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JOMO KENYATTA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE AND TECHNOLOGY HSD 2102 : Development Studies and Social Ethics Instructor: Awuor

Ponge. POVERTY AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT What is poverty? Poverty is the central focus in community development agenda. In the world's poorest countries, only 34% of people have access to safe drinking water, while 1 in 5 people in developing countries (about 780 million people) lacks enough food to meet basic daily needs. Poverty is more than the absence of material means or basic services, such as a lack of food, shelter, clean water, education or health. Poverty creates powerlessness to determine the quality of life, and compounds vulnerability when conflict or natural disaster strikes. Although the proportion of people living below the poverty line has fallen since the mid-1980s, the absolute number of poor people has risen to 1.3 billion -- 8 per cent more than in the mid-1980s. Most suffering is avoidable, being caused either by the direct action of others or indirectly through injustice, selfishness, inequality, neglect, or environmental and socio-economic imbalance. Relative poverty is determined within comparative socio-economic parameters defined by a given community or society. Absolute poverty is the condition in which those affected live below international poverty line as determined by United Nations (1 US dollar per day). Mass poverty is where poverty exists as a widespread phenomenon whereby everybody in a given community is considered poor. * Refer to Human Development Report 2001 Kenya: Addressing Social and Economic Disparities published by the UNDP. Box 2.2: Some basic definitions of poverty in Kenya e.g., Absolute poverty, Food poverty, Hardcore poverty and Human poverty. [Make notes on this] Equilibrium of poverty: This concept advances the assumption that gains made from the efforts of the poor people to disentangle themselves from the shackles of poverty are quickly lost as a result of their vulnerable living conditions. This concept advocates that the more the poor people try to create wealth for themselves, the more they lose as a result of social and economic structures of exploitation. Even though we may not be able to eradicate poverty (literally), we have the
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responsibility to lessen the magnitude of suffering and the adverse effects of the scourge. Deprivation Trap holds that the poor are powerless and vulnerable to all kinds of abuse. They are also physically weak and isolated. Conversely, because they are powerless, vulnerable, physically weak and isolated, therefore they are poor. This theory advocates that the quality of human life can only be assessed from the platform of wellbeing and ill-being; where wellbeing is measured in bodily wellbeing, social wellbeing, security, freedom of choice and action and material wellbeing. Physical ill-being hunger and poor health; Social ill-being social exclusion; Vulnerability insecurity, fear and defenselessness; Powerlessness frustration and anger; Material lack food, housing and productive assets. There are three major factors that influence poverty namely: (a) Poverty and the International Economic System: Debt repayments continue to impose a huge burden on the poorest countries. In 1989, developing nations paid US$52 billion more to the developed world in interest payments on debt, than they received in aid and new loans. The economic reform programs devised by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank are contributing in many countries to the worsening plight of the poor through rising unemployment, higher prices and cuts in vital social services. (b) Poverty & the Environment: Inequitable land holding, corrupt and inadequate governments and increasing conflict all add to the burden of the poorest. Environmental degradation, undermining the livelihoods of poor women and men, is both a cause and an effect of poverty. (c) Poverty and the Gender Aspect: Although women form over half the world's population, they receive only a small share of development opportunities. Two thirds of the world's illiterate population is women.

Types of causes of poverty:


Individual: Poverty is explained by individual circumstances and/or characterstics of poor people. Some examples are: amount of education, skill, experience, intelligence. health, handicaps, age. work orientation, time horizon, culture of poverty. discrimination, together with race, sex, etc. Aggregate: Poverty can either be the sum of individual poverty, or it is poverty as explained by general, economy-wide problems, such as: inadequate employment opportunities
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inadequate overall demand (macro problems, macro policy) low national income (Less Developed Country)

Causes and Factors of Poverty: Poverty on a world scale has many historical causes: colonialism, slavery, war and conquest. Poverty as a social problem is a deeply embedded wound that permeates every dimension of culture and society. It includes sustained low levels of income for members of a community. It includes a lack of access to services like education, markets, health care, lack of decision making ability, and lack of communal facilities like water, sanitation, roads, transportation, and communications. Furthermore, it is a "poverty of spirit," that allows members of that community to believe in and share despair, hopelessness, apathy, and timidity. Poverty, especially the factors that contribute to it, is a social problem, and its solution is social.

Ignorance: Ignorance means having a lack of information, or lack of knowledge. It is different from stupidity which is lack of intelligence, and different from foolishness which is lack of wisdom. The three are often mixed up and assumed to be the same by some people. Disease: When a community has a high disease rate, absenteeism is high, productivity is low, and less wealth is created. Apart from the misery, discomfort and death that
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results from disease, it is also a major factor in poverty in a community. Being well (well-being) not only helps the individuals who are healthy, it contributes to the eradication of poverty in the community. Apathy: Apathy is when people do not care, or when they feel so powerless that they do not try to change things, to right a wrong, to fix a mistake, or to improve conditions. Dishonesty: When resources that are intended to be used for community services or facilities, are diverted into the private pockets of someone in a position of power, there is more than morality at stake here. Dependency: Dependency results from being on the receiving end of charity. In the short run, as after a disaster, that charity may be essential for survival. In the long run, that charity can contribute to the possible demise of the recipient, and certainly to ongoing poverty. These five factors are not independent of one another. Disease contributes to ignorance and apathy. Dishonesty contributes to disease and dependency. And so on. They each contribute to each other.

Acute causes of poverty:

Warfare: The material and human destruction caused by warfare is a major development problem. Agricultural Cycles: People who rely on fruits and vegetables that they produce for household food consumption (subsistence farmers) often go through cycles of relative abundance and scarcity. Droughts and Flooding: Besides the immediate destruction caused by natural events such as hurricanes, environmental forces often cause acute periods of crisis by destroying crops and animals. Natural Disasters: Natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes have devastated communities throughout the world. Developing countries often suffer much more extensive and acute crises at the hands of natural disasters, because limited resources inhibit the construction of adequate housing, infrastructure, and mechanisms for responding to crises.

Entrenched factors associated with poverty:

Colonial Histories: One of the most important barriers to development in poor countries is lack of uniform, basic infrastructure, such as roads and
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means of communication. In most countries with a history of colonization, the colonizers developed local economies to facilitate the expropriation of resources for their own economic growth and development.

Centralization of Power: In many developing countries, political power is disproportionately centralized. This often causes development problems. For example, in these situations politicians make decisions about places that they are unfamiliar with, lacking sufficient knowledge about the context to design effective and appropriate policies and programs. Corruption: Corruption often accompanies centralization of power, when leaders are not accountable to those they serve. Most directly, corruption inhibits development when leaders help themselves to money that would otherwise be used for development projects. Warfare: Warfare contributes to more entrenched poverty by diverting scarce resources from fighting poverty to maintaining a military. Environmental degradation: The negative impacts of environmental degradation are disproportionately felt by the poor. Throughout the developing world, the poor often rely on natural resources to meet their basic needs through agricultural production and gathering resources essential for household maintenance, such as water, firewood, and wild plants for consumption and medicine. Thus, the depletion and contamination of water sources directly threaten the livelihoods of those who depend on them. Social Inequality: One of the more entrenched sources of poverty throughout the world is social inequality that stems from cultural ideas about the relative worth of different genders, races, ethnic groups, and social classes. Ascribed inequality works by placing individuals in different social categories at birth, often based on religious, ethnic, or 'racial' characteristics.

Addressing the Underlying Causes of Poverty:

Share the benefits of economic growth through an emphasis on more widespread employment. Government policies should consider not only aggregate economic impact but also the distribution of employment. Socially responsible venture capital and microcredit initiatives can foster employmentgenerating businesses that complement the local culture and environment. Rout out corruption, which harms society as a whole. Corruption, both in government and business, places heavy cost on society. Citizens must demand greater transparency on the part of both government and the corporate sector and create reform movements where needed. Broaden access to education and technology among marginalized groups, and especially among girls and women. The educational
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attainment of women has strong bearing on the well-being of their families, and efforts to improve education for women and girls must be strengthened.

Improve government capacity to provide universal access to essential goods and services, including potable water, affordable food, primary health care, education, housing and other social services.

Facts About World Hunger:

The world produces enough food to feed everyone. World agriculture produces 17 percent more calories per person today than it did 30 years ago, despite a 70 percent population increase. This is enough to provide everyone in the world with at least 2,720 kilocalories (kcal) per person per day). The principal problem is that many people in the world do not have sufficient land to grow, or income to purchase, enough food. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization 2002, FAO 1998. There are 1.2 billion poor people in developing countries who live on $1 a day or less. Of these, 780 million suffer from chronic hunger, which means that their daily intake of calories is insufficient for them to lead active and healthy lives. Source: Food and Agriculture Organization 2002, FAO 1998. Protein-energy malnutrition (PEM) affects every fourth child worldwide: 150 million (26.7%) are underweight while 182 million (32.5%) are stunted. Geographically, more than 70% of PEM children live in Asia, 26% in Africa and 4% in Latin America and the Caribbean. Their plight may well have begun even before birth with a malnourished mother. Source: World Health Organization, 2002.

IMPORTANT: Refer to Human Development Report 2001 Kenya: Addressing Social and Economic Disparities published by the UNDP. Read and make notes on the following: 1. Page 9 Box 1.1: Socio-Economic Characteristics of Vulnerable Groups; 2. Page 11 Box 1.2: Kenyan Perceptions of Human Development Challenges; 3. Page 18 21Human Development and Poverty. Special emphasis should be made on: The Concept of human poverty; Human poverty index; Human poverty in Kenya; Box 2.2: Some basic definitions of poverty in Kenya e.g., Absolute poverty, Food poverty, Hardcore poverty and Human poverty.

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