Overview
Poverty is widespread across the world. It's a major problem in our own communities, right here in North America , but it occurs on a much larger scale in developing countries. |
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In most of the world, poverty is not the exception. Most people don't have the basic things they need to survive, like nutritious food, clean water and health care. Almost half the world's population—that's 2.7 billion people!-live on less than $2 a day. 1
People who are living in poverty aren't empowered with the skills they need to break the cycle of poverty. They aren't getting the educations they need and they're often sick with serious illnesses. Perhaps worst of all, they can't plan for their futures because all their energy goes towards surviving, day-to-day.
Imagine what your life would be like if you never thought about what you want to be when you grow up. What if you couldn't imagine your future at all? Poverty stops kids from dreaming, because it takes away their belief in themselves and their sense of possibility.
Cycles of poverty
Free The Children's development work is about breaking the cycle of poverty for children and their families. Poverty is a cycle because it traps people through generations. When children can't afford to go to school, they don't get the opportunity to get ahead. Without these opportunities, their children will most likely face the same challenges.
Free The Children's Adopt a Village program gives communities the boost they need to break out of the cycle of poverty. Women are provided with a steady source of income through Alternative Income projects. Their children get the chance to go to school through the Brick by Brick: Schoolbuilding project. Community health improves through Clean Water projects. Through Adopt a Village, the community begins to grow, and over time, the cycle is broken.
Child labour
Globally, 218 million children are child labourers. 2 Child labour is a problem that's directly caused by poverty. Most children who are in situations of child labour are working to support their families or have been sold into slavery because their parents had debts to pay. This is called debt bondage or bonded labour.
Child labour includes: • Work performed by children under the age of 15
• Long hours of work on a regular or full-time basis
• Abusive treatment by the employer
• No access, or poor access, to education
Working children often have dangerous jobs, working in fireworks factories, brick kilns, or sorting needles, to name a few. In total, 126 million children are engaged in hazardous work. 3 Every year, 22,000 children die in work-related accidents. 4
Hunger
Hunger is a major challenge caused by poverty. In 2005, a total of 17 per cent or 815 million people in developing regions were undernourished, meaning that they aren't getting enough food to grow and be healthy. 5 Hunger is particularly hard on children, because they need nutritious food to learn and grow.
When kids are hungry, they can't focus in school and do their best. If they are chronically malnourished, they are more likely to get sick with serious illnesses because their bodies can't fight off disease as well. All schools built by Free The Children have a lunch program, so children get nutritious food to eat every day.
Quick facts about poverty
• Today, more than one billion people around the world live on less than $1 a day. 6
• About 2.7 billion people struggle to live on less than $2 a day. 7
• In 2005, a total of 17 per cent or 815 million people in developing regions were undernourished. 8
• Almost 11 million children under the age of five die each year from preventable causes. Almost all (98 per cent) of these children live in the developing world, with 45 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa . 9
• 600 million of the world's children live in absolute poverty. 10
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What you can do to help
All three aspects of Free The Children's Adopt a Village program address poverty. Whether you sign up for the Brick by Brick: Schoolbuilding project, the Clean Water project or the Alternative Income project, you are helping end poverty in the developing world. Through Adopt a Village you will learn more about poverty and raise awareness at your school. You'll also raise funds to help children and their families break out of poverty. |
Footnotes
1. The Millennium Project: Commissioned by the UN Secretary General and supported by the UN Development Group, Fast Facts: The Faces of Poverty, http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/resources/fastfacts_e.htm, as accessed March 15, 2007.
2. International Labour Organization, "The end of child labour: Within reach", 2006.
3. International Labour Organization, "The end of child labour: Within reach", 2006.
4. International Labour Organization, "Facts on Child Labour," June 2005.
5. Human Development Report, "Energy and the Environment.while preserving it for future generations." (Table 22), http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/data/pdf/hdr05_table_22.pdf, as accessed March 14, 2007.
6. United Nations, "Only With Your Voice - Millennium Development Goals Youth Action Guide" (p.6), http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/atf/cf/%7BD15FF017-0467-419B-823E-D6659E0CCD39%7D/en_action_guide.pdf, as accessed March 14, 2007.
7. The Millennium Project: Commissioned by the UN Secretary General and supported by the UN Development Group, "Fast Facts: The Faces of Poverty, http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/resources/fastfacts_e.htm, as accessed March 15, 2007.
8. Human Development Report, "Energy and the Environment.while preserving it for future generations." (Table 22), http://hdr.undp.org/statistics/data/pdf/hdr05_table_22.pdf, as accessed March 14, 2007.
9. United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division, "Progress Towards the Millennium Development Goals, 1990-2005," http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/goals_2005/goal_4.pdf.
10. United Nations, "Millennium Campaign: Voices Against Poverty," http://www.millenniumcampaign.org/site/pp.asp?c=grKVL2NLE&b=185518, as accessed March 15, 2007.
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