What Are Some Solutions to Extreme Poverty?
The Borgen Project lists several hidden impacts of extreme poverty:
- “Almost 3 billion people with no access to toilets, and almost 1 billion lacking clean drinking water.
- “The poorest 20 percent of the world’s children twice as likely as the richest 20 percent to be stunted by poor nutrition and to die before their fifth birthday.
- “2.7 million newborns worldwide die within their first month of life.
- “161 million children do not attend primary school.”1
It is noteworthy that since 1990, nearly 1.1 billion people have lifted themselves out of extreme poverty.2 How was this done? What were the solutions to extreme poverty for these 1.1 billion people? The World Bank credits “child survival to primary school enrollment, the improvements to people’s lives have advanced with a momentum that few could have imagined when the World Bank was founded more than 70 years ago.”
Even with those incredible statistics, it still leaves 1 in 10 of the world’s population below the poverty line.
GFA World is providing solutions across south Asia and parts of Africa.
For example, for $22 you can buy two chickens for a family in south Asia. These chickens will provide eggs that can provide nutritious meals for the family or be sold at the market. Or they can hatch chicks to increase their flock and their number of eggs. The gift of chickens often helps a family get on their feet financially.
Another lifechanging gift is vocational training.
When someone in poverty learns a new income-generating skill like tailoring or candle making, they can begin to provide for their family. These skills provide purpose and encouragement, too. For just $75, you can provide vocational training for a person currently living in poverty.
1 Global Poverty 101. The Borgen Project. borgenproject.org/global-poverty. 2019.
2 Taking on Inequality: Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016. The World Bank. openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/25078/9781464809583.pdf#page=55. 2016.