SDG1 - No Poverty

Making the Dream a Reality

Katarzyna Cichos, Amanda Lange Salvia

• Publisher: Emerald Publishing Limited
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781787696280
• eBook ISBN: 9781787696273
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Policy
• Index: Social Sciences

For many decades the international community has endeavoured to eliminate extreme poverty; however, it is estimated that around 800 million people still live below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day. This book looks this global problem and presents applicable solutions to show that we can eliminate poverty today and meet the challenge of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 1. 

The first part of the book discusses what poverty and development are and asks whether the right to development is an international commitment to eradicate poverty. The second part looks at the strategy of the Sustainable Development Goals, and the concept of happiness for all people in the world. It examines the proposition of SDG1, evaluates the first actions taken in this area, and presents the best practice of recent SDG implementation. The final part considers several proposals and presents suggestions on how to make global action more effective. 

Concise Guides to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals comprises 17 short books, each examining one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The series provides an integrated assessment of the SDGs from economic, legal, social, environmental and cultural perspectives.

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Although the international community has, for many decades, put efforts into eliminating extreme poverty, it is estimated that around 800 million people still live below the international poverty line of $1.90 a day. That figure reflects a decrease in the global poverty rate. However, around 40% of people in Sub-Saharan Africa continue to subsist in conditions of extreme poverty. Additionally, looking ahead, we must recognise the challenges posed by demographic trends: it is estimated that the world population will reach more than 9 billion by 2050, with the population of Sub-Saharan Africa set to more than double. It is further predicted that to satisfy increasing demand, global agricultural production in 2050 will have to increase by 60% over 2005 levels and water use could increase by 50% by 2025. This could cause around 5.5 billion people (two-thirds of the projected global population) to live in areas facing severe water stress (EU, 2013). The increase in the average age of the world’s population, armed conflicts and climate changes also need to be taken into consideration. This data indicates that the global community is perhaps at its final crossroad in finding a way to solve the problem of poverty, not only for the sake of the human dignity of the poorest but also to prevent negative consequences for the entire population of the world.

Economic growth still seems to be the most important issue when we consider sustainable development. However, we can see that there are those who have been left behind, living in conditions that prevent them from profiting from global or even national growth. We shall consider some new approaches to tackling the eradication of poverty. However, we also need to recognise that when we talk about those living in poverty and those with a right to development, we are not talking about the same group of people. No one can argue against everyone having the right to development; equally, it is not possible to contend that everyone is free from extreme poverty (Cichos, 2016). There are always poor people in developed countries who have access to basic health care, free education and initiatives that can support them; however, there are also those who live in extreme poverty without access to education, health services, assistance, or even water. The question is whether the world’s community should treat everyone (i.e. those who live in extreme poverty and those who do not) equally, or perhaps concentrate its particular attention on those who have been left behind.

On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, adopted by world leaders in September 2015, officially came into force. The aim of Agenda 2030 is to mobilise efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities and tackle climate change. The SDGs follow and expand on the Millennium Development Goals (2000) (MDGs) which were agreed upon by governments in 2001 and expired at the end of 2015. The main aim of the SDGs is to complete the action taken by the world community to implement MDGs and to ensure that no one is left behind. Goal 1 aims at ending poverty in all forms everywhere and, as this first target indicates, at eradicating extreme poverty for all people everywhere by 2030. Although Agenda 2030 provides 17 goals, the first of these seems to agree with the central assumption that no one should be left behind. There is no doubt that it will be judged a global failure if we achieve even the very challenging goals and targets recommended by Agenda 2030 without providing basic living conditions to the poorest.

This book is about those who have been left behind and concentrates on asking what can be improved within the legal framework and practice. If we consider that there is frequently no rational explanation for the existence of poverty (such as war or a humanitarian disaster), we should ask the important question of how we deal with those countries and societies needing assistance and how we deliver aid in the most effective way while preventing corruption and other abuses. This book offers a new look at global problems and presents solutions to show how the global community can eliminate poverty and achieve its global promise, SDG1, today. It means that the vision of ending extreme poverty and providing dignity to all human beings will no longer be just a vision. It is time to bring it about, and we contend that the international community already has all the necessary instruments and knowledge to do this.

The first part of the book explains what poverty and development are, asking whether the right to development constitutes an international commitment to eradicate poverty. It also presents the current framework of international assistance in eliminating poverty (including the UN, OECD, WB, AU and EU’s policies and practices in development cooperation aid). The second part concentrates on the SDG strategy. It examines the proposition of SDG1, evaluating the first actions taken in this area; it further presents the best practices (including 13 case studies) of the recent frameworks for poverty eradication and outlines the challenges to implementation. The final section offers a number of proposals and recommendations for consideration in making global action more effective. These include such aspects as concentration on a more local/regionally oriented development policy, returning to solutions within local communities, a focus on basic human needs like health and education, reform of development institutions, funding and a proposal for a new (possibly binding) agenda. The aim is to present a broad and comprehensive picture of global efforts (both as a legal and policy framework and implementation practices) to eradicate poverty and achieve SDG1.

CHAPTER 2

POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENT

2.1. THE MEANING OF POVERTY

It is important to define what poverty is and to understand development in the context of SDG1, which aims at eradicating poverty. According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, poverty is the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Economists distinguish between two main classifications of poverty: absolute poverty as a condition where household income is below a necessary level to maintain basic living standards (food, shelter and housing) and relative poverty as a condition where household income is a certain percentage below median income. A common monetary measure of absolute poverty (defined by the World Bank as the international poverty line) in 2008 was receiving less than US$1.25 a day (Ravallion, Chen, & Sangraula, 2008); in October 2015 this was reset to US$1.90 a day. According to the World Bank, poverty means deprivation in well-being and has many dimensions. It includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty also encompasses ‘low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life’ (World Bank, 2001).

The United Nations also distinguishes between absolute poverty (extreme/chronic poverty) and relative poverty (generally referred to simply as poverty). According to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (in light of the International Bill of Rights, for example, Article 11 of ICESCR, 1966) poverty is ‘a human condition characterised by the sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights’ (Economic and Social Council, 2001, para. 8). Extreme poverty has been defined as ‘the combination of income poverty, human development poverty and social exclusion’ (Human Rights Council, 2008, para. 13), emphasising that ‘the lack of basic security leads to chronic poverty when it simultaneously affects several aspects of people’s lives, when it is prolonged and when it severely compromises people’s chances of regaining their rights and of reassuming their responsibilities in the foreseeable future’ (Economic and Social Council, 1996). The Human Rights Council in 2012 recognised that ‘persons living in poverty are confronted by the most severe obstacles – physical, economic, cultural and social – to accessing their rights and entitlements’. Such people experience many interrelated deprivations, including ‘dangerous work conditions, unsafe housing, lack of nutritious food, unequal access to justice, lack of political power and limited access to health care, preventing them from realising their rights and perpetuate their poverty’. Additionally, people who experience life in extreme poverty are exposed to a ‘vicious cycle of powerlessness, stigmatisation, discrimination, exclusion and material deprivation, which all mutually reinforce one another’ (Human Rights Council, 2012). Moreover, persons living in extreme poverty should be the object of particular concern because ‘their marginalisation, exclusion and stigmatisation often mean that they are not reached effectively by public policies and services. Obstacles, insecurity and structural factors frequently render it impossible for them to claim their rights and to fulfil their potential independently; they need active support from the State and other relevant stakeholders’ (Human Rights Council, 2012). Consequently, we need to distinguish between those who live in poverty and those living in extreme or absolute poverty. Therefore, the action to eliminate poverty highlighted in SDG1 should be understood as an action for the elimination of extreme poverty.

2.2. THE MEANING OF DEVELOPMENT AND DEVELOPMENT AID

Initially, development was seen in purely economic terms, in the sense of creating economic growth through financial measures to increase the gross domestic product (GDP). The leading figure in this concept was the founder of the Bretton Woods Institution, the British economist Keynes (1936). Based on the experience of the use of funds allocated under the Marshall Plan, Keynes and his successors suggested that development is caused by economic growth, which can be increased through investment. They also defined the role of development assistance as bridging the gap in national economies by increasing foreign capital (Rostow, 1960). The first period of development aid is characterised as development by increasing GDP and covers the years 1950–1965. This was reflected in institutions such as the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, 1944) or the International Finance Corporation (IFC, 1956), which form part of the World Bank Group.

Despite initial enthusiasm for the economic concept, at the beginning of the 1960s there were calls for a need to consider the social and technological aspects of aid and development. The lack of expected results from assistance that had been provided generated a global discussion about aid. In 1969, the OECD countries for the first time defined Official development assistance (ODA), whose main purpose was the promotion of social and economic development in developing countries by giving financial support on preferential terms (Führer, 1994). The preamble to the Declaration on Social Progress and Development in 1969 (UN, 1969b) stated that economic development depended on social development and each influenced the other. This was the beginning of a different concept of development which concentrated on the importance of basic needs and economic and social aspects. It played an important role from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when the concept of sustainable development began to dominate. The idea of sustainable development was summarised in the first sentence of the World Commission on Environment and Development’s report (Brundtland Report) Our Common Future (1987), which states that ‘humanity has the ability to make development sustainable to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (p. 27). The report’s development vision is based on three pillars: economic growth and equitable distribution of benefits, conservation of natural resources and the environment, and social development. These are interconnected, overlapping and interdependent. It also stressed that the creation of a fully sustainable model of life requires a variety of activities in regions all around the world. (Stoddart, 2011).

Cassen (1994) asked: ‘Does Aid Work?’ The answer was affirmative, but only partially. As a consequence of many years of failures, world economic crises and poor outcomes from giving aid, donor states had been significantly discouraged from providing development assistance (Browne, 1999; Stokke, 2009). This caused a reorientation regarding aid, concentrating instead on human aspects, particularly the eradication of poverty as a primary goal. It was conceived as human development and presented at the beginning of the 1990s, the main authors of the theory being the Nobel Prize winners Amartya Sen and Mahbub ul Haq, the Pakistani economist and author of the Human Development Index (HDI). The concept of human development has appeared since 1990 in reports on human development (HDR), which defines development as the ‘process of enlarging human choices’ (HDR, 1991). This concept, as highlighted in the 1996 HDR, goes far beyond measuring income and economic growth to cover the full flourishing of all human capabilities (HDR, 1996). It also points out that economic growth is not directly connected with prosperity and the development of the human individual (Haq, 2003). The reports stress the importance of putting people — their needs, aspirations, freedom and choices — at the centre of development work (Fukuda-Parr, 2003; Sen, 1999). The main goal of human development is to ensure a long life to individuals with access to health care, education, and the possibility of participating in the social and political life of their country (Alkire, 2010). The key elements of the idea of human development can be seen in the Declaration on the Right to Development (1986) which, in Article 1, states that the right to development is ‘an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realised’ and additionally in Article 2 that ‘the human person is the central subject of development and should be the active participant and beneficiary of the right to development’. This concept also seems closest to SDG1 and the international community’s goal of eradicating poverty; for it is only by putting individuals at the centre of a development framework that the global community can raise the most vulnerable and achieve its goals.

2.3. INSTRUMENTS FOR MEASURING POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENT

The most common ways of comparing economic development between countries are GDP (gross domestic product), GNP (gross national product) and GNI (gross national income). They measure the value of the goods and services produced in a country; however, GNP and GNI also consider any income generated abroad by an industry based in the home country. Therefore, they are regarded as a more precise way of measuring economic development than GDP. GNI has also become the typical way to measure the level of prosperity within a country. Yet, measuring the total gross value of GNI can be misleading because it does not consider the population of each country. For this reason, GNI figures are usually shown as ‘per capita’, i.e. the total wealth of the country divided by its population.

All three of these measures provide limited information about levels of development within a country. They do not consider all those activities that are not monetarised; for example, household work and subsistence agriculture. They also fail to represent the cultural, social, political and other aspects of human life (Haq, 2009) and fail to take into account the problem that economic growth may not be sustainable if it has negative impacts on the environment or causes widening inequality within a society.

Research has looked for a more comprehensive measure of development that would consider a wider range of factors, such as health, education and gender equality (Anand & Sen 2009, p. 139). The most commonly used measure of social development is the HDI, found in the annual Human Development Reports produced by the UNDP, and launched by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq in 1990. This method considers three measures of development: levels of wealth within the country as measured by GDP per capita and adjusted by purchasing power parity (PPP); a long and healthy life, as measured by average life expectancy; and knowledge, as measured by the percentage of the population in education at specific ages (primary, secondary and tertiary) and literacy levels. Additionally, the UN introduced an improvement to its HDI measurement in 2010 by including an HDI adjusted for inequality in its report (Beegle, Christiaensen, Dabalen, & Gaddis, 2016).

To complement the HDI, the UN published the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) in its 2010 Report. This index identifies deprivations across the same three areas as the HDI but also presents the number of individuals who are multi-dimensionally poor (suffering deprivations in 33% or more of the weighted indicators) and the number of weighted deprivations with which poor households typically contend. The MPI instrument can be the most helpful in the implementation of SDG1. As stressed by the UN, the MPI can help with effective allocation of resources. It can also target those in the greatest poverty and help address SDGs strategically, including the possibility of monitoring the impact of policy intervention (HDR MPI web). This means that the MPI can be the most helpful measurement tool in the context of eradicating poverty.Case 1

Case 1: Institute for Liberty and Democracy

Led by a Peruvian economist, the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) works with developing countries to implement property and business rights reforms that provide the legal tools and institutions required for citizens to participate in the formal national and global economy. The institute aims to ensure that all people have equal access to secure rights to lift themselves and their countries out of poverty.

Poverty has persisted even in developing countries with remarkable economic growth; foreign assistance, humanitarian aid and business/property reforms have not yet successfully improved this issue. Therefore, the ILD works as an alternative to research into the informal sector and gives poor people simple and quick ways of getting rights to their land, homes and businesses.

Legalising business through this project is cheaper and faster, and it helps people save money and have their work recognised. Even though it is not by itself the solution to guarantee a way out from poverty (since many other steps need to be taken to offer more opportunities to the poor), establishing property rights is an important first step.

Source: Institute for Liberty and Democracy, http://www.ild.org.pe/

2.4. WHERE DO THE POOREST LIVE?

According to the HDR (2016), there are still many countries with low human development, as shown in Table 2.1. Most of these countries are African. Withi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Poverty and Development
• Chapter 3 The Right to Development as an International Commitment to Eradicate Poverty
• Chapter 4 Solidarity as Basic Development Aid’s Principle
• Chapter 5 A Framework of Policies to Combat Poverty
• Chapter 6 Sustainable Development Goal 1
• Chapter 7 Good and Bad Practice in the Eradication of Poverty
• Chapter 8 New Horizons for the Eradication of Poverty – Recommendations
• Chapter 9 Conclusion
• References
• Index