Words alone cannot eradicate poverty: Activist
Words alone cannot eradicate poverty: Activist
JAKARTA (JP): Poverty cannot be eradicated by statements and
criticism, but by tenable cooperation between the government and
non-government organizations (NGOs), an international social
activist said yesterday.
The president of the International Council on Social Welfare,
Julian Disney, reproached NGOs working on poverty eradication
programs for thinking they know more about strategies to
alleviate poverty than other people.
"It's ironic that many community organizations preach
cooperation, indeed they regard it as inherent to the human
spirit, yet they signally fail to achieve it internally or
practice it externally," Disney told participants of the 27th
Asia and Pacific conference on social welfare in Jakarta.
The conference, attended by 330 participants, will last until
Saturday.
Social workers, he said, need to work closely with governments
because cooperation could accelerate the eradication of poverty,
where at least 1.25 billion are living in severe hardship.
"Make detailed proposals for action which might have some
chance of being considered by relevant authorities," Disney
advised the 330 participants.
He said the accuracy and credibility of their analysis of
problems, and proposals for change, would be more enhanced if
they were reasonable and balanced.
President Soeharto when opening the conference on Tuesday said
800 million of the world's estimated 1.3 billion poor live in the
Asia-Pacific, a region regarded as the most dynamic and fastest
growing.
The dean of University of Indonesia's School of Economics,
Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti, suggested that developing states give
serious attention to the development of informal sectors,
including small enterprises, and the agricultural sector to
combat poverty.
"In an effort to avoid a sociopolitical problem, it is an
accepted practice for governments in developing countries to use
this sector as the main instrument for the policy of creating
employment," Dorodjatun said in a prepared speech.
According to Dorodjatun, a strong informal sector is very
useful in slowing down the process of urbanization because people
can earn money at their own villages.
A sociologist from the University of Pennsylvania, Richard J.
Estes, warned that the poverty bridling the world's poorest
regions, if left untreated, could threaten stability.
"Thoughtful action must be taken if the social tragedies of
the last quarter century are to be averted in the next," Estes
said.
He pointed out the need to focus on five categories which
affect future development: population, weapons, economics,
deepening global poverty and reactive threats to national and
international "mal-development".
He explained that unemployment, the absence of adequate
occupational health and safety standards and expanding world
poverty were potential threats to the world economy.
He further pointed out that the existence of weapons of mass
destruction and their continued trade in the global market would
also threaten international security. (09/prb)