Christine5 Reasons Why We Can't End Poverty
December 17th 2007 10:36
1. Poverty is not the problem. Once you have poverty, the problems have already occurred. Poverty is the symptom. And while we keep treating the symptom, it's just band aid solutions. You can put cream on a burn as much as you like, but until you stop putting your hand in the fire, nothing much will change. We need to treat the underlying problems behind poverty, if we are to ever solve it
2. Throw loads of money at anything and you'll see some kind of change. Take that money away and things will usually go back to the status quo. Look how many lottery winners blow their money in the first year, and then go back to the life they lived before winning. Most aid programs are based on throwing money at poor communities, then leaving. Once that money leaves, the people are left as they were before (or worse off.)
3. It's not just money that solves poverty, it's the tools for making permanent and lasting change that make the difference. People need skills, confidence, practical advice and useful experience to turn money into a sustainable living. Without these, the billions of dollars we give in aid are literally washed down the drain.
4. Saying Poverty Poverty Poverty over and over can never cure it, in fact it just makes the issue bigger. Anything we repeatedly think about, talk about, and act on with passion, eventually becomes reality. We keep talking about poverty and invariably that's what we keep getting. We need to think, speak and act on what we are trying to achieve (food, freedom, survival for all, for example) rather than talking about what we're trying to stop.
5. Charity will never solve hunger: People solve hunger. Charity is what we are giving. Self determination is what we really need to bring freedom. The right to determine how we will live, what we want to achieve and how we want to achieve it is crucial to helping those in need. Charity and Aid are top-down approaches. People working side-by-side for the common good of the village with everyone being part of the process, is the only way we can make lasting change.
2. Throw loads of money at anything and you'll see some kind of change. Take that money away and things will usually go back to the status quo. Look how many lottery winners blow their money in the first year, and then go back to the life they lived before winning. Most aid programs are based on throwing money at poor communities, then leaving. Once that money leaves, the people are left as they were before (or worse off.)
3. It's not just money that solves poverty, it's the tools for making permanent and lasting change that make the difference. People need skills, confidence, practical advice and useful experience to turn money into a sustainable living. Without these, the billions of dollars we give in aid are literally washed down the drain.
4. Saying Poverty Poverty Poverty over and over can never cure it, in fact it just makes the issue bigger. Anything we repeatedly think about, talk about, and act on with passion, eventually becomes reality. We keep talking about poverty and invariably that's what we keep getting. We need to think, speak and act on what we are trying to achieve (food, freedom, survival for all, for example) rather than talking about what we're trying to stop.
5. Charity will never solve hunger: People solve hunger. Charity is what we are giving. Self determination is what we really need to bring freedom. The right to determine how we will live, what we want to achieve and how we want to achieve it is crucial to helping those in need. Charity and Aid are top-down approaches. People working side-by-side for the common good of the village with everyone being part of the process, is the only way we can make lasting change.
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Comment by Harry
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Comment by Eva W.
Life in Germany
Communities, economies and countries need to be restructured in order to break the poverty cycle. Just throwing money at them won't solve anything in the long term.
Comment by WeR1Family
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Such is the right way, i think.
Read here a concept i support:
Creating A World Without Poverty-Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty