“POVERTY  AND  SOCIAL LIFE”

Poverty is defined as a condition in which a person or family lacks the financial resources to afford a basic, minimum standard of living. Poor people don’t have adequate income; they can’t afford housing, health facilities and education which is essential for basic survival. So, poverty can be understood simply as a lack of money, or more broadly, barriers to everyday human life.

                          

Every country has its own measure for poverty. However, a widely recognized authority on the topic of “extreme poverty” is the World Bank. The Bank keeps a metric called the International Poverty Line and, as of 2015, set the definition of extreme poverty as those who live on less than US$1.90 per day. (Those living on between $1.90-$3.10 per day are classified as the “moderate poor.”) This number is based on the monetary value of a person’s consumption rather than income alone.

 

        CAUSES OF POVERTY

Poverty is an exceptionally complicated social phenomenon, and trying to discover its causes is equally complicated. The stereotypic (and simplistic) explanation persists—that the poor cause their own poverty—based on the notion that anything is possible in America. Some theorists have accused the poor of having little concern for the future and preferring to “live for the moment”; others have accused them of engaging in self‐defeating behavior. Still other theorists have characterized the poor as fatalists, resigning themselves to a culture of poverty in which nothing can be done to change their economic outcomes. In this culture of poverty—which passes from generation to generation—the poor feel negative, inferior, passive, hopeless, and powerless.

The “blame the poor” perspective is stereotypic and not applicable to all of the underclass. Not only are most poor people able and willing to work hard, they do so when given the chance. The real trouble has to do with such problems as minimum wages and lack of access to the education necessary for obtaining a better‐paying job.

 

 

 

          HOW TO ELIMINATE POVERTY 

1. Quality education

Access to quality education which provides children with the knowledge and life skills they need to realize their full potential. It’s also essential to creating change in a child’s life. Plan International helps by training teachers, building new schools and breaking down barriers that prevent many children – and girls in particular – from attending school and staying in school.

 

2. Access to Healthcare

Access to health is essential. Plan International helps communities build health clinics, train health care workers and invest in equipment and medicine, so children can grow up healthy and strong.

 

                                                

3. Water & sanitation

Water and sanitation are also essential for every child’s survival. Each year, Plan International helps communities build school latrines, community water points and helps to establish organizations to ensure the continued management and maintenance of water points.

 

4. Economic security

Economic security: means people have the skills and resilience they need to withstand hard economic times and grow their incomes. Plan International works to overcome poverty by helping communities around the world gain the economic security they need to thrive, this includes training people living in poverty to acquire the skills and knowledge they need to secure a livelihood, and support their families.