1. Poverty is a multi-dimensional concept; causes and solutions

 What is poverty?

Poverty is the inadequacy or deprivation of basic human needs which

Commonly include food, water, sanitation, clothing, shelter, health care and education.

As such, Poverty is a multi-dimensional since it also means going short materially, socially and emotionally. It includes spending less on food, clothing, and shelter and on other social needs than someone on an average income.

Types of Poverty

·         Absolute and Relative poverty

This refers to subsistence below the minimum socially acceptable living conditions. These conditions or standards are established by factoring in basic human needs like food and shelter among other factors.

 People are absolutely impoverished if the minimum amounts of food, clothing and shelter necessary for survival absorb all of their income, and they live a razor’s edge existence.

Relative poverty is defined contextually as economic inequality in the location or society in which people live.

 People are relatively impoverished if the customary or the average standard of living in their society requires more spending than the income they have available.

·         Generational and Situational poverty

Generational poverty  can be defined as individuals or households who have lived in poverty for at least two generations, meaning children of parents in poverty grow up to live in poverty themselves.

 Situational poverty, on the other hand, refers to when families fall to poverty because of a traumatic event such as illness, accidents or divorce.

·         Objective and Subjective Poverty

Objective poverty is determined based on normative judgments as to what constitutes poverty and what is required to move people out of their impoverished state.

Subjective poverty places a premium on people’s preferences on how much they value goods and services. It therefore, emphasizes on individual utility.

General Characteristics of Poverty

·         Low income earnings

·         Poor health and high rates of infant mortality rates

·         Lack of proper education and training skills.

·         Poor living conditions and low consumption levels

·         Food shortages and sometimes malnutrition

·         No protection from the weather. Most poor people live in slums where the housing conditions are dire or non-existent.

·         Poor infrastructural development where hospitals and roads are either non-existent or in poor conditions.

Relationships between Poverty and other Socio-economic factors

a.       Poverty and gender

More women than men live in poverty and the disparity has increased over the past decade, particularly in developing countries. There are inequality in intra-households allocations.

As such, there may be women who are poor although they live in non-poor households. 

b.      Poverty and education 

There is an inverse relationship between poverty and education. The educated have relatively better living standards than the uneducated members of the society.

This is because educated people are easier to find better paying jobs than their non-educated counterparts.

c.       Poverty and health

Poverty is both a cause and consequence of poor health. Poverty increases the chances of poor health. Poor health in turn traps communities in poverty. Infectious and neglected tropical diseases kill and weaken millions of the poorest and most vulnerable people each year.

d.      Poverty and levels of Employment

Poverty and unemployment are closely linked. The larger proportion of the poor population in less developed countries is unemployed.  Also, majority of those employed work in the informal sector where the wages are subsistent.

e.      Poverty and access to services

Access to services like clean water, energy and sanitation has direct impact on quality of life of families. The poor people in the society have little or no access to these services since they spend large proportions of their income on basic needs like food.  Due to lack of these needs and services lead to poor health, high mortality rates and low productive capacity hence leading to a cycle of poverty.

f.        Poverty and crime

Poverty and crime have a very "intimate" relationship that has been described by experts from all fields, from sociologists to economists. Crime prevents businesses from thriving by generating instability and uncertainty at micro and macroeconomic levels and hence income is lost.  As such, crime and poverty must be tackled simultaneously since eradicating one with the existence of the other is near impossibility.

Causes of poverty

The following are either direct or indirect causes of poverty

·         Rapid population growth -  that exceed the economic growth rate

·         Famine and draught – famine can wipe out livestock and crops hence causing a lasting poverty to the affected families and the community in general.

·         War and political instability in most developing countries especially in Africa have compounded the poverty problem.

·         Diseases such as TB and HIV/AIDS have wiped out many productive members of the society hence leaving behind orphans and widows who are unable to fend for themselves.  

·         Lack of education and relevant training skills have reduced the productivity of many people in less developed countries

·         Gender inequality – in most developing countries, women are denied the opportunity to work or own property and hence they are denied the opportunity to alleviate themselves from poverty.

·         Teenage pregnancy and school dropouts leave many girls vulnerable and unable to find jobs

·         Domestic abuse and divorce – when couples separate or divorce, the children are affected immensely since they may not receive the appropriate care and education.

·         Employment abuse and low wages – most Multinational Corporation in less developed countries break labor ethics by employing underage children and also paying minimal wages that are barely able to sustain the workers.

·         Natural Disasters like wild Fires and Flood may destroy property rendering the community poverty stricken.  

·         Lack of or inability to afford adequate health and life insurances leave many vulnerable to poverty when the breadwinner of the family falls sick or passes away.

·         Foreign invasion

·         Greed , fraud, corruption and abuse of power- when  government officials indulge in vices like corruption , they neglect the society whom they serve and important services like health and education may be affected adversely.   

Poverty Alleviation Solutions

Eradicating poverty should start with an all-out effort to provide every man, woman and child with that which is essential for human well-being and development. These include:

·         Improve the education system.  Quality and subsidized education is essential so as to empower the youth and increase their productivity

·         Provision of social amenities like hospital and sanitation improves the mental wellbeing of the society and hence boosting their productivity.

·         Good government and effective aid.  Since setting up and maintaining adequate educational and health care systems require a well-functioning government and civil service

·         Job creation and access to means of production.  Governments need to expand the economy at a faster rate than the population growth rate so to increase the job opportunities and the wealth of the nation.

·         Boosting food security- the government should invest and modernize the agricultural sector so as to meet the vast demand and also to stabilize the prices of agricultural products so as to make them affordable to the citizens.

·         Ensuring even distribution of resources by implementing progressive taxation and subsidizing basic commodities so as to make them affordable to the poor people in the society.