GFA World’s 5 Ways to Reduce Poverty

Poverty is a complicated, multifaceted problem, so there are more than just 5 ways to reduce poverty, but GFA World has several tried-and-true methods that are breaking the cycle of poverty for families all over the world.

Extreme poverty is considered to be living on less than $2.15 a day, and in 2019, over 659 million people fell under that line.[1] According to the latest update of the global Multidimensional Poverty Index, three out of five children live in extreme poverty,[2] and the negative effects of deprivation in the early years have lifelong implications, continuing the cycle. While significant advances had been made to address poverty, events in recent years have hindered and even reversed progress. The pandemic economically affected many, but Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa are expected to see the largest increases in extreme poverty because of it.[3]

With so many people affected by poverty, it is only natural to ask, “What is poverty reduction, and what does it look like?” The Borgen Project describes the term as “the kind of economic growth pursued in less-developed nations by more developed nations to achieve a goal of lifting as many people above the poverty line as possible.” In recent years, the strategy for poverty relief has moved from hand-outs to more long-term programs focused on sustainability in communities.[4]

In the last 25 years, 1.1 billion people have been lifted out of extreme poverty,[5] and this success has helped to answer the question, “What is the relation between economic growth and poverty reduction?” Broad-based growth is the most important source of poverty reduction. There is a clear correlation between a country’s median income and its poverty rate, which implies that when a country achieves a higher median income, it is expected the population living in poverty will be reduced.[6] Thus, it makes sense that several of GFA’s poverty-reduction efforts involve helping a person or family raise their income level.

One method of poverty reduction is education. For every year a child attends primary school, their earnings increase by 10 percent.[7] A literate worker in Pakistan earns 23 percent more than an illiterate person. A woman with high literacy skills can earn 95 percent more than an illiterate woman or one with low literacy skills. And in rural Indonesia, those who finish lower secondary education are twice as likely to escape poverty.[8] These figures inform and encourage GFA World’s Child Sponsorship Program, where children from the poorest areas in Africa and Asia can receive the vital assistance needed or success in school. The children can also receive benefits like clean water access, medical attention and even recreational opportunities to raise their self-confidence and allow them to thrive and eventually earn more money.[9]

Other ways GFA works to end global poverty is through vocational training and income-generating gifts. A recent three-month GFA campaign aimed to help people “sew their way out of poverty” included fundraising in order to gift 500 sewing machines—and the training to use them—to 500 families struggling to survive. GFA national missionaries provide the machines, which cost $100 each, an exorbitant price to the impoverished of Africa and Asia. The workers then ran tailoring classes in communities to teach men and women skills they could turn into consistent income. This opened new doors, lifting people out of poverty one stitch at a time.[10]

The third of GFA’s 5 ways to reduce poverty is providing farm animals. They are accessible to people even in the poorest, most remote regions. The gift of a cow or a pair of goats or chickens can change a family’s life forever. They can drink the milk and eat the eggs and meat, greatly improving their sparse diets. They can also sell those products to increase their income. A great thing about animals is that they reproduce, so the families can also sell the continuous stream of offspring for even more income. These animals are not merely a bandage placed over the poverty problem but a real, sustainable solution.[11]


Click here, to read more about this article.

Click here, to read more blogs in Gospel for Asia.Com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Our Attitude Towards Suffering

Image
In 2 Timothy 2:3, the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Everyone, at some point or another, faces suffering, the soldier especially. However, it is not so much what we suffer, but how we suffer that matters. The way our heart responds to suffering is crucial, because by it we will either advance or become stagnant. To suffer like a good soldier is to willingly endure all for the sake of the call. To suffer like a bad soldier is to grumble when difficult situations and hardship arise. Instead of throwing our lives into what God has called us to, we can try to hold on to our lives, wanting to get away with as little suffering as possible, paying as little price as possible. We have forgotten that we are under the orders of our Master and that we willingly gave up our lives. Christ’s Example of Suffering Christ lived with the expectation of suffering. Throughout the Gospels, He repeatedly referred to ...
Read more

What Is the Poverty Cycle?

Image
The question, “What is the poverty cycle, or cycle of poverty?” is one that must be answered to address and end poverty across the globe. Put simply, the term refers to the trend where the vicious effects of poverty and deprivation pass from one generation to the next, with no seeming way out. [1] Someone born into poverty has fewer opportunities than their wealthier peers. They must focus on survival above all, leaving little room for anything else. One illness can wipe out a family’s savings, but the unclean water sources and lack of protection available to them invite sickness. Walking to retrieve water can be time-consuming yet must be a daily priority, and many children must work alongside their parents for the family to afford food. Thus, school is often a far-off dream. Having had few opportunities to acquire skills, the kids grow up to repeat the cycle of poverty with their own children. This story was all too familiar for Nalah. His father worked in the tea fields, trying to e...
Read more

Where Can I Learn How to Break the Cycle of Poverty?

Image
There are many methods for how to break the cycle of poverty which one can learn about. From education assistance to income-generating gifts like sewing machines or farm animals, there is hope for families who have been poor for generations. GFA World works in communities in all these ways through sponsorships and gift distributions, and one by one, we see lives changed as families escape poverty. Raina’s life had been dominated by poverty. She was part of a highly underprivileged people group that faced discrimination and deprivation from others in the region. Despite that, Raina had been able to attend school up until tenth grade, but she discontinued her education when it became too much for her parents to afford. Rather than receiving her certificates of completion, she had to join her parents in the field to earn money to put food on the table. After she married Ander, Raina continued to work in the fields to supplement his income with her own. In search of better job opportunitie...
Read more