The Copenhagen Declaration describes absolute poverty as "a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information."
The World Bank identifies "extreme poverty" as being people who live on less than USD $1 a day, and "poverty" as less than $2 a day.
Table of content
1 Definition of poverty
2 Fighting against poverty
2.1 Asian Development Bank (ADB)
2.2 Corporate Foundations - e.g. Ford
2.3 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
2.4 European Commission
2.5 International Monetary Fund
2.6 Inter American Development Bank
2.7 UNESCO
2.8 United Nations
2.9 World Bank
3 What has been done
3.1 Millennium Development Goals
3.2 Micro financing
4 Conclusion
5 Facts and Figures
6 References
1 Definition of poverty
The Copenhagen Declaration describes absolute poverty as "a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information."
The World Bank identifies "extreme poverty" as being people who live on less than USD $1 a day, and "poverty" as less than $2 a day.
2 Fighting against poverty
Basically, there are a lot of organisations, both governmental as well as non-governmental, who are trying to reduce poverty in this world. The aims of every organisation are quite similar and differ mainly from the regions which they are supporting.
The main instruments of supporting is financial aid such as loans, grants as well as technical assistance to low-income countries to build the financial, human, social and natural assets they need to overcome poverty.
Following there will be a short overview of some organisations (alphabetically) which are fighting against poverty. However, the main development is the Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) which mainly emphasise the following points:
- pro-poor, sustainable economic growth based on policies and programs that facilitate employment and income generation for the poor
- social development, which can enable the poor to make full use of opportunities to improve their living standard, and programs that directly address the severity of poverty
- good governance to ensure that the poor have better access to basic services and greater voice and participation in the decisions affecting them
2.1 Asian Development Bank (ADB)
“ADB’s overarching goal is to reduce poverty in Asia and the Pacific. It helps improve the quality of people’s lives by providing loans and technical assistance for a broad range of development activities.” From 1990 to 2000 ADB could achieve a reduction of poverty in the Asia region from 32% to 22%. However, there are still 720 million people suffering from poverty in this region.
Basically, ADB is giving loans and technical assistance to the government and public as well as private enterprises for certain projects and programmes.
2.2 Corporate Foundations - e.g. Ford
The main goals of the Ford Foundation are:
- Strengthen democratic values
- Reduce poverty and injustice,
- Promote international cooperation and
- Advance human achievement
Furthermore this foundation supports organisation that help businesses create employment opportunities. It also aims to help “low-income people and communities build the financial, human, social and natural assets they need to overcome poverty and injustice.”
2.3 European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
The EBRD is providing financial support for banks, industries and businesses. The bank uses the close relationships with local government to establish policies and to build market economies and democracies in 27 countries from central Europe to central Asia.
2.4 European Commission
The mission of the EC is “to help to reduce and ultimately to eradicate poverty in the developing countries and to promote sustainable development, democracy, peace and security.” The European Commission works together with the World Bank, regional development banks, the OECD and the United Nations systems “to maximise the impact of international action on eradication of poverty in the world.” In the developing countries the EC works in partnership with government, civil society, economic and social actors as well as the private sector.
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- Quote paper
- Marieluise Bruch (Author), 2005, World Poverty, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/46230
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