[Philippines] Gov’t data don’t show real poverty picture, say execs

from The Inquirer

BAGUIO CITY -- The government’s poverty statistics do not reflect the face of indigenous Filipinos, so it has started drafting new economic indicators that would help them find and assist the poor among them, according to a Malacañang official.

Thomas Killip, presidential assistant for Cordillera affairs, said the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples are drafting these guidelines that will measure what resources the IP poor can have access to.

Killip, a former mayor of Sagada, Mt. Province, said complete data about indigenous Filipinos should help government understand a constituency that has thrived below its radar for nearly a century.

Leilene Carantes-Gallardo, NCIP Cordillera director, said the new poverty indicators they are crafting respond to the “inadequate tools” the government uses to measure poverty.

She said the latest government economic report had failed to capture the true situation of indigenous Filipinos.

The Cordillera, which is home to various IP groups, showed significant improvement because it managed to reduce its poor families from 122,942 households in 1994 to 72,084 households in 2003, said Juan Ngalob, Cordillera director of the National Economic and Development Authority, at a Monday forum at the University of the Philippines Baguio.

But the general outlines of economic growth that the government has recorded, based on what Cordillerans consume and what they earn in a year, have failed to illustrate why indigenous Filipinos remain poor, Gallardo said.

“We develop indicators that would tell us if indigenous Filipinos have access to their ancestral lands. Do they exploit their own resources? Are they able to access education? And if they do, are they able to cope?” she said.

Gallardo cited Ifugao, judged as the fourth poorest province in the country, until revisions this year in the statistic methods removed it from the top five poorest provinces.

“The country judged Ifugao poor, but their own people found this puzzling because nobody was starving in the province. They planted and consumed their own food,” she said.

She said NCIP is also devising new rules that would help government safeguard its tangible and intangible heritage, such as local medicinal knowledge that can be taught in schools.

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the UN Forum, has been pursuing research on how indigenous Cordillera knowledge can help improve the region’s functional literacy.

Corpuz also heads the Baguio-based Tebtebba Foundation, a research facility that has advocated the use of indigenous language and cultural materials in Cordillera classrooms.

Gallardo said the guidelines are primarily new rules that apply to indigenous Filipinos, who may not understand the applicability of modern laws, cultural references or technology on their lives.

The new data could also provide better ways to introduce health benefits to these communities. Vincent Cabreza, Inquirer Northern Luzon

[Namibia] Two Big Names to Tackle Poverty

from All Africa

New Era (Windhoek)

Petronella Sibeene
Windhoek

Namibia has appointed two Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) ambassadors with the brief to spearhead the anti-poverty campaign.

Yesterday, the Namibia Non-Governmental Organization Forum (Nangof) announced the appointment of Women's Action for Development (WAD) Executive Director Veronica de Klerk and Bishop Zephania Kameeta as GCAP ambassadors.

Chairperson of Nangof, Norman Tjombe, described poverty as a scandal that should be dealt with as a matter of national urgency.

In her acceptance remarks, De Klerk acknowledged poverty as a problem that could be tackled. She however believes that the reduction of poverty is not a "quick fix".

"I see my role as GCAP ambassador as a powerful opportunity to intensify our efforts to eradicate extreme poverty and to strive towards the achievement of the UN Millennium Development Goals on a wider platform," she said.

With 12 years experience of working with the poor in the country, De Klerk said that while the causes of poverty in Namibia are diverse, there is a need for all Namibians to join hands to lift the human spirit out of the pit in which it has lost initiative and motivation.

Zephania Kameeta equally accepted the appointment with reverence, adding that he will continue to be the voice of the voiceless. Poverty in Namibia is still a big problem that calls for multiple strategies. "As long as a single child is dying of malnutrition in Namibia, the fight for the struggle is not over," said the Bishop. It is his hope that the campaign will not be of words only but of action as well.

Namibia is a beautiful country with considerable natural and human resources. On behalf of the civil society, Peter Lenhardt from the !Nara Training Centre said that the country has a vibrant and growing tourism sector that provides the economic base of the nation. Sadly, the country is classed as lower middle-income with the majority of people subsisting in poverty. This situation, he says, demands a raising of the capacity and earnings of the poor and making significant inroads in sharing more equably the resources with, and for the benefit of, the very poor.

Locally, 40 per cent of Namibians live below the income poverty line, 79 per cent of rural households do not have proper sanitation, 78 per cent of rural households have no access to electricity, 31 percent of the urban population is unemployed, almost 80 per cent of the rural population and 40 per cent of the urban population have no access to banking services, while 20 per cent of the rural population do not have access to safe drinking water, among others.

Meanwhile, the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) held a special prayer meeting yesterday to mark the 'World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty'.

According to the General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN), Phillip Strydom, the World Council of Churches has identified poverty as a scandal, challenging the churches into decisive action.

October 17th is commemorated worldwide by the United Nations as the 'World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty'. Strydom says the United Nations has selected the day in honour of the victims of extreme poverty. This Saturday, thousands of Namibians are expected to gather at the Sam Nujoma Stadium in Katutura to show their support for extreme poverty eradication in the country.

Tjombe explained that GCAP calls on the governments of poor and rich countries to keep their promise to meet and exceed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Millions across the globe, including Namibia, have shown the breadth of public support on this issue with citizens, policy makers, faith leaders, workers, women, children, youth and many more - all standing together in their opposition to poverty and inequality.

"By acting together in this simple but powerful way, we aim to show the size and strength of public support for ending extreme poverty and meeting and exceeding the MDGs. In the last ten years, extreme poverty has killed more people than all of the wars of the 20th century combined," said Tjombe.

In a recent interview with the Director General of the National Planning Commission, Helmut Angula, he revealed that Namibia might achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing poverty by half before 2015. He expressed the hope that the UN goal of reducing poverty in Namibia would be achieved even before the anticipated timeframe. He added that the country's passion for reducing poverty stems from the country's involvement in presiding over the architects that crafted the said MDGs in 2000, when the country served as the President of the United Nations General Assembly during the Millennium Summit in New York. At independence, the country inherited rampant poverty, given the racial and discriminatory laws that led to the majority of black people living in poverty.

However, new policies aimed at tackling these inequalities were put in place. "The MDG target of reducing poverty will be reached even before that date - 2015," he said.

The Namibian Household Income and Expenditure Survey of 1993/4 revealed that 38% of the Namibian population lived in poverty while nine percent survived in extreme poverty.

Angula reassured that the budget focuses on fighting poverty and the government would continue investing money in economic activities aimed at fighting this social problem.

[Muhammad Yunus] Nobel winner may enter politics

from The BBC

The Bangladeshi Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus has announced that he may form his own political party.

Mr Yunus said he was disillusioned with the two main political parties, and may launch a nationwide movement to find "honest" parliamentary candidates.

He said he may have a role in resolving the country's political stand-off.

Mr Yunus was speaking before leaving for South Korea, where he is to receive another peace prize for his role in developing small loans to the poor.

'Political crisis'

"The country needs different politics," Mr Yunus said.

"If we hold elections and there are no quality candidates, there will be no solution.

"I still put the stress on the movement for quality candidates... If necessary, I will form a political party."

The former economics professor said people were looking for a way out of the present political crisis.

"I'm not saying I can do it. But someone has to try. People are looking for options about how we can get out of this crisis ... this political stand-off.

"So if I can play any role in this regard, I will," he said.

'Banker to the Poor'

Mr Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded were awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their efforts to lift millions of poor people out of poverty - earning him the nickname "Banker to the Poor".

His microfinance model has been copied in over 100 countries from the US to Uganda.

But Mr Yunus rejected calls for him to lead an independent caretaker administration that will supervise general elections in January, after the government steps down later this month.

"I won't accept an offer to become the chief of a caretaker authority," he said.

Mr Yunus was speaking as a deadlock between the government and opposition over election reforms threatens to jeopardise the polls.

The two sides are due to meet again on Monday in the next round of talks aimed at resolving their differences.

The main opposition Awami League and its 13 leftist allies have threatened to boycott the polls unless the governing Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) replaces key officials of the interim administration who they accuse of being pro-government.

The BNP is due to hand over power to the interim administration on October 27.

On Monday, Mr Yunus made a strong appeal to Bangladesh's politicians for unity, saying the world's eyes were now on them.

"The whole world is looking at us after the Nobel prize. It's now a perfect time for the two major parties to reach a consensus so we have smooth elections," he said.

[UK] Poverty charity is furnished with waste industry award

from The Scotsman

A CITY charity that helps people on low incomes furnish their homes has scooped a top waste industry award.

Edinburgh Furniture Initiative (EFI) provides free furniture, appliances and other household items to people on the poverty line who cannot afford to furnish their homes.

The group won the Best Community Waste Initiative award at the Scottish Waste Industry Awards, for its work at city council recycling centres where re-useable household items are saved from going to landfill.

The project started in March 2005 and has already re-used around 5000 items.

Connie Krauss-Cuthbert, the director of Four Square (Scotland), the social inclusion project behind EFI, said: "This project has far-reaching benefits deep into the local communities.

"As well as the direct benefit to local people in terms of donated goods, this project has also increased the number of quality employment, training and volunteering opportunities available to local people."

She added it had helped to improve the "skills base of all employees working on site".

[Canada] Martin advocates social solutions to African poverty

from Canada Com

Elizabeth Thompson, CanWest News Service; Montreal Gazette

OTTAWA - The concept of social economy developed in Canada could help people in many African nations to climb out of poverty, says former prime minister Paul Martin.

Speaking in an interview with the Montreal Gazette, shortly after being named co-chairman of a special advisory panel to the African Development Bank, Martin said among the solutions he would like to see the bank explore to aid the impoverished continent are things like microcredit loans to small businesses and social economy projects.

''It can work in Africa big time ... It will work anywhere where there is poverty and people are trying to come out of poverty,'' said Martin.

Increasingly, Martin predicts, the private sector will also provide aid for social economy or social entrepreneurship.

Social economy projects often tap into non-profit groups to supply services. For example, a non-profit group for people with disabilities might be hired to do cleaning for seniors and therefore allow them to stay in their homes longer and not have to go to nursing homes.

As finance minister and then as prime minister, Martin was strongly supportive of social economy projects, earmarking millions to help the that sector of the economy. However, all money for social economy projects not already allocated was cut last month by the Conservative government as part of its review of government spending programs.

As Martin serves out his mandate as MP for the Montreal area riding of LaSalle-Emard, he is increasingly moving away from his former role as prime minister and closer to his new goals of playing a role on the international stage and trying to improve the prospects for Canada's native peoples.

Tuesday, Martin refused repeatedly to get drawn into domestic political issues. The one exception was Prime Minister Stephen Harper's description of all Liberal leadership candidates as being anti-Israel - a statement Martin said was inaccurate.

As he begins his work on the African Development Bank's advisory panel, Martin is the first to acknowledge that the challenge of helping a continent that houses half of the world's fragile states is considerable.

''The economic union of Africa is vital. Africa is 900 million people, but it is separated into 53 separate countries and it will never be able to achieve the kind of global scale that I think Africa is capable of unless it brings (about) that economic union. And the single most important economic institution for it to do that is the African Development Bank,'' he said.

While the bank is now on a sound financial footing after several years of financial problems, Africa lacks even the infrastructure necessary to be able to promote trade between African nations, said Martin. For example, at a recent meeting in Tunis, many African leaders had to fly via Paris because there were no direct flights from their own countries.

''Most of Africa's infrastructure was built for exports out of Africa, not to tie the internal market together. So how do you bring about the economic union when you don't have the infrastructure to get goods from one African country to another?''

While foreign investment is important, Martin said he would like to see more domestic investment in Africa to give the continent the thriving private sector it needs.

''That is what has to be built up in Africa - the mobilization of domestic investment to support African infrastructure and the African private sector.''

[Europe] 'Vast imbalance' in child poverty

from the BBC

By Jill McGivering
BBC News

One in four children under 15 in Central and South-East Europe are still living in extreme poverty, the UN's children's agency, Unicef, says.

The agency says economic growth has benefited many but has not filtered down to the region's poorest.

In some countries of the former Soviet Union, in Central Asia, the proportion of children living in extreme poverty is as high as 80%, the agency says.

The report calls on governments to do more to address the needs of the poor.

Disparities

Unicef paints a picture of extreme contrasts.

Life for many children has improved in the last decade. But growth has been uneven, with little progress for children in the poorest families.

That is especially true for those in rural areas where there is higher unemployment and much less opportunity.

The report calls on governments to focus much more on the needs of children in drawing up policy and social support programmes.

"Children are invisible really in the development agenda. So there needs to be a specific targeting of the poorest," says Unicef spokesman Lynn Geldof.

"They are the larger families, families with more than two children; they are those who have been historically alienated - the Roma communities; they are those in non-nuclear families, and they are those who tend to live in rural areas."

Birth crisis

The report also highlights what it calls a "demographic crisis" - the dramatic decline in birth rates, especially in South-Eastern Europe.

Young families need much more social support, it says, to encourage them to have more children and off-set rapidly ageing populations.

There are concerns, too, about the number of children living in institutions.

That has not decreased, says the report, despite the overall drop in the number of children being born - and it highlights in particular Bulgaria and Romania.

One of the main reasons for children being put in institutions is household poverty, it says.

That, too, could be addressed by giving more support to families with young children and also by changing official policy, away from institutions and more towards other solutions for abandoned or displaced children, like foster care.

[Stand Up Against Poverty] Over 20 Million People to Set New Guinness World Record, Announced on World Poverty Day

from All Africa

Millenium Campaign (London)

PRESS RELEASE

London

Guinness World Records have officially verified that the first ever world record has been set for the most number of people to Stand Up against poverty in multiple locations over 24 hours.

On 15-16 October, 23,542,614 people, in over eighty countries around the world set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of people to "STAND UP AGAINST POVERTY". The Stand Up record attempt, an initiative of the United Nations Millennium Campaign in partnership with the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) was set in time for the United Nations International Day for Poverty Eradication on 17 October.

Cricket fans in Jaipur, India; school children in Gaza and the Westbank; crowds at a concert in the Mbare slums, Zimbabwe and a huge gathering in Times Square New York all joined for the world record attempt. People stood together: at the foot of tallest hotel in the world in Dubai; in football stadiums across Spain and Mexico; in churches throughout Africa and schools all over the world including China.

At each event, people stood up and pledged their solidarity with the world's poorest people and demanded that governments take urgent action to end poverty and inequality and to meet and exceed the Millennium Development Goals.

The UN Millennium Campaign's Executive Coordinator Eveline Herfkens said: "Together we have set an incredible record for the largest number of people standing up to demand action on poverty. But the record we really want to break is the world's record of breaking promises and ignoring the poor. We don't want to record numbers of people dying of poverty every year. This is the great issue of our times, let us become great by dealing with it decisively."

In Johannesburg, Kumi Naidoo, spokesperson for the world's largest anti-poverty coalition - the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) said: "Ordinary people around the world have stood up to express their passion to end poverty. Together, we have sent a clear message to our political leaders that we are going to keep pushing them to deliver on aid, on debt cancellation, on trade justice and to provide good and accountable governments. The people's voices are growing louder. We will not rest until poverty is ended".

United by the international symbol of the white band, the World Record number will be announced at events held at the United Nations in New York, London, Johannesburg, Milan and Nairobi today.

[Namibia] Joblessness, poverty challenge progress, report

from Reuters Alert Net

WINDHOEK, 16 October (IRIN) - Rising levels of unemployment and poverty are hindering Namibia's development, a human rights watchdog said in its annual review, published this month.

The National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) said in its 240-page report covering August 2005 to July 2006 that respect for human rights had deteriorated.

"Internal migration, dramatic increases in municipal and other tariffs, leading to indebtedness and evictions, mushrooming of shebeens [informal taverns], labour-related factors like casualisation of labour, retrenchments and street vending, add to growing marginalisation and impoverishment", said Phil ya Nangoloh, the society's executive director.

More than half Namibia's nearly two million people live on US$2 or less a day. Officially, unemployment is 33 percent, but unofficial estimates put the rate as high as 40 percent, creating high levels of food insecurity and income poverty at household level. UNAIDS estimates that about 20 percent of Namibia's sexually active adult population are infected with HIV, which has also affected the workforce and the delivery of social services.

According to the national UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) report, Namibia has made great progress in providing health, education and other critical services, but still faces the 'triple threat' of HIV/AIDS, food insecurity and lack of government capacity.

Incidents of human rights violations cited in the NSHR report have been drawn mainly from the media, although the society said it had conducted some independent investigations. Ya Nangoloh said about 123 people had lodged complaints of torture or cited other cruel and inhuman treatment to the NSHR.

With a backlog of 93,552 cases in Namibia's lower courts, the right to a fair public trial had also become a concern, the NSHR said. According to official statistics, the police had registered 85,000 new cases in 2005.

Prime Minister Nahas Angula, present at the report's release last week, criticised parts of the review as "personal opinion, which is not supported by facts ... While government appreciates oversight by non-state actors, government expects a fair assessment of the state of human rights in our country".

The NSHR recommended decentralisation of government services in all 13 regions of the country, "to create jobs and other opportunities and services in rural areas", arresting internal migration, and that "water prices should be subsidised for all vulnerable groups in society".

[Muhammad Yunus] Nobel banker worthy of credit for easing poverty

from The Australian

Gabriel Rozenberg

NEVER underestimate the power of an economist to change the world.

In 1974, Muhammad Yunus led his students at Chittagong University on a field trip to a poor Bangladeshi village. They met a woman who made bamboo stools, but whose profits were eaten up by the extortionate rates of local lenders. Professor Yunus started lending money in the form of "micro-loans" and in 1976 the Grameen Bank Project was born.

At the weekend, the Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize-winning economist and the bank he founded were hailed in his country. "Yunus makes nation proud," said a headline in Dhaka's Daily Star. A front-page editorial in the newspaper called him a "great social reformer".

The bank now covers almost 70,000 villages and makes small loans to more than six million customers. Almost all of its borrowers are women, and the loan recovery rate is an extraordinary 98.5 per cent.

Professor Yunus and the Grameen Bank were awarded the prize last week for success in lifting the poor out of penury across Bangladesh, and for providing the model for a global revolution of micro-credit. To award a peace prize for an anti-poverty initiative is striking, but that is only half the story.

Rich Western capitals have a thriving "international development community": well-meaning people in charities, pressure groups and Whitehall who came together last year at Live 8 and led to the wealthiest nations doubling their aid budgets.

But probe beneath the surface and you will find confusion. The charities praise aid in public, yet they quietly admit that simply handing over cash to often-corrupt governments frequently fails miserably. They call for good governance, but any attempt to cut off cash to bad governments ties them in moral knots.

The Grameen Bank was not dreamt up by a faraway Western aid agency. It is tried and tested; it is a business solution that comes from the grassroots.

The Grameen Bank that Professor Yunus founded amid the Bangladesh famine of 1974 lends minute sums, enough to buy a cow, chickens or straw for making stools - stepping stones to economic independence.

Almost all Grameen loans are to illiterate, landless and often even homeless women, the most disadvantaged of the absolutely poor in an impoverished and conservative Muslim country. They have no collateral, they sign no loan agreement and they are the people most vulnerable to natural disasters.

For Bangladesh, Grameen has been a cultural revolution, developing into a $US5.72 billion ($7.6 billion) business with 6.6 million customers, contributing more than 1 per cent to the GDP of Bangladesh, and, above all, proving that poor women are more "bankable" than many a middle-class male borrower.

Grameen women have fewer children, are less likely to be divorced and more likely to vote.

Banks based on the Grameen model now reach more than 17 million people, not only in Asia and Africa but among the shifting poor of tough neighbourhoods from Naples to Chicago.

Grameen shows us the poor and the destitute not as pitiable charity cases condemned to their lot, but as thwarted entrepreneurs who just lack the means to improve their families' lives. It is a profoundly optimistic view of human nature.

With this inspired choice, the Nobel Committee has lit a path that could lead to the eradication of poverty in our time.

[Australia] Qld report finds high poverty rate despite economic boom

from The ABC

Reporter: Kate Scanlan
ELEANOR HALL: It may not be quite at the pace of Western Australia, but resource rich Queensland is enjoying a boom that's creating millionaires and dragging in fortune-seekers from other parts of Australia.

Fifteen hundred people a week move north of the border, and unemployment in the Sunshine State is at its lowest level in 30 years.

But new figures show many Queenslanders are not sharing in the prosperity, as Kate Scanlan reports.

KATE SCANLAN: Beth is a 45-year-old single mother of one who's been battling poverty for decades.

BETH: It's incredibly exhausting to live in poverty. The ongoingness of poverty, um, is incredibly tedious and incredibly soul-destroying.

KATE SCANLAN: A new report commissioned by Queensland's Council for Social Service has found Beth's not alone. In fact, one in 10, or 330,000 people in Queensland are living in poverty, despite the so-called boom.

KARYN WALSH: We're paying as much attention to the people who aren't benefiting or prospering from the progress and the boom times.

KATE SCANLAN: Karyn Walsh is the President of QCOSS.

She says services for people struggling to make ends meet haven't kept pace with the state's growth, and many people have been left behind.

KARYN WALSH: We have a high rate of homelessness, we have lots of people who aren't getting their basic needs met, and that's really unacceptable in such a prosperous state.

KATE SCANLAN: The report found Queensland was home to more than a quarter of the nation's 100,000 homeless people, and that the state's Indigenous population was the worst affected by poverty, with more than 80 per cent unemployment in remote communities.

Dr John Tomlinson is a Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the Queensland University of Technology.

JOHN TOMLINSON: I'm not at all surprised by this report, and I would regard it as a conservative estimate of the level of poverty, and certainly not surprising.

KATE SCANLAN: He says Queensland's economy isn't as prosperous as it appears on paper, particularly when it comes to employment.

JOHN TOMLINSON: These days you only have to work one hour a week to be regarded as employed, and many of the people who are regarded as employed are in casual labour, or precarious labour, or part-time labour, and so that in fact disguises the level of unemployment.

With some of the WorkChoices programs, people can be working full-time and still be living in poverty.

KATE SCANLAN: Dr Tomlinson says the report is further proof that the poor are getting poorer, and it appears most Australians agree.

A recent Roy Morgan poll of more than 670 people found 77 per cent believed the gap between the rich and poor is widening.

Beth knows how difficult it is to break the poverty cycle.

(To Beth) How has poverty affected your life?

BETH: Well, it virtually affects every aspect of my life. It's, you know, like, it affects my health, it impacts on the raising of my child, it impacts on pretty much every social aspect of my life.

ELEANOR HALL: Brisbane woman Beth ending that report from Kate Scanlan.

[Philippines] UN kicks off anti-poverty program

from INQ7

By Edson C. Tandoc Jr.
Inquirer

MANILA -- In a country burdened by economic and political instability, standing up against poverty can be fun, too.

Beginning Sunday evening until Monday night, the United Nations has organized a series of rock concerts, exhibits and festivals in several towns and cities across the country. The party is all about having a million Filipinos standing up against poverty, literally.

On Monday morning, simultaneous flag-raising ceremonies from Malacañang to remote public schools will see officials and students reciting a pledge of commitment to eradicating poverty.

But the bigger goal is to make people aware of the immediate need to join the challenge of making poverty a thing of the past by 2015.

"This is a pledge to encourage our leaders to fulfill their promise," coordinator Ruth Honculada told the Inquirer.

The program is called "Tumayo Tayo Laban sa Kahirapan, Tuparin ang MDGs (Stand Up Against Poverty, Stand Up for the Millennium Development Goals)" and is part of a worldwide campaign of the United Nations to remind member countries of the global vow to eradicate poverty made during the drafting of the Millennium Development Goals in 2000.

The Millennium Development Goals are eight "time-bound, concrete and specific targets to halve extreme poverty by 2015," according to a statement from the organizers.

These goals are eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality and empowering women; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating the spread of HIV, acute immune deficiency syndrome, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability and developing global partnerships for development.

This is the first time the United Nations office in the Philippines is organizing a nationwide event to popularize these goals to arrest poverty.

Honculada said the activities would also be supported by an auditing firm which would count the number of people who literally stood up during the simultaneous programs from Sunday evening to Monday night for the possibility of establishing a Guinness World Record.

There will be exhibits and programs in Baguio City, Los Baños, Sultan Kudarat, Tawi-Tawi and Sulu, organizers said.

There will also be a rock concert and a cultural show at the Marikina City Freedom Park Monday afternoon, where bands and artists as well as delegations from other towns in Luzon will perform.

Honculada said they were hoping that by having fun through watching performances of popular bands (like Bamboo) and artists, the youth would also be more aware of the bigger cause of contributing to the eradication of poverty.

The responsibility of fulfilling the millennium development goals does not only fall on the shoulders of the government, she said.

"Residents can also do their share," she added.

She said residents could join non-government groups which have mushroomed in the country, especially organizations that advocate and implement programs to fight poverty.

"We are asking people to go out of their comfort zones and choose an advocacy to which they could devote their time, effort and resources," Honculada added.

She said residents should also examine the millennium development goals and talk about them regularly "so that the government will listen and keep its promise."

The government appears to be fulfilling its promise so far, she said, as the administration "has been integrating in their plans the millennium development goals."

Specific accomplishments are another thing, however, and Honculada said they have a team based in the country, just like in other member-countries, to monitor the commitment to the goals.

In a brochure outlining the progress of the country on the accomplishments of the goals, the National Economic and Development Authority reported that in 2003, at least 30.4 percent of Filipinos considered themselves poor, lower than the 33 percent recorded in 2000.

But in the same report, elementary participation rate of school-age children (6-11 years old) fell to 90.05 percent in 2003 from 96.77 percent in 2001.

Honculada said that while the goals were all concrete and attainable, there were a lot of challenges threatening the achievement of some, like access to education as well as lowering the incidence of poverty and hunger.

Building new schools for primary education for instance would depend largely on policy and government resources, she added.

The NEDA also reported there was a slow decrease in the rate of child mortality and that 88 percent of all deliveries were attended by health professionals, showing a slight improvement in maternal health care.

But the NEDA also said that prices of medicines in the country remained among the highest in Southeast Asia.

[Muhammad Yunus] Nobel for anti-poverty pioneers

from the BBC

Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh and the Grameen Bank have been jointly awarded the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr Yunus, an economist, founded the bank, which is one of the pioneers of micro-credit lending schemes for the poor, especially women, in Bangladesh.

Mr Yunus, 66, said he would use the 10m Swedish kronor ($1.35m, £730,000) prize money to "find more innovative ways" to help the poor launch businesses.

He said he was delighted at the news and proud of the bank's achievement.

"I'm very very happy. It's a great honour for us and for Bangladesh. It's a recognition of our work," he told the BBC Bengali service.

"As a Bangladeshi, I'm proud that we have given something to the world. Our work has now been recognised by the whole world. "

Surprise choice

The winners were revealed by the Nobel committee chairman, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, in Oslo.

Mr Mjoes said Mr Yunus had shown himself to be a leader who had managed to translate visions into practical action for the benefit of millions of people.

He and the bank were being honoured "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below", Mr Mjoes said.

He said the bank's work in creating opportunities for large numbers of people to get out of poverty created the conditions for sustainable peace.

"Development such as this is useful in human rights and democracy," said Mr Mjoes.

The BBC's Lars Bevanger in Oslo says this year's winner caught most there by surprise.

Many commentators had expected an award to someone involved in peace talks, our correspondent says.

He says in awarding this prize to an economist, the Nobel Committee has again shown itself willing to widen the scope of the prestigious prize.

Mr Yunus set up the bank in 1976 with just $27 from his own pocket. Thirty years on, the bank has 6.6 million borrowers, of which 97% are women, according to the Grameen website.

Mr Yunus is expected to pick up the award and prize money during a ceremony in Oslo in December.

[Nepal] More work needed to achieve development goals - report

from reuters Alert Net

KATHMANDU, 13 October (IRIN) - Nepal, along with many other developing country in the Asia Pacific region, is falling behind in efforts to meet the UN's Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), said a new report 'A Future Within Reach' jointly prepared by the United Nations and the Asian Development bank (ADB).

"The data before us is disturbing," said Kim Hak-Su, UN Under Secretary General, during a two-day South Asia MDGs forum held in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, this week where. Over 100 local and international experts met at the forum to make regional MDGs campaigns more effective.

According to the report, over 400 million people in South Asia still live in poverty. "This means that South Asia is making less progress in combating hardcore poverty," explained Hak-Su. He added that more than 300 million people, who are racked by chronic hunger, struggle daily for survival.

The eight MDGs range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015. They form a blueprint agreed to by all the world's countries and all the world's leading development institutions.

One of the key challenges has been reducing human poverty in countries with some of the highest child mortality and maternal mortality rates in the world, explained the report. Nepal remains one of the countries lagging furthest behind in achieving its MDG targets.

Among Nepal's worst realities are the annual deaths of 65,000 children under five, according to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF). In addition, over 4,500 Nepalese women die every year due to pregnancy-related complications. Nearly half a million Nepalese children do not attend school.

Nepal has set national MDG targets to halve extreme poverty, reduce the proportion of people suffering from hunger, enroll all children in schools, reduce child and maternal mortalities and halve the incidence of malaria and other diseases and halt spread of HIVAIDS.

"Political instability and conflict have been the major causes for us failing to achieve our targets," said Poshan Pandey, a member of Nepal's National Planning Commission (NPC). He explained that the decade-long armed conflict in the country had made implementation of such development goals challenging.

He added that there is now a real opportunity for improved development, with a national peace process under way between Maoist rebels and the interim government since April.

"The task before us is both urgent and immense," said the ADB's vice-president, Liqun Jin. "Success is possible only if the governments and all development partners in this sub-region, including the private sector and civil society, work very closely together.

[Asia] "Poverty in Asia worsened by health care costs’

from the Financial Express

PARIS, OCTOBER 13: The number of Asians living in extreme poverty may be tens of millions higher than thought because estimates fail to factor in health-care costs, a study conducted in eleven Asian countries including India published in next Saturday's issue of The Lancet says.

The internationally accepted threshold of absolute poverty, established by the World Bank, is income of one dollar per head per day -- to be precise, 1.08 dollars a day, a figure adjusted to represent purchasing power in 1993, when the benchmark was set down.

But, say a Dutch-led research team, this formula takes into account food, clothing and shelter but not out-of-pocket health-care costs, which can represent a big chunk of income for the poor.

They reassessed measurements of poverty in 11 low-to-middle income countries; India, Bangladesh, China, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.

Together, these countries account for 79 per cent of the population in Asia, and 48 per cent of the world's population.

When the local costs of health care were factored in, an additional 78 million people in these countries -- 2.7 per cent of their population -- fell below the one-dollar-a-day threshold.

The burden was highest in India, Vietnam, Bangladesh and China, and lowest in Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia.

"Our findings... lend support to qualitative studies suggesting that health-care payments cause impoverishment," say the authors, led by Eddy van Doorslaer, a doctor of health policy at the Erasmus Medical Centre, Rotterdam.

[Stand Up Against Poverty] Virtual world stands up against poverty

Last year, millions of people worldwide called on the world's leaders to Make Poverty History through a series of high-profile events revolving around the 31st G8 Summit held in Gleneagles, Scotland, in July 2005. The symbol of the campaign was a white wristband which was worn on the wrists of eight million people in the UK alone.

The white band was branded a worldwide symbol in the fight against poverty by the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), the world's largest ever anti-poverty movement. GCAP is made up of a diverse range of organisations, all committed to the fight against poverty, which represent more than 150 million people in more than 100 countries.

On the eve of the G8 meeting in Gleneagles, around 250,000 campaigners dressed in white flooded Edinburgh's streets in a peaceful protest, encircling Scotland's capital and wrapping it in an enormous human white band designed to be easily seen from the sky. At the same time billions of people around the world tuned into the Live 8 concerts staged across the world.

The G8 response was to promise the "full cancellation of debts to the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and African Development Fund, for those countries that complete the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative." So far US$35 billion of debt has been cancelled and, if all 40 potentially eligible countries qualify, the deal could offer the cancellation of US$50 billion in total.

However, organisations such as Oxfam International still feel that not enough has been done. A spokesman recently stated:

"The richest countries of the world promised to help developing countries halve poverty, reduce child mortality by two thirds, and ensure every child gets a free and good quality primary education - all by 2015. There remains a huge gap between promises and action."

Aid organisations worldwide appear to agree with Oxfam, in that the G8 countries have yet to deliver on their promise of a trade deal that works for the world’s poorest people.

In 2005, poverty was placed at the top of the global agenda by the Make Poverty History campaign. This autumn, from the 14th of September to the 17th of October, the white band makes its return as the global anti-poverty symbol. This year's Global Month of Action will see millions of people in more than 100 countries uniting to continue the fight against poverty through the Stand Up Against Poverty campaign; this movement culminates on October 17 with the fourth Global White Band Day.

An official Guinness World Record attempt will be held by Stand Up Against Poverty from 11.00 AM (GMT) on Sunday the 15th of October to 11.00 AM (GMT) on Monday the 16th of October. While people are being asked to physically 'stand up against poverty', in order to ensure that everyone can take part and be counted the online world has also provided a 3-D virtual stand up solution.

Second Life's virtual community of 902,643 (and counting!) residents have been invited to show their support by wearing virtual white wrist bands and T-shirts and by posing in a special "stand up" stance. All residents have to do is locate a "Stand Up" kiosk and obtain a free wrist band. There are apparently nearly a hundred Kiosks around the grid already. Residents can go further by requesting that a kiosk be hosted on their virtual land, so they can hold parties to drum up further virtual support. On October the 15th and 16th, participating residents will click on their wrist band to assume the "stand up" pose, then they will register themselves as a participant in the World Record attempt and as a supporter of the Stand Up Against Poverty campaign. Virtual participation will be recorded and included in the final count for the Guinness World Record.

[Bangladesh] Quarter of Bangladeshis live in extreme poverty-study

from Reuters Alert Net

DHAKA, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Nearly a quarter of Bangladeshis live in extreme poverty and about a fifth of the rural population cannot afford three meals a day, a study shows.

"While Bangladesh has come out of the 'shadow of famine', the problem of starvation persists. About 24 percent of the total population currently live in extreme income poverty," said the study.

The study did not define extreme income poverty but economists described it as anyone living on less than $1 a day.

In parts of Bangladesh, particularly in the north, work is hard to find for months on end so many Bangladeshis go without even one meal a day, a situation often described as living in near-famine conditions.

However, these conditions have not occurred this year.

Jointly conducted by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) and the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) of the United Kingdom, the study found that around 19 percent of rural households can not afford more than two meals a day.

The study was released to the media late on Sunday.

It said that around 31 percent of the rural population have suffered from chronic poverty -- low consumption, hunger and under-nutrition, lack of access to basic health services, illiteracy and other deprivations, for more than a decade.

Accurate figures are not available for urban areas, but in effect between 25 and 30 million of the country's citizens are chronically poor, it said.

Bangladesh's has a population of 140 million, over 70 percent of them living in villages.

The study noted however that Bangladesh was making progress in economic growth and towards achieving millennium development goals (MDG).

"While it is clear that Bangladesh does not provide an easy context for poverty reduction, the recent economic growth in the country, improvements in services and the resilience and innovation of the poorest all augur well," it said.

"Overall, Bangladesh is well on its way to achieve most of the millennium development goals -- except income poverty reduction, reduction in maternal mortality rate, and perhaps reduction in under-five mortality rate."

"It is also lagging behind in respect of the key social indicator: adult illiteracy," the study said.

"Growth is essential if the poorest are to be helped out of poverty. But the quality of growth is as important as the quantity of growth," it said.

"However, growth alone will not be sufficient for the chronically poor to escape their poverty. Public action by the state, NGOs, communities and private citizens is needed to reduce the livelihood insecurity that keeps poor people poor and drives the vulnerable into abject poverty."

The study called for infrastructure support for both rural and urban areas, and reforming the tax system to finance public investments in poverty reduction for the poorest.

[Jamaica] Poverty at 18-year low, says survey

from The Jamaica Observer

Luke Douglas, Observer writer

Poverty in the Jamaican population dropped by 2.1 percentage points last year to an 18-year low of 14.8 per cent, according to a survey conducted by two state agencies.
The 2005 Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions (SLC), conducted between May and November last year, showed that for the decade since 1995, poverty fell by 12.7 percentage points.

Persons are categorised as 'in poverty' when they fall below the poverty line which, according to the latest survey, has been increased to $63,717.17 per year from $58,508.50 in 2004.

The minimum required for a reference family of five (two adults and three children) was $240,816.57 from $221,130.78 the previous year.

The SLC is conducted annually by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) and the Statistical Institute of Jamaica.
However, despite the reported gains, the Government and senior technocrats are expressing concern about the number of people who remain poor
and unemployable.

PIOJ director-general Dr Wesley Hughes said that while poverty levels had fallen from more than 30 per cent in the 1990s, it will be difficult to reduce the levels much more.

"It is very difficult to reduce poverty below 10 per cent because there is a hard core of uneducated, aged. illiterate people who it is very difficult to train at all and give new opportunities in new industries," Dr Hughes said at Wednesday's launch of the survey.

Minister of education and youth Maxine Henry-Wilson concurred, stating that youth unemployment and poverty continue to be problems.

"I am growing increasingly concerned that we are developing a hard core of young people who are becoming unemployable," she said. "I also find it distressing that most of those who are unemployed seem to lack the initiative, the know-how, the determination. there seems to be a bit of distraction around them actually understanding the importance of them making the first step or at least holding our hands as we seek to take them into the labour market."

In addition to the Survey of Living Conditions, a School-to-Work Transition Survey Report, done by the PIOJ in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation, was also launched.

Other findings of the SLC include:

. Mean per capita consumption moved up to $124,174 per annum, an increase of 21.4 per cent over 2004.

. 53.8 per cent households received remittances last year, an increase of 7.6 per cent over 2004.

. The dependency ratio, that is the proportion of the dependent population (children under 15 and the elderly) to the working age group of 15 to 64, had fallen from 100.8 per cent in 1970 to 72.6 per cent now.

"In a sense, life has become easier collectively for the country," Dr Hughes said, but added that the dependency ratio may not fall as rapidly in the future as the population continues to age.

Officials at the launch, including Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies, pointed out that the methodology used to conduct the survey had remained relatively unchanged each year.

[UK] Gordon Brown's poverty trap

from The Sun

By MICHAEL LEA
Political Correspondent

GORDON Brown’s tax and benefits regime is a poverty trap for millions, a damning report claimed yesterday.

People are left with less incentive to work, do overtime or find a better job, warn economists.

Big-earning Brits lose 40 per cent of their income in tax. But two million low-paid workers stand to lose HALF of any increase in earnings to higher taxes and reduced handouts.

Around 160,000 of them keep less than 10p of every extra Pound they earn.

The report — by the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies — gives the lie to the Chancellor’s bid to “make work pay”.

Those on low incomes suffered most from his tax and benefits shake-up since 1997.

Greater means-testing is blamed by the IFS for reducing incentives to work.

If earnings rise above a certain level, workers not only lose tax credits but also face paying more income tax.

Under Labour, someone working extra hours gets to keep 2½p LESS of each extra Pound they earn, the IFS said.

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said: “Here is the most damning evidence yet that Gordon Brown’s policies are making poverty more entrenched.

“We need a new direction that fixes the broken rungs at the bottom of the ladder of aspiration.”

Ministers have admitted £3billion a year has been lost to fraud and mistakes in the tax credits system. Thousands of hard-up families were overpaid by mistake, then ordered to pay back the money — leaving many relying on charity food parcels.

But last night the Treasury insisted the poor were better off under Mr Brown.

A spokesman said: “This Government has succeeded in halting and reversing the long-term trend of rising child poverty, and since 1997 has successfully lifted 700,000 children out of poverty.

“Thanks to reforms the Government has made to the tax and benefit system, since 1997 families with children are on average £1,500 per year better off in real terms, and those in the poorest fifth are £3,400 per year better off.”

The spokesman said the reforms, together with the minimum wage and the New Deal for the unemployed meant that work does pay. An extra 2.4 million people have got jobs since 1997, said the official.

He added: “Building on this success, the Welfare Reform Bill will seek to simplify the benefits system, further incentivising work while developing people’s skills so that they can boost their earning capacity.”

But Lib Dem welfare spokesman David Laws said: “Labour’s obsession with means-testing and an increasingly complex benefits system has led to reduced work incentives.

“Britain should be a land of opportunity not a state of dependency.

“It is insane that low paid workers can lose over half of any increase in their earnings through tax and the withdrawal of benefits.

“It is critical we simplify the system to make it fairer. Citizens need to know that by working harder they can improve their quality of life.”

[Effects on Health] Poverty doesn't explain racial gap in birthweight

from Reuters

By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Upwardly mobile white women who grew up in poverty have a lower risk of having an underweight infant, but the same is not true of black women, a study published Tuesday suggests.

The findings, based on a U.S. health survey begun in 1979, add to evidence that factors others than poverty contribute to racial disparities in infant birthweight.

It's well known that African-American women are more likely to have a low-birthweight baby than white women are -- the difference is even seen among middle-class and college-educated women.

One explanation, researchers have speculated, is that black women are more likely to have grown up in poverty, and that this has life-long effects on their health, no matter what their income and education as adults.

The new study, which focused on black and white women who grew up in poor households, tried to address this question, explained lead author Dr. Cynthia G. Colen, a researcher at Columbia University in New York.

She and her colleagues found that white women who became "upwardly mobile" as adults were about half as likely to have an underweight baby as white women who remained poor.

In contrast, upwardly mobile black women saw no such benefit, the researchers report in the American Journal of Public Health.

The persistence of the disparity, they write, suggests that financial resources alone are not to blame. Even when they become more educated and financially stable, black women may face challenges that white women do not, according to Colen and her colleagues. Among these are discrimination in housing and work, and higher levels of day-to-day stress.

"For example," Colen told Reuters Health, "an upwardly mobile African-American family may have the financial means to move into a better neighborhood with lower rates of crime, less pollution, and improved access to medical services, but due to segregation, their residential choices will be limited."

Two factors that did seem to lower the risk of low birthweight among black mothers were marriage and living with the child's grandmother -- regardless of what the family income was. This suggests that the support of family goes beyond financial security, according to Colen.

Family members, she noted, may act as a "buffer" against the health effects of dealing with discrimination and other stresses of daily life.


SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health, November 2006.

[Ghana] Poverty Forces Ghanaians to Buy Cheap Foreign Products

from All Africa

Mr Emmanuel Akoto, a consultant in small-scale business development has said poverty rather than desire was responsible for the mad rush by Ghanaians for imported goods.

He said one needed an incomparable sense of patriotism to opt for a Ghanaian product that was more costly than a similar product of foreign origin.

Mr Akoto was addressing a forum organised by the Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition (GTLC) for representatives of small-scale industrialists, farming groups, non-governmental organisations and district assemblies.

He said it was not rational for the poor to buy expensive but sometimes more durable Ghanaian made wares, when they could buy the same goods at cheaper prices even though of foreign origin.

Mr Akoto said trade liberalisation could not be a substitute for good trade policy and that apart from economic implications that policy had made cheap foods so widespread that Ghanaians now suffer from "hard to manage" diseases.

The GTLC is an organisation made up of 60 NGOs and farmer based groups, which had been advocating for fair trade policies.

Mr Alexander Alor, Regional Focal Person of the Coalition said the forum was to sensitise the public against the impeding Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs), a follow-up to the Lome Convention and the Cotonou Agreements on trade and economic cooperation reached by African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries with the European Union (EU). He said the supposed dropping or

reduction of tariffs on most European goods to ACP countries in return for a freer access of ACP countries to European markets, which was to be guaranteed by the EPAs, was a ruse.

Mr Alor said European goods including processed farm produce would only swamp ACP markets, taking farmers and industries in ACP countries out of business.

Togbe Ahoney II, a Public Servant, cautioned that further liberalization could further lower the living standards of the 66 per cent of Ghanaians in agriculture.

He said already the easy availability of cheap chicken parts was collapsing the poultry industry in Ghana and called on government to build structures to support rice and tomato production and processing in Ghana before the market was completely taken over by foreign imports.

Mr Vital Augustine Agbley, Volta Regional Trade Officer, expressed regret that developed countries were maintaining protective policies that made goods of developing countries uncompetitive on their markets.