Poverty and how we can prevent it

Written by Gnisha Bevan and James Webster-Gardiner

2005 was a great year in the fight against poverty. The GCAP coalition (Global Call to Action Against Poverty), made up of hundreds of organisations around the world made real headway in getting rich nations to sit up and take notice of the world's poor. Debt was reduced, and in some cases, dropped altogether; more aid was promised, and awareness was raised about fair trade.
However, despite the success stories, many campaigners feel that there is still a long way to go. For those of you who missed out on the global white band campaign last year, or for those who want a bit of a refresher, here is a recap of the facts, issues and events:

Poverty: The Facts:
Extreme poverty is a massive problem in the developing world and many causes are man-made. Here is a brief outline of the situation:
600 million children live in extreme poverty
Every year 10 million people die of hunger and diseases which could be prevented
Rich countries (G8) promote unfair trade rules which trap people into poverty. Rich nations force developing nations to open their economies to competition but they protect their own. The UN estimates that fair trade could bring an extra $750 billion to poor countries every day.
Debt repayments cripple the economies of many developing countries. In 2005 Zambia was paying 3 times more on debt interest than on healthcare for its people
Primary education for all would cost only $10.4 billion (less than the USA currently spends on ice cream in one year)
Poverty will not end without an immediate increase in aid
The good news is that the UN has set targets (known as the Millennium Development Goals) to help the world's poor.The bad news is we are not on track to meet these targets. The leaders of rich nations need reminding of their responsibilities.

The issues:
As mentioned before, many aspects of extreme poverty are man-made. Whilst this is a terrible reality, it also provides an opportunity - the opportunity for change. (This is where you can help, but more on this later). This campaign aims to tackle 3 of the major factors keeping people trapped in extreme poverty.

Trade Justice
Everyday, through almost everything we use or wear, we take part in global trade. Trade is vital to ending poverty and helping poor countries to help themselves.
There is a growing number of people who argue that trade needs reforming. In a world where international trade is worth $10 million a minute, one child dies of hunger every 8 seconds.
The system is simply not set up to help the world's poorest people. The rules are stacked in favour of rich countries in two ways:
1) Laws governing global trade favour the rich (eg tariffs, subsidies etc)
Taxes make goods produced in poor countries more expensive than those produced in richer countries. Also, rich countries pay their own companies and farmers extra subsidies so that they can sell what they make more cheaply. There have been many cases of 'dumping' surplus produce on developing countries so that their own companies and farmers cannot compete. Many go out of business.
2) The strongest transnational companies always get the best deal for themselves, which often means the poorest deals and lowest prices and wages for the poorest people. Eg cocoa farmers in West Africa or factory workers in South East Asia.

Its time to change!!
Buying fair trade can really help to give farmers a fair price for their goods. You can pick up fair trade groceries in your local supermarket and a growing number of fair trade fashion retail stores are springing up. Visit our Fashion page for more details. If you happen to know of any more good brands or shops selling fair trade stuff, please let us know and spread the word!!
For trade to be really fair the rules governing global trade need to change. The GCAP white band campaign is working to change these laws.
For more information on this complicated issue please visit www.maketradefair.com (detailed info can be found in 'the issues' section)

Debt
Debt is crippling the efforts of poor countries who want to develop. During the 1960s rich countries were experiencing good economic growth and generally making lots of money. In order to gain interest on their funds they made a series of loans to poorer countries. All went well until the oil shocks of the 1970s. Interest rates sky-rocketed and poor countries have been trapped in debt ever since.
For decades many countries have had to spend more on debt repayments than on meeting the needs of their people. Needs such as health and education. One example is Zambia, formerly one of Sub-Saharan Africa's wealthiest countries, but now one of the poorest and least developed. It spends twice as much on repaying debt as it does on education. Health services are also tragically underfunded. The average life expectancy of a Zambian is now just 33 years (something to think about next time you're complaining about your age.)

What can be done?
Drop the debt! - debt relief works! These four countries have benefited in the following ways: in Benin, 54% of the money saved through debt relief was spent on health including rural primary healthcare and HIV programmes. In Tanzania, debt relief enabled the government to abolish primary school fees leading to a 66% increase in attendance. Mozambique could offer all children free imunisation when it was granted debt relief. In Uganda debt relief led to 2.2 million people gaining access to clean water.
GCAP campaigners fought last year to bring debt relief onto the international agenda.


More and better aid
Poverty will not be wiped out without an immediate and major increase in international aid. Rich countries have promised to provide $50 billion per year in aid and also
to provide 0.7% of national income in aid.
However, there are still problems. In the past, rich countries have been slow at paying up and often impose economic conditions such as privatisation or deregulation of services which can further harm poor countries. Aid needs to focus better on people's needs. It should also support poor countries' and communities' own plans and paths out of poverty.

What can be done?
If the UK alone met the 0.7% target by 2008, an extra 1.5 million people could be lifted out of poverty that year.
Providing universal primary education would cost just $10 billion a year. Young people who have completed primary education are less than half as likely to contract HIV as those without an education. Universal primary education would prevent 700,000 cases of HIV each year, almost 30% of all new infections in this age group.
Rich nations must live up to their responsibilities and provide the necessary funds. The GCAP campaign has been applying pressure to the leaders of these nations.

The GCAP Campaign
So now that we have seen the issues, the question that often springs to mind is 'what can we actually do about it?'. Problems on this scale often seem too huge to be addressed.
But, luckily help is at hand. This year the amount of people around the world showing solidarity with poor people in developing countries has been astonishing.
Charities, schools, faith groups, individuals, NGOs and many others, joined together to form a movement which spanned the globe. 31 million people from 84 national coalitions to be precise, united in the Global Call to Action against Poverty.

3 international White Band days were organised. Campaigners wore a white band (the symbol of the campaign) to show their support for the world's poor and to bring the issues to the general public's attention. The white band days also coincided with key dates in the global political calendar. The first coincided with the G8 Summit in Gleneagles,Scotland, the second with the UN World Summit in New York, and the third, and final white Band Day, with the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong.
Live 8 concerts were also organised to introduce the campaign to a huge international audience. Whilst in Gunma Japan (where we had been living), we even managed to organise an outdoor concert in Kodomo no Kuni, Ota, followed by a massive white-band-chain-making-extravaganza!!

Campaign Successes:
Last year, through the efforts of millions of people acting together, some real changes were achieved. Though in many cases governments fell short of the campaign's demands, lives will be saved by the changes proposed so far.
On the issue of trade justice, a little progress was made. Special measures to protect vulnerable farmers from liberalisation based on food security and rural development were introduced.

The idea of 100 percent debt relief was placed on the international political agenda. The G8’s debt deal, which has still to be finally agreed by the IMF and World Bank, should be worth up to $1billion per year for the 18 countries that qualify (around 20 more could also become eligible). Zambia was given $4 billion for debt relief by the G8 this year. Its government has been able to make healthcare free to people living in poor rural areas. This is great news since more than 65% of its population live on just $1 dollar a day yet a trip to the doctor used to cost more than $2.

More money was promised for aid. The 2005 G8 summit signalled an extra $48 billion in aid a year by 2010, which included between $15 and $20 billion of new commitments. If this promise is kept and delivered without imposing economic conditions, millions of lives could be saved. This will be a lasting legacy of 2005.
The campaign also brought other benefits. An international commitment to deal with the Aids pandemic was endorsed at the UN world summit. Leaders aimed to achieve "as close as possible to universal access to treatment for all those who need it by 2010".
A major debate has been sparked on the role of rich countries in creating poverty. Equally there has been calls for governments of developing countries to eradicate corruption.
Still a long way to go? Looking at the achievements, its easy to sit back and think that the job has been done. Well its not time to rest on those proverbial laurels just yet. There are still a few loose ends to be tied up.....

So how can I get involved?
There are things you can do that will make a difference in the global fight against poverty. Some are easy, and some take a little more effort, but it really is possible to do something about these nasty man-made poverty inducing traps.
Wear a white band. They can be bought from a shop or even home-made. The idea is to show solidarity with the world's poor and to get people talking about the issues.
Buy fair trade. ( A message to our friends in Japan: We know its hard!! A good place to start is People Tree in Harajuku, Tokyo. Please do let us know of any fair trade brands you find.)
Organise an event. This could be anything such as writing letters to The President /Prime Minister; making a chain of white bands out of anti-poverty messages (very popular last year with Junior High School students); wrapping a white band around local landmarks/ lamp-posts in your park ;organising an infomation event or concert....or any other bright ideas you come up with!
Get in the paper! When you've done your event, write a few words and send a picture to the local paper. Easy Peasy!
Look on the www.whiteband.org website for details of activities and events in your area.
Talk about it with your friends.

Bring it up in class. If you are a teacher, tell your students! Many people in the developed world still aren't even aware of the conditions that people in the developing world have to survive in.
Tell people about this campaign! Spread the word and make a difference.


The campaign has shown that it is possible for governments to deliver real change when faced with such public demand – change that can mean the difference between life and death for millions of people. This is only the beginning. The rest of it is up to us.



Useful Links
www.whiteband.org
www.hottokenai.jp
www.maketradefair.com
www.makepovertyhistory.org