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The first time I saw the statistic that 1.4 billion people around the world live on less than $1.25 a day I didn’t believe that it could be true. It is hard for anyone who hasn’t lived in extreme poverty to ascertain what it might be like to survive on only two small bowls of rice and vegetables each day.
.jpg) To help residents of Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom to develop a greater understanding of extreme poverty the Global Poverty Project operates the Live Below the Line campaign. Last week from the 7th-11th of May almost 3,000 people in the United Kingdom lived on £1 a day for 5 days, for all food and drink. While doing the challenge participants fundraised for one of 21 partner charities. The campaign was a great success and an excellent opportunity for many people to experience a taste of life in extreme poverty.
We should not underestimate the signifance of the campaign, as it seems that a lack of connection with extreme poverty diminishes interest in government contributions to international development. The National Priorities Project explains that in the United States many citizens feel that cutting the federal aid budget would help loosen the pressure of the financial crisis. American aid as a percentage of GNI is 0.21%, or around $56 billion in Obama’s 2013 budget request. This may sound like a lot of money but in the context of the projected $901 billion deficit for 2013, the figure is quite small.
The media regularly reminds us of the crisis in Somalia as they send the message that aid hinders development. Gerbert van der Aa explains that 66% of aid is harmful or has no positive benefit. While aid is not sustainable or desirable in the long term it can help kick start growth and pave the way for infrastructural developments. Leading economist Jeffery Sachs explains that aid has been instrumental in fostering much of the recent growth in developing countries. To promote growth in the developing world it is imperative that our government’s commitment to aid not be diminished.
That is why the Global Poverty Project led the Protect Point Seven campaign. Global Poverty Ambassadors, many of whom had previously participated in the Live Below the Line campaign, wrote to their MPs to elicit support for maintaining the UK government’s commitment to giving 0.7% of total GNI as development aid. Over 350 pictures and hundreds of letters were sent and several participants had the opportunity to personally thank Shadow Secretary of State for International Development Ivan Lewis MP and Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell MP. When the budget was announced, the Global Poverty Project was delighted to see that the current government has maintained their commitment to 0.7%.
Participating in the Live Below the Line campaign has transformed people’s impressions about the value of development aid and the role that the UK government must play in ending extreme poverty. Changing the way that people approach aid has extensive implications for the capacity of the UK government to address the structural problems that allow poverty to persist. For more information about the Live Below the Line campaign please visit www.livebelowtheline.com. You can still join the campaign and fundraise till the end of June.
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What does a quid have to do with extreme poverty? This week thousands of people across the United Kingdom, including me, are challenging themselves to spend only £1 a day for 5 days for all food and drink. As participants in the Live Below the Line Campaign we will get a taste of life in extreme poverty.
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The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than £1 a day for everything; a lifestyle that 1.4 billion people around the world currently lead. Even though this £1 represents a dramatic reduction in their weekly food bill, participants will not experience many of the other areas of extreme poverty. The Live Below the Line campaign teaches that extreme poverty is about more than just money but is fundamentally about a lack of choice and opportunity.
UNICEF estimates that 101 million children, most of them girls, don’t have the opportunity to access primary education. Poverty is the main reason that children aren’t able to go to school. The cost of school fees, uniforms, bus fares, and textbooks often force parents to choose only some of their children to be educated and girls are frequently left out. UNICEF reports that many parents believe that the contribution a female child can make toward cleaning and cooking outweighs the cost of their education, particularly when there are few skilled jobs available for women.
The Live Below the Line campaign gives participants the opportunity to fundraise for one of 22 partner charities including organisations like Malaria No More UK, RESULTS UK, Restless Development, UNICEF, Salvation Army UK, and Christian Aid. Each of these organisations are on the ground tackling issues of extreme poverty and creating a world where all people have a chance at leading a fulfilling life. If you are interested in the campaign please visit www.livebelowtheline.org/uk
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Food is such a basic yet essential part of daily life. Transportation and enhanced technology allow the developed world to have access to a variety of fresh foods at all times of the year at fairly stable prices. Beyond the façade of the tills and smiling cashiers we rarely have to engage with the farmers in Morocco who produced the strawberries that are on sale 2 for £3.
On 24 September 2011 several world leaders met at the United Nations in New York to discuss strategies that could be developed to end starvation. Discussions led to the emergence of The Charter to End Extreme Hunger which not only acknowledges occurrences of extreme hunger in East Africa but also provides a succinct list of strategies that, if implemented, will bring real solutions. This charter has already been endorsed by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, UN OCHA head Valerie Amos, Norweigan Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim, UNISDR head Margareta Wahlstrom, and UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell.
One of the key components of the charter is the provision of services and protections for the poorest. The Charter to End Extreme Hunger argues that fairer investments paired with social safety nets would keep farmers in developing countries from having to toe the line of extreme poverty.
The recognition of the importance of fairer investments illustrates the interrelation between many aspects of the fight against extreme poverty. The FAO shows that 80% of farmers in Africa are women. In many parts of the world female farmers do not have access to credit, irrigation, and infrastructure that is vitally important for developing their farms. UNESCO reports that 49.2% of women in Africa are illiterate. An inability to read makes it very difficult for female African farmers to make wise decisions about which fertilisers to purchase and which farming practises will be best for her. Lack of education and lack of access to credit are systemic problems that prevent African farmers from pulling themselves out of extreme poverty.
The second component of providing services and protections for farmers in developing countries includes direct cash payments for the poorest 10% of the population. While some critics have explained this as a handout to the poor, direct payments actually help stabilise prices and create trust in the market. Direct cash payments involve a government giving a set amount of money to farmers per acre of cropland. Payments are not affected by crop yield and/or market prices. If, for instance, crop prices rise dramatically then farmers will be unable to sell their wares in the market because people wont be able to afford to buy food. This leads to the paradox of food surpluses and massive hunger. It may seem radical, but it happened in Russia in 2011. Alternatively if crop prices fall dramatically then direct payments allow farmers to maintain their income.
The Charter to End Extreme Hunger is based from agriculture programmes that have been successful in the past. ODI explains that the Malawi Government Agricultural Inputs Subsidy Programme of 2006 was instrumental in increasing agricultural productivity and food security. It seems evident that the Charter to End Extreme Hunger will help developing countries to stabilise prices and increase outputs by encouraging the provision of services and protection for the poorest. |
Posted by Judith Rowland in Hunger for column Issue Analysis on Apr 4th, 14:35 |
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Before living abroad in the developing world I had struggled to understand what it meant not to be able to afford enough food.
I knew of the the World Bank’s extreme poverty line, which is defined as living with an average daily consumption under $1.25. I’d assumed that $1.25 would go much further in a developing country than it would here, but I learnt quickly that it doesn’t.
The World Bank’s extreme poverty statistics are calculated using purchasing power parity. This means that economists consider a basket of goods such as rice and beans that are consumed by people everywhere and then compare the costs of such goods around the world. This method allows the World Bank to account for the differences in costs of goods and services in different parts of the world.
I was shocked to discover in my first trip to a developing country, $1.25 is enough to buy only about two bowls of rice with a few vegetables. The limited food options available to those in extreme poverty make them more vulnerable to increased food prices and instability.
On 24 September 2011 several world leaders met to discuss strategies that could be developed to address the recent famine in the Horn of Africa. Discussions led to the emergence of The Charter to End Extreme Hunger, which provides a succinct list of strategies that, if implemented, will bring real solutions.
This charter has been endorsed by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, UN OCHA head Valerie Amos, Norweigan Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim, UNISDR head Margareta Wahlstrom, and UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell.
One area of focus in the charter is to ensure that everyone can afford to buy food. To achieve this goal the Charter commits to “scaling up strategic and emergency food reserves at local, national and regional level, ensuring the governance of these reserves is accountable to the people they are intended to serve.”
Out of fear of corruption and market distortions, food reserves were eliminated or scaled back at the beginning of the millennium. But, it backfired in a big way.
Food prices rose 83% during the food crisis in 2007-08 and the lack of food reserves left millions of people in extreme poverty without enough food. Having emergency food reserves protects against shocks like droughts, fires, and natural disasters. ActionAid explains that maintaining food reserves can prevent famines and that such preventive measures are more cost effective then addressing the outcomes of widespread hunger.
Countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, China, and India have used their food reserves to prevent famine. For example, Bangladesh increased its public food stock in 2008 to spur domestic production, and has occasionally released some of its public stocks at rates below market value to check back against inflated prices and increasing malnutrition.
The Charter to End Extreme Hunger also commits to “tackle the causes of high and volatile food prices by taking action to end biofuel mandates and limiting governments’ use of food export bans.” Taking food export bans as an example, they’re under fire because they cause instability in markets, and drive pries up. In 2010 Russia experienced a heat wave that had dramatic effects on Russian grain production. Russian exporters recognised that the heat wave would increase the price of grain internationally and imposed an export ban that reserved Russian grain for local consumption. Oxfam explains that export bans did not decrease food prices in Russia and that it led to price spikes and food instability.
The Charter to End Extreme Hunger is an ambitious and important call to action. Establishing food reserves and eliminating export bans, two components of the section of the Charter, will help developing countries to protect themselves against dangerous price fluctuations, and ensure that we never again are confronted by a famine of the sort we’re seeing in East Africa at the moment. |
Posted by Judith Rowland in Poverty for column Issue Analysis on Jan 24th, 15:42 |
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I can’t count the number of photos of emaciated children from East Africa that I have seen this year. Headlines citing death tolls in the Horn of Africa have become just another part of most of the United Kingdom’s morning commute. The United Nations estimated in September that 13 million people are currently starving in East Africa and that 750,000 people in Somalia are at risk of dying of hunger. It is time that the international community do something to address this grave problem.
On 24 September 2011 several world leaders met at the United Nations in New York to discuss strategies that could be developed to end starvation. Discussions led to the emergence of The Charter to End Extreme Hunger which not only acknowledges occurrences of extreme hunger in East Africa but also provides a succinct list of strategies that, if implemented, will bring real solutions. This charter has already been endorsed by Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga, UN OCHA head Valerie Amos, Norweigan Minister of the Environment and International Development Erik Solheim, UNISDR head Margareta Wahlstrom, and UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell.
One of the most critical elements of the charter is its promotion of local food production. The charter reads, “Failure to act is costing lives every day as people struggle to deal with shocks such as the changing climate and rocketing food prices. This has to change.” In order to achieve this goal the Charter urges signatories to commit to fulfil the pledges made to the l’Aquilla Food Security Initiative (AFSI), to develop a new plan to decrease malnutrition and food insecurity after AFSI expires in 2012, to spend 10% of national budgets on agricultural development, and to implement global and regional policies already in existence to promote food security for all.
Encouraging local food production may be one of the more challenging tasks of the Charter. The BBC reported on 24 September 2009 that South Korea had signed an agreement with Tanzania where 500 sq km of land in Tanzania would be developed to produce processed goods for South Korea. South Korea has signed similar leasing agreements with countries like Madagascar. The BBC explains that leasing land from poorer countries has helped nations like China, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait to ensure food security for their populations but has limited the ability of lower income countries to grow food on their own land. Decreased food yields have led to greater food instability and higher food prices. As prices increase lower income families have been effectively priced out of eating.
In the wake of early moves toward land-leasing for food production the World Food Programme (WFP) indicated that their 2008 target of feeding 73 million people had become impractical and that the WFP would have to either reduce rations or the number of people it attempted to help. In 2011 the WFP was only able to meet around a fourth of the need for food in Somalia. Incomprehensive performance of the WFP should be a signal to us that something is wrong with our food system.
The Charter to End Extreme Hunger affirms that strong local production is key to fighting malnutrition and food instability. Regional and global strategies, such as AFSI, are present but are not being enforced. The East African famine this year should show us the effect that malnutrition a continent away can have on us. We can’t erase the image of the hundreds of thousands of people suffering from starvation in Somalia but we can take preventive action in the short term to ensure that a crisis of this degree never happens again. |
Posted by Judith Rowland in Poverty for column Issue Analysis on Jan 13th, 15:51 |
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