ii) Explain why there is a need for world development
The united Kingdom has one of the highest rates of child poverty in Europe at approximately 4 million children. Almost 40% of the world's population are children, poverty is the biggest threat to a child’s life. Poverty takes a child’s life every 3 seconds. That means everyday poverty kills at least 30,000 lives. Such a largely effected number of children means millions miss out on education, healthcare and therefore the chance of a better life. An astonishing fact is that the worlds three richest businessmen have more money than the 48 poorest countries in the world put together. This is due to them being in such huge debt to other countries. World Bank has tried to help out in this area. When world bank was established in 1944 its first task was to help Europe recover from the devastation of the second world war where many countries were severely effected. Once Europe was rebuilt, World Bank turned it attention to developing countries. As the 1950 progressed it became obvious that the poorest developing countries could not afford to borrow much needed capital for development on the terms offered by the bank. The main reasons for poverty are :
Natural Disasters - Many LEDC’s are situated in parts of the world where natural disasters occur too frequently (earthquakes, floods, droughts) Floods and earthquakes can destroy several thousands of homes and farm land of which local people depend on. Droughts also mean that no crops grow and that people cannot earn any money.
Debt - Debt is the biggest reason why poverty is high. Most LEDC’s have to borrow money to survive and begin to develop. However the bank the countries borrow off charge huge amounts of interest. So countries fall more and more in debt. Chile for example, in the 70’s borrowed 3.9 billion dollars. By 1982 Chile had paid 12.8 billion dollars in interest but were still in debt. As you can see, countries can find themselves in debt really fast.
War is another reason for a lack of development. In Africa many civil wars have taken place. Wars destroy crops, homes, schools , hospitals, etc. causing more poverty. Wars also force several people to leave their homes and try to go to safer countries, this ca create even more poverty as the countries might not have the resources to accommodate so many refugees.
iii) Analyse and Explain the work of one religious agency working for world development
World Vision, one of the world's leading aid and development agencies, was founded by American missionary Bob Pierce following a life changing trip to China and Korea in 1947. On his first trip outside the USA, Bob encountered people in desperate need and his understanding of the Christian Gospel was transformed. He saw that words alone were not necessarily good news to those without food, clothing, shelter or medicine. In 1950, World Vision was legally incorporated as an organisation and offices soon followed in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. By 1966 the ministry had a worldwide scope. World Vision UK was registered as a charity in 1982.
During the 1980's a Marketing Division was established and proposals written to obtain government funding. An annual 24-Hour Famine was initiated which would draw up to 100,000 young people into partnership with those struggling against poverty, hunger and injustice across the world.
Throughout the decade a range of programmes was developed to help people in poor communities build a better future for themselves and their children. Including relief and rehabilitation programmes in Ethiopia, support for destitute farmers in Mozambique, flood rehabilitation in Bangladesh, mines clearance in Afghanistan and feeding programmes in drought-stricken Thailand and Laos.
New projects through the 1990's included water drilling in Senegal, environmental protection in Mali, the rehabilitation of war victims in Cambodia, community health work in Kenya and agriculture in Tanzania. Emergency help was also extended to thousands in the aftermath of famine, floods and conflict in Sudan, Bangladesh, Philippines, India and Rwanda.
The first television advertising for child sponsorship was broadcast in 1993 and a public policy unit established to conduct research and raise awareness of development issues. By this time, extensive world wide experience added credibility to their lobbying for fairer policies within the world's institutions and structures.
Today World Vision UK is a growing organisation with funding from both voluntary and government sources running community development projects in over 40 countries. We aspire to be an organisation that inspires those associated with us to turn the best business practices into dynamic action in serving the poor.
Work of World Vision - World Vision believe development is more than simply achieving an adequate standard of living for the poor. It is about transforming lives and creating a momentum for change so that all men, women and children can reach their God-given potential in life.
To do this, it is not enough to work with people to address the symptoms of their poverty. It is also necessary to tackle the underlying causes by speaking out against injustice, the abuse of people's rights, and challenging the structures that make people poor.
World Vision speaks out on a number of issues, including:
Aid
Increased overseas aid, effectively targeted, can help people to break out of the cycle of poverty and build a better future for themselves. World Vision is lobbying the Chancellor of the Exchequer to set a timetable for increasing the UK aid budget to 0.7%.
Debt
Debt still continues to cripple countries and impoverish people's lives. Despite debt relief by some countries like the UK, seven million children die each year as a result of the debt crisis. The UK can influence the wealthiest nations now to speed up the process and make debt relief more generous..
Disability
As many as one in five of the world's poorest people are disabled. Yet, they can seem almost invisible. Frequently set apart as different, labelled as a burden and excluded from the everyday life of society, children and adults with disabilities can become locked in a spiral of poverty and powerlessness. World Vision believe that challenging attitudes and bringing disabled people into full view can break this spiral.
PRSPs
World Vision has been an active voice on the World Bank's Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and is working to ensure the best outcomes for the poor.
Tobin Tax
World Vision has signed the Tobin tax declaration calling for a currency transaction tax to reduce damaging currency speculation which can destabilise economies and destroy livelihoods.
Trade
For poorer countries to benefit from the global economy there must be a fairer trade system. World Vision is part of the UK Trade Justice Movement, a coalition of organisations lobbying for fair rules to govern world trade. To find out more visit the Trade Justice Movement website
- “There should be no rich whilst there is poor in the world”
Do you agree? Give reasons showing that you have considered another point of view.
A definition of the two words :
Rich - abounding in possessions, wealthy, fortune in having any good thing, splendid and costly.
Poor - possessing little or nothing, without means, needy, deficient, lacking, unproductive.
As you can see the words are at two extremes. In my personal opinion, I do not believe that whilst there is such suffering going on, that people (e.g., Bill Gates, Richard Branson) should be allowed to have so much money at their disposal. “An astonishing fact is that the worlds three richest businessmen have more money than the 48 poorest countries in the world put together” this surely can not be right, if those three men gave up a third of their money to charity then that would be a big step forward for those 48 countries, but unfortunately we grow up in a society of greed where charity is becoming used less and less. People do not want to give up their hard earned money. So unfortunately other ways for the countries to make money must be thought of. The main thing is debt, so if we could wipe the slate clean as it were, and give theses countries a fresh start, they would function better and go from strength to strength. Even if the money lenders to the countries did not charge so much interest, then a lot of money would be saved, e.g. Chile - borrowed 3.9 billion dollars. By 1982 Chile had paid 12.8 billion dollars in interest but were still in debt. countries can find. This is an exstortionate amount of interest to be paid, nearly 9 billion dollars just of interest, where does all this money go? That itself could be given out to countries that are really struggling, with no apparent source of income, e.g. A country which is recovering from a natural disaster and has had crops and homes destroyed, or a country recovering from war, this is just as destructive as natural disasters, maybe even more so.