Poverty and power: some half-time analysis
It is now around four months to the iconic date of 07/07/07. In addition to the novelty of such a date, it also represents the half-way point of the program to halve global poverty by 2015. Members of the United Nations, including Australia, agreed to this target at the Millennium Summit in 2000.
The half time score is not looking too good. While some regions of the world are on track to achieve some of the targets, Sub-Saharan Africa is behind on all indicators. One reason for the poor scoreline is lack of action by the developed world. For example, Australia’s foreign aid is still well short of the 0.5 per cent of GNI needed to achieve the goals set out in the Millennium Declaration. However, as half time draws near, it is useful to step back and take a look at the nature of poverty and see why the first half failed to deliver a better score.