Towards Poverty Reduction!

Introduction

It must be the goal of every well-meaning country, organization, government, community and individual to work towards eradicating poverty in his or her sphere of influence no matter how big or small the effort is. Each one has a part to play!

United For Action

Together we must put in place measures that are well intended to permanently lift people out of dire poverty, lack and need. At the fore-front of every planning, policy and development agenda whether in the home right up to the international stage, policy alleviation must be the center of our attention – to lift already poor people out of their sorry state.

The Good Shepherd Love Foundation has found for a fact that poverty goes beyond mere lack of income, food and lack of resources for sustainable living. It even extends to extreme hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion and also inability to participate in decision-making.

The Good Shepherd Love Foundation adds its voices to the work of other bodies to advocate for a holistic approach to reduction of poverty towards long term eradication, if possible. As advocated by the United Nations, poverty eradication must be mainstreamed into the national policies and actions in accordance with the internationally agreed development goals.

Approach to Poverty Reduction and Eradication

States and Governments especially those in Africa must look beyond the very dirty and unhealthy party politics practiced and the winner takes all mentality to rather work towards meeting the needs of them that really need to be saved the poverty’s tight grips. Less talk and gimmicks should be the order of the day driven by more dedicated action towards arriving at a sustainable solution to making lives better for all.

The world is so dynamic and thus new ways of arriving at solutions should constantly be developed if there is going to be any success.

Going Forward

How can we do this?

We should be more focused on creating employment opportunities for all especially the youth. We should put in place good social welfare and retirement benefits for all especially the aged. Monies from aid and development agencies should be used for the purposes for which they were gotten and not for amassing wealth and selfish gains of individuals.

Economic liberalization policies should be the target of Governments and not policies that cripple people who are already poor. We must champion the use of modern technology and infrastructure to bridge the gap between the rich and poor.

We must help farmers and build sustainable opportunities for self-sufficiency. Good, quality and easily accessible education should be seen as a precursor to economic growth and development. Strategies much be developed to empower all persons irrespective of gender, tribe, age, religion and nationality.

We must foster political participation of all and the voices of all and sundry must be heard and factored into development planning. We must protect the environment and work against the negative effects of climate change. We must be united for each other to ensure that together we reduce poverty to its barest minimum. We all have a part to play!