POVERTY REDUCTION AND RECENT DEVELOPMENT MODELS
By the late 1990s, the goals of development began to embrace the elimination of poverty in all its dimensions. The earlier approach concentrated mainly on increasing the income and consumption of the poor people. The new approach also focuses on improving education, health, and other human capacities of the poor - not simply on increasing their income levels. Poor people have to be helped not only by creating opportunities for employment and income earning but also by empowering them through a combination of education, health, and greater participation in politics and community decisions.
In 2000 heads of state of both rich and poor countries committed themselves to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These are:
¤ eradicate extremepoverty
¤ achieve universal primary education
¤ promote gender equality and empower women
¤ reduce child mortality
¤ improve maternal health
¤ combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
¤ ensure environmental sustainability
¤ develop a global partnership for development
Based on this declaration, the 2002 Monterrey Conference established a new partnership for development. The rich countries promised to increase aid to poor countries. The developing countries agreed to undertake reforms to improve aid effectiveness. Neither side could fulfil its commitments. Aid flows have increased, but these remain far short of the agreed targets. There is also an ongoing debate between strong advocates and opponents of the need for development assistance from the rich to the poor.
Resource transfers alone cannot help developing countries overcome their poverty. Rich countries can reform their trade and other policies to help poor countries. They can change their protectionist policies – especially in agriculture and textiles – and allow market access to the exports of poor countries. Changes in trade, investment, migration, environment, and technology policies in rich countries would help people from poor countries. For example,
advanced countries should allow liberal entry (through appropriate visa procedures) to knowledge workers – engineers, doctors, nurses, programmers, accountants and the like - from developing countries. They have to bear the main burden for carrying out measures for protecting environment. This is known as “common but differentiated responsibility”. Rich nations need to be liberal in their policies for transferring technologies to poor nations. They have to assist poor countries many of whom are caught in severe external debt problems.
Despite the progress made in the past 50 years, poverty remains a great challenge. Approximately 1 billion people still live on less than one dollar per day. Aid is essential for supporting growth and reducing poverty. Raising the volume and the quality of aid is a moral, strategic, and economic imperative.