No more Poverty Project

Poverty can have many negative effects on individuals and society and essentiality of eliminating it can help create a more sustainable future

Why Are We Fighting for No More Poverty?

Project 9

Definition of poverty:

Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is more, much more than just not having enough money. The World Bank Organization describes poverty in this way:

“Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time.

Poverty has many faces, changing from place to place and across time, and has been described in many ways. Most often, poverty is a situation people want to escape. So, poverty is a call to action — for the poor and the wealthy alike — a call to change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a voice in what happens in their communities.”

The term poverty refers to the state or condition in which people or communities lack the financial resources and other essentials for a minimum standard of living. As such, they cannot meet their basic human needs. People and families who live in poverty may go without proper housing, clean water, healthy food, and medical attention.

Poverty refers to the lack of adequate financial resources such that individuals, households, and entire communities don’t have the means to subsist or to acquire the basic necessities for a flourishing life. This absence of means can result in struggles to obtain food, clothing, shelter, and medicine. Poverty is a difficult cycle to break and can pass from one generation to the next. It is often determined by socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender, and geography.

The overall scenario about poverty we can defined poverty as the state or condition where people and communities cannot meet a minimum standard of living because they lack the proper resources. These include (but aren’t limited to) financial resources, basic healthcare and education, clean drinking water, and infrastructure.

Types of poverty:

Cyclical poverty: refers to poverty that may be temporary widespread throughout a population, but the occurrence itself is of limited duration. In nonindustrial societies (present and past), this sort of inability to provide for one’s basic needs rests mainly upon temporary food shortages caused by natural phenomena or poor agricultural planning. Prices would rise because of scarcities of food, which brought widespread, albeit temporary, misery.

Collective poverty: involves a relatively permanent insufficiency of means to secure basic needs—a condition that may be so general as to describe the average level of life in a society or that may be concentrated in relatively large groups in an otherwise prosperous society. Both generalized and concentrated collective poverty may be transmitted from generation to generation, parents passing their poverty on to their children.

Absolute poverty: When an individual or family doesn’t earn enough money to meet basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter. This is based on a set income level and not compared to other incomes in the economy.

Social exclusion: A situation of economic or social disadvantage that’s broader than poverty or deprivation. It can include disadvantages from discrimination, ill health, lack of education, or lack of material resources.

Deprivation of capabilities: This dimension of poverty includes capabilities linked to health, education, and participation in society. For example, undernourishment, illiteracy, and mortality. Other definitions of poverty can include:

Hunger
Lack of shelter
Lack of access to school
Lack of a job
Fear for the future
Powerlessness
Lack of representation
Lack of freedom

The reasons & root cause of poverty:

Many people are born into poverty and have little hope of overcoming it. Others may fall into poverty because of negative economic conditions, natural disasters, or surging living costs, as well as drug addiction, depression, and mental health issues. Here are the main root causes of poverty that can be identified in may form, but first, we need to understand what poverty is – and what causes it.include:

Lack of access to clean water and nutritious food.
Lack of access to basic healthcare.
Lack of education.
Lack of access to jobs and livelihoods.
Poor basic infrastructure.
Conflict and instability.
Inequality or social injustice.
Lack of government support.
Lack of personal safety net.
Social barriers
Climate change.

Impacts of poverty on our communities:

Here are some effects that affects our communities due to the poverty:

Safety: Poverty can be associated with unsafe neighborhoods. For example, a lack of proper toilets can help spread diseases like cholera or typhoid, while a lack of windows or proper ventilation can cause respiratory diseases.
Social: Poverty can affect friendships and opportunities, creating isolation, stigma, and sadness.

Possible solutions:

Some of the actionable plans to eliminate poverty in communities include the following:

Education: Education can help alleviate poverty and inequality can also lead to economic development. Educating farmers on how to produce more food is essential. Building schools to educate disadvantaged communities.
Clean water: Installing wells that provide access to clean drinking water. Access to clean water can reduce illness, allow children to attend school, and improve agriculture and access to food.
Healthcare: Providing enhanced access to better healthcare services by building medical clinics and hospitals. Basic medical treatment can save lives and extend lifespans.
Jobs: Creating jobs in poverty-stricken communities can help people pull themselves out of poverty.
Social protection: Social protection systems can help fight poverty and hunger make countries less vulnerable to violence and war.
Wages: Increasing the minimum wage can be an effective tool for reducing poverty rates.
Income supports: Improving livelihood outcomes can help people meet their basic needs and reduce poverty levels.
Housing: Adequate housing can provide a safe, healthy, and productive environment.