Is it possible to make poverty disappear

They may, of course, lend assistance on a personal level, doing good in minute particulars. But the notion that this can be part of a program with more cosmic meaning, a program that promises to eradicate poverty for once and for all, founders on the apprehension that humans exercise very little control over the course of development of the social reality they themselves have created.

Not everyone, of course, is willing to live with this uncomfortable and paralyzing combination of ideas. It is hunger, high mortality rates, conflicts, a lack of education or health services and a lack of a future for hundreds of thousands of women, men and children. Broadly, poverty affects most of the people in the world. To eradicate poverty is possible, but at what cost? Investment in local farms to boost capital and productivity, education for both children and adults, enhancing access to health services and leveraging renewable energy resources are the best ways to end poverty.

This means that ending extreme poverty is within our reach. However, the decline has slowed. In April , the World Bank set a new goal to end extreme poverty in a generation. By measuring poverty we learn which poverty reduction strategies work, and which ones do not. Poverty measurement also helps developing countries gauge program effectiveness and guide their development strategy in a rapidly changing economic environment.

The Agenda for Sustainable Development promises to leave no one behind and to reach those furthest behind first.

Meeting this ambitious development agenda requires visionary policies for sustainable, inclusive, sustained and equitable economic growth, supported by full employment and decent work for all, social integration, declining inequality, rising productivity and a favorable environment. In the Agenda, Goal 1 recognizes that ending poverty in all its forms everywhere is the greatest global challenge facing the world today and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.

While progress in eradicating extreme poverty has been incremental and widespread, the persistence of poverty, including extreme poverty remains a major concern in Africa, the least developed countries, small island developing States, in some middle-income countries, and countries in situations of conflict and post-conflict countries.

Though the numbers are dwindling in countries like India and Indonesia, they are increasing in the poorest of the poor countries, like Congo, Haiti, and Sudan, and the last pockets of poverty will be the hardest to eliminate.

For years, whether we realized it or not, USAID and others saw donors and governments as the proper drivers of progress. Private enterprise was something to keep at a distance or if you could, bend it to your will. Today we have moved way beyond. The most important development in development is the burgeoning new relationship between the development community and… the private sector, the private enterprise.

I think leaders in both sectors are finally figuring out how to… take on challenges and problems that, not so long ago, seemed insurmountable. I believe the purpose of foreign assistance should be ending its need to exist. CEO of Concern Worldwide. But do we have the political will and the courage to make the tough decisions?

That means the stateless, the disposed, the marginalized, and the million people who are now in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. Rock Star and activist. He is a co-founder of ONE, a global campaign and advocacy organization with more than 9 million members. Commerce is the greatest player in taking people out of extreme poverty.

Just look at India, just look at China. Aid, development assistance is the bridge from here to there.