The world is making remarkable progress in combating
poverty. From 2000 to 2013, the portion of the world’s population living on
less than the international poverty line of US$1.90 a day fell from 28.5 %
to 10.7 %. That’s about one billion people lifted out of poverty.
In 2000 the United Nations launched the Millennium
Development Goals, a coordinated international effort to eradicate poverty and
raise living standards worldwide by 2030.
An even more ambitious global effort to eradicate poverty,
called the Sustainable Development Goals was adopted in September
2015. This also seems to be producing significant results. An estimated 83
million people have escaped extreme poverty in the first three years after
the goals were adopted – between January 2016 and July 2018.
At the same time, there’s been a dramatic shift in the
geography of poverty around the world.
Today, extreme poverty is mostly around Africa, where
23 of the world’s 28 poorest countries are found. These countries have poverty
rates above 30%.
Poverty projections up to the year 2030 (the end of the
Sustainable Development Goals) suggest that even under the most optimistic
scenario, over 300 million people in sub-Saharan Africa will still be in
extreme poverty. Thus success in poverty eradication under these goals will
depend crucially on what happens in Africa.
According to various researches, the adoption of the
goals in 2000 played a significant part in accelerating the process of
poverty reduction in the world. The implementation of antipoverty programmes
and poverty reduction strategies in individual countries became a routine part
of national development plans. But, there was considerable disparity in how
different countries responded to the development goals as well as in their
capacity to implement these plans.
In the early 1990s, African countries such as Nigeria,
Lesotho, Madagascar, and Zambia had similar poverty levels to those
of China, Vietnam and Indonesia. Yet, this group has been successful in
reducing poverty, while the African countries haven’t.
So, why this disparity and how can poverty reduction in
Africa be accelerated?
Poverty trends
We looked at poverty trends in the developing world
between 1990 and 2013. Using standard income poverty measures expressing the
part of the population living on less than $1.25 and $1.90 a day, we found that
poverty tended to fall faster in more poverty-ridden countries.
Good news? Yes, but such progress, although significant,
doesn’t imply that the end of poverty is in sight everywhere. For example, if
trends continue in a poverty-ridden country such as Mali, where 86.08% of
people were living below $1.25 a day in 1990, it would take about 31 more
years to eradicate extreme poverty altogether.
And, even a much less poor economy like Ecuador (where 6.79%
people lived on less than $1.25 a day in 1990) is predicted to take about 10
more years to eradicate extreme poverty altogether.
State capacity
My research identifies a crucial role for state capacity in
differing levels of poverty reduction. Sub-Saharan African states often suffer
from limited institutional capability to carry out policies that deliver
benefits and services to citizens. In other words, they have limited state
capacity.
Building state capacity depends on many variables. It is
greater when ruling elites are subject to effective limits on the exercise of
their power through institutionalised checks and balances. It’s also greater in
countries with a longer history of statehood. For example, China, an
experienced state which is centuries old, may have developed a greater ability
to administer its territory - through learning by doing. It has thus
become more effective at delivering on policies compared to less experienced
African states.
And our own research suggests that countries with the most
effective governments reduced income poverty at up to twice the speed than
countries with the weakest states.
Fighting poverty in
Africa
Africa is known to be the second largest and the second most
populous continent in the world. With a population of 1.2 billion (as of 2019),
it accounts for 15% of world’s human population. It also houses some very important
natural resources in abundance that include oil, petroleum, uranium, gold,
salt, copper, silver, cocoa beans and iron to name a few. Although having a
thriving population and abundant natural resources, it is still one of the most
underdeveloped and poor continents.
Poverty in Africa can be attributed to many factors; from
Illiteracy and unemployment, disease, mismanagement of Land, to corrupt
governments to tribal conflicts and to mismanagement of funds that were
provided by the international community to Africa, The lack of infrastructure
and poverty has also caused the death toll to rise tremendously. Every year a
lot of young children die because of water borne illness only.
The weaknesses of a state affect the fight against poverty
in a number of ways. Firstly, fighting poverty requires direct policy
interventions. Yet poorer African countries are less effective in reaching
their poor. For example, governments in sub-Saharan Africa don’t have the data
and administrative know-how necessary for reliably identifying their poor.
This means they can’t target resources to them. Anti-poverty programmes in
countries such as Malawi, Mali, Niger and Nigeria miss many of their poorest
households.
The growing evidence on the gaps in state capacity and the
importance of effective states for poverty reduction implies that, without
significant improvement in governance, Africa may fall further behind in
meeting the first sustainable development goal target of ending poverty.
All these reasons jointly increase the level of poverty and
have made the situation in Africa very grim. It has garnered war, corruption,
fatal diseases and resulted in loss of precious human life. All the
international think tanks and governments review the situation time and again
to lend a helping hand. These reasons for its poverty are not unchangeable.
Through proper planning and execution, Africa can be helped out of this
situation.
To accelerate the end of poverty, African states should
focus on developing enough capability for designing and delivering poverty
reduction strategies. Implementing these reforms is vital. After all, improving
the quality of government is not only important to accelerating poverty
reduction. It’s also a development goal in itself.
Finally, I believe that
we should dedicate our time, efforts and policy-making to the removal of
barriers, including corruption, cronyism, opaque processes and subsidies that
prevent capitalistic mechanisms from working.
we
must also encourage organizations,individuals,governments etc who have
volunteered to provide facilities such as pure water, foods filled with
nutrients, living places to poor people and also those who’re conducting
charity services to develop their lives, by offering special rewards and
admiring them in various ways would be a good way to increase the number of
voluntary workers. So I believe my opinions and suggestions would be a good
help to conclude poverty
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