Extreme
Poverty & Africa's Challenge
One billion
people around the world live in extreme poverty - the poverty
that kills. Africa
has the greatest proportion of people living in extreme poverty-more
than 40 percent or roughly 300 million people living on less than
$1 a day. The continent's environmental, epidemiological and geographical
challenges-including low-productivity agriculture, a high disease
burden, and high transport costs-render African countries most
vulnerable to persistent extreme poverty.
This means
that to collect safe drinking water and firewood for cooking,
people must walk several miles every day. It means that a child
in sub-Saharan Africa dies of malaria every 30 seconds, and that
1 in 16 women die in childbirth. With these rural communities
stuck in a poverty trap, they are unable to make the investments
in human capital and infrastructure required to achieve self-sustaining
economic growth.
Millennium
Villages: A Practical, Proven Solution
The
end of poverty is not only possible; it is happening.
The Millennium
Villages project offers a bold, innovative model for helping rural
African communities lift themselves out of extreme poverty. The
Millennium Villages themselves are proving that by fighting poverty
at the village level through community-led development, rural
Africa can achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and
escape from the poverty trap. By applying this scalable model
to give them a hand up, not a hand out, people of this generation
can get on the ladder of development and start climbing on their
own.
With the help
of new advances in science and technology, project personnel work
with villages to create and facilitate sustainable, community-led
action plans that are tailored to the villages’ specific
needs and designed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Simple solutions like providing high-yield seeds, fertilizers,
medicines, drinking wells, and materials to build school rooms
and clinics are effectively combating extreme poverty and nourishing
communities into a new age of health and opportunity. Improved
science and technology such as agroforestry, insecticide-treated
malaria bed nets, antiretroviral drugs, the Internet, remote sensing,
and geographic information systems enriches this progress.
Over a 5-year
period, community committees and local governments build capacity
to continue these initiatives and develop a solid foundation for
sustainable growth.To date, the Millennium Villages project has
reached over 400,000 people in 80 villages. Clustered into12 groups
across 10 African countries (Ethiopia,Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mali,
Nigeria, Rwanda,Senegal, Tanzania, and Uganda), the villages are
located in different agro-ecological zones that reflect the range
of farming, water, and disease challenges facing the continent.
Success in these different zones shows how tailored strategies
can overcome each challenge.
Millennium
Villages are proving that the end of poverty is not only possible,
it is happening. Poverty is ending and the Millennium Development
Goals are being met in Millennium Villages because ending poverty
is remarkably simple when focused action is taken. By introducing
practical, proven interventions in agriculture, health, education,
and infrastructure, Millennium Villages are empowering villagers
to lift themselves out of poverty and develop sustainable and
prosperous futures.
While many
wait and debate about whether the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) can be met, 400,000 people are meeting them in Millennium
Villages. While cynics doubt whether simple solutions like fertilizer,
bednets, school meal programs, and clean water can empower an
entire village to lift themselves out of poverty, Millennium Villages
are doing just that: empowering entire villages and ending poverty.
While some try to justify delaying funds for poverty-ending programs,
Millennium Villages are ending poverty for just $120 per villager,
per year over five years.
In just over
2.5 years, Millennium Villages have proven a comprehensive and
practical model to achieve the MDGs, end extreme poverty, and
build sustainable futures. We know that the Millennium Villages
model works -- we have a solution to achieve the MDGs and end
extreme poverty. What is needed is further action to expand Millennium
Villages.
As John McArthur,
CEO & Executive Director of Millennium Promise, commented
at The State of Planet 2008: ""The time for waiting,
doubting, and justifying delay is over. Now is the time for action.
Villagers need fertilizer, seeds, bednets and other simple tools.
Once they have the basic materials in place they can lift themselves
out of extreme poverty, and help their neighbors do the same."
Millennium
Congregation is currently supporting the work of Millennium Villages
in Rwanda. Dr. Josh Ruxin, of Columbia University, serves as the
in-country director of the Millennium Villages Project in Rwanda
and works in collaboration with the Millennium Villages team and
villagers in implementing the interventions. We
invite you to learn more about Millennium Villages and how Millennium
Congregation is supporting the work of Millennium
Villages in Rwanda by visiting our links on the
upper left of the page.
