Topic: POVERTY
General Purpose: To Inform or persuade
Specific Purpose: To persuade people how to prevent poverty.
Audience: People especially Government
Writer's Persona: Government Officials
Level of Formality: Formal
Target Output: An article for the Philippine Headline
General Purpose: To Inform or persuade
Specific Purpose: To persuade people how to prevent poverty.
Audience: People especially Government
Writer's Persona: Government Officials
Level of Formality: Formal
Target Output: An article for the Philippine Headline
POVERTY
Poverty is about not having enough money to meet basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. However, poverty is more, much more than just not having enough money.
In addition to a lack of money, poverty is about not being able to participate in recreational activities; not being able to send children on a day trip with their schoolmates or to a birthday party; not being able to pay for medications for an illness. These are all costs of being poor. Those people who are barely able to pay for food and shelter simply can’t consider these other expenses. When people are excluded within a society, when they are not well educated and when they have a higher incidence of illness, there are negative consequences for society. We all pay the price for poverty. The increased cost on the health system, the justice system and other systems that provide supports to those living in poverty has an impact on our economy.
While much progress has been made in measuring and analyzing poverty, the World Bank Organization is doing more work to identify indicators for the other dimensions of poverty. This work includes identifying social indicators to track education, health, access to services, vulnerability, and social exclusion.
There is no one cause of poverty, and the results of it are different in every case. Poverty varies considerably depending on the situation. Feeling poor in Canada is different from living in poverty in Russia or Zimbabwe. The differences between rich and poor within the borders of a country can also be great.
Despite the many definitions, one thing is certain; poverty is a complex societal issue. No matter how poverty is defined, it can be agreed that it is an issue that requires everyone’s attention. It is important that all members of our society work together to provide the opportunities for all our members to reach their full potential. It helps all of us to help one another .
Since 2010, reducing poverty in the Philippines has been an official objective of the government led by Benigno Aquino and less so by the newest government but it remains a priority. The country seems to be struggling however to maintain the healthy growth of 2010 (above 7%), which remains important to keep the country on the right path.
Challenges ahead
New anti-poverty program
With fighting poverty at the center of the new government's policy, the trendy type of social assistance known as conditional cash transfer (CCT) has been the weapon of choice since 2008 in this war against poverty in the Philippines. The CCT program provides cash to poor families as long as they fulfill their civic duties by making sure they receive basic healthcare (e.g. vaccines) and send their kids to school the whole year. Note that money is given exclusively to the female head of the family. It seems men have a tendency to spend money in alcohol.
Since 2008, the conditional cash transfer program has been extended to over 2 million families, with a budget of about $450m – not that much considering the number of people concerned by this. With the help of the international organizations including the World Bank, almost half of impoverished families are now receiving CCTs.
Lack of infrastructure
This is one of the biggest problems that both prevents the economy from growing and makes poverty in the Philippines even worse. There’s been a dire lack of investment in infrastructure, as much to invest in new projects as to maintain existing infrastructure. Now it’s left to see whether the government’s plan to use public-private partnerships will work out for the better. By letting private investors build the infrastructure (in exchange of them charging people a fee later on), the government avoids bearing the whole cost of building infrastructure.
However, many Filipinos increasingly resist what they see as a basic investment that the government should make for the country, rather than making people pay for using basic services such as bridges, roads or water supply. What’s more, lack of accountability from the government also means that sometimes shady deals are made between the government and a private company. On the other hand it also means that companies aren’t too interested in investing in the Philippines because of the lack of transparency in government deals.
In addition to a lack of money, poverty is about not being able to participate in recreational activities; not being able to send children on a day trip with their schoolmates or to a birthday party; not being able to pay for medications for an illness. These are all costs of being poor. Those people who are barely able to pay for food and shelter simply can’t consider these other expenses. When people are excluded within a society, when they are not well educated and when they have a higher incidence of illness, there are negative consequences for society. We all pay the price for poverty. The increased cost on the health system, the justice system and other systems that provide supports to those living in poverty has an impact on our economy.
While much progress has been made in measuring and analyzing poverty, the World Bank Organization is doing more work to identify indicators for the other dimensions of poverty. This work includes identifying social indicators to track education, health, access to services, vulnerability, and social exclusion.
There is no one cause of poverty, and the results of it are different in every case. Poverty varies considerably depending on the situation. Feeling poor in Canada is different from living in poverty in Russia or Zimbabwe. The differences between rich and poor within the borders of a country can also be great.
Despite the many definitions, one thing is certain; poverty is a complex societal issue. No matter how poverty is defined, it can be agreed that it is an issue that requires everyone’s attention. It is important that all members of our society work together to provide the opportunities for all our members to reach their full potential. It helps all of us to help one another .
Since 2010, reducing poverty in the Philippines has been an official objective of the government led by Benigno Aquino and less so by the newest government but it remains a priority. The country seems to be struggling however to maintain the healthy growth of 2010 (above 7%), which remains important to keep the country on the right path.
Challenges ahead
New anti-poverty program
With fighting poverty at the center of the new government's policy, the trendy type of social assistance known as conditional cash transfer (CCT) has been the weapon of choice since 2008 in this war against poverty in the Philippines. The CCT program provides cash to poor families as long as they fulfill their civic duties by making sure they receive basic healthcare (e.g. vaccines) and send their kids to school the whole year. Note that money is given exclusively to the female head of the family. It seems men have a tendency to spend money in alcohol.
Since 2008, the conditional cash transfer program has been extended to over 2 million families, with a budget of about $450m – not that much considering the number of people concerned by this. With the help of the international organizations including the World Bank, almost half of impoverished families are now receiving CCTs.
Lack of infrastructure
This is one of the biggest problems that both prevents the economy from growing and makes poverty in the Philippines even worse. There’s been a dire lack of investment in infrastructure, as much to invest in new projects as to maintain existing infrastructure. Now it’s left to see whether the government’s plan to use public-private partnerships will work out for the better. By letting private investors build the infrastructure (in exchange of them charging people a fee later on), the government avoids bearing the whole cost of building infrastructure.
However, many Filipinos increasingly resist what they see as a basic investment that the government should make for the country, rather than making people pay for using basic services such as bridges, roads or water supply. What’s more, lack of accountability from the government also means that sometimes shady deals are made between the government and a private company. On the other hand it also means that companies aren’t too interested in investing in the Philippines because of the lack of transparency in government deals.