Eradication of Poverty: a Civil Society Perspective 2011
Introduction
The eradication of poverty has proven to be an elusive goal despite it being central to the international development agenda. Recent studies, in particular the DESA "Rethinking Poverty" report, suggest that conventional approaches are not working1. The dominant development model has not created a socially just world; rather it has put at risk a sustainable future by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and overuse of non-renewable resources and has favoured the wealthy over those forced to live in poverty. It will take a shared ethical and social commitment to redirect our culture and economy toward a sustainable future. The current crises throw into bold relief a model of development that is blind to environmental and human rights issues and confuses economic growth alone with progress. We strongly endorse the call to rethink and refocus our efforts to eradicate poverty through policies and programmes at all levels that are equitable, integrated and that address the systemic roots of inequality.
Multidimensional poverty
Poverty is a complex human reality. Poverty is not the condition of a fixed group of people; everyone is at risk of experiencing poverty at some point in their lives. Lack of income by itself can never adequately measure or explain poverty. Because it is multi-dimensional, poverty encompasses all aspects of human life. Such factors as geography, a vulnerable environment, the limitations that age, disability or illness impose, all contribute to the experience of poverty. Structural limitations such as social exclusion, lack of access to the tools and the absence of the necessary conditions that enable a person to participate in social, economic and political life, characterize extreme poverty which leaves people marginalized in their own society. The powerlessness flowing from these causes, damages a person's spirit and capacity to relate with others. The new indices proposed in the 2010 Human Development Report - the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the Gender Inequality Index and the Multidimensional Poverty Index – expand our current understanding of poverty and offer us some tools to measure it.2

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