QN. What is poverty? explain measures taken by UNICEF to eradicate poverty in developing countries like Tanzania.
Question. What is poverty? Explain measures taken by UNICEF on how to eradicate poverty in developing countries.
INTRODCTION
Poverty
can be defined in many different ways. Some attempt to reduce it to
numbers, while others argue that a more ambiguous definition must be
used. In the end, a combination of both methods is best. Today, most
economists and social workers use two ways to define poverty.
Some
people describe poverty as a lack of essential items – such as food,
clothing, water, and shelter – needed for proper living. At the UN’s
World Summit on Social Development, the ‘Copenhagen Declaration’
described poverty as a condition characterized by severe deprivation of
basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education
and information.” When people are unable to eat, go to school, or have
any access to health care, then they can be considered to be in poverty,
regardless of their income. To measure poverty in any statistical way,
however, more rigid definitions must be used.
DEFINITION OF POVERTY
Poverty
is the state of human beings who are poor. That is, they have little or
no material means of surviving—little or no food, shelter, clothes,
healthcare, education, and other physical means of living and improving
one's life, (http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/poverty-reduction/14-05-2012/8-05PM).
Poverty is the state of one who lacks a certain amount of material possessions or money.[1] Absolute poverty or destitution refers to the one who lacks basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty/14-05-2012/9.02PM)
Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time. Poverty is losing a child to illness brought about by unclean water. Poverty is powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom. Poverty
is a call to action - for the poor and the wealthy alike - a call to
change the world so that many more may have enough to eat, adequate
shelter, access to education and health, protection from violence, and a
voice in what happens in their communities. Poverty is the state of being without, often associated with need, hardship and lack of resources across a wide range of circumstances,
Therefore, poverty
can be defined as a state whereby a person fail to acquire important
basic needs such as food, clothes, poverty, health and education so as
to increase well-being of the society.
The following are measures taken by UNICEF to reduce poverty in the World:-
Getting girls to school.
Some 13 per cent of children ages 7 to 18 years in developing countries
have never attended school. This rate is 32 per cent among girls in
sub-Saharan Africa (27 per cent of boys) and 33 per cent of rural
children in the Middle East and North Africa. Yet an education is
perhaps a child’s strongest barrier against poverty, especially for
girls. Educated girls are likely to marry later and have healthier
children. They are more productive at home and better paid in the
workplace, better able to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS and more
able to participate in decision-making at all levels. Additionally, this
UNICEF activity furthers Goals 2 and 3: universal primary education and
gender equality.
To
that end, UNICEF works in 158 countries, calling on development
agencies, governments, donors and communities to step up efforts on
behalf of education for all children, and then coordinating those
efforts. Programmes differ from country to country according to needs
and cultures, but may include help with funding, logistics, information
technology, school water and sanitation, and a child- and
gender-friendly curriculum.
Supporting good nutrition.
UNICEF seeks to help stem the worst effects of malnutrition by funding
and helping countries supply micronutrients like iron and vitamin A,
which is essential for a healthy immune system, during vaccination
campaigns or through fortified food. UNICEF, governments, salt producers
and private sector organizations are also working to eliminate iodine
deficiency, the biggest primary cause of preventable mental retardation
and brain damage, through the Universal Salt Iodization (USI) education
campaign. UNICEF also works through communities to talk with child
caregivers about how to provide sound nutrition for children,
particularly via breastfeeding.
In
emergency situations, UNICEF assesses the nutritional and health needs
of affected people, protects and supports breastfeeding by providing
safe havens for pregnant and lactating women, provides essential
micronutrients, supports therapeutic feeding centres for severely
malnourished children, and provides food for orphans.
Assisting in water and sanitation improvement.
One in three children in the developing world – more than 500 million
children – has no access at all to sanitation facilities. And some 400
million children, one in five, have no access to safe water. Meanwhile,
unsafe water and sanitation cause about 4,000 child deaths per day.
Through advocacy, funding and technical assistance, UNICEF works in more
than 90 countries around the world to improve water supplies and
sanitation facilities in schools and communities and to improve and
promote safe hygiene practices.
In
emergencies UNCIEF provides safe water, and helps displaced communities
replace or find new water resources and build latrines. Increasingly,
UNICEF emphasizes preventive programs that strengthen the capacity of
governments and partners to prepare for these worst case situations.
Creating a protective child environment.
Conflicts are most frequent in poor countries, especially in those that
are ill governed and where there are sharp inequalities between ethnic
or religious groups. An environment of unrest heightens the risk of
abduction, sexual violence and exploitation of children, as well as the
struggle for shelter, education and survival.
Toward
fulfilling a central goal of the Millennium Declaration, protection of
the vulnerable, UNICEF advocates for awareness and monitoring of these
issues, and for tougher laws for child exploiters. Working with
individuals, civic groups, governments and the private sector in the
field, UNICEF helps establish and strengthen local safety nets for
children, like community child-care centers, schools, and basic social
services.
Advocating, raising awareness and helping effect policies for children’s well-being.
Lastly, UNICEF complements these on-the-field activities with policy
advocacy at every level of government. Spreading awareness and offering
technical assistance, UNICEF aids countries in forming and effecting
programs that help ensure children’s rights to survive and thrive.
These
include working with governments on developing broad national planning
frameworks like Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and
Sector-wide Approaches to Programming(SWAPs), which help countries and
donors identify needs and form a results-based plan for change.
These
policies and programmes don’t take shape in a void. Along with national
committees, other UN agencies and international private groups, UNICEF
helps countries carry out assessment research to define and measure
child poverty, and then helps put a system in place to monitor results, (http://www.unicef.org/mdg/poverty.html).
CONCLUSION
These
policies and programmes don’t take shape in a void. Along with national
committees, other UN agencies and international private groups, UNICEF
helps countries carry out assessment research to define and measure
child poverty, and then helps put a system in place to monitor results.
REFERENCES
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