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1.0 Overview: Working Out of Poverty

Written by: International Labour Organization

Article Overview: The decent work dividend

1.0 Overview: Working Out of Poverty

The persistence of poverty is a moral indictment of our times. While
there are some signs of progress, the fact remains: never have we seen so
much wealth while so many continue to live in abject poverty.

Poverty is a complex, deep-seated, pervasive reality. Virtually half the
world lives on less than US$2 a day. More than 1 billion people struggle on
$1 a day or less. And an even greater challenge lies beyond what statistics can
measure – poverty breeds a growing sense of powerlessness and indignity, of
being unable to think, plan or dream beyond the daily struggle to survive.

For individuals, poverty is a nightmare. It is a vicious circle of poor
health, reduced working capacity, low productivity and shortened life expectancy.
For families, poverty is a trap. It leads to inadequate schooling, low
skills, insecure income, early parenthood, ill health and an early death. For
societies, poverty is a curse. It hinders growth, fuels instability, and keeps
poor countries from advancing on the path to sustainable development. For
all of us – and for all these reasons – the cost of poverty in shattered human
lives is far too high.

But there is another face to poverty. People living in conditions of
material deprivation draw on enormous reserves of courage, ingenuity,
persistence and mutual support to keep on the treadmill of survival. After
all, for most people living in poverty, there is no safety net and little state
support. Simply coping with poverty demonstrates the resilience and creativity
of the human spirit. In many ways, the working poor are the ultimate
entrepreneurs.

People in poverty go through each day with the will to survive, but without
the support and possibilities to move up the ladder of opportunity.
Imagine where their efforts could take them if that ladder were in place. Our
common responsibility is to help put it there.

After all, the poor do not cause poverty. Poverty is the result of structural
failures and ineffective economic and social systems. It is the product
of inadequate political responses, bankrupt policy imagination and insufficient
international support. Its continued acceptance expresses a loss of fundamental
human values.

To be sure, poverty is a global phenomenon that occurs in every society.
No nation is immune. In 20 industrialized countries, for example, over 10 per
cent of the population, on average, was living below the poverty line in the mid-1990s. Wealthier nations are working to take on the poverty fight at
home, but the global community has agreed to come together to confront the
most extreme forms of poverty in the developing world – and I would add
the similar forms of poverty emerging in a number of transition countries.
This Report is focused on that challenge.

Specifically, this Report is about how the ILO and its constituents can
better respond to the aspirations and everyday needs of people living in
poverty. It is about the direct link between decent work as a development
agenda and poverty eradication. It is about the fundamental importance of
equality – and in particular gender equality – to decent work and defeating
poverty. It is about teaming up with other international organizations to implement
the poverty eradication and other commitments of the World Summit
for Social Development (the “Social Summit”) and the Millennium
Declaration. It is about concrete ways of targeting the poverty-fighting impact
of ILO policy proposals and technical cooperation programmes.
In
short, it is about working out of poverty.

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Article Tags: abject poverty, daily struggle, half the world, human spirit, ill health, indictment, indignity, ingenuity, ladder, life expectancy, material deprivation, parenthood, persistence, poor countries, poor health, poverty poverty, powerlessness, resilience, treadmill, vicious circle



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Re: What is Your Favorite Thing About Owning A Business? - [quote="freddyb45":1t3lpfi8]For me it's the fact that all the time and effort you put in is worth a lot more, due to it making you "business" more profitable. Working for yourself is also a positive, although employing people you can trust is quite different.[/quote:1t3lpfi8] I like this idea. Working for yourself means you are investing in your own future, not someone else's, although there is value in working for someone else first to gain experience and confidence. Working for yourself does not automatically mean success, fame and fortune. For most entrepreneurs, it takes much work and dedication to get to the point of financial success and comfort - sometimes years. But the benefit is, again, you know you are investing in yourself and building equity for your own future. GT :-]
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Re: What is Your Favorite Thing About Owning A Business? - For me it's the fact that all the time and effort you put in is worth a lot more, due to it making you "business" more profitable. Working for yourself is also a positive, although employing people you can trust is quite different.
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