In defining poverty, there is a general agreement that there exists no universally accepted definition for this term. However, a number of attempts have been made by different authors and international institutions to define it. According to Chimanikire, poverty has a variety of manifestations that include lack of income and productive resources enough to guarantee sustainable living; “hunger and malnutrition; ill health; limited or lack of access to education and other basic servcies; increased morbidity and mortality from illness; homelessness and inadequate housing; unsafe environments; and social discrimination and exclusion”(Chimanikire 3). Poverty is as well characterized by lack of taking part in the process of decision making and also in cultural, civil and social life. It is a major problem affecting many people across the world, especially those in the third world. Human beings have not been successful in giving poverty the attention it deserves. Africa has been the most affected with a large number of people living in poverty The poverty situation in Africa is very severe and has hindered sustainable development. In order to realize sustainable development in the African nations, poverty has to be eradicated first.
Poverty Situation in Africa
As on one hand significant progress has been made in some developing nations, mostly in South and East Asia, the situation in Africa has been worsening. Such nations as India and China offer a very impressive example of countries that are dealing with poverty effectively. Tazoach points out that in the late 80s, forty out of sixty four ‘low-income’, food-deficient nations failed to offer sufficient food to their people to meet the average nutritional requirement and out of these, twenty one were from Africa. Their people “were perennially condemned to hunger by inadequate incomes” (Tazoach 3). The predicament of going without food among the people living in the Horn of Africa as well as in southern Africa is very well known. The nations that are mostly affected are Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Angola, and Mozambique among others.
Boon reports that in the year 1998, all the developing nations in combination accounted for 1.2 billion people who are in poverty and this figure represented about 23 percent of the whole population in these regions (Boon 7). Considering the case in the Sub-Saharan Africa, it is reported that beginning from 1990, the absolute number of the people living in poverty as well as the proportion of the entire population in the world tends to have experienced a decline; however, the opposite has been the case in Sub-Saharan Africa where the total number of the poor people has gone up from two hundred and seventeen million to three hundred and two million people, and by the year 1998,the poverty incidence had gone up to about forty eight percent of the whole population (Boon 7). In the course of the period beginning from 1987 to 1998, the number of the poor people in the developing countries went down by 0.5 percent annually despite a general population increase rate of 1.5 percent; but in the case of Sub-Saharan Africa, a reverse trend is observed where poverty increased at the rate of 3.3 percent which was higher than the population growth rate that stood at 3.1 percent.
It is hard to tell precisely the number of people who are poor and face the problem of lack of food security in the African Continent due to the scarcity of information about poverty, consumption of food and discrepancy in the assumptions as well as definitions used; however, in general terms, the figures presented indicate that the problem of poverty in very severe in Africa. For instance, in 1986, it was estimated that the world poor and people who were food insecure varied from three hundred million to one billion (Tazoach 4).The World Bank 1986 report indicated that in 1980, three hundred and forty million people living in developing nations did not have sufficient income that would enable them to have a minimum calorie diet which would assist in the prevention of serious health risk. It was also indicated that about seven hundred and thirty million people in these nations did not have a sufficient income that would enable them to have a diet that is needed for an active life (Tazoach 4). Africa alone accounted for 50 percent of the total population.
Because of this; a large number of the developing nations experienced a decline in their economic conditions “while at the same time, accumulating to multilateral public lending agencies, such as the World bank and the IMF, and to foreign governments” (Tazoach 4). It is reported that out of the total of 41 greatly indebted nations “around by the ‘Heavily Indebted Poor Countries’ initiative, 33 of them are found in Africa with a debt of $156 billion” (Tazoach 4). The poor nation debt saga has been there for long and it has facilitated deprivation of the poor people of their fundamental rights to education, health and livelihoods. It has led to illnesses, premature death and high levels of poverty (Oxfam GB Policy Department for UNICEF 1). If the countries continue experiencing this situation, then there can be no expectations of realizing sustainable development.
According to Sachikonye, sustainable development refers to “a process of development that has a number of featureseconomic development is only one feature among several features relating to sustainable development” (Sachikonye 3). The sustainable development is linked to the kind of development which meets the current needs with no compromising the capability of the future generations meeting their own needs. Certainly, the argument has been presented that sustainable development calls for empowering of “social groups, equity, cooperation and security in a particular country” 9 Sachikonye 3). Sustainable development has to give priority to the poor people instead of marginalizing these people, ensure sustaining of the environment instead of degrading it and ensure empowering women instead of discriminating against them (Sachikonye 3).
Dealing With Poverty to Achieve Sustainable Development in Africa
There is need to give priority to peace as condition for good governance by the governments in the African nations. Engaging in settling internal conflicts will go a long way to open immense resources for sustainable development in Africa in addition to saving people from death and destruction. In the current day, the immense agricultural and mineral wealth in such countries as Sudan, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo is being wasted (Nyong’o 22).
Moreover, in Africa, there can be no leaving of economic development to chance; it has to be willfully planned for and sufficiently funded by the respective governments elected by people in a democratic way. In this regard, as Nyong’o points out, “rapid and social welfare must be seen as the sides of the same coins; one must not be sacrificed for the sake of the other” (Nyong’o 22). There is need to emulate such a country in Africa as the Republic of South Africa.
In addition, given the rather hard global environment, the nations in Africa have to engage in enhancing their bargaining power with the donors as well as the foreign nations by “putting their house in order through good governance” (Nyong’o 22). For instance, the idea of forgiving debts has over and over again, been shot down basing on the argument that “external indebtedness” is greatly due to the leaders in the African nations engaging in the exporting of the capital to the foreign banks and purchasing real estate. Corruption need to be eliminated at all costs if the argument about “debt forgiveness” is to be presented with moral force (Nowels 1).
There exist certain externalities to the war against poverty that stretch beyond the capability and reach of governments in Africa classified as ‘natural disasters and ‘emergency situations’ which call for the international governance approaches. Natural disasters such as floods can serve to wipe out essential resources that the poor African countries may have had for economic development and not just for poverty reduction. In order to conquer these natural disasters, there is need to receive remarkable assistance and support from the global community. On the order hand, emergency situations encompass such issues as refugee and internally displaced persons influx and also the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Such cases can be seen in such countries as the Southern Sudan, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia among others. As on one hand the United Nations system has focused its attention to the refugee incident, on the other hand, very minimal attention has been paid to the IDPs phenomenon. HIV/AIDS epidemic is also widespread in Africa and accounts for two-thirds of the total number of cases across the world. To deal with this effectively, there is need for the international community to offer assistance to the fullest.
In order for the governments of the African nations to have positive and active commitment to reducing poverty, they have to have a strong awareness that “poverty is antithetical to the enjoyment of full citizenship rights” (Nyong’o 24). This implies that whatever resource allocation which does not include bringing improvement in the basic needs of the poor people can not be considered as being pro-poor. The performance indicators have to be set up for the African nations which should measure the yearly achievement in regard to reducing poverty in terms of the total number of the poor people taken out of poverty and sustained in terms of welfare in due course.
In order to realize sustainable development in the African nations, poverty has to be eradicated first. The poverty situation in Africa very severe and this has hindered development in this part of the world. A large number of people in Africa are facing such problems as starvation, illness, poor housing, and lack of education among other major problems associated with poverty. There is need to urgently deal with these problems in order to realize sustainable development in the African nations. If poverty is left to prevail, then the vision of having sustainable development in Africa can never be achieved.
Boon, Emmanuel. Combating Poverty in Africa. Area Studies – Africa (Regional Sustainable Development Review, 1, (2005): 1 -22.
This is a Journal article that looking at the poverty situation in Africa. The author gives the causes of poverty in this region and eventually proposes some ways that can help in dealing with the poverty situation.
Chimanikire, P. Donald. Poverty and sustainable development in Africa. Institute of Development Studies, University of Zimbabwe, n.d.
In this article Chimanikire, defines poverty and its causes and proposes some of the ways to deal with poverty in order to realize sustainable development in Africa.
Nowels, Larry. Debt Reduction: Initiatives for the Most Heavily
Indebted Poor Countries, CRS issue Brief for Congress, 1999.
This author reports on the indebtedness of the poor countries across the world.
Nyong’o P. Anyang’. Governance, poverty and sustainable development in Africa. Paper Prepared for conference on ‘Towards African Strategic Thinking and Action on Sustainable Development, Governance and Globalization’, Nairobi – Kenya, September 17 – 18, 2001.
This paper presents strategies that need to be put in place in order to fight against poverty and also to realize sustainable development in Africa.
Oxfam GB Policy Department for UNICEF . From unsustainable Debt to Poverty Reduction: Reforming the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiatives, August 1999.
This is a report on the indebtedness of the poor countries across the world.
Sachikonye, M. Lloyd. Democracy, Sustainable Development and Poverty: Are they compatible? Addis Ababa: development Policy Management Forum, 2002.
Sachikonye seeks to explore the provocative question which relates to whether poverty, democracy are compatible in the African context.
Tazoach, Francis. The causes and impact of poverty on sustainable development in Africa. A paper presented at the Conference ‘Poverty and Sustainable Development’ held in Bordeaux, France From November 22 – 23, 2001.
In this paper, the author looks at he poverty situation in African and how poverty in Africa impact on sustainable development in the region.