SDG 1: End of Poverty

To end world poverty might seem like an unachievable utopian objective set by naive hopes for a world free of pain and injustice, but is it really that unattainable, so impossible to reach? The General Assembly of UN disagrees, as shows The 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development, a resolution constituted by the International Community featuring 17 Goals to be achieved before the year 2030, leading with SDG 1: End Poverty in all its Forms Everywhere. Such a placement is no mistake, as the UN considers the eradication of poverty to be “the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for a sustainable development”. Within this objective are not only included the eradication of extreme poverty (defined as the population living off less than 1.24$ a day) and the reduction by at least a half of the proportion of people living in poverty, but also the development of measures of social protection, gender equality in the access to the most fundamental resources, and means of protection for the most vulnerable against environmental and economic disasters (Agenda 2030).

But… What have we done until now to reach these objectives? From a global point of view, other than the multilateral treaties created to set standards and originate mutual obligations between countries to fight together against poverty, a great deal of the work is taken on by international entities such as the International Labour Organisation, a UN’s agency set to foster social justice and the protection of human rights, which through its “End of Poverty Initiative” works towards establishing a global network between states to develop policies to eradicate poverty (ILO Initiative). However, most of these measures only aim to facilitate the activities that later states will have to individually undertake through the implementation of national policies.

To take an example of such policies, we can have a look at the strategy put in place by those countries that in recent years gave the most outstanding performances in the global fight against poverty. Among these we can count Tanzania, which a recent research by World Bank ranked first within the countries that most reduced national poverty rates within the first 15 years of the 21st century. As a matter of fact, the government of Tanzania between the year 2000 and 2011 lowered extreme poverty by an average of 3.2 percentage points per year, almost halving the percentage of its population living in extreme poverty in the span of a decade (World Economic Forum). It was able to do so through its Poverty Reduction Strategy supported by international economical aid (mostly from the USA), which focused on “reducing income poverty, increasing access to basic necessities and improving government infrastructure” (The Borgen Project).

More in detail, it implemented employment and empowerment programs in the sectors of economy accounting for the most of the poor population, it developed solutions to meet the personal needs of the poor, and generally worked towards being more reliable for its people. Although in the first 19 years of the new century there are many other success stories like Tanzania’s to be discovered, we must face the harsh reality that the road towards ending world poverty had a considerable set back with the outbreak of the global pandemic Covid-19, with a substantial aggravation of the situation due to the most recent event in global politics concerning the war in Ukraine, as the working poverty rate rose for the first time in the last 20 years (UN SDG1). Yet we must not be discouraged by this delay, but keep our focus on developing new national politics and implementing international cooperation to bring an end to world poverty.

Sources

Agenda 2030:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=0CAQQw7AJah cKEwiw6vCh043-AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsustainabledevelopme nt.un.org%2Fcontent%2Fdocuments%2F21252030%2520Agenda%2520for%2520Sustaina ble%2520Development%2520web.pdf&psig=AOvVaw2bLAWQVt-zaCkaXWT0qn-u&ust=168 0609191887516

ILO Initiative:
https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/history/centenary/WCMS_480305/lang–en/index.htm World Economic Forum: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/chart-of-the-day-these-countries-have-seen-the-bi ggest-falls-in-extreme-poverty/ The Borgen Project https://borgenproject.org/the-poverty-reduction-strategy-of-tanzania/

UN SDG1:
https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal1