Community looks at global poverty |18 October 2008

Although not much was said about the day itself here, ongoing government efforts to help the most vulnerable were highlighted through steps to create the proposed Social Welfare Agency.
In the same light, the Baha’i Community has sent the following feature which outlines the problem of poverty worldwide and suggests possible solutions.

ERADICATING POVERTY: MOVING FORWARD AS ONE

. THE BAHA’I INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY STATEMENT ON POVERTY

The world is not winning the war against poverty. It is losing it miserably. For economic growth and almost all of the other indicators, the last 20 years have shown a very clear decline in progress as compared with the previous two decades (1960-1980).

The scene in front of us is gloomy and the future not any brighter; for the poorest among us there is only more suffering ahead.

The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The distance between the richest and poorest countries has increased by a huge margin: in 1913 it was 11 to 1, in 1973 – 44 to 1 and in 1992 – 72 to 1.

The statistics on child poverty give us an even clearer picture of where we stand and where we are heading. There are 2.2 billion children in the world. The number of those in poverty is 1 billion.

For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are 640 million without adequate shelter (1 in 3), 400 million with no access to safe water (1 in 5), 270 million with no access to health services (1 in 7).

Seventy-two million children of primary school age in the developing world were not in school in 2005, yet less than one per cent of what the world spent on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and still it didn’t happen.

According to Unicef, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death”.

The world seems unable to find a solution to the problem of poverty as a feeling of aimlessness looms over the global enterprise of poverty eradication. 

Where are we to look for the solutions, as nothing so far has worked? 
The mechanisms of poverty eradication have long been defined in primarily material terms. Indeed, the central pillar of the international community’s poverty alleviation efforts has been the transfer of financial resources. About $2.3 trillion have been spent on foreign aid over the last five decades. Tragically this aid, far from ushering in greater self-sufficiency, has often had a detrimental effect on recipient communities.

We have to tackle the problem at source. There is now increasing acknowledgement that solutions need to be sought for the root cause – the values and attitudes that shape relationships at all levels of society.

Viewed from this perspective, poverty can be described as the absence of those ethical, social and material resources needed to develop the moral, intellectual and social capacities of individuals, communities and institutions. To be clear, the goal at hand is not only to remove the ills of poverty but to engage the masses of humanity in buidling a just global order.

THE INDIVIDUAL AND INSTITUTIONS

Starting at the base with the individual, the goals of poverty alleviation must centre on helping the individual to reclaim his dignity and sense of self-worth, on encouraging him to gain confidence to improve his condition and strive to realise his potential, on training him to have a skill and inculcating into him the values of hard work and honesty.
Beyond the achievement of personal wellbeing, he must be nurtured to become a source of social good. The institutions, on the other hand, at every level of society must serve as channels through which the talents and energies of individuals can be harnessed in service to humanity. Resources that help to develop this individual and institutional capacity represent a true source of wealth to the community.

SOLUTIONS MUST BE GUIDED BY PRINCIPLES

In an effort to solve the poverty crisis, the world must be guided by a principle-based solution and this will guide it away from a focus on isolated, short-term concerns to consider problems from a systemic and long-term perspective.
For any decision to deliver results, the decision-making process itself must have integrity. It is in this context that the Baha’i international community would like to offer two principles as guides for efforts in the realm of poverty eradication: justice and unity.
The principles of justice and unity are fundamental to finding solutions. These principles underlie a vision of development in which material progress serves as a vehicle for the moral and cultural advancement of humanity.
Justice provides the means to harness human potential to eradicate poverty from our midst, through the implementation of laws, the adjustment of economic systems, the redistribution of wealth and opportunity, and unfailing adherence to the highest ethical standards in private and public life.
Unity asserts that progress is systemic, and that a concern for the integrity of the family unit and the local, national, and global community must guide poverty alleviation efforts.

GOVERNANCE

The question of poverty places particular responsibility on elected leaders and their governments. In many developing nations bad governance, power seeking and corrupt leaders have had a major part to play in poverty creation. Better governance leads to fewer wars and better development outcomes.
The values that a leader brings to his or her office largely define the direction and fruits of his or her work. Trustworthiness is foremost among these, as it fosters credibility and engenders stability and security. Effective leaders must not only exercise an impeccable ethic but also work to strengthen the character of the nation’s economic, social, legal and educational institutions.

HUMAN RIGHTS

As long as the majority of the world’s poorest live without basic human rights, we will never solve the problem of poverty. Poverty eradication has to be linked to international human rights.
Education and the oppression of women, to state only two areas, play a significant role in poverty increase. In areas where women have gained access to education, employment and ownership opportunities, dramatic effects have been observed at many levels:  female literacy alone has been shown to play a much more important role in promoting social wellbeing and the level of wealth in a society.
But it requires a fundamental change of belief to challenge traditional norms where the rights of certain groups lag far behind. These and other such rights must be systematically incorporated into domestic legislation of all countries.

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

The economic theories of impersonal markets, promoting self-centred actions of individuals, have not helped humanity escape the extremes of poverty on the one hand and over-consumption on the other.
New economic theories for our time must be driven by a motive beyond mere profit. They must be rooted in the very human and relational dimension of all economic activity, which binds us as families, as communities and as citizens of one world.
They must be driven by a spirit of ennoblement rather than exploitation. Today, military expenditure exceeds $1 trillion and global trade in illicit drugs exceeds $300 billion, which is far more than the estimated costs of meeting the United Nations’ global development goals in areas of education, health, sustainability and women’s empowerment
It is also the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few that is in urgent need of attention. Indeed, the tremendous wealth generated by transnational corporations could be an integral part of the solution to tackle poverty, through strict regulation to ensure good global citizenship, adherence to human rights norms and the distribution of wealth for the benefit of the larger society.
At the same time, economic policies must coherently link environmental issues to social and economic priorities to be sustainable, for none of these can advance in isolation.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture still represents the fundamental basis of economic and community life, and food production and agriculture is the world’s single largest source of employment.
Nearly 70% of the poor in developing countries live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, therefore a core element of a strategy of sustainable development is the reform of agricultural policies and processes. 
Agricultural policies must be sustainable, and the farmer must be accorded his or her rightful place in the processes of development and civilisation building.

EMPLOYMENT
The provision of meaningful work represents an essential component of poverty alleviation efforts, whether it be for the youth in urban slums or women in rural areas. One’s work should not be reduced to a means of acquiring more goods, it should be seen as the means of developing one’s craft, of refining one’s character and contributing to the welfare and progress of society. Indeed, the fight against underemployment must begin with the dignity and value of all human labour.

KNOWLEDGE

While many poverty eradication programmes have focused on increasing enrolment in primary and secondary education – which is the first step – the long-term goal must also be articulated, namely to create a society in which the production, spread and application of knowledge infuses all facets of human activity.
This requires intervention at all levels including child-rearing practices that foster a questioning attitude, equal educational opportunities for boys and girls, and education for all. In order to be free to innovate, to devise solutions to complex problems, the human mind must be free to know.

RELIGION

The concept of knowledge now needed to guide poverty alleviation efforts must be adequate to address both the poverty of means and the poverty of spirit.
Material resources alone cannot generate a vision of the full measure of human prosperity; they cannot provide answers to the deepest questions about human nature or the purpose of our existence.
Most importantly, the material and technical dimensions alone will not compel the fundamental changes in human character and belief needed to overcome the destructive behaviour which has led to present-day conditions. They will not galvanise and sustain the human will to persevere, to strive for excellence, to humbly serve, to create, to seek knowledge, to cultivate beauty and to seek the wellbeing of all humankind.
To encompass the spiritual dimension and its expression in the religions is to build into poverty alleviation efforts – in an integrated manner – recognition of all the dimensions of human experience and an understanding of how poverty manifests itself in the material and spiritual dimensions of human life.

CONCLUSION

In our efforts to eradicate poverty, we are experiencing no less than the birth pangs of a truly global civilisation. As our understanding of the problems and their possible solutions expands, an unprecedented global consensus and accompanying capacity for international cooperation pave the way for an outcome far greater than any we have been able to achieve.
Yet, to generate the knowledge and commitment needed to overcome poverty, the full spectrum of human spiritual and intellectual potential will need to be summoned for the task. And as the fullness of our humanity is engaged, it will regenerate the fabric of civilisation.