The Trickle Up Solution
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The largest portion of the world's poor is the 800 million poor women, children, and men who live in rural areas. They tend to live in remote areas that are great distances from the nearest markets and basic social services. They are mothers and fathers, most of who are day laborers, subsistence farmers, herders, and migrant workers. They struggle to meet basic everyday needs, such as feeding their families at least two meals a day, or taking their children to a clinic when they have fallen ill. The rural poor also work in insecure and relatively low-paying jobs, have little education, and may experience discrimination as women and as members of ethnic minorities.
For all of these reasons, the rural poor themselves say that they suffer from hunger, ill health, illiteracy, instability, and low self-esteem as well as marginalization from their own governments who are often unresponsive to their needs and concerns. Empowering the rural poor is a critical step in advancing any poverty alleviation effort. Doing so must build on a person's own willingness and capacities to provide for their family and to forge a more dignified, better future. This requires assets from which to build sustainable livelihoods, education about their rights and how to put those assets to good use, and a safe place to save to continue building those assets and to cope with future hardships. In fact, the most basic financial services reach only 10% of rural communities.
Below are rural poverty snapshots of some of the countries where Trickle Up works:In India: