Democratic Governance progress in Africa
Over the last two decades, as a result of intense national and regional efforts to institutionalize democracy in Africa, the continent has seen a virtual sea of change in governance, creating opportunities for citizens’ engagement in public affairs, increasing government accountability, and improving macro-economic policy-making. Between 2010 and 2011, African countries conducted a record of 40 elections, resulting in a...
Poverty Reduction and the MDGs
Over the past decade, Sub-Saharan Africa’s impressive economic performance has resulted in marginal poverty reduction, with the proportion of people living on less than US$ 1.25 a day decreasing from 56.5 percent in 1990 to 47.5 percent in 2008.
Poverty in Africa Begins With a Lack of Clean Water
The lack of water is an often insurmountable obstacle to helping oneself. You can't grow food, you can't build housing, you can't stay healthy, you can't stay in school and you can't keep working. Without clean water, the possibility of breaking out of the cycle of poverty is incredibly slim. With unclean water sources often miles from villages, many of the...
Foreign demand for beef, soybeans adds pressure on Amazon forest
Rising foreign demand for beef and soybeans will tempt Brazil to clear more of the Amazon rainforest, in a reversal of recent success in slowing forest losses, a study said on Thursday. About 30 percent of deforestation in Brazil in the decade to 2010 was due to farmers and ranchers seeking land to expand export production of beef and soybeans,...
African nations increase farm spending, winning poverty battle
President Barack Obama hosts the leaders of four African nations this week, all of which are cited in a new report for effectively increasing spending on agriculture to combat extreme poverty and hunger. The report by the ONE Campaign, an anti-poverty group co-founded by Irish rockers Bono and Bob Geldof, said Senegal, Malawi, Cape Verde and Sierra Leone either met...
Africa’s boom not denting poverty enough, economists say
Fast-paced African countries may have growth rates that are the envy of developed economies, but the continent’s boom has failed in recent years to significantly dent poverty levels, economists say. Sub-Saharan Africa is set to grow by 5.6 percent this year, according to latest figures from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with 18 countries hitting at least six percent. “Sub-Saharan Africa...
Transforming to create jobs and end poverty in Africa
Africa today presents a mixed picture. Economic growth is defying expectations. Yet, the continent as a whole is short of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for 2015. The challenge then is to make growth equitable and strengthen policy interventions for reducing poverty. The question is how? The answer is the structural transformation of African economies. The MDGs have succeeded remarkably...
Poverty
Relative poverty is a term used on the news to mean people who have less money than those living around them. This term is generally used when talking, for example about "UK child poverty". (Politicians even argue about whether such differences in wealth are a good or bad thing.) Absolute poverty is different. Some people are much poorer. For them, a whole...
Africa Hunger and Poverty Facts
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 239 million people in sub-Saharan Africa were hungry/undernourished in 2010 (its most recent estimate). 925 million people were hungry worldwide. Africa was the continent with the second largest number of hungry people, as Asia and the Pacific had 578 million, principally due to the much larger population of Asia when compared...
NO EASY SOLUTIONS IN GUATEMALA
There are no easy solutions in Guatamala. The majority of the country’s indigenous population lives in poverty and oppression. The conditions for human rights and a society ruled by law are poor. CHALLENGES Even though Guatemala is rich in resources, half of the country’s almost 14 million inhabitants live below the poverty line. The majority of the poor belong to the...
