How can we come together and end poverty?

1. How Can We End Poverty
Stephanie Loudermilk

2. What is Poverty?
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.”

3. Why Should We Care About The Poor?
➔ It is more than just poor people being lazy and
not wanting to work.
➔ Even with working more than 800 million
people in 2013 were forced to live on less than
$1.90 a day, $1.25 in Africa
➔ Poverty has classifications and distinctions
◆ extreme poverty
◆ moderate poverty
◆ relative poverty

5. Illustrative Example
➔ Africa holds about 30% of the world's known
mineral reserves:
◆ cobalt, uranium, diamonds and gold, as
well as significant oil and gas reserves.
➔ The richest 10% of South Africans owns more
than 70% of net financial assets.
◆ 58,000 South Africans, or 0.2% of the
population, were identified as
millionaires.
➔ 68% fall into the lowest wealth category.
These are people with assets of less than
$10,000.
➔ The median wealth in South Africa was is
about $5,186.
◆ Median is a measure of the "typical"
individual or household income.

6. How Do We Stop Poverty in Africa?
Yusuf Bangura states that to achieve growth that is equitable and
creates jobs, deliberate policies are required. Among other things,
African governments could:
· connect agriculture more productively to industry and other
sectors
· expand domestic production and raise the demand for
locally made goods and services
· invest in infrastructure and education to improve skills and
the quality of employment for women
· promote progressive taxation
· demand global reforms that reduce sharp fluctuations in
commodity prices and interest rates, phase out agricultural
subsidies in rich countries and grant African exports more access
to Northern markets.
➔ Creating jobs that can provide more money to the poor is
beneficial to helping the fight against poverty.
➔ The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South
Africa

7. General Response
➔ A Neoliberal Solution to end poverty.
◆ The neoliberal solution basically says that we would not have poverty if every person and every
society knew how to market themselves and their goods.
➔ Critics
◆ Questioned the grounds at which the neoliberal solution stands on as well as its endeavors to
universalize a specific form of Western development.
◆ No resources to sell goods
◆ No demand for services
◆ No money to travel to sell.

8. “Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity,
it is an act of justice. Like Slavery and
Apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-
made and it can be overcome and eradicated
by the actions of human beings.”
― Nelson Mandela

9. Final point

10. Thanks!
Sources:
Allen, L. (2009, April 06). Dark side of the Dubai dream. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7985361.stm
Bangura, Yusuf. “Jobs and equity key to Africa's poverty fight | Africa Renewal Online.” United Nations, United Nations, Dec. 2010,
www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/december2010/jobs-and-equity-key-africas-poverty-fight.
Edkins, J., & Zehfuss, M. (n.d.). Global Politics: A New Introduction (2nd ed.). London, England: Routledge.
Kwakwa, V. (2016, October 17). It's Possible to End Poverty. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2016/10/17/its-possible-to-end-poverty
Lebert, T. (2015, December 22). Africa: A continent of wealth, a continent of poverty. Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://waronwant.org/media/africa-continent-wealth-
continent poverty
Veselinovic, M. (2015, May 12). Why is Africa so unequal? Retrieved March 07, 2018, from https://www.cnn.com/2015/05/12/africa/africa-inequality/index.html