‘Economics’ is an ideology of the global North - Monthly Review
-
‘Economics’ is an ideology of the global North Monthly Review
1 hour ago
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Administration Policy Change Threatens Health Care Coverage For Poor Infants
Here is a link to a study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that states that now, without any change in the law, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has instructed states that they may no longer provide automatic coverage to some babies, even though these babies have been born in the United States and are U.S. citizens and Medicaid has covered the cost of their birth. Many of the babies affected by this reversal of policy will likely go without needed health care services for some period of time.
OAS head targets poverty, not politics
from The Miami Herald
OAS head José Miguel Insulza says future economic stability and poverty top his concerns more than controversial elections in Mexico and Venezuela.
BY JANE BUSSEY
The leader of the Organization of American States on Monday downplayed concerns raised over weekend elections in Venezuela and the tumultuous presidential inauguration in Mexico, saying he was more concerned about chronic poverty in the region.
''The only thing that concerns me is that they are democratic countries,'' OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said of Venezuela and Mexico. ``The OAS, at least on the part of the secretary general, has no ideological preference.''
Insulza spoke with journalists just hours before he was scheduled to be one of the keynote speakers at Caribbean Central American Action's 30th Miami Conference on the Caribbean Basin, which opened Monday night. Government officials, executives and academics are meeting today and Wednesday at Miami's InterContinental Hotel to discuss energy, free trade and other important issues.
Insulza attended the swearing in of Mexican President Felipe Calderón on Friday and was an international observer at Sunday's Venezuelan elections where President Hugo Chávez won a new six-year term.
Mexico was a ''functioning democracy,'' Insulza said, adding that the country's electoral commission had settled the hotly contested election by declaring Calderón the winner.
Despite brisk economic growth in Latin America, Insulza said he had concerns.
''I am worried about seeing if the constant economic growth that Latin America has been experiencing can continue under more complicated conditions than what the economies face today,'' he said.
''I am concerned that more or less 100 million Latin Americans will go to bed with empty stomachs tonight,'' he said, adding that poverty and inequality complicate the functioning of democracy.
Insulza also said he worries about crime and violence in the region and about governance problems from corruption to unwieldy bureaucracies. Human rights and civil rights of minorities and women are also problems.
Insulza's comments came as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean released a report showing that the region's poverty rates had dropped for the third year in a row.
Poverty and absolute poverty levels had dropped from 44 percent of the total population in 2002 to 38.5 percent in 2006, the report from the United Nations agency based in Santiago, Chile said.
In 2005, the poverty level stood at 39.8 percent of the population.
OAS head José Miguel Insulza says future economic stability and poverty top his concerns more than controversial elections in Mexico and Venezuela.
BY JANE BUSSEY
The leader of the Organization of American States on Monday downplayed concerns raised over weekend elections in Venezuela and the tumultuous presidential inauguration in Mexico, saying he was more concerned about chronic poverty in the region.
''The only thing that concerns me is that they are democratic countries,'' OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza said of Venezuela and Mexico. ``The OAS, at least on the part of the secretary general, has no ideological preference.''
Insulza spoke with journalists just hours before he was scheduled to be one of the keynote speakers at Caribbean Central American Action's 30th Miami Conference on the Caribbean Basin, which opened Monday night. Government officials, executives and academics are meeting today and Wednesday at Miami's InterContinental Hotel to discuss energy, free trade and other important issues.
Insulza attended the swearing in of Mexican President Felipe Calderón on Friday and was an international observer at Sunday's Venezuelan elections where President Hugo Chávez won a new six-year term.
Mexico was a ''functioning democracy,'' Insulza said, adding that the country's electoral commission had settled the hotly contested election by declaring Calderón the winner.
Despite brisk economic growth in Latin America, Insulza said he had concerns.
''I am worried about seeing if the constant economic growth that Latin America has been experiencing can continue under more complicated conditions than what the economies face today,'' he said.
''I am concerned that more or less 100 million Latin Americans will go to bed with empty stomachs tonight,'' he said, adding that poverty and inequality complicate the functioning of democracy.
Insulza also said he worries about crime and violence in the region and about governance problems from corruption to unwieldy bureaucracies. Human rights and civil rights of minorities and women are also problems.
Insulza's comments came as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean released a report showing that the region's poverty rates had dropped for the third year in a row.
Poverty and absolute poverty levels had dropped from 44 percent of the total population in 2002 to 38.5 percent in 2006, the report from the United Nations agency based in Santiago, Chile said.
In 2005, the poverty level stood at 39.8 percent of the population.
Poverty and tradition shackle Mauritania's slaves
from Middle East Online
Slaves in Mauritania show optimism in country’s transition to liberate them, end poverty.
By Daniel Flynn - NOUAKCHOTT
Born a slave, like his entire family, Matalla Mbreik toiled from dawn to dusk selling water and tending his master's flocks on the lonely fringes of the Saharan desert, until he could take no more.
"I still have the scars from my beatings, like my mother and sisters," said the 32-year-old Mauritanian, staring at the floor, dressed in flowing pale-blue embroidered robes. "All they gave us to eat were leftovers."
After years spent dreaming of escape, Mbreik seized his chance two months ago when a Mauritanian army truck passed him searching for an oasis in the desert.
"I told them to shoot me rather than take me back to my master," said Mbreik, red-faced with shame, sitting in the office of anti-slavery group SOS-Slave.
Although banned by law in 1980, slavery in Mauritania has persisted, perpetuated by poverty and rigid customs. Authorities long denied its existence but campaigners estimate there are still hundreds of thousands of slaves among the 3 million population -- the highest ratio in the world.
Chattel slavery, where one person is the property of another, has existed in the impoverished West African country for more than 800 years.
Traditionally, members of the haratin slave caste must marry who their masters’ say and can be given as gifts, bought and sold, or presented to the poor as charity.
Children are often separated from their mothers and sent to work in other homes. Girls frequently suffer sexual abuse.
"Westerners think of slaves as people in chains," said Boubacar Messaoud, head of SOS-Slave. "Slaves here have no need to be chained up because they are educated in submission ... They are chained in their heads."
"If my master had been kind, I would not have left him," said Mbreik, tightly gripping the edge of the sofa.
MILLIONS OF SLAVES
The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery on December 2 marks the landmark 1949 U.N. convention against people trafficking. Anti-slavery campaigners estimate there are still more than 25 million slaves worldwide.
Slavery remains rife in many parts of West Africa's arid Sahel region, such as neighbouring Mali or Niger, ranked among the poorest countries in the world.
"We are a country of castes, like all the other countries in this region," said Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, the head of Mauritania's military junta which seized power last year, vowing a transition to democracy after decades of dictatorship.
"But Mauritania, more than other countries, is addressing this problem of castes and their consequences on post-independence society," he said, pointing to the adoption of international conventions and efforts to educate former slaves.
SOS-Slave's Messaoud says the situation has improved since the junta ousted former president Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in a bloodless coup. He hopes the transition to presidential elections in March will bring freedom for all Mauritanians.
"We are optimistic because Mauritania's rulers now acknowledge that slavery exists," said Messaoud, who was jailed several times under Taya's regime. "If the elections are transparent that will be a real victory."
With many escaped slaves unwilling or too ashamed to prosecute their former masters, SOS-Slave is campaigning for the right to bring third party prosecutions against slave-owners.
"Mauritania has never convicted anyone for practising slavery. That would mark the start of recognition that slavery is no longer acceptable," he said. "The laws forbid slavery, but they are new and traditions are very old."
POVERTY BREEDS SLAVERY
Former slave owner Mohamed Salem Ould Hamada's family willingly freed all their slaves in 1991. He now condemns slavery as unjust but understands how the ancient practice came to exist.
"In our religion slavery is a bad thing," said Hamada, citing the Koranic story of Yusuf sold into slavery in Egypt. "It exists because there are problems which are worse: poverty."
"In many cases, it is the slaves themselves who want the procedure," said Hamada. "While problems of poverty continue to exist, slavery will continue."
In a poor shanty-town near Nouakchott's airport, where corrugated iron shacks dot the sand dunes and goats nibble at piles of rubbish, SOS-Slave has helped Aichana start a new life.
Children in torn rags play beside the "street", marked by car tyres planted in the sand, outside the small shop which she established with money from the group.
"Before when I worked, it was never for me -- even if I earned money I had to give it to my master," Aichana said, sat inside on a red mat beside shelves stacked with couscous, soap, dry biscuits, pasta, and condensed milk.
"When I was young, I thought life was like that, but as I grew older and saw how other people lived, I felt ashamed," she added, as flies settled on her face in the morning haze.
"Now, all I want is to be able to earn my living honestly ... for my children to go to school, for them to be honest and grow up like normal people."
Slaves in Mauritania show optimism in country’s transition to liberate them, end poverty.
By Daniel Flynn - NOUAKCHOTT
Born a slave, like his entire family, Matalla Mbreik toiled from dawn to dusk selling water and tending his master's flocks on the lonely fringes of the Saharan desert, until he could take no more.
"I still have the scars from my beatings, like my mother and sisters," said the 32-year-old Mauritanian, staring at the floor, dressed in flowing pale-blue embroidered robes. "All they gave us to eat were leftovers."
After years spent dreaming of escape, Mbreik seized his chance two months ago when a Mauritanian army truck passed him searching for an oasis in the desert.
"I told them to shoot me rather than take me back to my master," said Mbreik, red-faced with shame, sitting in the office of anti-slavery group SOS-Slave.
Although banned by law in 1980, slavery in Mauritania has persisted, perpetuated by poverty and rigid customs. Authorities long denied its existence but campaigners estimate there are still hundreds of thousands of slaves among the 3 million population -- the highest ratio in the world.
Chattel slavery, where one person is the property of another, has existed in the impoverished West African country for more than 800 years.
Traditionally, members of the haratin slave caste must marry who their masters’ say and can be given as gifts, bought and sold, or presented to the poor as charity.
Children are often separated from their mothers and sent to work in other homes. Girls frequently suffer sexual abuse.
"Westerners think of slaves as people in chains," said Boubacar Messaoud, head of SOS-Slave. "Slaves here have no need to be chained up because they are educated in submission ... They are chained in their heads."
"If my master had been kind, I would not have left him," said Mbreik, tightly gripping the edge of the sofa.
MILLIONS OF SLAVES
The International Day for the Abolition of Slavery on December 2 marks the landmark 1949 U.N. convention against people trafficking. Anti-slavery campaigners estimate there are still more than 25 million slaves worldwide.
Slavery remains rife in many parts of West Africa's arid Sahel region, such as neighbouring Mali or Niger, ranked among the poorest countries in the world.
"We are a country of castes, like all the other countries in this region," said Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, the head of Mauritania's military junta which seized power last year, vowing a transition to democracy after decades of dictatorship.
"But Mauritania, more than other countries, is addressing this problem of castes and their consequences on post-independence society," he said, pointing to the adoption of international conventions and efforts to educate former slaves.
SOS-Slave's Messaoud says the situation has improved since the junta ousted former president Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in a bloodless coup. He hopes the transition to presidential elections in March will bring freedom for all Mauritanians.
"We are optimistic because Mauritania's rulers now acknowledge that slavery exists," said Messaoud, who was jailed several times under Taya's regime. "If the elections are transparent that will be a real victory."
With many escaped slaves unwilling or too ashamed to prosecute their former masters, SOS-Slave is campaigning for the right to bring third party prosecutions against slave-owners.
"Mauritania has never convicted anyone for practising slavery. That would mark the start of recognition that slavery is no longer acceptable," he said. "The laws forbid slavery, but they are new and traditions are very old."
POVERTY BREEDS SLAVERY
Former slave owner Mohamed Salem Ould Hamada's family willingly freed all their slaves in 1991. He now condemns slavery as unjust but understands how the ancient practice came to exist.
"In our religion slavery is a bad thing," said Hamada, citing the Koranic story of Yusuf sold into slavery in Egypt. "It exists because there are problems which are worse: poverty."
"In many cases, it is the slaves themselves who want the procedure," said Hamada. "While problems of poverty continue to exist, slavery will continue."
In a poor shanty-town near Nouakchott's airport, where corrugated iron shacks dot the sand dunes and goats nibble at piles of rubbish, SOS-Slave has helped Aichana start a new life.
Children in torn rags play beside the "street", marked by car tyres planted in the sand, outside the small shop which she established with money from the group.
"Before when I worked, it was never for me -- even if I earned money I had to give it to my master," Aichana said, sat inside on a red mat beside shelves stacked with couscous, soap, dry biscuits, pasta, and condensed milk.
"When I was young, I thought life was like that, but as I grew older and saw how other people lived, I felt ashamed," she added, as flies settled on her face in the morning haze.
"Now, all I want is to be able to earn my living honestly ... for my children to go to school, for them to be honest and grow up like normal people."
Overhaul tax credits or miss key child poverty targets, Brown told
from The Guardian
Citizens Advice calls for a 'radical rethink' of system
· Almost half of tax credit payments were incorrect
Phillip Inman
Gordon Brown will miss crucial child poverty targets unless he signals, in his pre-budget report tomorrow, a complete overhaul of the troubled £14bn tax credits system, leading anti-poverty campaigners have warned the chancellor.
In 2004-05, almost half of all payments were incorrect. Of the nearly 6.5 million families receiving them, almost 2 million were overpaid and then forced to pay the money back, while more than 900,000 were underpaid.
David Harker, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said progress in reducing poverty had hit the buffers and the Treasury needed a radical rethink to continue the progress of the last few years. He called for a debate about the next stage of welfare reform to tackle disincentives built into the system, which over the longer term discourage workers from increasing their earnings.
"The government has had considerable success at getting many people, particularly mothers, into work. But the existence of high marginal tax rates - when you combine the effect of tax payments and the loss of benefits - and low wages and relatively low skills, makes it difficult for them to improve their living standards.
"This is a major challenge for any future government. It demands a rethink of existing approaches that may have now run their course," he told the Guardian ahead of the pre-budget report.
Mr Harker, 55, who has keenly supported the expansion of tax credits since Labour came to power, said the steep increase in complaints, often from families on low incomes, showed an overhaul was needed.
A series of critical reports has questioned the long-term benefits of the scheme. Separate studies by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Institute of Fiscal Studies showed the government was unlikely to meet its aim of reducing child poverty by half in 2010 if it continued with the current system of tax credits and welfare benefits.
A recent study by the Child Poverty Action Group found many jobs taken up by single mothers and other tax credit claimants were low quality and unlikely to provide a springboard to a better life.
Mr Brown is expected to rebuff calls for any review of tax credits.
Mr Harker warned of an alarming rise in the numbers of people getting into debt problems, and said creditors acting more aggressively.
He said the numbers with serious problems had doubled over the past eight years, and he expected debt to overtake welfare benefits as the charity's single biggest issue next year. This year 1.4 million people asked his charity for advice on debts compared with 1.5 million seeking help with welfare payments.
Mr Harker is not one to grandstand and make demands for sweeping regulations each time a financial scandal hits. However, he is critical of the government's failure to promote financial education, and to do more to prevent the worst excesses of modern capitalism - loan sharks, aggressive bailiffs, commission-hungry sales staff - from ruining people's lives.
The sudden growth in credit card debt, unsecured loans and second mortgages has given him a deep sense of foreboding about the next couple of years.
"We try not to get sucked into a moral argument about borrowing and debt. But there are two areas where we have real concerns. One is how vulnerable consumers are treated when they first get into problems and, second, is monitoring how quickly finance companies send in the bailiffs or repossess homes.
"Our survey in September found more than 750,000 homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment. Following the latest interest rate rise, we are starting to feel there is a serious problem looming. We could be approaching a tipping point."
Dickensian sub-prime lenders are some of the worst offenders. He said they will often attempt to grab back homes as soon as one payment is missed.
"We're looking at evidence that some are targeting people on more modest incomes and encouraging them to get on the property ladder when maybe it is not the best option. When they get into trouble, the companies are acting very aggressively," he said.
According to recent reports, local councils are increasingly joining the gang of creditors. Research from the University of Warwick estimates that 3m summonses for non-payment of council tax are issued each year. And with nearly 2 million households struggling to pay the tax, it could get much worse.
Mr Harker says the growing workload should nudge the chancellor to extend funding for the charity's work.
Last year Mr Brown awarded an extra £33m for two years from his financial inclusion budget to double the number of specialist advisers.
"There is every sign that the problem isn't going to go away, so we would hope the government can find the funding we need to keep up this level of service," Mr Harker said.
Citizens Advice calls for a 'radical rethink' of system
· Almost half of tax credit payments were incorrect
Phillip Inman
Gordon Brown will miss crucial child poverty targets unless he signals, in his pre-budget report tomorrow, a complete overhaul of the troubled £14bn tax credits system, leading anti-poverty campaigners have warned the chancellor.
In 2004-05, almost half of all payments were incorrect. Of the nearly 6.5 million families receiving them, almost 2 million were overpaid and then forced to pay the money back, while more than 900,000 were underpaid.
David Harker, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said progress in reducing poverty had hit the buffers and the Treasury needed a radical rethink to continue the progress of the last few years. He called for a debate about the next stage of welfare reform to tackle disincentives built into the system, which over the longer term discourage workers from increasing their earnings.
"The government has had considerable success at getting many people, particularly mothers, into work. But the existence of high marginal tax rates - when you combine the effect of tax payments and the loss of benefits - and low wages and relatively low skills, makes it difficult for them to improve their living standards.
"This is a major challenge for any future government. It demands a rethink of existing approaches that may have now run their course," he told the Guardian ahead of the pre-budget report.
Mr Harker, 55, who has keenly supported the expansion of tax credits since Labour came to power, said the steep increase in complaints, often from families on low incomes, showed an overhaul was needed.
A series of critical reports has questioned the long-term benefits of the scheme. Separate studies by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Institute of Fiscal Studies showed the government was unlikely to meet its aim of reducing child poverty by half in 2010 if it continued with the current system of tax credits and welfare benefits.
A recent study by the Child Poverty Action Group found many jobs taken up by single mothers and other tax credit claimants were low quality and unlikely to provide a springboard to a better life.
Mr Brown is expected to rebuff calls for any review of tax credits.
Mr Harker warned of an alarming rise in the numbers of people getting into debt problems, and said creditors acting more aggressively.
He said the numbers with serious problems had doubled over the past eight years, and he expected debt to overtake welfare benefits as the charity's single biggest issue next year. This year 1.4 million people asked his charity for advice on debts compared with 1.5 million seeking help with welfare payments.
Mr Harker is not one to grandstand and make demands for sweeping regulations each time a financial scandal hits. However, he is critical of the government's failure to promote financial education, and to do more to prevent the worst excesses of modern capitalism - loan sharks, aggressive bailiffs, commission-hungry sales staff - from ruining people's lives.
The sudden growth in credit card debt, unsecured loans and second mortgages has given him a deep sense of foreboding about the next couple of years.
"We try not to get sucked into a moral argument about borrowing and debt. But there are two areas where we have real concerns. One is how vulnerable consumers are treated when they first get into problems and, second, is monitoring how quickly finance companies send in the bailiffs or repossess homes.
"Our survey in September found more than 750,000 homeowners had missed at least one mortgage payment. Following the latest interest rate rise, we are starting to feel there is a serious problem looming. We could be approaching a tipping point."
Dickensian sub-prime lenders are some of the worst offenders. He said they will often attempt to grab back homes as soon as one payment is missed.
"We're looking at evidence that some are targeting people on more modest incomes and encouraging them to get on the property ladder when maybe it is not the best option. When they get into trouble, the companies are acting very aggressively," he said.
According to recent reports, local councils are increasingly joining the gang of creditors. Research from the University of Warwick estimates that 3m summonses for non-payment of council tax are issued each year. And with nearly 2 million households struggling to pay the tax, it could get much worse.
Mr Harker says the growing workload should nudge the chancellor to extend funding for the charity's work.
Last year Mr Brown awarded an extra £33m for two years from his financial inclusion budget to double the number of specialist advisers.
"There is every sign that the problem isn't going to go away, so we would hope the government can find the funding we need to keep up this level of service," Mr Harker said.
Latin American, Caribbean nations post poverty reduction for 3rd yr
from Yahoo via Kyodo News
Poverty and indigence shrank in Latin American and the Caribbean nations in 2005 for the third consecutive year and the downward trend remains in 2006, according to an Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean report released in Chile on Monday.
The Social Panorama of Latin America 2006 report indicates that 209 million people, or 39.8 percent of the region's population, were poor in 2005, while 81 million people, or 15.4 percent, were extremely poor or indigent.
The latest statistics have shown a drop of more than 4 percentage points, compared with 2002, when the poverty level represented 44 percent and indigence 19.4 percent among locals, according to the report.
The downward trend will remain in 2006, the report said, with 4 million people estimated to leave poverty and 2 million no longer estimated to stand as indigent.
"In the last four years (2003-2006), Latin America has turned in its best performance in 25 years in economic and social terms," said ECLAC's report.
The positive trend in the region is a consequence of "falling unemployment, improving income distribution in several countries and a strong upswing in number of jobs," according to the commission.
The most significant improvement in poverty reduction has been reported in Argentina, where it dropped to 26 percent in the 2003-2005 period, from 45.4 percent in 2000-2002, followed by Venezuela where it shrank to 37.1 percent from 48.6 percent.
The report warns that despite the progress in the region, "poverty levels remain high and the region still faces a great task."
"ECLAC concludes that the upturn in employment and, partially, in wages over the last two years has not been accompanied by significant changes in the quality of new jobs," the report said.
The report warns local governments that "the current levels of coverage of employment-based social security systems cannot sustain progress toward universal pension and retirement regimes in which minimum benefits can be financed over the long-term."
Another major source of concern for the local populations is the quality of life of indigenous groups. "The persistent inequality that affects them is a great challenge to 21st-century democracies in terms of state reforms and policies," said the report.
The social and economic progress has led the commission to conclude that the region has progressed toward the first target of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by the year 2015.
"The projected decrease in extreme poverty for 2006 represents a 69 percent advance toward meeting the goals. In this respect, the region is well positioned in its commitment to reduce extreme poverty by half by the year 2015," the report said.
Poverty and indigence shrank in Latin American and the Caribbean nations in 2005 for the third consecutive year and the downward trend remains in 2006, according to an Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean report released in Chile on Monday.
The Social Panorama of Latin America 2006 report indicates that 209 million people, or 39.8 percent of the region's population, were poor in 2005, while 81 million people, or 15.4 percent, were extremely poor or indigent.
The latest statistics have shown a drop of more than 4 percentage points, compared with 2002, when the poverty level represented 44 percent and indigence 19.4 percent among locals, according to the report.
The downward trend will remain in 2006, the report said, with 4 million people estimated to leave poverty and 2 million no longer estimated to stand as indigent.
"In the last four years (2003-2006), Latin America has turned in its best performance in 25 years in economic and social terms," said ECLAC's report.
The positive trend in the region is a consequence of "falling unemployment, improving income distribution in several countries and a strong upswing in number of jobs," according to the commission.
The most significant improvement in poverty reduction has been reported in Argentina, where it dropped to 26 percent in the 2003-2005 period, from 45.4 percent in 2000-2002, followed by Venezuela where it shrank to 37.1 percent from 48.6 percent.
The report warns that despite the progress in the region, "poverty levels remain high and the region still faces a great task."
"ECLAC concludes that the upturn in employment and, partially, in wages over the last two years has not been accompanied by significant changes in the quality of new jobs," the report said.
The report warns local governments that "the current levels of coverage of employment-based social security systems cannot sustain progress toward universal pension and retirement regimes in which minimum benefits can be financed over the long-term."
Another major source of concern for the local populations is the quality of life of indigenous groups. "The persistent inequality that affects them is a great challenge to 21st-century democracies in terms of state reforms and policies," said the report.
The social and economic progress has led the commission to conclude that the region has progressed toward the first target of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by the year 2015.
"The projected decrease in extreme poverty for 2006 represents a 69 percent advance toward meeting the goals. In this respect, the region is well positioned in its commitment to reduce extreme poverty by half by the year 2015," the report said.
Despite Conflict, Nepal Reduced Poverty Between 1996 and 2004
from One World South Asia
Poverty in Nepal fell from 42% to 31% between 1996 and 2004 despite a difficult political and conflict-ridden environment, according to a new World Bank report "Resilience Amidst Conflict."
The report, which examines reasons why poverty fell, shows that even during difficult times people found means to improve their situation.
"This large reduction of poverty was unexpected. While certain improvements in material wellbeing were felt in the country, many thought that because of conflict there wouldn’t be improvements across the board," says Elena Glinskaya, World Bank Senior Economist who authored the report.
The report, however, covers the time period until 2004 and doesn’t account for more recent political changes.
"It’s too early to tell what progress Nepal has made since the conflict abated earlier this year," Glinskaya says. "There is no data available as of now."
Five Drivers of Poverty Reduction
A significant increase in remittances, increase in wages, improved connectivity and access to markets, urbanization, and falling birth rates were behind this decline.
Remittances: In 2004, one million Nepalese (or every 11th adult male) worked abroad. Between 1996 and 2004, remittance inflows soared from 3% of GDP (US$203 million) to 12% of GDP (US$794 million), mainly driven by those migrating to the Persian Gulf or East Asia, where earnings are much higher than in India. The proportion of households receiving remittances also increased from 24% to 32%.
Wages Increased: As more people migrated abroad, local employers started competing for a shrinking pool of workers, which helped wages to increase. As a result, wages for farm workers, who tend to be the poorest, rose by 25%, wages for non-agricultural unskilled workers rose by 20%, while wages for skilled labor more than doubled.
Connectivity: The country’s road network grew 6.7% a year between 1996 and 2004, while rural and district roads grew 11% a year. Road improvements rural areas stimulated entrepreneurial activities raising incomes of those working in non-agricultural jobs. Access to schools and hospitals also improved.
Urbanization: Urban population doubled. In 2004, 15% of the Nepalese lives in urban areas compared to 7% in 1996. The change helped workers move from lower paid rural jobs to better paid jobs in urban areas. Also, urbanization has been important for changing social relations between advantaged and disadvantaged ethnic groups, as discrimination is less entrenched in urban areas.
Smaller Families: A decline in fertility rates which started in the 1980s is paying off now as the dependency ratio (the number of non-working family members per working adult) decreased.
Human Development Indicators Improved, But More Needs To Be Done
Cash inflow from remittances, improvements in roads, and declining fertility rates helped increase demand for education and health services. Public expenditure in social sectors also increased. As a result:
More children attended school than ever before. In 2004, 77% of 6 to 15 year-olds went to school, compared to 63% a decade earlier. The increase was highest for 6 to 10 year-old girls, whose school attendance increased from 50% to 73%. However, 50% of adult Nepalese remain illiterate. The percentage of illiterate women and ethnic minorities is even higher at 65%.
Child mortality for children under 5 fell from 40 to 29 deaths per 1,000 live births, while infant mortality decreased from 79% to 64%. However, infant and maternal mortality remain high compared to other countries in the region.
Stunting among children under 2 dropped from 48.4% to 42.7%. But no progress was made in reducing the number of underweight children.
Government Policies Helped as Well
Despite difficult circumstances, the government also enacted policies that helped enable growth, according to the report. For example, until 1995 only the national office was allowed to issue passports. Then the law changed allowing district offices to issue passports, which meant that many more people started applying for passports which made it easier to go abroad for work.
"As a result, their income became so much greater than it would have been had they been working in India or Nepal," Glinskaya says.
The report, however, covers the time period up until 2004 and doesn’t account for more recent political changes.
"It’s too early to tell what progress Nepal has made since the conflict abated earlier this year," Glinskaya says. "There is no data available as of now."
Challenges Ahead: Accelerating Growth and Sharing its Benefits
The report cautions, however, that growth and poverty reduction have been uneven, leaving some groups behind.
"The challenge now is to accelerate domestic growth and share this growth more broadly," Glinskaya says.
Nepal’s priority areas include:
Agriculture: Expand into high-value agriculture products, such as horticulture and livestock production, and involve the private sector in delivering services to farmers. These include post harvest systems, storage, collection centers, packaging, transport, and quality control.
Infrastructure: Continue expanding the road network, and bringing electricity and water to remote regions.
Financial Markets: Improve access to credit for the poor, facilitate transfer remittances to improve their development impact, and educate migrants in dealing with financing institutions.
Inclusion: The decline in poverty coupled with urbanization and increases in education have benefited all excluded groups, but Nepal needs to do more to bring prosperity to them and focus on building their human and social capital.
The report is primarily based on Nepal Living Standards Surveys collected in 1995-1996 and in 2003-2004. The World Bank worked closely with Nepal's Central Bureau of Statistics on the report.
Here is a link to the report.
Poverty in Nepal fell from 42% to 31% between 1996 and 2004 despite a difficult political and conflict-ridden environment, according to a new World Bank report "Resilience Amidst Conflict."
The report, which examines reasons why poverty fell, shows that even during difficult times people found means to improve their situation.
"This large reduction of poverty was unexpected. While certain improvements in material wellbeing were felt in the country, many thought that because of conflict there wouldn’t be improvements across the board," says Elena Glinskaya, World Bank Senior Economist who authored the report.
The report, however, covers the time period until 2004 and doesn’t account for more recent political changes.
"It’s too early to tell what progress Nepal has made since the conflict abated earlier this year," Glinskaya says. "There is no data available as of now."
Five Drivers of Poverty Reduction
A significant increase in remittances, increase in wages, improved connectivity and access to markets, urbanization, and falling birth rates were behind this decline.
Remittances: In 2004, one million Nepalese (or every 11th adult male) worked abroad. Between 1996 and 2004, remittance inflows soared from 3% of GDP (US$203 million) to 12% of GDP (US$794 million), mainly driven by those migrating to the Persian Gulf or East Asia, where earnings are much higher than in India. The proportion of households receiving remittances also increased from 24% to 32%.
Wages Increased: As more people migrated abroad, local employers started competing for a shrinking pool of workers, which helped wages to increase. As a result, wages for farm workers, who tend to be the poorest, rose by 25%, wages for non-agricultural unskilled workers rose by 20%, while wages for skilled labor more than doubled.
Connectivity: The country’s road network grew 6.7% a year between 1996 and 2004, while rural and district roads grew 11% a year. Road improvements rural areas stimulated entrepreneurial activities raising incomes of those working in non-agricultural jobs. Access to schools and hospitals also improved.
Urbanization: Urban population doubled. In 2004, 15% of the Nepalese lives in urban areas compared to 7% in 1996. The change helped workers move from lower paid rural jobs to better paid jobs in urban areas. Also, urbanization has been important for changing social relations between advantaged and disadvantaged ethnic groups, as discrimination is less entrenched in urban areas.
Smaller Families: A decline in fertility rates which started in the 1980s is paying off now as the dependency ratio (the number of non-working family members per working adult) decreased.
Human Development Indicators Improved, But More Needs To Be Done
Cash inflow from remittances, improvements in roads, and declining fertility rates helped increase demand for education and health services. Public expenditure in social sectors also increased. As a result:
More children attended school than ever before. In 2004, 77% of 6 to 15 year-olds went to school, compared to 63% a decade earlier. The increase was highest for 6 to 10 year-old girls, whose school attendance increased from 50% to 73%. However, 50% of adult Nepalese remain illiterate. The percentage of illiterate women and ethnic minorities is even higher at 65%.
Child mortality for children under 5 fell from 40 to 29 deaths per 1,000 live births, while infant mortality decreased from 79% to 64%. However, infant and maternal mortality remain high compared to other countries in the region.
Stunting among children under 2 dropped from 48.4% to 42.7%. But no progress was made in reducing the number of underweight children.
Government Policies Helped as Well
Despite difficult circumstances, the government also enacted policies that helped enable growth, according to the report. For example, until 1995 only the national office was allowed to issue passports. Then the law changed allowing district offices to issue passports, which meant that many more people started applying for passports which made it easier to go abroad for work.
"As a result, their income became so much greater than it would have been had they been working in India or Nepal," Glinskaya says.
The report, however, covers the time period up until 2004 and doesn’t account for more recent political changes.
"It’s too early to tell what progress Nepal has made since the conflict abated earlier this year," Glinskaya says. "There is no data available as of now."
Challenges Ahead: Accelerating Growth and Sharing its Benefits
The report cautions, however, that growth and poverty reduction have been uneven, leaving some groups behind.
"The challenge now is to accelerate domestic growth and share this growth more broadly," Glinskaya says.
Nepal’s priority areas include:
Agriculture: Expand into high-value agriculture products, such as horticulture and livestock production, and involve the private sector in delivering services to farmers. These include post harvest systems, storage, collection centers, packaging, transport, and quality control.
Infrastructure: Continue expanding the road network, and bringing electricity and water to remote regions.
Financial Markets: Improve access to credit for the poor, facilitate transfer remittances to improve their development impact, and educate migrants in dealing with financing institutions.
Inclusion: The decline in poverty coupled with urbanization and increases in education have benefited all excluded groups, but Nepal needs to do more to bring prosperity to them and focus on building their human and social capital.
The report is primarily based on Nepal Living Standards Surveys collected in 1995-1996 and in 2003-2004. The World Bank worked closely with Nepal's Central Bureau of Statistics on the report.
Here is a link to the report.
Uganda: Iguru Blames Poverty On Poor Roads
from All Africa
The Monitor (Kampala)
Ausi Balyesiima
Hoima
THE Omukama of Bunyoro Solomon Iguru has blamed the biting poverty in his Kingdom to the poor road network.
He said murram roads that dominate the Obukama could not facilitate trade because they have a short life span which scares away prospective investors from the region.
Iguru said his subjects could not engage in serious agriculture since the Kingdom is cut off from markets.
He cited Muzizi river bridge that used to connect Bunyoro to Toro Kingdom that was swept away by floods during rainy seasons.
"All this is happening while the central government looks on," he said. He was at Karuziika Palace in Hoima Town Council recently , where he received scholarships from Namasagali University.
Iguru praised the Busoga based University for working towards uplifting education in Bunyoro Kingdom.
The University Director of planning David Wilson Musekura said the offer was intended to strengthen the brotherhood between Busoga Kingdom and Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom.
Musekura said the degree and diploma certificate scholarships would benefit students who have the required entry points to Namasagali.
He said the Kingdom would select the beneficiaries and send them to Namasagali to start their academic year soon.
He disclosed plans to open faculties of computer technology, agriculture and education in Kigumba Masindi.
The Monitor (Kampala)
Ausi Balyesiima
Hoima
THE Omukama of Bunyoro Solomon Iguru has blamed the biting poverty in his Kingdom to the poor road network.
He said murram roads that dominate the Obukama could not facilitate trade because they have a short life span which scares away prospective investors from the region.
Iguru said his subjects could not engage in serious agriculture since the Kingdom is cut off from markets.
He cited Muzizi river bridge that used to connect Bunyoro to Toro Kingdom that was swept away by floods during rainy seasons.
"All this is happening while the central government looks on," he said. He was at Karuziika Palace in Hoima Town Council recently , where he received scholarships from Namasagali University.
Iguru praised the Busoga based University for working towards uplifting education in Bunyoro Kingdom.
The University Director of planning David Wilson Musekura said the offer was intended to strengthen the brotherhood between Busoga Kingdom and Bunyoro Kitara Kingdom.
Musekura said the degree and diploma certificate scholarships would benefit students who have the required entry points to Namasagali.
He said the Kingdom would select the beneficiaries and send them to Namasagali to start their academic year soon.
He disclosed plans to open faculties of computer technology, agriculture and education in Kigumba Masindi.
Invest more in Bangladesh's youth to reduce poverty
from One World South Asia
Bangladesh urgently needs to invest in better education, healthcare, and job training for its young people in order to produce stronger economic growth and reduce poverty.
At a seminar to publicize the World Bank’s World Development Report, speakers noted that a move to invest heavily in Bangladeshi’s between the ages of 12 and 24 would be one of the most significant ways the country could banish poverty and galvanize its economy.
The World Development Report 2007, titled Development and the Next Generation, is an annual flagship publication of the World Bank. The dissemination event, jointly organized by the World Bank and BRAC at the BRAC Center, was presided over by Dr. Salahuddin Ahmed, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of BRAC University. Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Chairman, Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, graced the occasion as chief guest. Qaiser Khan, World Bank Acting Country Director for Bangladesh, Julian Schweitzer, World Bank Director for Human Development and Mr. Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, Chairman, BRACnet also spoke.
The World Development Report 2007 focuses on youth— the capabilities they need and the transitions in a young person’s life: learning for life and work, staying healthy, working, forming families, and exercising citizenship.
Julian Schweitzer, Director for Human Development, World Bank said: “We cannot just develop primary education but need to also provide access to secondary and higher education. This will help turn the youth bulge problem into the youth bulge opportunity”
The WDR contains a number of Bangladesh-related information, summarized here:
• In rural Bangladesh, working while attending primary school had a sizable negative effect on the transition to secondary school, and starting to work while attending secondary school had even larger effects on secondary school completion.
• Channeling conditional subsidies directly to girls aged 11-14 by the Bangladesh Female Secondary Stipend Assistance Program has hugely increased girls' enrollment-despite strong biases against their schooling. Concerns about learning outcomes are being addressed in later programs.
• In Bangladesh, over 30 percent of 15-19 year old girls are mothers or pregnant, but few can identify life-threatening conditions in pregnancy.
• In Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, use of maternal health services is low among young women. In rural Pakistan, adolescent girls' mobility is highly limited. This may affect their ability to seek timely health services.
• Nearly 50 percent of teenage mothers in Bangladesh reported seeking no help for maternal complications. The report notes successful targeted programs such as Matlab district's 'doorstep delivery' program, which increased the use of ante- and post-natal services.
• In Bangladesh, men's exposure to social development activities as part of Grameen Bank's micro-credit schemes could explain lower fertility rates. WDR 2007 recommends that family planning and reproductive health campaigns should also target men.
• In an international survey of 15 to 24 year-olds, very few young Bangladeshi women thought they had the most influence on schooling or marriage choices.
• In Bangladesh, for example, the Underprivileged Children Education Program (UCEP) helps 10 to 16 year-olds who have dropped out of primary school, providing them with three years' schooling and feeding them into UCEP-run vocational programs.
BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division (BRAC-RED) also disseminated their latest monograph Adolescents and Youth in Bangladesh: Some Selected Issues. This Monograph brought together a number of primary research studies of BRAC-Research and Evaluation Division (RED) focusing on some selected issues such as changes associated with adolescence; education, livelihood and participation in financial market; knowledge and practice regarding sexuality, pregnancy and pregnancy-care; morbidity and health-seeking behaviour; and life-style including drugs and role model.
Here is a link to the report
Bangladesh urgently needs to invest in better education, healthcare, and job training for its young people in order to produce stronger economic growth and reduce poverty.
At a seminar to publicize the World Bank’s World Development Report, speakers noted that a move to invest heavily in Bangladeshi’s between the ages of 12 and 24 would be one of the most significant ways the country could banish poverty and galvanize its economy.
The World Development Report 2007, titled Development and the Next Generation, is an annual flagship publication of the World Bank. The dissemination event, jointly organized by the World Bank and BRAC at the BRAC Center, was presided over by Dr. Salahuddin Ahmed, the Pro-Vice Chancellor of BRAC University. Professor Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Chairman, Bishwo Shahitto Kendro, graced the occasion as chief guest. Qaiser Khan, World Bank Acting Country Director for Bangladesh, Julian Schweitzer, World Bank Director for Human Development and Mr. Abdul Muyeed Chowdhury, Chairman, BRACnet also spoke.
The World Development Report 2007 focuses on youth— the capabilities they need and the transitions in a young person’s life: learning for life and work, staying healthy, working, forming families, and exercising citizenship.
Julian Schweitzer, Director for Human Development, World Bank said: “We cannot just develop primary education but need to also provide access to secondary and higher education. This will help turn the youth bulge problem into the youth bulge opportunity”
The WDR contains a number of Bangladesh-related information, summarized here:
• In rural Bangladesh, working while attending primary school had a sizable negative effect on the transition to secondary school, and starting to work while attending secondary school had even larger effects on secondary school completion.
• Channeling conditional subsidies directly to girls aged 11-14 by the Bangladesh Female Secondary Stipend Assistance Program has hugely increased girls' enrollment-despite strong biases against their schooling. Concerns about learning outcomes are being addressed in later programs.
• In Bangladesh, over 30 percent of 15-19 year old girls are mothers or pregnant, but few can identify life-threatening conditions in pregnancy.
• In Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, use of maternal health services is low among young women. In rural Pakistan, adolescent girls' mobility is highly limited. This may affect their ability to seek timely health services.
• Nearly 50 percent of teenage mothers in Bangladesh reported seeking no help for maternal complications. The report notes successful targeted programs such as Matlab district's 'doorstep delivery' program, which increased the use of ante- and post-natal services.
• In Bangladesh, men's exposure to social development activities as part of Grameen Bank's micro-credit schemes could explain lower fertility rates. WDR 2007 recommends that family planning and reproductive health campaigns should also target men.
• In an international survey of 15 to 24 year-olds, very few young Bangladeshi women thought they had the most influence on schooling or marriage choices.
• In Bangladesh, for example, the Underprivileged Children Education Program (UCEP) helps 10 to 16 year-olds who have dropped out of primary school, providing them with three years' schooling and feeding them into UCEP-run vocational programs.
BRAC’s Research and Evaluation Division (BRAC-RED) also disseminated their latest monograph Adolescents and Youth in Bangladesh: Some Selected Issues. This Monograph brought together a number of primary research studies of BRAC-Research and Evaluation Division (RED) focusing on some selected issues such as changes associated with adolescence; education, livelihood and participation in financial market; knowledge and practice regarding sexuality, pregnancy and pregnancy-care; morbidity and health-seeking behaviour; and life-style including drugs and role model.
Here is a link to the report
Liberia: Poverty Reduction Rests On Agric. Sector, Nationalism
from All Africa
The Analyst (Monrovia)
Grand Kru Representative Gbenimah Slopadoe says Liberians need not to play any magic to reduce the level of poverty in the country without first demonstrating what he called absolute nationalism and empowering the agriculture sector.
In order to achieve, he proposed the establishment of an "Agriculture for Food and Employment Fund." which according to him could provide soft loans to farmers.
According to him, this is intended to increase production of traditional and non-traditional crops intended to provide food security, generate income and create employment.
In a statement at a 2-day capacity building Workshop for GCAP-LINC members at the St. Teresa Pastoral Retreat Center over the weekend, Rep. Slopadoe said show of nationalism will also have impact on efforts aimed at reducing poverty.
He deputized for House Speaker Edwin Snowe as Chief Launcher.
"Liberians actions to reduce poverty in this country should begin with absolute nationalism. This generation of Liberians must pledge absolute loyalty to their beloved country and engage in activities aimed at reconstructing it as their only home," he said and added "Here we born, here we will die.
Giving background on poverty, the Grand Kru lawmaker referred to it as the lack of resources, both human, money and material, and stressed that if these resources are mismanaged, then there bounds to be poverty.
"That is the case with us; we have mismanaged our resources through deception, dishonesty and greed," Rep. Slopadoe noted
In his welcome remarks, Mr. Dan T., Sayeh, Chairman/GCAP-LINE said the occasion was about "joining hands with civil society actors involved in creating highlights on the issues of poverty and at the same time creating space for interaction, interrogation and making reports on issues that affect the lives of Liberians.
GPCAP-LINE is a Global Action Against Poverty-.Liberia Coalition which according to him is in about 80 countries around the world highlighting the issues responsible for poverty.
Deputizing for Richard Tolbert, National Investment Commission (NIC) Executive Director, Sabastine Smith focused on efforts being employed by the institution with the help of other agencies of government to empower Liberia entrepreneurs.
The Analyst (Monrovia)
Grand Kru Representative Gbenimah Slopadoe says Liberians need not to play any magic to reduce the level of poverty in the country without first demonstrating what he called absolute nationalism and empowering the agriculture sector.
In order to achieve, he proposed the establishment of an "Agriculture for Food and Employment Fund." which according to him could provide soft loans to farmers.
According to him, this is intended to increase production of traditional and non-traditional crops intended to provide food security, generate income and create employment.
In a statement at a 2-day capacity building Workshop for GCAP-LINC members at the St. Teresa Pastoral Retreat Center over the weekend, Rep. Slopadoe said show of nationalism will also have impact on efforts aimed at reducing poverty.
He deputized for House Speaker Edwin Snowe as Chief Launcher.
"Liberians actions to reduce poverty in this country should begin with absolute nationalism. This generation of Liberians must pledge absolute loyalty to their beloved country and engage in activities aimed at reconstructing it as their only home," he said and added "Here we born, here we will die.
Giving background on poverty, the Grand Kru lawmaker referred to it as the lack of resources, both human, money and material, and stressed that if these resources are mismanaged, then there bounds to be poverty.
"That is the case with us; we have mismanaged our resources through deception, dishonesty and greed," Rep. Slopadoe noted
In his welcome remarks, Mr. Dan T., Sayeh, Chairman/GCAP-LINE said the occasion was about "joining hands with civil society actors involved in creating highlights on the issues of poverty and at the same time creating space for interaction, interrogation and making reports on issues that affect the lives of Liberians.
GPCAP-LINE is a Global Action Against Poverty-.Liberia Coalition which according to him is in about 80 countries around the world highlighting the issues responsible for poverty.
Deputizing for Richard Tolbert, National Investment Commission (NIC) Executive Director, Sabastine Smith focused on efforts being employed by the institution with the help of other agencies of government to empower Liberia entrepreneurs.
Monday, December 04, 2006
Low wages undermine work route out of poverty
from The Guardian
Lucy Ward, social affairs correspondent
Labour's drive to tackle poverty is being undermined because persistent low pay means work is no longer a reliable route out of poverty in Britain, according to a report published today.
A study for the Rowntree Foundation examining the record of Tony Blair's government finds that, though many children and pensioners have been successfully lifted out of poverty since 1997, the root causes of the problem have not been addressed.
The ninth annual Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion report argues that the large numbers of people on low pay and the "seeming acceptance of gross inequalities of rates of pay" mean future poverty is as inevitable as ever.
Though the government has achieved "limited success" in cutting poverty, it has done so through the use of targeted benefits rather than resolving underlying issues such as workplace inequality and high numbers of jobless and unqualified young adults, the authors say.
The central premise of the government's anti-poverty strategy, that work is the best route out of poverty, is questionable given that half of the 3.4 million children living in poverty have a parent already in paid work, the same proportion as in the late 1990s, the study concludes. A low-paid couple, it says, can only avoid poverty if both are working.
The report is being published to coincide with the national poverty hearing on Wednesday, when faith leaders, politicians and others will gather in Westminster to hear from those living in poverty and debate solutions.
The study, conducted by the New Policy Institute, points to government successes in putting both child and pensioner poverty "firmly on a downward course".
Child poverty has been cut by 700,000, reversing an entrenched trend but falling short of the government's target of taking a million children out of poverty by March 2006, on the way to ending child poverty completely by 2020.
The big fall in poverty among pensioners, especially single pensioners, has been a major success of the anti-poverty policy, the researchers say. The poverty rate for pensioners overall has fallen from 27% in the late 1990s to 17% in 2004-05, and among single pensioners the rate has halved from 33% to 17%. But for working adults, the poverty rate remains unchanged since Labour took office at 19%, reflecting Britain's low wages.
The government's failure to bring down this figure is "a major weakness", the report concludes.
The report highlights other persistent problems, including the continuing unemployment rate of at least 10% among adults under 25, and the lack of progress since the late 1990s in the numbers of school leavers failing to achieve basic qualifications.
Such issues need to be addressed directly by the government, say the researchers, who point out that on issues where the government has taken a stand - such as bank accounts and central heating - exclusion through poverty has fallen substantially.
But the overall picture, says co-author Guy Palmer, is "not so much a mixture of success and failure of policy as one of success and neglect. Where the government has acted, change has happened. Where it has not, previous trends have continued."
Colette Marshall, UK director of Save the Children, said the government's strategy of getting low-income families into work was "clearly failing". "The government needs to address the issue of low pay but also acknowledge that work is not possible for all."
The charity is calling for two seasonal grants to support families during the run-up to Christmas and the summer holidays, when they face acute financial pressure.
Lucy Ward, social affairs correspondent
Labour's drive to tackle poverty is being undermined because persistent low pay means work is no longer a reliable route out of poverty in Britain, according to a report published today.
A study for the Rowntree Foundation examining the record of Tony Blair's government finds that, though many children and pensioners have been successfully lifted out of poverty since 1997, the root causes of the problem have not been addressed.
The ninth annual Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion report argues that the large numbers of people on low pay and the "seeming acceptance of gross inequalities of rates of pay" mean future poverty is as inevitable as ever.
Though the government has achieved "limited success" in cutting poverty, it has done so through the use of targeted benefits rather than resolving underlying issues such as workplace inequality and high numbers of jobless and unqualified young adults, the authors say.
The central premise of the government's anti-poverty strategy, that work is the best route out of poverty, is questionable given that half of the 3.4 million children living in poverty have a parent already in paid work, the same proportion as in the late 1990s, the study concludes. A low-paid couple, it says, can only avoid poverty if both are working.
The report is being published to coincide with the national poverty hearing on Wednesday, when faith leaders, politicians and others will gather in Westminster to hear from those living in poverty and debate solutions.
The study, conducted by the New Policy Institute, points to government successes in putting both child and pensioner poverty "firmly on a downward course".
Child poverty has been cut by 700,000, reversing an entrenched trend but falling short of the government's target of taking a million children out of poverty by March 2006, on the way to ending child poverty completely by 2020.
The big fall in poverty among pensioners, especially single pensioners, has been a major success of the anti-poverty policy, the researchers say. The poverty rate for pensioners overall has fallen from 27% in the late 1990s to 17% in 2004-05, and among single pensioners the rate has halved from 33% to 17%. But for working adults, the poverty rate remains unchanged since Labour took office at 19%, reflecting Britain's low wages.
The government's failure to bring down this figure is "a major weakness", the report concludes.
The report highlights other persistent problems, including the continuing unemployment rate of at least 10% among adults under 25, and the lack of progress since the late 1990s in the numbers of school leavers failing to achieve basic qualifications.
Such issues need to be addressed directly by the government, say the researchers, who point out that on issues where the government has taken a stand - such as bank accounts and central heating - exclusion through poverty has fallen substantially.
But the overall picture, says co-author Guy Palmer, is "not so much a mixture of success and failure of policy as one of success and neglect. Where the government has acted, change has happened. Where it has not, previous trends have continued."
Colette Marshall, UK director of Save the Children, said the government's strategy of getting low-income families into work was "clearly failing". "The government needs to address the issue of low pay but also acknowledge that work is not possible for all."
The charity is calling for two seasonal grants to support families during the run-up to Christmas and the summer holidays, when they face acute financial pressure.
Child Care and Early Education State-by-State Data
Here is a link to a resourse that incluses state by state data on Child Care and Early Education funding from The Center for Law and Social Policy. This includes new individual state pages analyzing 2005 child care spending from CCDBG and TANF funds, along with data (published in March 2006) on states' use of community-based child care to provide Pre-k programs.
China invites Bangladesh's Grameen Bank for microcredit system trial
from Yahoo News India
By ANI
New Delhi, Bangladesh's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, will be working with the Chinese government to bring his Grameen Bank lending system to rural China within a year.
Yunus said China had invited him to begin a trial of the "microcredit" system, which specializes in making loans of 100 dollars or less, in one of three remote locations of the country.
The test could lead to expansion of the program throughout the country, reports China Daily. In Yunus's native Bangladesh, Grameen Bank has provided collateral- free loans to five million people - 96 percent of them women - since 1976.
Yunus and Grameen were awarded the Nobel in October for their achievements in reducing poverty. Grameen is also noted for its loan repayment rate of more than 98 percent. Yunus said China already had more than 100 separate microcredit programs, but they had attracted only about 100,000 customers over the past 12 years.
As of now, China has given Grameen permission for the market test, and invited Yunus to select "a difficult spot" so that he could prove the value of the system. The Chinese trial is expected to begin with fewer than 50,000 borrowers, said Yunus.
By ANI
New Delhi, Bangladesh's Nobel Peace Prize winner, Muhammad Yunus, will be working with the Chinese government to bring his Grameen Bank lending system to rural China within a year.
Yunus said China had invited him to begin a trial of the "microcredit" system, which specializes in making loans of 100 dollars or less, in one of three remote locations of the country.
The test could lead to expansion of the program throughout the country, reports China Daily. In Yunus's native Bangladesh, Grameen Bank has provided collateral- free loans to five million people - 96 percent of them women - since 1976.
Yunus and Grameen were awarded the Nobel in October for their achievements in reducing poverty. Grameen is also noted for its loan repayment rate of more than 98 percent. Yunus said China already had more than 100 separate microcredit programs, but they had attracted only about 100,000 customers over the past 12 years.
As of now, China has given Grameen permission for the market test, and invited Yunus to select "a difficult spot" so that he could prove the value of the system. The Chinese trial is expected to begin with fewer than 50,000 borrowers, said Yunus.
Jeffrey Sachs stresses economics to reduce poverty
from The Brown Daily Herald
Irene Chen
Speaking as part of a World AIDS Day symposium Saturday, Jeffrey Sachs and Sonia Ehrlich Sachs outlined ways to improve conditions in countries around the world that have been devastated by poverty and infectious disease.
Several speakers addressed a crowded Smith-Buonanno 106 as part of "Voices from the Front Line: Global Economics, Health Disparities, and the AIDS Pandemic," which was sponsored by several organizations, including the Brown University AIDS Program.
Sachs, an economist who heads Columbia University's Earth Institute, delivered the keynote address with his wife Sonia, a senior health scientist at the institute.
Sachs began his speech with a single image: malaria-stricken children from Malawi, several of whom were in coma-like states. "It's unbelievable to see this, I certainly never expected to see so many children dying (of malaria) before my eyes," Sachs said. "It's a violation of our hopes and our promises. It's also a violation of common sense: it is $5 for a bed net, and three days of pills only cost $1. And yet, we haven't figured out how to (fund this). It ain't so hard."
Part of the problem, Sachs believes, is that people do not focus enough on the ecological problems relating to disease and poverty. "The core is to understand the underlying epidemiology of the situation," Sachs said. "We spent a lot of time trying to understand why Africa's disease burden was so high. Poor people die of everything, but the excess disease burden is concentrated in the infectious disease burden."
Sachs applauded Brown's contributions to HIV/AIDS research and treatment around the world stating that, "I think there are a few places in the world, few institutions in the world, that can do what Brown is doing, (that) can accomplish what Brown is doing," Sachs said.
"The world is our classroom and we'll never know what to say in the classroom if we aren't out there in the world," Sachs said.
Still, Sachs noted the lack of a global response in addressing issues of poverty and inequality. "Never before have we had so much and so many powerful tools and the means to take on this challenge," he said.
Sachs presented a chart of the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) affecting several countries around the world. DALYs "are the sum of the years of life lost due to premature mortality in the population and the years lost due to disability," according to the World Health Organization Web site.
In poor and rich countries, DALYs are comparable in cases such as cancer, accidents and cardiovascular diseases. The striking disparity is in three categories: AIDS, infectious diseases and infant mortality.
Sachs presented the startling differences in diseases that are commonly thought to have been eradicated. "There are 8,000 children dying of measles (in poor countries), while essentially no children die of measles in the rich countries."
Sachs spoke briefly about his book, "The End of Poverty," which, according to a March 2005 press release from the Earth Institute, explains "why wealth and poverty have diverged and evolved as they have and why the poorest nations have been so markedly unable to escape the cruel vortex of poverty."
Sachs criticized the way "help" has been given to countries in Africa in the past. "The farm yields are a third or a quarter of the yields achieved by farmers around the world, because African farmers do not have the basic tools needed," Sachs said. "We're not paying attention to the more important fact that Africa needs help growing crops, not the occasional dribble of food from Western farmers."
Sachs stressed that the root of all these problems is poverty. "It's not a lack of caring or focus," Sachs said. "It is an extreme poverty from the village up to the government. It is poverty, not corruption that is a fact of life, except for maybe in Washington."
Sachs argued that instability in poor regions is also due to poverty. "Poverty is the core instigator of war," Sachs said. Illustrating his point, he noted that only two countries come close to Africa's mortality rate of children under 5: Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sachs also called for more research to figure out why Africa is the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic, saying, "Little work has been done to disentangle the reasons."
He also suggested a beginning for the eradication of poverty as well as disease. "This is where the economist comes in. We've got plenty of money in the world," Sachs said. "What would it take to ensure public access to services? About 40 bucks (per) capita in Malawi."
"For less than 1 percent of the income of the rich world, all those basic needs could be met, and this could unlock the economic barriers," Sachs said. "The evidence is that economic development kicks in after these barriers have disappeared."
Ehrlich Sachs works with her husband on the Millennium Village Project, a group seeking to alleviate poverty worldwide that is part of the Earth Institute.
Ehrlich Sachs's speech described how the Millennium Villages Project works. "We've chosen 12 different sites in 10 different countries in Africa, which comprised about 95 percent of different means of livelihood," Ehrlich Sachs said. "We chose one small area which is the sentinel village, studied very closely by monitoring and measuring … before we help communities with interventions."
In villages across Africa, the Millenium Villages Project provides fertilizer that increases nutrient levels and crop returns decreasing cases of malnutrition in African children.
"This increased harvest enables people to have the problem of storage. They no longer have a problem of hunger," Ehrlich Sachs said. "They have enough for themselves, enough for their children and a surplus to create an income which will help them get into other cash-creating opportunities."
This surplus has far-reaching benefits. "From the surplus of their harvest, they donate 10 percent of the excess to the schools, which can offer school lunches. Often the one meal the kids get a day," Ehrlich Sachs said. "The attendance has sky-rocketed, and there has also been a measurable difference in school performance."
Irene Chen
Speaking as part of a World AIDS Day symposium Saturday, Jeffrey Sachs and Sonia Ehrlich Sachs outlined ways to improve conditions in countries around the world that have been devastated by poverty and infectious disease.
Several speakers addressed a crowded Smith-Buonanno 106 as part of "Voices from the Front Line: Global Economics, Health Disparities, and the AIDS Pandemic," which was sponsored by several organizations, including the Brown University AIDS Program.
Sachs, an economist who heads Columbia University's Earth Institute, delivered the keynote address with his wife Sonia, a senior health scientist at the institute.
Sachs began his speech with a single image: malaria-stricken children from Malawi, several of whom were in coma-like states. "It's unbelievable to see this, I certainly never expected to see so many children dying (of malaria) before my eyes," Sachs said. "It's a violation of our hopes and our promises. It's also a violation of common sense: it is $5 for a bed net, and three days of pills only cost $1. And yet, we haven't figured out how to (fund this). It ain't so hard."
Part of the problem, Sachs believes, is that people do not focus enough on the ecological problems relating to disease and poverty. "The core is to understand the underlying epidemiology of the situation," Sachs said. "We spent a lot of time trying to understand why Africa's disease burden was so high. Poor people die of everything, but the excess disease burden is concentrated in the infectious disease burden."
Sachs applauded Brown's contributions to HIV/AIDS research and treatment around the world stating that, "I think there are a few places in the world, few institutions in the world, that can do what Brown is doing, (that) can accomplish what Brown is doing," Sachs said.
"The world is our classroom and we'll never know what to say in the classroom if we aren't out there in the world," Sachs said.
Still, Sachs noted the lack of a global response in addressing issues of poverty and inequality. "Never before have we had so much and so many powerful tools and the means to take on this challenge," he said.
Sachs presented a chart of the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) affecting several countries around the world. DALYs "are the sum of the years of life lost due to premature mortality in the population and the years lost due to disability," according to the World Health Organization Web site.
In poor and rich countries, DALYs are comparable in cases such as cancer, accidents and cardiovascular diseases. The striking disparity is in three categories: AIDS, infectious diseases and infant mortality.
Sachs presented the startling differences in diseases that are commonly thought to have been eradicated. "There are 8,000 children dying of measles (in poor countries), while essentially no children die of measles in the rich countries."
Sachs spoke briefly about his book, "The End of Poverty," which, according to a March 2005 press release from the Earth Institute, explains "why wealth and poverty have diverged and evolved as they have and why the poorest nations have been so markedly unable to escape the cruel vortex of poverty."
Sachs criticized the way "help" has been given to countries in Africa in the past. "The farm yields are a third or a quarter of the yields achieved by farmers around the world, because African farmers do not have the basic tools needed," Sachs said. "We're not paying attention to the more important fact that Africa needs help growing crops, not the occasional dribble of food from Western farmers."
Sachs stressed that the root of all these problems is poverty. "It's not a lack of caring or focus," Sachs said. "It is an extreme poverty from the village up to the government. It is poverty, not corruption that is a fact of life, except for maybe in Washington."
Sachs argued that instability in poor regions is also due to poverty. "Poverty is the core instigator of war," Sachs said. Illustrating his point, he noted that only two countries come close to Africa's mortality rate of children under 5: Iraq and Afghanistan.
Sachs also called for more research to figure out why Africa is the epicenter of the AIDS pandemic, saying, "Little work has been done to disentangle the reasons."
He also suggested a beginning for the eradication of poverty as well as disease. "This is where the economist comes in. We've got plenty of money in the world," Sachs said. "What would it take to ensure public access to services? About 40 bucks (per) capita in Malawi."
"For less than 1 percent of the income of the rich world, all those basic needs could be met, and this could unlock the economic barriers," Sachs said. "The evidence is that economic development kicks in after these barriers have disappeared."
Ehrlich Sachs works with her husband on the Millennium Village Project, a group seeking to alleviate poverty worldwide that is part of the Earth Institute.
Ehrlich Sachs's speech described how the Millennium Villages Project works. "We've chosen 12 different sites in 10 different countries in Africa, which comprised about 95 percent of different means of livelihood," Ehrlich Sachs said. "We chose one small area which is the sentinel village, studied very closely by monitoring and measuring … before we help communities with interventions."
In villages across Africa, the Millenium Villages Project provides fertilizer that increases nutrient levels and crop returns decreasing cases of malnutrition in African children.
"This increased harvest enables people to have the problem of storage. They no longer have a problem of hunger," Ehrlich Sachs said. "They have enough for themselves, enough for their children and a surplus to create an income which will help them get into other cash-creating opportunities."
This surplus has far-reaching benefits. "From the surplus of their harvest, they donate 10 percent of the excess to the schools, which can offer school lunches. Often the one meal the kids get a day," Ehrlich Sachs said. "The attendance has sky-rocketed, and there has also been a measurable difference in school performance."
ADF approves $29.6 million loan to fight poverty in Rwanda
from The Angola Press
Kigali, Rwanda, The African Development Fund (ADF) board of directors has approved a US$29.6 million loan to finance the Poverty Reduction Budgetary Assistance (ABRP) in Rwanda, according to a statement from the African Development Bank (AfDB) availed to PANA here on Friday.
The operation seeks to help the government implement the fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) to alleviate poverty and improve the provision of services in the country.
The current poverty reduction budgetary assistance covers four key areas- macroeconomic management, public sector reform, wealth creation and social equality. It includes 33 indicators and steps.
Apart from the ABRP Performance Assessment Framework (CEP), which all the stakeholders outline, the ADF will also concentrate its efforts towards the reform of the system of market transfer and debt management.
The contributions in these two key reform areas are still on standby after starting as part of the ADF financial aid under the Programme supporting budget transparency and the report obligation (SFTA), which is expiring.
The progress in these two areas is of paramount importance for the ADF given that it is believed to help it strengthen the reforms implemented as part of the SFTA.
Among the macroeconomic goals, the country targets a 6 percent annual GDP growth, lower inflation rate of less than 10 percent in 2006 and 5 percent in 2007 and 2008, the reduction of the national loan to 1.6 percent of the GDP in 2006, and 0.7 percent in 2007, the control of the foreign debt, which has significantly been reduced in the wake of the recent relief.
The overall estimated cost to implement the FNDP is expected to increase, from a basic US$12.5 billion to nearly US$14.5 billion. The CDMT and the annual budgets are expected to permanently mirror the priorities spelt out in the FNDP and the development partners to increase their aid in line with the international commitments made by the G8.
The long-term financial needs are included in the CDMT for 2006- 08. The total amount of the expenditure needs planed for the period are estimated at about US$9.484 billion.
Kigali, Rwanda, The African Development Fund (ADF) board of directors has approved a US$29.6 million loan to finance the Poverty Reduction Budgetary Assistance (ABRP) in Rwanda, according to a statement from the African Development Bank (AfDB) availed to PANA here on Friday.
The operation seeks to help the government implement the fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) to alleviate poverty and improve the provision of services in the country.
The current poverty reduction budgetary assistance covers four key areas- macroeconomic management, public sector reform, wealth creation and social equality. It includes 33 indicators and steps.
Apart from the ABRP Performance Assessment Framework (CEP), which all the stakeholders outline, the ADF will also concentrate its efforts towards the reform of the system of market transfer and debt management.
The contributions in these two key reform areas are still on standby after starting as part of the ADF financial aid under the Programme supporting budget transparency and the report obligation (SFTA), which is expiring.
The progress in these two areas is of paramount importance for the ADF given that it is believed to help it strengthen the reforms implemented as part of the SFTA.
Among the macroeconomic goals, the country targets a 6 percent annual GDP growth, lower inflation rate of less than 10 percent in 2006 and 5 percent in 2007 and 2008, the reduction of the national loan to 1.6 percent of the GDP in 2006, and 0.7 percent in 2007, the control of the foreign debt, which has significantly been reduced in the wake of the recent relief.
The overall estimated cost to implement the FNDP is expected to increase, from a basic US$12.5 billion to nearly US$14.5 billion. The CDMT and the annual budgets are expected to permanently mirror the priorities spelt out in the FNDP and the development partners to increase their aid in line with the international commitments made by the G8.
The long-term financial needs are included in the CDMT for 2006- 08. The total amount of the expenditure needs planed for the period are estimated at about US$9.484 billion.
Million Scots in poverty, claims report
from The Scotsman
EBEN HARRELL
ALMOST 20 per cent of all Scots - nearly one million people - are living in poverty, according to a report to be published today.
More than 200,000 of these impoverished Scots are "working poor" - employed, but unable to make a living wage, the report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation finds.
The report uses an EU-endorsed definition of relative poverty - an income less than 60 per cent of the national average - different from the type of absolute poverty found in the third world.
Even so, the report paints a bleak picture of the estimated 900,000 children, adults and pensioners struggling to make ends meet; the annual income after tax for an impoverished single adult, according to the report's definition of poverty, is £5,000 a year.
The report, titled Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Scotland, highlights several successes in Scotland, which last year met the UK government's target set in 1998 to reduce child poverty by a quarter. Across the UK as a whole, the target was missed. Since the mid-1990s, the poverty rate for pensioners has also come down in Scotland from about 28 per cent to 18 per cent.
On the whole, Scotland, with its population of just over five million, slightly exceeds all UK-wide averages for poverty indicators. The report credits government initiatives such as reduced tax credits and out-of-work benefits for the successes. But its authors also criticise the Executive and Westminster for ignoring the 216,000 Scots who remain poor despite having jobs. Most of these "working poor" are women who take low-paying part-time jobs.
Guy Palmer, a director of the New Policy Institute think tank and one of the authors, said: "What this report shows is that where the government wants something to happen, it can make a difference. That's why I get a bit worked up over the working poor. Westminster should be looking at raising the minimum wage and the Executive should be leading the way by ensuring all of its employees make living wages."
A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "This report highlights some clear successes in the work of the Executive and statistics across the board speak for themselves.
"However, there is still work to be done. We are tackling poverty in Scotland through our Closing the Opportunity Gap approach, and working with the UK government on our target to eliminate child poverty by 2020. We want to prevent individuals and families from falling into poverty; provide routes out of poverty; and sustain individuals and families in a lifestyle free from poverty."
Tam Baillie, of Barnardo's Scotland, said: "The government should be given credit for moving significant numbers of children out of poverty. But it's a disgrace that one of the richest countries in the world still has families living in poverty. The government has to redouble its efforts to assist those families who are in deepest poverty."
EBEN HARRELL
ALMOST 20 per cent of all Scots - nearly one million people - are living in poverty, according to a report to be published today.
More than 200,000 of these impoverished Scots are "working poor" - employed, but unable to make a living wage, the report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation finds.
The report uses an EU-endorsed definition of relative poverty - an income less than 60 per cent of the national average - different from the type of absolute poverty found in the third world.
Even so, the report paints a bleak picture of the estimated 900,000 children, adults and pensioners struggling to make ends meet; the annual income after tax for an impoverished single adult, according to the report's definition of poverty, is £5,000 a year.
The report, titled Monitoring Poverty and Social Exclusion in Scotland, highlights several successes in Scotland, which last year met the UK government's target set in 1998 to reduce child poverty by a quarter. Across the UK as a whole, the target was missed. Since the mid-1990s, the poverty rate for pensioners has also come down in Scotland from about 28 per cent to 18 per cent.
On the whole, Scotland, with its population of just over five million, slightly exceeds all UK-wide averages for poverty indicators. The report credits government initiatives such as reduced tax credits and out-of-work benefits for the successes. But its authors also criticise the Executive and Westminster for ignoring the 216,000 Scots who remain poor despite having jobs. Most of these "working poor" are women who take low-paying part-time jobs.
Guy Palmer, a director of the New Policy Institute think tank and one of the authors, said: "What this report shows is that where the government wants something to happen, it can make a difference. That's why I get a bit worked up over the working poor. Westminster should be looking at raising the minimum wage and the Executive should be leading the way by ensuring all of its employees make living wages."
A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "This report highlights some clear successes in the work of the Executive and statistics across the board speak for themselves.
"However, there is still work to be done. We are tackling poverty in Scotland through our Closing the Opportunity Gap approach, and working with the UK government on our target to eliminate child poverty by 2020. We want to prevent individuals and families from falling into poverty; provide routes out of poverty; and sustain individuals and families in a lifestyle free from poverty."
Tam Baillie, of Barnardo's Scotland, said: "The government should be given credit for moving significant numbers of children out of poverty. But it's a disgrace that one of the richest countries in the world still has families living in poverty. The government has to redouble its efforts to assist those families who are in deepest poverty."
HIV Discrimination in UK Causing Poverty
from Christian Today
by Anne Thomas
Hate crime and discrimination against people with HIV in the UK are driving some into poverty and isolation, according to a report by the National Aids Trust and Crusaid charities.
The study, which was launched to mark World Aids Day on Friday, also blamed government policies on asylum for causing poverty.
The government said adequate levels of support were being provided.
The report said that since Crusaid was established in 1986, one in three people diagnosed with HIV had turned to the Crusaid Hardship Fund for support.
In the past four years, applications from those in the most extreme poverty had risen by 33 per cent, the report said.
In 2005, the average income of applicants to the Hardship Fund fell to £60 per week, while the number of applications for basic needs such as food and clothing has risen.
The report also said restrictions on asylum seekers' rights to work
and benefits were fuelling the problem.
It said many HIV positive asylum seekers were living in
substandard housing and were unable to afford basic food and clothing.
Deborah Jack, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, said: "It's shocking that one in three of all people diagnosed with HIV in the UK have experienced real poverty.
"Much of this poverty arises from government policy decisions and from continuing discrimination in society.
"Urgent action is needed to end the unjust burden of poverty on so many people living with HIV - our report sets out a clear agenda to make this happen.”
On World AIDS Day last Friday, more than 250 young adults in Northern Ireland helped Christian relief agency Tearfund launch their new Work a Miracle appeal at the Strand cinema, Belfast.
The appeal aims to help HIV-infected women get access to medicines and information that will prevent their babies being born with the disease.
by Anne Thomas
Hate crime and discrimination against people with HIV in the UK are driving some into poverty and isolation, according to a report by the National Aids Trust and Crusaid charities.
The study, which was launched to mark World Aids Day on Friday, also blamed government policies on asylum for causing poverty.
The government said adequate levels of support were being provided.
The report said that since Crusaid was established in 1986, one in three people diagnosed with HIV had turned to the Crusaid Hardship Fund for support.
In the past four years, applications from those in the most extreme poverty had risen by 33 per cent, the report said.
In 2005, the average income of applicants to the Hardship Fund fell to £60 per week, while the number of applications for basic needs such as food and clothing has risen.
The report also said restrictions on asylum seekers' rights to work
and benefits were fuelling the problem.
It said many HIV positive asylum seekers were living in
substandard housing and were unable to afford basic food and clothing.
Deborah Jack, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, said: "It's shocking that one in three of all people diagnosed with HIV in the UK have experienced real poverty.
"Much of this poverty arises from government policy decisions and from continuing discrimination in society.
"Urgent action is needed to end the unjust burden of poverty on so many people living with HIV - our report sets out a clear agenda to make this happen.”
On World AIDS Day last Friday, more than 250 young adults in Northern Ireland helped Christian relief agency Tearfund launch their new Work a Miracle appeal at the Strand cinema, Belfast.
The appeal aims to help HIV-infected women get access to medicines and information that will prevent their babies being born with the disease.
Remittances cut down poverty in Kerala; consumption up
from The Hindustan Times
Private foreign remittances have drastically cut down poverty level in Kerala to 12.70 per cent in 2000 from 52.22 per cent in 1977, taking the per capita consumption in the state to one of the highest in the country.
"Kerala has registered one of the most dramatic falls in the incidence of poverty during 1977 to 2000. The earnings from abroad enabled the households to improve their economic status," SAARC Regional Poverty Profile 2005 said.
The improvement in economic status of the households has been closely associated with the duration of stay of migrant workers outside the state.
Households, which showed an improvement in economic status, typically, had a migrant worker outside the country for about 10 years, the report said.
These earnings also enabled them to purchase land improving their asset-base and enhancing income potential, it said.
Significantly, remittances led to improvement in consumption expenditure and health indicators continued even during the period of sluggish economic growth.
However, migration has created many social problems like desertion and violence against women, besides emergence of stress-related diseases.
"These negatives need to be managed through efforts of civil society," the SAARC report said.
Private foreign remittances have drastically cut down poverty level in Kerala to 12.70 per cent in 2000 from 52.22 per cent in 1977, taking the per capita consumption in the state to one of the highest in the country.
"Kerala has registered one of the most dramatic falls in the incidence of poverty during 1977 to 2000. The earnings from abroad enabled the households to improve their economic status," SAARC Regional Poverty Profile 2005 said.
The improvement in economic status of the households has been closely associated with the duration of stay of migrant workers outside the state.
Households, which showed an improvement in economic status, typically, had a migrant worker outside the country for about 10 years, the report said.
These earnings also enabled them to purchase land improving their asset-base and enhancing income potential, it said.
Significantly, remittances led to improvement in consumption expenditure and health indicators continued even during the period of sluggish economic growth.
However, migration has created many social problems like desertion and violence against women, besides emergence of stress-related diseases.
"These negatives need to be managed through efforts of civil society," the SAARC report said.
Narrow the "digital divide" to fight poverty, Hong Kong urges
from Yahoo News via AFP
HONG KONG (AFP) - Government regulators worldwide must close the "digital divide" that bars poor communities from benefiting from the hi-tech revolution, Hong Kong's financial chief has urged.
Speaking at the opening day of the International Telecom Union's (ITU) three-yearly trade show, Telecom World, financial secretary Henry Tang said information and communication technology were key to lifting communities out of poverty.
"One of the questions is how can we ensure that the digital world is open to all?" he asked delegates to the world's largest telecom expo.
"There are many people throughout this world who may be deprived of the opportunity to access information digitally and process that into knowledge," he said.
"In my view it is squarely governments' responsibilties to reduce this digital divide in a modern and progressive society."
Tang's comments are likely to spark debate in Hong Kong over the government's role in the economy at a time when critics say the China-backed administration is moving the city away from its traditional laissez faire policies.
This year's trade show, the first time it has been held outside of the ITU's Geneva home, will emphasise the role technology can play in alleviating poverty.
At the opening ceremony Sunday, Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus whose Grameen microcredit bank has brought business opportunities to millions of poor women in his native Bangladesh, said private enterprise had the answer.
He announced a tie-in with major telecom firms to bring IT centres and Internet connections to poor villages.
"(Technology) has become a fast track for getting out of poverty," Yunus said.
HONG KONG (AFP) - Government regulators worldwide must close the "digital divide" that bars poor communities from benefiting from the hi-tech revolution, Hong Kong's financial chief has urged.
Speaking at the opening day of the International Telecom Union's (ITU) three-yearly trade show, Telecom World, financial secretary Henry Tang said information and communication technology were key to lifting communities out of poverty.
"One of the questions is how can we ensure that the digital world is open to all?" he asked delegates to the world's largest telecom expo.
"There are many people throughout this world who may be deprived of the opportunity to access information digitally and process that into knowledge," he said.
"In my view it is squarely governments' responsibilties to reduce this digital divide in a modern and progressive society."
Tang's comments are likely to spark debate in Hong Kong over the government's role in the economy at a time when critics say the China-backed administration is moving the city away from its traditional laissez faire policies.
This year's trade show, the first time it has been held outside of the ITU's Geneva home, will emphasise the role technology can play in alleviating poverty.
At the opening ceremony Sunday, Nobel laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus whose Grameen microcredit bank has brought business opportunities to millions of poor women in his native Bangladesh, said private enterprise had the answer.
He announced a tie-in with major telecom firms to bring IT centres and Internet connections to poor villages.
"(Technology) has become a fast track for getting out of poverty," Yunus said.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Poverty leaves Filipinos vulnerable to typhoons
from The Monterey Herald
By OLIVER TEVES
PADANG, Philippines - Doomed by geography and hobbled by poverty, the Philippines has long struggled to minimize damage from the onslaught of typhoons it faces each year.
But the high death tolls and destruction persist, with the latest storm killing more than 300 people and leaving 300 missing in the northern Philippines. Hopes for finding survivors virtually vanished Sunday, and the Red Cross said it feared the death toll could reach 700.
Typhoon Durian was the fourth major storm to hit the country in four months. It buffeted the Mayon volcano with so much wind and rain that ash and boulders cascaded down in walls of black mud that swamped entire villages on Thursday.
The Philippines' location in the northwestern Pacific often makes it the region's welcome mat for typhoons.
''We are often the first to experience typhoons before they go to China, Taiwan and Japan,'' said Thelma Cinco, senior weather specialist of the Philippine weather bureau.
Durian, named after a thorny fruit with a powerful odor that many find offensive, blew away roofs, toppled trees and power lines and sent tons of rocks and volcanic ash down Mayon, the region's most famous landmark about 210 miles southeast of Manila.
Rescuers scouring mountain villages buried under mud and boulders discovered more bodies Saturday, and prospects for finding any of the 300 missing people alive were fading.
The first funerals were held Saturday evening as bodies rapidly decomposed in the tropical heat.
In the town of Padang, only rooftops protruded from the mud and debris. Power pylons were toppled, a two-lane highway became a one-lane road strewn with debris and overturned trucks.
Silangan Santander, 21, attended funeral services for her brother, Larry, whose widow was five months pregnant. Only his lower torso and legs were found near the sea. Another brother was missing.
''In the community where my brother lived, all the houses there were gone,'' she said. ''There are only rocks, sand and water.''
The sound of boulders crashing down Mayon's slopes ''were like thunder, and the ground shook,'' she said. ''We thought it would be our end.''
The Red Cross appealed for food, tents, water, blankets, mats, mosquito nets and body bags. Canada donated $876,000 while Japan said it would send $173,000, the Philippine government said.
Nationwide, at least 2,892 people have been killed and 909 have gone missing in storms between 2001-05, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Damage has totaled $521 million.
The calamities came despite preparations and measures to mitigate the damage.
Anthony Golez, the council's deputy chief said the people of the Philippines need to be better informed about disaster preparedness.
He said Filipinos should be ''bombarded'' with disaster information, including stories of the Indian Ocean tsunami two years ago and the February 2006 landslide in the central Philippine village of Guinsaugon that killed more than 1,000.
''They have to get scared, or else,'' he said. ''We have to give them the reality, and it's a sad reality. We have to tell them the truth.''
But beyond preparedness, Golez said too many people live close to danger zones like mountainsides or riverbanks.
''They are pushed there because they do not have any choice. If you develop their economy, then they would have more options,'' he said.
Sen. Richard Gordon, who heads the Philippine National Red Cross, said better planning is needed.
''We have to break the cycle of disaster and poverty by being smarter, by being sure we can plan our community smarter,'' he said. ''The big problem here in our country is we don't plan our communities. It's every man for himself.''
He said the government has money for disaster mitigation but that politicians look to building projects that last only long enough for people to remember them during election campaigns.
Mayor Jessie Robredo of Naga city in Camarines Sur, a province in the Bicol region often hit by typhoons, said his people are used to the yearly storms and began bracing for Durian a week before it arrived. The result was ''zero casualty'' this time, he said.
But he laments that emergency funds, used to help his constituents get back on their feet after typhoons, could be used for economic projects.
''We would have been more progressive, more productive,'' he said. ''The worst part of a typhoon is that instead of using our funds for livelihood, we use them for relief to help people rebuild their lives. Instead of building infrastructures, we repair buildings.''
The cycle seems unlikely to break soon.
''The people of Naga are very resilient,'' Robredo said. ''Typhoons are like a way of life, a part of life. We do not like them, but our attitude is that there is still another day and we will rise again.''
By OLIVER TEVES
PADANG, Philippines - Doomed by geography and hobbled by poverty, the Philippines has long struggled to minimize damage from the onslaught of typhoons it faces each year.
But the high death tolls and destruction persist, with the latest storm killing more than 300 people and leaving 300 missing in the northern Philippines. Hopes for finding survivors virtually vanished Sunday, and the Red Cross said it feared the death toll could reach 700.
Typhoon Durian was the fourth major storm to hit the country in four months. It buffeted the Mayon volcano with so much wind and rain that ash and boulders cascaded down in walls of black mud that swamped entire villages on Thursday.
The Philippines' location in the northwestern Pacific often makes it the region's welcome mat for typhoons.
''We are often the first to experience typhoons before they go to China, Taiwan and Japan,'' said Thelma Cinco, senior weather specialist of the Philippine weather bureau.
Durian, named after a thorny fruit with a powerful odor that many find offensive, blew away roofs, toppled trees and power lines and sent tons of rocks and volcanic ash down Mayon, the region's most famous landmark about 210 miles southeast of Manila.
Rescuers scouring mountain villages buried under mud and boulders discovered more bodies Saturday, and prospects for finding any of the 300 missing people alive were fading.
The first funerals were held Saturday evening as bodies rapidly decomposed in the tropical heat.
In the town of Padang, only rooftops protruded from the mud and debris. Power pylons were toppled, a two-lane highway became a one-lane road strewn with debris and overturned trucks.
Silangan Santander, 21, attended funeral services for her brother, Larry, whose widow was five months pregnant. Only his lower torso and legs were found near the sea. Another brother was missing.
''In the community where my brother lived, all the houses there were gone,'' she said. ''There are only rocks, sand and water.''
The sound of boulders crashing down Mayon's slopes ''were like thunder, and the ground shook,'' she said. ''We thought it would be our end.''
The Red Cross appealed for food, tents, water, blankets, mats, mosquito nets and body bags. Canada donated $876,000 while Japan said it would send $173,000, the Philippine government said.
Nationwide, at least 2,892 people have been killed and 909 have gone missing in storms between 2001-05, according to the National Disaster Coordinating Council. Damage has totaled $521 million.
The calamities came despite preparations and measures to mitigate the damage.
Anthony Golez, the council's deputy chief said the people of the Philippines need to be better informed about disaster preparedness.
He said Filipinos should be ''bombarded'' with disaster information, including stories of the Indian Ocean tsunami two years ago and the February 2006 landslide in the central Philippine village of Guinsaugon that killed more than 1,000.
''They have to get scared, or else,'' he said. ''We have to give them the reality, and it's a sad reality. We have to tell them the truth.''
But beyond preparedness, Golez said too many people live close to danger zones like mountainsides or riverbanks.
''They are pushed there because they do not have any choice. If you develop their economy, then they would have more options,'' he said.
Sen. Richard Gordon, who heads the Philippine National Red Cross, said better planning is needed.
''We have to break the cycle of disaster and poverty by being smarter, by being sure we can plan our community smarter,'' he said. ''The big problem here in our country is we don't plan our communities. It's every man for himself.''
He said the government has money for disaster mitigation but that politicians look to building projects that last only long enough for people to remember them during election campaigns.
Mayor Jessie Robredo of Naga city in Camarines Sur, a province in the Bicol region often hit by typhoons, said his people are used to the yearly storms and began bracing for Durian a week before it arrived. The result was ''zero casualty'' this time, he said.
But he laments that emergency funds, used to help his constituents get back on their feet after typhoons, could be used for economic projects.
''We would have been more progressive, more productive,'' he said. ''The worst part of a typhoon is that instead of using our funds for livelihood, we use them for relief to help people rebuild their lives. Instead of building infrastructures, we repair buildings.''
The cycle seems unlikely to break soon.
''The people of Naga are very resilient,'' Robredo said. ''Typhoons are like a way of life, a part of life. We do not like them, but our attitude is that there is still another day and we will rise again.''
Child Care Assistance in 2005: State Cuts Contuinue
Hello Everyone, here is a link to a study conducted by the Center for Law and Social Policy. Child Care Assistance in 2005: State Cuts Contuinue - Kale
The study finds that state spending on child care assistance declined in 2005 for the second consecutive year. Twenty-two states made cuts to their child care programs, as the number of children living in low-income families that received help from these programs continued to decline. Many families turn to child care assistance programs to get help paying for the child care they need in order to work and to succeed.
The study finds that state spending on child care assistance declined in 2005 for the second consecutive year. Twenty-two states made cuts to their child care programs, as the number of children living in low-income families that received help from these programs continued to decline. Many families turn to child care assistance programs to get help paying for the child care they need in order to work and to succeed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
