...Poverty: An African Crisis Today, 300 million African people live on less than $1 US per day (World Bank). The incidence of extreme poverty never seems to go down, despite decades of work by African governments and NGOs, outside NGOs, and foreign government aid programs. What causes this entrenched poverty, on a continent rich with natural resources? Unfortunately, poverty in Africa doesn't result from just one or two causes. There are a number of different factors at work, all interacting with one another, and making the problem of entrenched poverty extremely difficult to solve. Some of the major causes of poverty include: war and armed conflict, poor farm policy, lack of access to credit, rampant unemployment, lack of access to education, and disease. One-fifth of all African people live in countries seriously disrupted by armed conflict (World Bank). When war is ranging all around, it's very difficult to grow crops, continue to work in an office, or earn money. Ordinary life becomes impossible, as people are forced to flee their homes. Thus, productivity goes down, and poverty rates shoot up. Countries at war produce an average of 12.5 per cent less food per person than they do during peace time (World Bank). One example is Angola, where a 27-year long civil war killed half a million people and left 3.8 million people displaced (Szczepanski). Virtually all the country's infrastructure was destroyed in the conflict, and more than three-quarters of the population fell into...
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...Step Closer to the End of Poverty Every day deaths are caused by some type of disaster all over the world. Some disasters can be prevented, like warfare and poverty, whereas other disasters can come without warning, such as natural disasters. When countries are suffering from poverty or are shaken up by something such as an earthquake or hurricane, they look towards American Humanitarians and our government to lend them a hand. Newspapers constantly talk about countries pleading for help: "We have the resources, we have the know-how to end extreme poverty” (Stossel, Patrick McMenamin 42). And it is true. Our government does provide money and resources to these countries that are begging for help, but not enough. Our country provides more money to aid countries in their civil wars than it does to provide foreign aid for countries that desperately need help. Most aid is intended to be spent as investment projects in particular areas of need such as supplying medicine and water to Third World countries, and rebuilding new roads and homes for countries that are destroyed by natural disasters. The main problem, as most experts put it, is that “aid is substitutable and what the money is supposed to be used for is spent on something else” (Rieff 225). Warfare should be the last thing our government should be focusing on with disasters such as Haiti’s earthquake and with so many deaths from diseases caused by poverty. To help reduce poverty in the world, American...
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...CAUSES OF POVERTY IN AFRICA Africa has the richest natural resources and yet we are poor and stagnant in development. Poverty is defined by the dictionary as “The state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support”. This is an extremely vague definition and covers Poverty as a whole, although this speech will elaborate on the details of the causes of poverty in Africa. What causes poverty? There are many reasons why this would occur, the most prevalent of these being corruption, and lack of resources in the region. Corruption occurs in Africa when the governments do not use money responsibly and instead use it for themselves. Corruption destroys trust between the government and its people in ensuring that money is used responsibly. Despite all the wealthy resources in its possession, Africa is the world's poorest continent. Poverty in Africa is caused by a number of factors. The leading causes are corruption and poor governance, limited employment opportunities, poor infrastructure, poor resource usage. And because of poor governance, those in authority have failed to apprehend the corrupt. This creates an imbalance in society and leads to more poverty because you end up with a few influential and powerful individuals oppressing the poor In most African countries, people own large chunks of land that are underutilized or sometimes not even used at all. This is partly because they are either not educated on what to do with the land, or because...
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...Topic: Poverty in Africa; Causes, Solutions and the Future Maxwell Adjei adjeimax89@gmail.com 1 Table of Content Page Number Introduction; Background of Poverty in Africa............................................................................3 What are the causes of Poverty in Africa......................................................................................4-5 a. Corruption- Bad Leadership and Weak Institutions...........................................,,.....5-6 b. Conflicts.....................................................................................................................6-7 c. Unfavourable Trade Policies- Weak Economies.......................................................7-8 Are there any possible solutions.................................................................................................8-9 a. Tackling Corruption- Strong Institutions and Good Governance..........................9-11 b. Building Infrastructure, Sound Economic Policies and Regional Integration.....11-15 c. Effective Management of Intractable Conflicts...................................................15-16 Conclusion....................................................................................................................................16 References.....................................................................................................................................17 2 Introduction Africa as a continent...
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...Question 2 Issue of Poverty The issue of poverty is huge all around the world. Poverty sometimes happens because of a high rate of unemployment often even certain illnesses. Almost half the world over 3 billion people live on less than R32.77 a day. Over one billion children live in poverty all over the world. 640 million live without suitable housing, 400 million have no access to safe water, 270 million have no access to health services. A report said due to South Africa's “slightly progressive” tax system and “highly progressive” and well government spending, around 3.6 million people have been lifted out of poverty, halving the number of South Africans living on less than R16.35 a day. Grants, free basic services and taxes favouring the...
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...Orphans in Africa: Poverty and School Enrollment 483 ORPHANS IN AFRICA: PARENTAL DEATH, POVERTY, AND SCHOOL ENROLLMENT* ANNE CASE, CHRISTINA PAXSON, AND JOSEPH ABLEIDINGER We examine the impact of orphanhood on children’s school enrollment in 10 sub-Saharan African countries. Although poorer children in Africa are less likely to attend school, the lower enrollment of orphans is not accounted for solely by their poverty. We find that orphans are less likely to be enrolled than are nonorphans with whom they live. Consistent with Hamilton’s rule, the theory that the closeness of biological ties governs altruistic behavior, outcomes for orphans depend on the relatedness of orphans to their household heads. The lower enrollment of orphans is largely explained by the greater tendency of orphans to live with distant relatives or unrelated caregivers. I n a follow-up to the 2001 noted that nearlyGeneral Assembly Specialare suffering HIV/ United Nations Session on AIDS, UNAIDS researchers 40% of the countries that from a generalized AIDS epidemic lack a national policy to support children “orphaned or made vulnerable by AIDS” (Joint United Nations Programme 2003:12). This is an important issue in sub-Saharan Africa, where the death of prime-aged adults from HIV/AIDS has led to pronounced concentrations of orphans. Recent Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) have indicated that in Uganda, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, nearly 15% of all children under age 15 have lost...
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...Name: College: Course: Tutor: Date: Poverty in Small countries in Africa and the Roll of Corruption The major cause and reason for poverty around the globe is corruption. Unfortunately corruption occurs at all levels of every society, from national to local governments, judiciary functions, civil society military, small and large businesses and other services and so on (www.globalissues.org). The poorest countries are mostly affected by corruption despite it being in almost all nations. Political development is undermined by corruption since all aspects of society are somewhat affected (www.globalissues.org). It is not fundamentally useful to make collective differences between corruptions in several parts of the globe. In the end it all comes down to the same thing the abuse or use of public office and resources for private gain. However, corruption can be split into grand corruption, petty corruption and looting (unpan1.un.org). Petty corruption is a situation where small gifts and small amounts of money change hands. The parties involved are relatively minor officials within an organization where the transaction took place. An example is paying a policeman a dollar to look the other way after doing a minor infraction (unpan1.un.org). Grand corruption is a situation whereby a businessman and a senior ranking government official, and the figures exchanging hand are significant. A good example is the kickback received after government tenders or contracts are awarded. ...
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...Causes of Poverty Sociology/100 Carolyn Howard, Tayisha Green, Guy Scott March 14, 2013 Dr. Adrian Woods Causes of Poverty Poverty and hunger are the most serious problem in Africa. On TV, newspapers, journals, and radio, the world witnesses thousands of people in Africa starving. In the 80s the media brought the picture of hunger from Africa starving children’s, skin and bone with bloated bellies, too weak to even stand up. (Warnock p.1) whereas people living across the countries are enjoying different kinds of tasty meals and trashing the food they do not want or like. Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world. People are dying because of lack in basic human needs. The people in Africa cannot even afford the basic things as food and soap. The Gross Domestic Product projected in Africa is says to be less than two hundred dollars. Here 20 years later, the issue is still hunger in Africa and other undeveloped countries. According to Washington, March 16 (IPS) The world’s food security remains ‘vulnerable,” new data suggests with some 870 million people experiencing sustained hunger and two billion suffering from micronutrient deficiencies. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) is unhappy with this figure, and warns that the program set-up to fix the problem is just a piecemeal solution. The IFPRI Global Food Policy Report for 2012 findings is disappointing. The report found that the proportion of people suffering from hunger...
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...South Africa is considered an upper middle income country in terms of the World Bank tables but according to Wilson (2011:2) as well as Cornell and Wilson (2012:1) poverty in South Africa, despite its high income ranking, is widespread and severe. The only possible explanation for the contradiction in South Africa’s characteristics would be the deep levels of inequality experienced within the country (Wilson 2011: 2). This essay is going to prove, through looking at what poverty and inequality entail, how it originated in South Africa as well as evaluating statistical evidence, that inequality is indeed a more pressing socio-economic challenge than poverty is in contemporary South Africa. According to Laderchi, Saith and Stewart (2007:1) most policies now a days are somehow related to the impact of poverty on the country but in order for these policies to make a difference it is important to know what we are aiming at and therefore a clear understanding of what poverty and inequality is as well as where these terms originated from is essential for success. Laderchi, Saith and Stewart (2007) supply us with multiple approaches to poverty including the monetary approach, capabilities approach, social exclusion approach as well as participatory approach. Universally the monetary approach is dominantly accepted and used. This approach describes poverty as being a shortfall below a minimum level of resources or poverty line which is assessed through whether the individual can meet...
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...David Lew Qingwei Rachel Crumpler Business and its Publics: Section 29 May 12, 2013 TOMS Shoes and the Effective Creation of Shared Value Over the last 30 years, absolute poverty worldwide has fallen 20%, yet poverty levels in Africa have remained static, hovering around 40% of the continent’s population over the same time period (“Poverty”). Poverty is endemic to many developing nations in Africa, and many attempts have been made to ameliorate the socio-economic toll that it wreaks on the region. However, the continued predominance of poverty in the region today makes it clear that previous attempts at traditional poverty eradication have failed. More recently, the rise of social entrepreneurship has revitalized the discussion about poverty alleviation, with companies committing themselves to creating transformational benefit for the disadvantaged segments of society (Martin 151). TOMS Shoes is such a company that has made a commitment to social responsibility. Unfortunately, TOMS and its footwear draws a great deal of criticism, and there is mounting evidence that creating shared value, as seen in Oliberté Footwear’s business model, is a more effective route to poverty alleviation. Ultimately, we must carefully consider the advantages of Oliberté’s shared value over TOMS’ social responsibility, and call for future social business models to take note of what both of these social enterprises do right and wrong to create the best solution for bringing upward social mobility...
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...Definition of poverty CHUPICAL SHOLLAH MANUEL Poverty as a phenomenon is very elusive to define and is rather multidimensional and a contested concept whose definition is influenced by the contexts in which it exists. The concept has both a relative an absolute measure. The dominant Western definition since World War II has defined poverty in monetary terms, using levels of income or consumption to measure poverty (Grusky and Kanbur, 2006: 11) and defining the poor by a headcount of those who fall below a given income/consumption level or ‘poverty line’ (Lipton and Ravallion, 1993: 1 in Handley et al., 2009). Multidimensional definitions acknowledge that poverty is also defined by a sense of helplessness, dependence and lack of opportunities, self-confidence and self-respect on the part of the poor. (Narayan et al., 2000). Sen (1999) defines poverty as lack of freedom while another dimension view it as interlinked forms of deprivation in the economic, human, political, sociocultural and protective spheres (OECD, 2006).This essay discusses the issue of poverty in Africa from colonial period to present day. The paper also analyses the causes of poverty since colonial era, the poverty alleviation strategies adopted to deal with poverty and propose possible solutions for poverty alleviation. A plethora of case studies will be drawn from several countries to substantiate the claims and insights provides in this paper. 2.0 Poverty, colonialism and Colonial Legacy Poverty is attributed...
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...Burkina Faso: Understanding the Issues in Poverty and Natural Resources MIDN 2/C Alexandria Thomas Professor Lewis FP366 Section 6001 I. INTRODUCTION “On the strength of one link in the cable, Dependeth the might of the chain, Who knows when thou mayest be tested? So live that thou bearest the strain.” This powerful law, written by Admiral Ronald Hopwood , was created to act as a moral basis for the members of Britain’s Royal Navy to live by. As time went on, many navies and other military forces have embodied this law and have applied it to many aspects in life, especially in international relations. If one country is failing, then its allies and surrounding nations are failing as well. Burkina Faso currently has the world’s...
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...South Africa Strayer University SOC 300: Sociology of Developing Countries Professor T. Taylor August 31, 2015 South Africa South Africa is located at the southern tip of Africa. It is made up of a unique demographic, and is approximately twice the size of Texas (Cia.gov, 2015). The death rate in South Africa is the highest of any country (Cia.gov, 2015). AIDS is very prevalent, with South Africa having the fourth highest rate of any country in the world (Cia.gov, 2015). Economic growth is slow, and unemployment is around 25% (Cia.gov, 2015). While the economy of South Africa is experiencing slow growth, they still use the benefits of funding from banking institutions. It is important to understand whether funding from these banking institutions, as well as the general health of the population, affects the economy and politics of the country of South Africa. The World Bank and IMF have the potential to positively impact the economy in South Africa. According to Olawale and Garwe (2010), it is essential that more small and medium enterprises (SME’s) are started in South Africa. They posit this idea due to the high unemployment rate plaguing South Africa. While the World Bank is in full support of more SME’s being opened in South Africa, South Africans fear corruption will prevent them from beginning new SME’s. On the other hand, one could draw the conclusion that loans from the World Bank and IMF are allowing the corrupt South African government to continue thriving...
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... When most people are asked what they think of South Africa compared to the United States, the most common response that is given is that South Africa is a desert like the remaining continent of Africa is; this is as far from the truth as possible. Would you have ever thought that two countries could be so similar yet so different at the same time? South Africa is as up in the technology world as the United States is; if not further along to some degree. It is known to have the largest research association of great white sharks off of any coast. Although the United States and South Africa have several similarities, they are also quite different because the United States has a lower violence and poverty rate than South Africa. One similarity between the Unites States and South Africa is that they are a huge melting pot of ethnicity and race, that had to fight for what they believed was right between the higher percentages of races. Both countries races consist of whites, blacks, Asians, and Indians. But there is a huge difference in the race percentages’, according to "Race and Ethnicity in the United States" (n.d.), the majority of the more than 300 million people currently living in the United States consists of White Americans, who trace their ancestry to the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. In South Africa, black's makeup 79.0% of the total population ("Ethnic Groups in South Africa", n.d.). The percentage of all white households that are made...
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...Africa Poverty Africa is one of the poorest countries in the world. People that live there are having a hard time being able to have food and water to survive. According to 2011 poverty average, few African are getting affected with starvation and not able to afford any money for their families. Education and Medicine are a big factor in Africa. Students are not able to go to school without any one helping them pay for their education or medicate. These are just few things that are still going on today in Africa. African children’s are looking beyond all this as a test in their life to see how much they trust in their self then others to overcome all these problems. Poverty in Africa is always struggling to hold on every day to making a living in their life. A quote by Nelson states, “Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity, it is an act of justice” shows about how people are showing their love for others in time of troubles they are facing every day. (Mandela). He quote tells the whole story of how people are still living no matter what comes their way. Although they are struggling to hold on, they always keep themself strong for everything. There are people out in Africa who trust in God because without God, they would not know how they will be able to get up every day and walk. Today’s generation in Africa are always enjoying life no matter what the outcomes are in their lives. Seeing people that live there, it hurts that they don’t have...
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