Introduction to Poverty: Causes, Effects, and Management

Introduction

The dominant Western definition since World War II has defined poverty in monetary terms, using levels of income or consumption to measure poverty. Poverty can be defined in various dimensions depending on the circumstances they are explained in. It can mean households having insufficient resources or income and in an extreme context it can refer to as the lack of basic human needs such as clean water, food, clothing and health services. According to the United Nations Human Development Report, poverty is defined as a complex phenomenon that generally refers to the inadequacy of resources and deprivation of choices that would enable people to enjoy decent living conditions.

According to the World Bank, it delineates poverty as a pronounced deprivation of well-being and it encompasses various factors. People living in poverty might have low incomes and therefore unable to purchase basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty brings the poor to low levels of health and education, lack of clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life. To discuss the issue of poverty, this essay analyzes global trends, causes, effects, and management of poverty.

Global trends of poverty

Poverty in Europe

According to a research done in London by Social research and planning on April 2008, it was discovered that the Child poverty is not independent of family poverty. The financial stress experienced by families living with low-income has contributed to the doubling of the number of children served by the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) – almost double the number of children admitted to CAS care in 2001 were living in low-income compared to 1995.

The low-income rate for families is lower than that of single individuals: 13% of economic families in London live with low income. This rate is consistent with the national average and one percentage point higher than Ontario’s rate (12%). In 2001, there were 7,965 families with children under the age of 18 living with low-income. One in six (15%) of London’s working age families live with low-income. This is higher than both the provincial and national averages (13% and 14%, respectively).

Low-income rates vary by family type. Lone parent families, unattached singles and unattached seniors have higher low-income rates compared to other family types. Families with children have higher low-income rates than families without children: 11% of couples with children have low-income and 47% of lone parents live with low-income. Families with children comprise 68% of all low-income families.

Poverty in Africa

The latest estimates from the World Bank suggest that the share of the African population in extreme poverty did decline from 56 percent in 1990 to 43 percent in 2012. At the same time, however, Africa’s population continued to expand rapidly. As a result, the number of people living in extreme poverty still increased by more than 100 million. These are staggering numbers. Further, it is projected that the world’s extreme poor will be increasingly concentrated in Africa. With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals, including the eradication of extreme poverty by 2030, successful implementation of the post 2015 development agenda will require a solid understanding of poverty and inequality in the region, across countries and population groups, and in different dimensions.

Poverty in Kenya

Poverty has been widespread and has remained pervasive in Kenya. According to the KIHBS 2005/6 estimates, rural poverty rate is estimated at 49.1 percent and 33.7 percent in the urban areas. The Welfare monitoring survey III shows rural poverty was at 52.93 percent and urban poverty at 49.2 percent. The Kenyan economy recovered from a low growth of 0.5 percent in 2003 to 7 percent in 2007. Despite of the achievements realized towards economic growth; the rural poverty rates have remained high over the years.

The rural households have been distinguished by their inability to engage in profitable ventures. They have poor nutrition, low health standards, and low productivity. Their incomes are also characterized by seasonal fluctuations. Households in these areas have limited access to markets and service institutions like credit institutions, extensions, and plant protection. In Kenya 65 % of the population live in the rural areas and they depend on agriculture. However, agriculture productivity has remained low. Productivity has been poor because of erratic rainfall and other challenges the farmers face.

The statistics show that poverty has been high in some regions as compared to others. In addition, the poverty rates have remained persistently high in the rural areas. Busia County is among the poorest counties in Kenya with a poverty rate of 69.8 percent according to KIHBS. The county is resource endowed and has untapped potential in trade, agriculture, tourism, fishing and commercial business. The county has the highest poverty level in Western province.

Causes of poverty

Lack/Poor Education

Education is the basis to everything in this world; hence lack or inadequate education can lead to poverty this mainly being that families and individuals lack the essential knowledge that would be used for their growth and development to improve their living standard. This involves not having vocational skill and technical skills great number of adults do not have basic literacy and numeracy skills, leaving them at a serious disadvantage when it comes to finding gainful employment.

Feminization

According to Moghadam, it refers to the increase in female-headed households which has contributed to an increase in poverty among women it is mainly because of their heavier work burden and low incomes also, constraints on socio-economic mobility due to culture, legal and labor market barriers.

Low economic growth performance

Growth of the economy is a must for poverty reduction. In developing countries such as Nigeria growth that is employment generating and with export base is desirable in order to achieve growth that is poverty reducing with equity. Although the economic performance of countries in the World has generally been highly volatile since the early 1980s, on the whole, growth rates have been low or negative, with overall declines in several countries. This is due in part to external shocks such as adverse changes in several countries’ terms of trade, changes in global demand for exports and changes in global interest rates on developing countries external debt. All these are probably responsible for the increase in poverty level in various countries of the world. Extensive evidence links the importance of economic growth to poverty reduction.

Diseases

Good health is basic to human welfare and a fundamental objective of social and economic development. Poor health shackles human capital, reduces returns to learning, impedes entrepreneurial activities and holds back growth and economic development. Diseases cause poverty and vice versa. In most countries of the World major diseases causing poverty are Malaria, HIV/AIDS and other infections/diseases. When families are faced by illnesses and diseases it will deteriorate the financial status of the family in that there will be lots of expenses that will be spent on treatment, and the development and growth of the household will be in jeopardy.

Inequality

Culturally both men and women aren’t treated equally in that men are the providers of the families and women are the caregivers of the family. Due to this women are not provided with the platform such as being equipped with education and technical training for them to come up with ways that generate income or even join employments to get a second source of income flow other than the man of the family. Therefore, when the head of the household loses his job the family will have to bear that up until the man gets another job. This basically means that the family will not have a source of income to take them through that phase and this will automatically lead to poverty if the bread winner of the family doesn’t get employment or a source of income.

Effects/impacts of poverty on the family

Divorce/separation

Aspects like divorce and separation may occur when the family institution is faced by poverty. Since the family isn’t able to meet its ends. Since its mostly the men who are the bread winners for the family, it becomes difficult when they are unable to provide tension grows in the family thus in most cases due to the increased hardships, disfunctions brought about by poverty women ask for divorce or separations so that they can find other alternatives such as getting married to rich men who can provide for their needs.

Stress/Depression

Families with inadequate flow of income usually have difficulties in meting the basic need this therefore results to harmful impacts of poverty on the parents and children comes from the stress that is accompanied with having very little income hence the continual juggling of finances, and the feeling of being different and less worthwhile compared to others. In the long run when it persists for long it results to depressions. The depressions forces the individual turning to alcohol and other drugs for numbing the pain, it therefore results in ripple effect in that there will be various other new issues that will emerge such as domestic violence and child abuse among other heinous acts.

Emotional and physical wellbeing of the children

Poverty is an element that affects children greatly both emotionally and physically. Emotionally in that it will be hard for the children to maintain their social relationships such as friends in schools and their neighborhood leading to children having low self-esteem. The reason being that they aren’t able to blend in with everyone is they are unable to stay up-to date with the current fashion their friends are wearing. Also, these children may not be able to go to gatherings in school or the neighborhood since they will be made fun of and laughed at by other well-off peers due to their dressing. For the physical aspect, the parents aren’t able to feed the child as they are supposed to due to the financial constraints hence the child is likely to lack vitamins and nutrients in their body which weakens their immune system resulting to the child losing weight and suffering from malnutrition among other illnesses. Therefore, all this can affect the child psychologically in the long run and it will have a major impact on their development.

Management and control

The governments should come up with initiatives to alleviate poverty

The government should put in place systems and frameworks that enhances economic growth to transform the country to improve private sector investment so as to attract foreign direct investment to alleviate poverty. the government should use the taxes to focus on improving the wellbeing of the people in poverty, such exercises should include giving the youth and households start-up investment for their business for whoever has ideas for engaging in income generating activities. Also, the government should be able to control the corruption rate in the state this is because due to corruption the economy will not be able to be enhanced hence playing a role in causing poverty.

Educating the families and equipping them with technical skills

Literacy programs are needed for the poor. The reducing of poverty can only be done through actions of education development assistance and financial contribution from wealthiest countries in education development. The fight against poverty and the promotion of an equal education must become a priority for all especially the governments. Development initiatives should be in the form of cooperation to transfer skills to targeted population. Quality education is most critical solution so that they can help themselves to come out from poverty circle. Priority must be given to children aged 6 and below so that the habit to learn and develop study technique can be instilled, and thus have a greater chance to perform and excel in the elementary, high school, and college years. What children learn before the age of 6, have long lasting impact in their minds and hearts. This will help to shape their characters and personalities the most. Moreover, to quality basic education, secondary and higher education, vocational training, and skill acquisition throughout life are indispensable tools to eradicate poverty.

Conclusion

Poverty can only be fought in the presence of strong institutions, and equitable distribution of resources. This requires a non-corrupt government. However, across the globe, programmes designed to fight poverty are not fully implemented because the funds end up in the hands of corrupt individuals, who pocket the majority. Again, due to poor governance, those in authority have failed to apprehend the corrupt. This creates an imbalance in society and leads to more poverty because you end up with a few influential and powerful individuals oppressing the poor.

According to Ahmed, economically deprived parents struggle for the survival of their families. They are often unable to pay attention to the importance of parental care. Therefore, the children in poor families usually miss the personality development teachings from their first learning institution the family. Lack of parents’ attention, especially in early childhood years, could negatively impact the child’s personality and therefore their future in the long run. Poverty has been found as a major barrier, which has blocked the way of parents to perform their parental duties with full attention. Furthermore, financial constraints lead to depression and stress in the parents and ultimately dysfunction of the family. So, parents stress directly affects the children as well.