and brace up for the changes happening around. As inevitable as change is, some communities and individuals have resisted it and hence making them to wallow in more poverty.
Education is playing a vital role in informing the masses on the various options available for them to create wealth. This has seen people improve from their traditional and cultural inclination which was the main cause of poverty and adapting modern means of survival. Education has been made compulsory in most nations as support is granted especially to children to adapt basic education. Most countries have initiated free primary education, especially to the parents of children that can not afford it. This is one of the practical strategies that have recorded a lot of improvements in developing nations.
Parents are also being encouraged to take their children to school despite the contributions that have to earn a living. The implementation of free primary education in most developing nations was hindered by the fact that parents make their children to work and not allow them to go to school. Such a challenge has been fought by making child labour to be a criminal offence that is punishable under law (Townsend & Gordon, p. 67).
Another effort that is being implemented by the international community to minimize on poverty is finding alternative measures to utilize available resources. Overpopulation which has led to environmental degradation has been one of the serious causes of poverty in the world. Most organic resources are becoming extinguished making a large mass of people to fight for the little that are available. This has also made such resources to be too expensive for the average man to afford. Science and technology is launching into inventions that will ensure that people adapt lesser costly measures to carry out their activities. Reuse and the development of recycling industries are some of the efforts that are being utilized to the maximum to ensure that there is no unnecessary loss (Pogge, p. 123).
Conclusion
Poverty is mostly considered to be an individual issue whose pain can only be understood by them that are living or have lived in it. Anybody who has been there will not want to go back and those that are there are trying their best to come out of it. As personal as it may seem to be, it affects a larger community and will hence require the efforts of a larger community to fight.
One of the things that have hindered such progress is that fact that those that have the ability to deliver those in poverty from their situations can not understand their pleas. For those that were once in such situations and considered to be the best instruments of deliverance, forget everything as they concentrate on developing themselves. The paper has looked at the situation of poverty in the world, what causes it and the efforts of the international community to fight it.
References
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- Kaul, Chandrika & Moschovitis, Valerie. Statistical handbook on poverty in the developing world. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999
- Kerbo, Harold. World poverty: global inequality and the modern world system. Michigan: McGraw-Hill, 2006.
- Myrdal, Gunnar. The challenge of world poverty: a world anti-poverty program in outline. Michigan: Pantheon Books, 1970.
- Pogge, Thoma. World poverty and human rights: cosmopolitan responsibilities and reforms. London: Polity, 2008.
- Seabrook, Jeremy. The no-nonsense guide to world poverty. New York: Verso, 2003.
- Townsend, Peter & Gordon, David. World poverty: new policies to defeat an old enemy. California: The Policy Press, 2002.