Poverty has many faces.
Social and political economic creates poverty living dire to addition sanitation. Two billion people do not have access to clean water and sanitation, and five million children die every years to preventable diseases.
Poverty interventions are cost effective.
For example, every $1 invested in clean water yields an economic return worth $8 in saved time, increased productivity and reduced healthcare costs. Additionally, only $50 is needed to send an Afghan girl to school for an entire year and only $5 buys a bed net to protect families from malaria.
Browse through the resources below for information on global poverty. Please note: we're still adding to these sections!
Articles:
Africans Are Wary but Hopeful, Poll Shows
The New York Times and the Pew Global Attitudes Project found that Africans are gaining positive views of their futures as they work to build accountable governments, stop conflict, and create wealth from their natural resources.
Link to Full Article
Are We Nearly There Yet?
The Economist writes on how the UN’s drive to make poverty history is far from addressing the causes of poverty and reaching its goals.
Link to Full Article
Global Poverty and Responsibility: Identifying the Duty-Bearers of Human Rights
Author: Abigail Gosselin
Gosselin discusses the framework for fundamental human rights in relation to developed/developing countries.
Human Rights Review, vol 8(1), Oct.-Dec. 2006, pp. 35-52.
Trade Liberalization and Poverty: The Evidence So Far
Authors: L. Alan Winters, Neil McCulloch and Andrew McKay
Winters, McCulloch, and McKay weigh the long and short term affects of open markets and liberal trade policies on poorer actors in the global economy.
Journal of Economic Literature. Vol.42 (March 2004), pp. 72-115.
What Bono Doesn’t Say About Africa
Author: William Easterly
Easterly writes on how celebrity campaigns and advertising of Africa as helpless actually hurts the continent’s progress to diminish poverty and strife.
Link to Full Article
The Real Politik of Ending Poverty - A New Policy Paper
This papers delves into the benefits of fighting global poverty, specifically related to US interests and security.
Authors: John Sewell and Lee Hamilton
Link to Full Article
Books:
Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty
by Muhammad Yunus
Link to Yunus site | Link to World Press Review
Beyond Humanitarianism: What You Need to Know about Africa and Why It Matters
by Princeton N. Lyman and Patricia Dorff
Link to Brookings Institution | Link to Council on Foreign Relations
The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It
by Paul Collier
Link to Oxford website
A Corporate Solution to Global Poverty: How Multinationals Can Help the Poor and Invigorate Their Own Legitimacy
by George Lodge and Craig Wilson
Link to Foreign Affairs Book Review
Economic Justice in an Unfair World: Toward a Level Playing Field.
by Ethan B. Kapstein
Link to Princeton University Press | Link to Kapstein site
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time
by: Jeffrey Sachs
Link to Columbia University site
Ending Global Poverty: A Guide to What Works
by Stephen C. Smith
Link to George Washington University site
Freedom from Poverty As a Human Right: Who Owes What to the Very Poor?
by Thomas Pogge
Link to Columbia University site
How to Make Poverty History: The Central Role of Local Organizations in Meeting the MDGs
by Tom Bigg and David Satterthwaite
Link to IIED
Innovative Approaches to Reducing Global Poverty
by James A. Stoner and Charles Wankel
Link to St. John’s University
The Other War: Global Poverty and the Millennium Challenge Account
by Carol Graham, Nigel Purvis, Steven Radelet and Gayle Smith
Link to the Brookings Institution | Link to the Center for Global Development
The Paradox of Wealth and Poverty: Mapping the Ethical Dilemmas of Global Development
by Daniel Little
Link to Google Book Preview
Poverty and Exclusion in North and South: Essays on Social Policy and Global Poverty Reduction
by Paul Mosley
Link to the University of Sheffield site
Reducing Global Poverty: The Case for Asset Accumulation
by Caroline Moser
Link to Brookings Institute site
Ending Global Poverty
by Stephen C. Smith
Link to Foreign Affairs review
Security by Other Means: Foreign Assistance, Global Poverty, and American Leadership
by Lael Brainard
Link to Brookings Institute site | Link to Lael Brainard Site
Too Poor for Peace?: Global Poverty, Conflict, and Security in the 21st Century
by Lael Brainard and Derek H. Chollet
Link to Brookings Institute site
World Poverty and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reforms
by Thomas Pogge
Link to Columbia University Homepage
Institutions:
Accion International
The mission of ACCION International is to give people the tools they need to work their way out of poverty. By providing "micro" loans, financial services and business training to poor women and men who start their own businesses, ACCION's partner microfinance organizations help people work their own way up the economic ladder, with dignity and pride. With capital, people can grow their own businesses.
ActionAid International USA
ActionAid International’s mission is to work in partnership with poor and excluded people who are fighting for a world without poverty in which their voices are heard and have an impact on the policies of government and major private institutions. It advocates for reforms that speak directly to decision makers on key policies such as poverty reduction, trade, education, agriculture, and the expenditure of federal, IMF, and World Bank funds.
The African Development Bank
The African Development Bank is the premier financial development institution of Africa, dedicated to combating poverty and improving the lives of people of the continent and engaged in the task of mobilizing resources towards the economic and social progress of its Regional Member Countries.
The Asian Development Bank:
The work of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) is aimed at improving the welfare of the people in Asia and the Pacific, particularly the 1.9 billion who live on less than $2 a day. Despite many success stories, Asia and the Pacific remains home to two thirds of the world's poor. ADB's vision is a region free of poverty. Its mission is to help its developing member countries reduce poverty and improve the quality of life of their citizens.
Brookings—Global Economy and Development Program
Global Economy and Development advances research, dialogue, and innovative solutions to address the forces of globalization and the challenges of global poverty. Our goal is to take the policy debate in new directions by providing fresh ideas on the drivers shaping the global economy, the road out of poverty and the rise of new economic powers.
CARE: Children and Poverty
CARE organization serve individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world in the fight to end global poverty. It places special focus on working alongside poor women because, equipped with the proper resources, women have the power to help whole families and entire communities escape poverty. Women are at the heart of CARE's community-based efforts to improve basic education, prevent the spread of HIV, increase access to clean water and sanitation, expand economic opportunity and protect natural resources. CARE also delivers emergency aid to survivors of war and natural disasters, and helps people rebuild their lives.
Center for Global Development – Economic Growth
The Center is committed to reducing inequality: the enormous – and growing – gaps between the richest and poorest countries. CGD work in areas including global public health, aid effectiveness, foreign direct investment, trade, migration, and other areas, contributes to reducing poverty.
Fourth World Movement
The Fourth World Movement is the US branch of the International Movement ATD Fourth World is an NGO of people from different social, religious, and ethnic backgrounds dedicated to eradicating persistent poverty through grass-roots activities with people and communities in poverty; research into poverty undertaken with poor families; public information campaigns, advocacy, and forums for representation and dialogue. They have projects in over 25 countries focus on learning from the experiences of those in poverty, building on their strengths, and providing opportunities to represent their own interests and educate others about the kinds of support needed to eradicate poverty.
Gates Foundation - Global Development
The Gates Foundation Global Development Program works with motivated partners to create opportunities for people to life themselves out of poverty and hunger. The Gates Foundation supports efforts to help small farmers improve crop production and market access, facilitates access to financial services for the poor, and supports free public access to computers connected to the Internet. They also support a range of learning opportunities, including potential new areas of long-term giving, and they respond to emergencies through Special Initiatives grant making.
Grameen Bank
At Grameen Bank, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the overall development of socio-economic conditions of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the ground that they are poor and hence not bankable.
International Monetary Fund—Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility
The Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) is the IMF's low-interest lending facility for low-income countries. PRGF-supported programs are underpinned by comprehensive country-owned poverty reduction strategies.
Millennium Challenge Corporation
The MCC focuses specifically on promoting sustainable economic growth to reduce poverty through investments in areas such as transportation, water and industrial infrastructure, agriculture, education, private sector development, and capacity building.
The ONE Campaign
ONE works to make poverty history by mobilizing over 2.4 million people and growing from all 50 states and 150 of America’s most well-known and respected non-profit, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. ONE believes that allocating more of the U.S. budget toward providing basic needs like health, education, clean water and food would transform the futures and hopes of an entire generation in the world's poorest countries. ONE is nonpartisan and works on the ground in communities, colleges and churches across the United States to increase efforts to fight global AIDS and extreme poverty, from the U.S. budget and presidential elections to legislation on debt cancellation, increasing effective international assistance, making trade fair, and fighting corruption.
Opportunity International
Opportunity International is dedicated to the needs and well being of the poorest of the working poor – that's what Opportunity International is all about. Opportunity international provides small loans -- sometimes as little as $50 -- as well as banking, insurance and other financial services that allow poor entrepreneurs to start or expand a business, develop a steady income, provide nutritious meals and education for their children and create jobs for their neighbors.
Oxfam
Oxfam International is a confederation of 13 organizations working together with over 3,000 partners in more than 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice. Oxfam seeks to help people organize so that they might gain better access to the opportunities they need to improve their livelihoods and govern their own lives.
Poverty News Blog
Poverty News Blog provides an expansive resource of continually updated articles on the fight to end domestic and global poverty, as well as links to anti-poverty organizations.
The Reality of Aid
The Reality of Aid project is an independent, international non-governmental initiative focusing exclusively on analysis and lobbying for poverty eradication policies and practices in international aid organizations.
RESULTS
RESULTS is a nonprofit grassroots advocacy organization committed to creating the political will to end hunger and the worst aspects of poverty. RESULTS is committed to individuals exercising their personal and political power by lobbying elected officials for effective solutions and key policies that affect hunger and poverty.
UN Development Program, Poverty Reduction
UNDP advocates for nationally-owned solutions to reduce poverty and promote human development. The Poverty Reduction Program sponsors innovative pilot projects; connects countries to global good practices and resources; promotes the role of women in development; and brings governments, civil society and outside funders together to coordinate their efforts.
USAID - Economic Growth and Trade
USAID assists families that live in low income countries with an average per capita gross national income (GNI) of less than $745 per year or lower middle income countries with a per capita income of less than $2,975 per year. USAID partners with these countries to support their efforts to improve the levels of income their citizens enjoy.
World Bank—International Development Association
The International Development Association (IDA) is the part of the World Bank that helps the world’s poorest countries. Established in 1960, IDA aims to reduce poverty by providing interest-free loans and grants for programs that boost economic growth, reduce inequalities and improve people’s living conditions.
World Hunger Year
WHY is convinced that solutions to hunger and poverty can be found at the grassroots level. WHY advances long-term solutions to hunger and poverty by supporting community-based organizations that empower individuals and build self-reliance, i.e., offering job training, education and after school programs; increasing access to housing and healthcare; providing microcredit and entrepreneurial opportunities; teaching people to grow their own food; and assisting small farmers. WHY sponsors two major fundraisers each year.
World Vision International
World Vision International is a Christian relief and development organization that, through emergency relief, education, health care, economic development and promotion of justice, helps communities help themselves. Established in 1950, World Vision works to embrace issues of community development and advocacy for the poor in its mission to help children and their families build sustainable futures.