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The issue of poverty is commonly known to be a global problem. Consequently, many development programmes and initiatives have been developed to focus on poverty alleviation, both directly and indirectly.
At the global scale, the first goal of the eight Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) has been set to reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and to reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by the year 2015.
At the continental level, African leaders have placed the use of information communication technology (ICT) as a priority; and have agreed to improve access to ICT to address the continent’s development short falls and reduce poverty by 2012. These leaders have discussed the ways of ensuring better access to ICT, including the idea of creating ‘digital villages’, so that rural people would be less likely to migrate to urban areas.
Lack of access to information is one of the factors that lead people into poverty, causing them to be poor and remain poor. As a result, hardships for communities, families and individuals are experienced. Additionally, it is a general fact that the poor people have limited access to financial services that are used by those people in the 'developed world' to bridge the gap when times are hard. With poor access to information and to decision-making, it becomes difficult for the people living in poverty to live successfully. The use of ICT would hopefully address this.
Nevertheless, the question that remains is, does the use of ICT really have an impact on poverty? What do the DLISTers think about using ICT as a strategy to alleviate poverty? How can DLIST contribute to poverty alleviation?
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In the business section of "Die Burger" of yesterday (14/11/007) it was reported that the unemployment figures for 2005 for South Africa has finally been released. Once one see the figures, one can realise why their was wariness to release it sooner.
Since 1996 the number of people in South Africa living on less than a dollar a day has doubled. This despite the economy growing steadily. This has mostly been ascribed to rural people moving to the bigger centre's in hope of work and earning money. The problem is, there are not enough jobs in the cities for all these people.
Also reported in the paper yesterday was the story of the Zimbabwean fugitive that came to Cape Town in the hopes of earning money to send back home. He died on the doorstep of a business of starvation. In a big wealthy city surrounded by millions of people and thousands of businesses this man died of hunger. Reading this made me feel both angry and helpless.
Economic growth does not equal better livelihoods for the poor. The poor are getting poorer and the rich richer. Despite high economic growth globally the gap between the two has never been bigger.
Yes, maybe ICT might help rural people, it depends on what information they get from it. Here, locally, we have a community computer centre. If you have a library card you can spend an hour per day free on the internet. As this centre is right next to my own office I pop in there sometimes. The coordinators sit on their cellphones or play games while the schoolkids use the internet to download pictures of Pokemon and the teenagers check out the latest in the celebrities antics. No guidance is given on how to use the internet to access information for school tasks, or to find opportunities for training or jobs. Certainly not one single person does research on things like self sustainable livelihoods. In this case, I think, these very expensive computers are of very little use to the local poor.
Those that are poor strive towards a better life and they equate that better life with things the rich has and do at present. A better life to them does not mean growing your own vegetables, building environmentally friendly, recycling your waste or using solar stoves to cook your food. And how will the rich persuade them of this, while they drive big cars, wear the newest fashions and have money to spend? How the hell can they believe them?
ICT would be a good way to give training to rural people, but what kind of training? I know, for a fact, that all over Namaqualand there are youths that have been through numerous training courses and they still do not have jobs. In the villages they live there are no jobs to match up to their newly acquired skills. They could move to the city and try and find a job there, but there are not enough jobs there either. At least locally there is a support network and no-one need to die of hunger on someone else's doorstep.
If we are going to use ICT to improve livelihoods and alleviate poverty, it will need to be in a very appropriate manner, taking into account the social and economic statistics of countries and its various regions and designing information and training programs that will enable rural people to react to these situations in a way that brings them most benefit. |
It sounds so unthinkable that we can make use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to alleviate poverty. Picture this situation, a beggar and his daughter sitting outside a computer shop with their begging bowl. The little girl looking at the computer shop says, “I am hungry…., if we had a computer we could have ordered food through a website…..”
I will say those school kids with access to the state of the art computers are fortunate enough. I say this because, the trend in our region especially in rural areas is that, people who use the computer and the internet facilities are seen as the most educated and the well off.
Having said that, it is important to understand that poverty is caused by a complex interplay of social, economic, political, natural factors, ‘bad governance” Hence, it is a complex problem making the solution no less so. We have seen a range of strategies being implemented to fight poverty, such as job creation policies, affirmative action policies (BEE), health policies, and educational policies.
I cannot agree more when you say a lack of access to information leads people to poverty; however it should be noted that information is not a magic wand that can cure hunger and poverty. Therefore it will be fitting to say lack of the right information at the right time, is the major draw back. I am interested in knowing what people out there think might be the necessary information needed by people to fight poverty (health, agriculture, weather etc)
I think ICT can be a useful tool (a means to an end) that can be used to pool all our resources and knowledge to better reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). My condolences to the Zimbabwean “refugee” who had to die in a “land of plenty” fleeing his own country where conditions are no longer suitable for personal development, where most people have been pushed into abject poverty.
The question that stands out is, since poverty has social and political roots, how can DLIST (ICT) as a technological tool, be used to overcome social and political barriers? Just to quote someone who said, “Many developing countries remain poor largely because they had let the industrial revolution pass them by. They can ill afford to miss the information technology revolution”
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What is worrying about all the strategies being implemented to fight poverty, such as job creation policies, affirmative action policies (BEE), health policies, and educational policies, is that DESPITE these, the level of poverty in South Africa has doubled from 1996 - 2005. Despite these AIDS figures are on the rise, crime is on the rise, unemployment is on the rise and poverty has doubled.
If, despite all these policies, poverty has doubled, then they have not been designed well, have not taken into account all the issues and factors, etc. And the lot of money spent on developing and implementing them, were then wasted.
The question of how DLIST (ICT) as a technological tool, be used to overcome social and political barriers, is interesting. How indeed? It seems to me it could be used to mobilise a stronger voice for reform of conditions that lead to poverty, but then we still need the message to be taken to those in the position to make these reforms. Do they read DLIST?
On the other hand, how do we use DLIST to change our own lifestyles. Most of us fall into that category of those privileged to have jobs, have access to resources and have spending power. We are part of the consumer society whose demands result in 10 year old Indian children working in sweat shops to manufacture that GAP T-shirt we want to buy. We are the ones able to buy exotic food that is weighed down by food-miles and carbon emissions. It is our demands that are causing forests to be burned down and ever more mines to be dug. Amongst many other reasons, George Bush has stayed in power because he promised the Americans the "freedom" to spend ever more. Politicians all over the world does the same - they promise economic growth that will result in everyone being able to spend more. And as we have seen, poverty is on the up and up despite economic growth. I have never heard of a politician winning votes because he/she tells people they will have to spend less, grow their own food, recycle their waste, etc.
20% of the world's people are leading a "quality" life, a life of abundance. The other 80% lives in poverty, aspiring to that same "quality" life. Clearly this is an economic system that does not work, or at least, it only works for the minority. Yet, when we want to solve poverty, we still think of that same system as the solution.
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I have been talking to a few local people, about how they think ICT could help with poverty alleviation. The matter of existing policies designed to alleviate poverty was also discussed.
It was felt that the very people who should benefit from these policies often know nothing or very little about them. A suggestion was that DLIST could be used by posting policies with regard to poverty alleviation, funding & training opportunities, etc on the Information Hub and putting a star next to the link for Information Hub everytime something new is posted. This could inform people at ground level about opportunities to alleviate their situation, given that it is posted in a language they can understand and in terminology that is easily understood.
Maybe DLIST could build partnerships with the different organisations that have funding for poverty alleviation, training, like skills, sustainable livelihoods, etc programs and they can build kiosks on DLIST or provide DLIST with information to post on the Information Hub.
During our discussions another problem was identified, that of the current definition of poverty: earning less than R3000 per month. It was felt that people that earn this amount of money has access to more resources and is often more capacitated to understand what benefits they can gain through poverty alleviation programs than the people who, in this community at least, are considered to be REALLY poor (earning a R1000 per month or less). They felt that an effort should be made for the message to reach the latter group and that this should be done by regional offices or departments and organisations visiting individual villages to have information meetings on programs and projects aimed at alleviating poverty. |
I agree with what you are saying.What makes the "eradication of poverty" even more challenging is the fact that the people in the 20%, who can make a meaningful contribution towards the goal, are not interested. They hide behind the little money they give to the "needy" on street corners and "support" small businesses by occasionally buying a product, but in the end all they are interested in is their "quality" life. I think we need to think about ways, and I do not mean strategies, action plans, and laws, to get the attention of the 20% who really needs to come to the party. Strategies, action plans and laws are great, but by the time they are implemented, if at all, then the problem is so much bigger that the plans have to be revised, etc, etc, etc.
>>> "Malinda Gardiner" <hardeveldtour@telkomsa.net> 11/15/2007 3:40 PM >>>
What is worrying about all the strategies being implemented to fight poverty, such as job creation policies, affirmative action policies (BEE), health policies, and educational policies, is that DESPITE these, the level of poverty in South Africa has doubled from 1996 - 2005. Despite these AIDS figures are on the rise, crime is on the rise, unemployment is on the rise and poverty has doubled.
If, despite all these policies, poverty has doubled, then they have not been designed well, have not taken into account all the issues and factors, etc. And the lot of money spent on developing and implementing them, were then wasted.
The question of how DLIST (ICT) as a technological tool, be used to overcome social and political barriers, is interesting. How indeed? It seems to me it could be used to mobilise a stronger voice for reform of conditions that lead to poverty, but then we still need the message to be taken to those in the position to make these reforms. Do they read DLIST?
On the other hand, how do we use DLIST to change our own lifestyles. Most of us fall into that category of those privileged to have jobs, have access to resources and have spending power. We are part of the consumer society whose demands result in 10 year old Indian children working in sweat shops to manufacture that GAP T-shirt we want to buy. We are the ones able to buy exotic food that is weighed down by food-miles and carbon emissions. It is our demands that are causing forests to be burned down and ever more mines to be dug. Amongst many other reasons, George Bush has stayed in power because he promised the Americans the "freedom" to spend ever more. Politicians all over the world does the same - they promise economic growth that will result in everyone being able to spend more. And as we have seen, poverty is on the up and up despite economic growth. I have never heard of a politician winning votes because he/she tells people they will have to spend less, grow their own food, recycle their waste, etc.
20% of the world's people are leading a "quality" life, a life of abundance. The other 80% lives in poverty, aspiring to that same "quality" life. Clearly this is an economic system that does not work, or at least, it only works for the minority. Yet, when we want to solve poverty, we still think of that same system as the solution.
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I got a feeling things are going to get a lot worse in the future . I live in Canada and we are supposedly one of the worlds richest Countries per capita and I see things changing here . We appear to be headed towards more of a Land Lord Peasant type system .I think Governments forget lessons of history and what type things make a country prosper and what type things make a country become poor .
Here now Government is Being Used more and More to just serve the Rich and to restrict others Ability of becoming rich . Here now men are becoming more and more oppressed by other men . For example Now the fish in our ocean are all owned as property now by rich men . For a normal man to go Fishing he has to pay the rich man upfront before he can catch a fish . The rich man will charge half the fishes value up front and have clear profit .. The buyer will have to pay all expenses and do all the effort but he needs to have a job . If the fish don't exist the buyer person has to take the loss of all expenses plus what he paid the rich man . I've seen many hard working men go bankrupt because of this system . And the Owners of the Fish are becoming very , very wealthy and most have not worked a day in 15 years .
Now Canada should realize This is a way to destroy its self and bring much troubles in the future as in history the Land Lord Peasant type systems in england just brought fighting , wars . and made good men leave the country . But now their is nowhere else for most these people who are becoming peasants to take off too .
This system of Having the Fish owned as Property has completely destroyed the Canadian ocean 20 years ago Canada probably had the worlds richest ocean , Now Canada might have one of the sickest oceans on the earth . All because of this evil system . But you can't stop it as the ones who own the Fish finance the elected officials campaigns the minister of fisheries is usually Owned by these rich men who can sometimes draw millions a year from selling the fish in our oceans before they are caught .
NOW THIS IS NOT THE CANADA I Knew as a Boy ....Things are going to Change here too . Its being hidden by the large oil discoveries in Alberta . But you can't Use a Government to do such actions for a few and have a healthy country in the future . The government here now seems to not believe in having a middle class. |
A relevant document on this topic of linking ICT to poverty alleviation is now available on the document library. This document presents the achievements of the Building Digital Opportunities (BDO) Programme’s, that demonstrate how ICTs can significantly contribute to poverty reduction.
The BDO programme aims to develop genuine opportunities for poverty focused ICT for development. According to this document, ICT has a role to play in helping to reach the poor and facilitate giving them a voice, improving the environment, promotion of opportunities for livelihoods and creation of employment opportunities.
View the document on this site: http://www.dlist-benguela.org/remository/Download/General_Documents/Information_and_Communication_Technologies_(ICTs)_and_Poverty_Reduction_in_Subsaharan_Africa_-_A_learning_Study_Synthesis/
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Konjore Launches Environmental Awareness Publications and DVDs
Wednesday, 21st of November 2007
By Anna Shilongo
WINDHOEK
The Minister of Environment and Tourism, Willem Konjore, recently launched
three publications and DVDs on the Namibian Sub-Region of the Succulent
Karoo Ecosystem Programme (SKEP).
The publications form part of a series of guides that cover topics on
community visioning, monitoring of the Sperrgebiet and adjacent areas as
well as 11 steps on rehabilitation in the Sperrgebiet.
The DVDs cover topics on the Orange River, Aus town lands, and the promotion
of the Succulent Karoo through culture in Warmbad.
Speaking at the occasion, Konjore said the materials would help raise
awareness about the unique and biologically important Sperr-
gebiet and Succulent Karoo Ecosystem.
He said the materials would also explain why some areas are a biodiversity
hotspot of global importance.
The materials, which provide baseline information, also serve as a reference
for administrators, managers and scientists working in the area.
They support and help guide the work of Government ministries, regional and
local authorities, local communities, the private sector, non-governmental
organisations and academic institutions that are working or will work, in
this rich but highly sensitive ecosystem.
"The materials launched here today provide management guidance and best
practice advice for people responsible for managing the Sperrgebiet and
surrounding areas," said the Minister.
All this information contributes to the expansion of knowledge of the area.
"It improves our ability to conserve and promote sustainable development.
And it helps us achieve the long-term goal of SKEP, which is: 'The people of
the Succulent Karoo take ownership of and enjoy their unique living
landscape in a way that maintains biodiversity and improves livelihoods now
and in perpetuity'," he said.
He said lessons from around the world have already shown that one of the
best ways of improving levels of knowledge and management capacity is to
share the practical experiences gained by practitioners by means of best
practice guides.
"That is why SKEP has used this approach, drawing on local experiences and
lessons learnt. This also helps develop standardised approaches and a common
or shared vision between partners," he added.
He said the benefits that flow from responsible sharing of information
contribute significantly to a democratisation of opportunities and
development of environmental management in any given country.
The open flow of information gives stakeholders real choices in conducting
their daily affairs.
The authors of these publications also clearly defined the critical role
played by information sharing contained in public records in the country's
economy and society.
Thanking the Critical Eco-system Partnership Fund (CEPF) for providing
resources to support these pu-blications Konjore said: "We acknowledge with
thanks your commitment to suppor-ting local solutions and local responses to
local challenges and opportunities. You are helping to empower people to
take control of their own development initiatives."
Benedict M Libanda and Morgan L Hauptfleisch wrote the publications.
At the same event, SKEP Namibia, with funding from CEPF, presented grants to
four communities residing in the buffer zone of the succulent biome
amounting to N$261 298.40.
The Warmbad Based Project, which promotes awareness on the Succulent Karoo
through culture, received N$58 150 and the Gabis Project, a women's group
that will address and promote the establishment of a craft making outlet,
received N$69 680, while the Karas Investment Ventures, which promotes
awareness through education and community participation of the preservation
of the Succulent Karoo, received N$63 468.40, Aus Community Conservation
Trust to support local level monitoring on livestock production and
management received N$70 000.
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