21 st-century crusade to reduce world poverty<\/p>\n
Yanuar Nugroho, Director, The Business Watch Indonesia,
\nSurakarta, Central Java, yanuar-n@unisosdem.org<\/p>\n
In spite of the development of agriculture, scientific
\nknowledge and modern technology, the wealth of the poorest group
\nhas actually fallen. The United Nations Development Program
\n(UNDP) this year reports that more than 1.2 billion people across
\nthe world -- two-thirds of them women -- live in crushing
\npoverty, and face difficult access to food, safe water,
\nsanitation, basic education and health services.<\/p>\n
The wealth of the 225 richest countries has nearly tripled in
\nthe last six years and their assets now equal the entire annual
\nincome of half the world's population.<\/p>\n
Every Oct. 17, a day after World Food Day, the world marks the
\nInternational Day for the Eradication of Poverty, to boost the
\ndrive to achieve the key goals adopted by world leaders at the
\nMillennium Summit in 2000: to halve the number of the world's
\nextremely poor people, provide elementary school education for
\nevery child and halt the AIDS epidemic by 2015.<\/p>\n
The global record shows that barely half that amount of
\nprogress had been achieved; UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said,
\n"overall, the world is not on track to meet the goals by 2015."<\/p>\n
There is obviously a tremendous overlap between the 800
\nmillion people who live in a state of permanent food insecurity
\nand the 1.2 billion people on less than US$1 a day as UNDP
\nreported above.<\/p>\n
We are constantly told of the one recipe to reduce poverty:
\neconomic growth. Yet the UN Human Poverty Index 1998 for
\nindustrial countries showed that Sweden, with one of the lowest
\nrates of economic growth per person, had the best human welfare.
\nWhereas the U.S., with the highest rate of economic growth (and a
\nhigher per capita GDP than Sweden), had more people who were
\n"functionally illiterate" (20.7 percent) than that in any other
\ncountry; the highest proportion of population below the income
\npoverty line (19.1 percent) and the greatest number of people who
\ndid not expect to reach 60 years of age (13 percent).<\/p>\n
Thus, there has been no magic formulae to eradicate poverty.
\nBut there are five structural points to be addressed here: (1)
\nhuman development and the environment, (2) economic management,
\n(3) democratic institutions, (4) empowering the poor to change
\ntheir own lives and, (5) a need for global advocacy.<\/p>\n
First, investment in education and other essential services.
\nThe UN found that there is no lever more significant in reducing
\npoverty than investment in education in addition to basic
\nservices. Governments in poor countries need to commit themselves
\nto universal free primary education and affordable\/accessible
\nbasic services provision.<\/p>\n
Second, sound management of the economy. For years the
\ndevelopment of poor countries was held back by lots of well
\nintentioned efforts by governments to spend more money; by
\nputting money into inefficient state enterprises that did not
\nwork; into funds for defense forces beyond their needs; and
\ntaking money away from essential public services.<\/p>\n
Sound management would ensure that public spending does not
\nrun ahead of the tax base and the revenue available to a country
\nand, second, making sure that the priority for the public
\nspending is education, health care and basic services.<\/p>\n
Third, democratic institutions. Sound democratic institutions
\nat the national and village level should reflect people's
\npriorities and their visions for the country, are critical to
\nsuccessful development. Without that we can still invest in
\neducation, we can still manage our economy quite well, but we
\nwill also still flounder, as we see in other regimes and
\ncountries without a sound democracy.<\/p>\n
Fourth, empowerment of the poor, which is much more crucial
\nthan charity. Micro credit may be one such tool. The poor are a
\nbetter credit risk than all of us. They are much more sensible
\nabout repaying their loans because they recognize that without
\nthe kind of assets against which they can borrow from normal
\ncommercial means, they have to protect their new credit status
\nvery carefully and not betray themselves or their communities by
\nnot repaying.<\/p>\n
It is an incredibly powerful tool for bringing wealth to the
\nlowest levels of a country, although modern financial systems
\n(like banking) are not so willing to channel the money to empower
\nthe poor. In a poor country like Indonesia, for example, less
\nthan 10 percent of credit from banks are given to the poor.<\/p>\n
Fifth, global advocacy. Ensuring that the case of the world's
\npoor is not lost on the international community is easy as we are
\nall on the same leaky ship. The rich will also sink, slowly or
\nquickly unless we end world poverty.<\/p>\n
But it will not happen if the global economic system is
\nstructured in such a way that it increases the gap between the
\nrich and poor.<\/p>\n
According to the World Bank (2001), in 1960 gross domestic
\nproduct in the richest 20 countries was 18 times that in the
\npoorest countries. By 1995, this gap had widened to 37 times.
\nAbout 12 economies in Asia and Latin America account for 70
\npercent of exports from the developing world absorb almost 80
\npercent of investment flows to the developing world and receive
\nmore than 90 percent of portfolio investment flows to the
\ndeveloping world.<\/p>\n
However, Sub Saharan Africa, West, Central and South Asia and
\nmany economies in Latin America, Asia and the Pacific have been
\nleft out of the global economy and not favored by international
\ninvestors. Clearly, free trade centered distribution of benefits
\nand costs are unequal.<\/p>\n
Whether or not we succeed in this ambitious goal of ending
\nworld poverty, the answer rests finally with all of us. It is our
\nworld, so may we make it a safe, prosperous and peaceful place.<\/p>\n
The writer also lectures at the Sahid University in Surakarta
\nand is a researcher at Uni Sosial Demokrat, Jakarta.<\/p>",
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