Stronger focus urged to help rural poor

from InTheNews.co.uk

Calls are being made for greater help to be extended to poorer communities in rural areas, amid concerns that rural regions in developing countries are being neglected with regard to ongoing aid efforts.

A new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) makes the point that rural poverty must be a key area of focus in tackling poverty if the Department for International Development (DFID) is to meet its targets.

Experts at the NAO claim that rural areas need to be concentrated on in light of estimates that two-thirds of the world's poorest people will live in rural areas by 2015.

To help those who are most vulnerable and work towards stemming poverty on an international scale the NAO urges focus on rural areas, calling for heavier investment in these operations and greater research efforts into specific retail needs.

NAO head Sir John Bourn stresses that growing trends towards urbanisation in developing nations will not necessarily resolve the problems facing rural communities.

"Despite urbanisation, the majority of the world's poorest people still live in rural settings," he stated.

"DFID must continue its good work providing much needed aid to developing countries, but with a stronger focus on the most vulnerable people in rural areas."

DFID maintains that efforts are already being made to tackle poverty in rural and urban parts of the world, investing millions of pounds in infrastructural developments and other initiatives.

The body also highlights the fact that the UK is currently spending more on aid than in the past, with £4.6 billion worth of spending this year.