Rich World Poor World
A study to investigate and understand how and why development inequalities exist in the world and the effects on both the land and people.
What are Inequalities? What countries are considered rich and what countries are considered poor?
What are the effects of wealth or poverty on people's daily lives dependent upon where they live?
What are the effects of wealth or poverty on people's daily lives dependent upon where they live?
A map showing where the most wealthy people live (darker colours) and where the poorest live (lighter colours)
Learning Intentions
Learning Intention 1 Identify some of the ways inequality can be measured.
Pre Test (10 marks)
Measures of Development
Development can be measured and classified into the following groups:
Economic Measurements
This measures a countries wealth:
Health Measurements
This measures the social aspects of a country in mainly areas of health and education:
Education Measurements
This measures the social aspects of a country in mainly areas of health and education:
Political Measurements
These are those aspects of a countries government:
Share of the World’s Wealth
The global wealth pyramid shows how 32 million people, representing 0.7% of the world’s adult, population control $US98.7 trillion or about 41% of the world’s wealth.
On the base of the pyramid we see that 3.2 billion people, representing 68.7% of the world’s adult population, control just 3% of the world’s wealth, or about $US7.3 trillion.
Source: Credit Suisse
Learning Intention 2 - Describe the resources, goods and services which are unevenly distributed.
Use the power-point titled “Resources”. The content notes of the power-point are below:
T:\Secondary 9-13\Secondary Curriculum\Social Studies\Year 9 Social Studies New Curriculum\Rich World, Poor World
What are Resources?
Resources are anything that is useful to people and can be divided into the following categories:
Employment Groups
Primary
This group is involved in the acquisition of raw materials such as:
Secondary
This group is involved in turning Raw Materials into finished products:
Tertiary
This group provides a service, such as:
Your ability to get resources, goods and services depends on economic factors:
Demand refers to the wish to buy.
Small demand and big supply = low prices
Big demand and small supply = high prices
In times of famine, the demand for food is bigger than the supply. Prices are …….
In times of plenty, the supply of food is bigger than the demand. Prices are ………
What are Resources – Learning Help
Natural Resources
Come from the environment – soils, plants animals, minerals
They are NOT made by people.
They may have existed for long or short periods of time.
Natural Resources - Renewable Resource
One that if managed well will be available in the future – infinite
Natural Resources - Non - Renewable Resource
Is finite and is determined by how well it is managed and how much there is.
Cultural Resources
These are related to people or what people make
Cultural - Human Resources
These are the efforts, knowledge and skills people use to produce goods and services.
This is called Labour.
Capital Resources
These are money, tools, equipment and other assets needed to promote goods and services
Goods
These are useful objects produced by people.
Services
These are helpful labours or jobs that involve installing , fixing or creating
Learning Intention 3 Explain how resource distribution impacts on the environment, people’s health and society.
Show students the power-point on the poverty cycle lesson.
T:\Secondary 9-13\Secondary Curriculum\Social Studies\Year 9 Social Studies New Curriculum\Rich World, Poor World
(The contents of the power-point are below)
Key terms:
Development relates to the level of social, economic and political organisation achieved by a region or country.
Subsistence Economy: Growing or buying enough food to achieve basic needs such as food, clothes and shelter, but without a surplus.
What are the effects of Inequality? (Source: Access to Resources by Susan Warren 2000)
Show students this video and discuss:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKh6nLCBj24
According to the clip what advantages do people start off with in life?
What can happen to these advantages for many people? What is the consequence
At the end of the clip discuss, and write down different crises or situations that put people into poverty?
Discussion Answers
1 Education, Financial Capital, Good Health and Community
2 Can be removed or taken away easily
Discussion Answers
The inequalities in our world can cause many problems, both for the people who have too little, and for the people who have a lot. These problems can be divided into three groups:
Activity: Draw the table below. Read the text below. Sort the effects into two groups- those caused by a lack of resources (poverty) and those caused by an excess (wealth). NB: Some effects may go into both groups.
Problem Type
Lack of resources
Excess of resource
Environmental
Health
Societal
Environmental Effects
Health Effects
Societal Effects
Show students the power-point on the poverty cycle lesson.
T:\Secondary 9-13\Secondary Curriculum\Social Studies\Year 9 Social Studies New Curriculum\Rich World, Poor World
(The contents of the power-point are below)
Activity: Students construct a wealth cycle based on the poverty cycle diagram.
Learning Intention 4 Explain underlying factors which affect people’s access to resources, goods and services.
Causes of the Differences in Wealth
North / South line - See World Wealth Line Map below
Several models have attempted to categorise countries into rich and poor.
The simplest is the north / south line, with the north being more affluent and technically advanced industrial countries and the south being less affluent.
There is less land in the north, but the north is wealthier than the south, because it went through the Industrial Revolution, which meant that at the least it had technology first.
Much of the land in the south falls within the tropics which has extreme weather and natural climatic shifts, as well as earthquakes, cyclones and floods.
Problems with this classification
Global conditions have changed since the 1960s when this model was made. Countries such as Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have experienced remarkable economic growth in recent years and can no longer be classified as being poor. Oil rich countries such as the UAE and Kuwait also don’t “fit” with the model.
There are two categories of factors that influence wealth:
Show students the power-point: What factors cause differences in wealth between countries?
T:\Secondary 9-13\Secondary Curriculum\Social Studies\Year 9 Social Studies New Curriculum\Rich World, Poor World
1. Natural/ Physical Factors:
The poor south is characterised by extremes with the natural environment:
The rich north has mostly moderate climates, which allows them to have a steady, reliable, economy over a long period of time.
This allows for long term planning and stability.
Watch Case Study of Drought in Namibia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRUR4xQ3Ib4&list=PLis1OTL4y_TRnlqyZSzCUSXTLHBFeROLJ
Discussion Points:
2. Cultural factors:
Show students the power-point “Cultural-Economic factors that contribute to Countries poverty”.
T:\Secondary 9-13\Secondary Curriculum\Social Studies\Year 9 Social Studies New Curriculum\Rich World, Poor World
There are many economic aspects that determine the poverty or wealth of a country.
Every country has a debt, although the poor nations are “killed” by it because they cannot pay it off. This means they use the money they have, to pay off debt instead of using it to invest in the country, develop it and improve in things such as health and education.
How did countries get into so much debt?
In the 1970s the international banks had excess money from oil revenues so they wanted to loan it out for profit. Developing countries need the money for roads, irrigation, machinery and other things to help them increase production. As a result both private and international banks (IMF and World Bank) lent money to developing countries.
In the 1980s the prices for commodities (unprocessed crops and minerals) fell, so the income of the mainly developing countries that produced these crops fell. During this time interest rates rose, so the developing countries had to pay more interest on their loans. Thus it became more difficult to pay the loans back!
Developing countries now had to spend all their money servicing their debts, and even then could only pay the interest. The IMF and World Bank put conditions on the loans, to try to get their money back. Countries had to reduce government spending (e.g. on health and education) and increase exports (usually of cheap commodities). Meanwhile commodity prices continued to go down.
Thus poor countries got further into debt and governments had no money to spend on development, health or education, so their people became poorer.
*In 2005 at the “G8 Summit, “rich countries were asked to write off the international debt to poorer nations.
Many poor countries governments encourage their farmers to grow lots of sugar, coffee, tobacco or some other cash crop so they can sell them to other countries. They hope it will bring in overseas money so the government can pay off debt and buy the things the country needs from overseas.
Cash crops have some disadvantages too:
Watch video on cash crops:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxF2IB5PJPI
Video Questions:
Activity: Go onto www.nationmaster.com and find the statistics for the number of tractors per head of population. Compare this to a country’s GDP.
Many poor people do not own their own land, or if they do it is very poor.
Not owning land brings about many problems as land is needed for the following reasons:
Political Factors:
The decisions and actions of governments can make a big impact on people’s access to resources, goods and services.
Draw a continuum ranging from Communism to Capitalism with political parties placed on it.
Colonialism:
A colony is a place that has been conquered or taken over by another country, often called the “mother country,” who will often set and impose their own laws upon the colony.
The Mother Country benefits by:
The Colony is disadvantaged by:
4. Social Factors:
There are many social factors which affect people’s access to resources, goods and services.
Watch Video Tape – Fredson (or any given new one from Youtube)
Students to take notes down in their notebook under the following categories and these will be discussed later in class:
Learning Intention 5 - Evaluate the ways in which various organisations try to improve the access of less advantaged groups to resources, goods and services.
Discussion point: What should the world be doing to solve the problems of inequality?
Activity: Students read the text for each strategy to reduce inequality. For each strategy they must name a strength and a weakness.
Strategies to Reduce Inequality
Developed countries have tried to help their less-developed neighbours by lending money for development. This money usually goes to the government of the poorer country.
They use it to try and increase production and exports, so the country can earn more money. E.G. For road building so farmers can get their crops to the market more easily.
Not all money has been used wisely, and even the well- planned projects sometimes fail because there is no money left to maintain things when they wear out. Some governments have no experience in running and managing these new industries and projects, often resulting in mismanagement and corruption of finances. Most countries that received loans have ended up worse than before.
Many governments allow foreign investment so they can gain the infrastructure that they could not otherwise pay for and also for the taxes. However, Multinationals like McDonalds, Nike, Gap and Addidas have been called neo-colonists because they practise modern colonialism in poorer countries, by establishing factories in poorer countries and using the people as cheap labour.
These multinationals do not use armies and political might but instead the promise of employment to take hold of these countries.
Some international aid organisations have set up orphanages to give children shelter, food and education.
They hoped that these children would be equipped to get jobs and escape from poverty. But while the children themselves often benefited, the communities around them stayed as poor as before.
Many aid organisations have moved away from trying to help individuals, children and families, to working with whole communities.
These development projects include providing:
Community members make all the decisions, and aid workers hope that after 10-15 years, the community will be able to continue the improvements without outside help.
Since international structures such as trade rules and debt often cause poverty, some people have suggested that the best way to solve the problem is to change the structures. E.G. Movement called ‘Jubilee 2000’ (Based on the Biblical principle of forgiving debt every 50 years) is campaigning for debt relief. They say that countries which cannot repay their debt should not have to- rather, they should be able to take the money they spend on interest, and instead spend it on health, education and developing their country.
Others want to see fairer trade rules so developing countries can sell their exports more easily.
It is important to understand the difference between “development aid” and “relief aid”
Relief aid is what happens after a war or natural disaster. (Tsunami, volcanic eruption, flood, drought) This is when emergency aid is given to help people survive with the essentials of life such as food, shelter, medicine, blankets, clean water and so on. Once the immediate danger is over, some workers stay to help with rehabilitation- rebuilding homes, schools etc and providing seeds and tools so families can grow food again.
Barriers and Pitfalls
Good development work avoids the pitfalls and barriers that often occur during development work.
The following six keys to development can be used:
Learning Intention 1 Identify some of the ways inequality can be measured.
Pre Test (10 marks)
- Define the word resource
- Name two natural resources (2)
- Name two cultural resources (2)
- What does GDP stand for?
- True or false: 25% of the world’s population have 80% of the world’s wealth.
- Who is the richest person in the world?
- Which country has the world’s biggest economy.
- True or false: The world’s poorest countries have this in common: civil war.
Measures of Development
Development can be measured and classified into the following groups:
- Economic
- Health
- Education
- Political
Economic Measurements
This measures a countries wealth:
- Gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period.
- Per capita Income – The average person’s wealth.
Health Measurements
This measures the social aspects of a country in mainly areas of health and education:
- Life expectancy
- Birth rate
- Death rate
- Infant mortality rate
- People per doctor
- Maternal mortality
Education Measurements
This measures the social aspects of a country in mainly areas of health and education:
- % of population at university.
- Student/teacher ratio
- Literacy rate
Political Measurements
These are those aspects of a countries government:
- Type of government
- Stability of government
- Voting rights
- Human rights issues
- Law and order
Share of the World’s Wealth
The global wealth pyramid shows how 32 million people, representing 0.7% of the world’s adult, population control $US98.7 trillion or about 41% of the world’s wealth.
On the base of the pyramid we see that 3.2 billion people, representing 68.7% of the world’s adult population, control just 3% of the world’s wealth, or about $US7.3 trillion.
Source: Credit Suisse
Learning Intention 2 - Describe the resources, goods and services which are unevenly distributed.
Use the power-point titled “Resources”. The content notes of the power-point are below:
T:\Secondary 9-13\Secondary Curriculum\Social Studies\Year 9 Social Studies New Curriculum\Rich World, Poor World
What are Resources?
Resources are anything that is useful to people and can be divided into the following categories:
- Natural resources – a result of nature, e.g. forests, land, minerals, oil, fish, scenery, wildlife, rivers.
- Capital Resources – are products made by man that can be used again to produce other goods, or for consumption. E.g. machines, buildings, tools.
- Renewable Resources – that which can renew themselves, e.g. water, wind, waves
- Non - Renewable Resources – that which cannot be replaced once they have been used. e.g. coal, natural gas
- Labour Resources (Human Resources) – are provided by people. They include mental and physical skills.
Employment Groups
Primary
This group is involved in the acquisition of raw materials such as:
- Farming, Fishing, Mining, Forestry
Secondary
This group is involved in turning Raw Materials into finished products:
- Furniture Manufacturers
- Chemical Factory
- Car Manufacturers
- Electronic and Electrical Manufacturers
Tertiary
This group provides a service, such as:
- Schools
- Doctors, dentists
- Hospitals
- Electricity Supply Companies
- Repair Services
- Goods are merchandise. You can feel or hold goods. E.g. Playstations, CDs, pizza, cars.
- Services are useful functions done by people. They are not objects like goods. E.g. your doctor, teacher
- Economic activities is about producing, distributing and consuming (using) resources, goods and services. A person who uses resources, goods and services is called a consumer.
Your ability to get resources, goods and services depends on economic factors:
- Supply and Demand-
Demand refers to the wish to buy.
Small demand and big supply = low prices
Big demand and small supply = high prices
In times of famine, the demand for food is bigger than the supply. Prices are …….
In times of plenty, the supply of food is bigger than the demand. Prices are ………
- Income- money from things like, salary, wages (hourly rate), commission, inheritance, rents, investments etc. If your income is high you can get resources easier than if your income was low. (show students the rich list) The skills and abilities you have influence the income you earn. Society values some skills and abilities more than others. (see the list of different occupation’s pay rates)
- Productivity- the ability of workers to use resources to produce goods and services. It is not the total of goods and services produced but the efficiency of the work force. Productivity = total production divided by number of workers.
What are Resources – Learning Help
Natural Resources
Come from the environment – soils, plants animals, minerals
They are NOT made by people.
They may have existed for long or short periods of time.
Natural Resources - Renewable Resource
One that if managed well will be available in the future – infinite
Natural Resources - Non - Renewable Resource
Is finite and is determined by how well it is managed and how much there is.
Cultural Resources
These are related to people or what people make
Cultural - Human Resources
These are the efforts, knowledge and skills people use to produce goods and services.
This is called Labour.
Capital Resources
These are money, tools, equipment and other assets needed to promote goods and services
Goods
These are useful objects produced by people.
Services
These are helpful labours or jobs that involve installing , fixing or creating
Learning Intention 3 Explain how resource distribution impacts on the environment, people’s health and society.
Show students the power-point on the poverty cycle lesson.
T:\Secondary 9-13\Secondary Curriculum\Social Studies\Year 9 Social Studies New Curriculum\Rich World, Poor World
(The contents of the power-point are below)
Key terms:
Development relates to the level of social, economic and political organisation achieved by a region or country.
Subsistence Economy: Growing or buying enough food to achieve basic needs such as food, clothes and shelter, but without a surplus.
What are the effects of Inequality? (Source: Access to Resources by Susan Warren 2000)
- Show students this short video and discuss:
Show students this video and discuss:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKh6nLCBj24
According to the clip what advantages do people start off with in life?
What can happen to these advantages for many people? What is the consequence
At the end of the clip discuss, and write down different crises or situations that put people into poverty?
Discussion Answers
1 Education, Financial Capital, Good Health and Community
2 Can be removed or taken away easily
- At the end of the clip discuss, and write down different crises or situations that put people into poverty around the world.
- Students must copy the poverty cycle diagram
- Discuss possible solutions
- As a group come up with ways in which this cycle of poverty could be broken
Discussion Answers
- Skills and Education
- Students copy down the following:
- How could we address poverty? Brainstorm.
The inequalities in our world can cause many problems, both for the people who have too little, and for the people who have a lot. These problems can be divided into three groups:
- Environment
- Health
- Society
Activity: Draw the table below. Read the text below. Sort the effects into two groups- those caused by a lack of resources (poverty) and those caused by an excess (wealth). NB: Some effects may go into both groups.
Problem Type
Lack of resources
Excess of resource
Environmental
Health
Societal
Environmental Effects
- Both large plantation owners and poor landless farmers all clear forest for farmland. At the current rate of clearing the world’s tropical rainforests will be gone in 100 years.
- Air pollution from combustion of oil, coal and natural gas in vehicles and power plants and factories, cause 3% of all deaths in USA.
- About 2 billion people rely on wood for cooking and heating. They are forced to cut down trees, leaving the land exposed to erosion and even reduction in rainfall.
- The average New Zealand resident produces 2/3 of a tonne of household waste per year.
Health Effects
- There are 158 million moderately or severely malnourished children in the world.
- 1/3 adults in USA and New Zealand are overweight.
- 507 Million people worldwide will not live past 40 years of age.
- More than half the mothers in Niger have seen at least one of their children die.
- World wide 36 000 children die to lack of basic health care and good food.
- Obesity, and over consumption of animal fats are major risk factors for heart disease, accounting for 44 % of total deaths in New Zealand.
- In USA, 1.5 million have a heart attack and about one third of these people die.
- In developing countries ¼ of all women dies or is disabled through pregnancy and childbirth.
Societal Effects
- Lack of educated workers for industry and commerce
- Breakdown of family and community life, due to long working hours.
- Population unable to participate in politics or society due to a lack of education.
- Crime, unrest and even war due to injustices, oppression and competition for scarce resources.
- Materialism and spiritual emptiness due to pursuit of wealth.
- Low productivity due to poor health and education.
Show students the power-point on the poverty cycle lesson.
T:\Secondary 9-13\Secondary Curriculum\Social Studies\Year 9 Social Studies New Curriculum\Rich World, Poor World
(The contents of the power-point are below)
Activity: Students construct a wealth cycle based on the poverty cycle diagram.
Learning Intention 4 Explain underlying factors which affect people’s access to resources, goods and services.
Causes of the Differences in Wealth
North / South line - See World Wealth Line Map below
Several models have attempted to categorise countries into rich and poor.
The simplest is the north / south line, with the north being more affluent and technically advanced industrial countries and the south being less affluent.
There is less land in the north, but the north is wealthier than the south, because it went through the Industrial Revolution, which meant that at the least it had technology first.
Much of the land in the south falls within the tropics which has extreme weather and natural climatic shifts, as well as earthquakes, cyclones and floods.
Problems with this classification
Global conditions have changed since the 1960s when this model was made. Countries such as Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have experienced remarkable economic growth in recent years and can no longer be classified as being poor. Oil rich countries such as the UAE and Kuwait also don’t “fit” with the model.
There are two categories of factors that influence wealth:
- Natural/ Physical
- Cultural factors: Social, Political, Economic
Show students the power-point: What factors cause differences in wealth between countries?
T:\Secondary 9-13\Secondary Curriculum\Social Studies\Year 9 Social Studies New Curriculum\Rich World, Poor World
1. Natural/ Physical Factors:
The poor south is characterised by extremes with the natural environment:
- High temperatures in the tropics
- Deserts
- Floods, earthquakes, volcanoes
- Jungles
The rich north has mostly moderate climates, which allows them to have a steady, reliable, economy over a long period of time.
This allows for long term planning and stability.
Watch Case Study of Drought in Namibia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRUR4xQ3Ib4&list=PLis1OTL4y_TRnlqyZSzCUSXTLHBFeROLJ
Discussion Points:
- What were the lifelines of the community?
- What are the consequences of a drought in Namibia compared to NZ?
2. Cultural factors:
Show students the power-point “Cultural-Economic factors that contribute to Countries poverty”.
T:\Secondary 9-13\Secondary Curriculum\Social Studies\Year 9 Social Studies New Curriculum\Rich World, Poor World
There are many economic aspects that determine the poverty or wealth of a country.
- International Debt
Every country has a debt, although the poor nations are “killed” by it because they cannot pay it off. This means they use the money they have, to pay off debt instead of using it to invest in the country, develop it and improve in things such as health and education.
How did countries get into so much debt?
In the 1970s the international banks had excess money from oil revenues so they wanted to loan it out for profit. Developing countries need the money for roads, irrigation, machinery and other things to help them increase production. As a result both private and international banks (IMF and World Bank) lent money to developing countries.
In the 1980s the prices for commodities (unprocessed crops and minerals) fell, so the income of the mainly developing countries that produced these crops fell. During this time interest rates rose, so the developing countries had to pay more interest on their loans. Thus it became more difficult to pay the loans back!
Developing countries now had to spend all their money servicing their debts, and even then could only pay the interest. The IMF and World Bank put conditions on the loans, to try to get their money back. Countries had to reduce government spending (e.g. on health and education) and increase exports (usually of cheap commodities). Meanwhile commodity prices continued to go down.
Thus poor countries got further into debt and governments had no money to spend on development, health or education, so their people became poorer.
*In 2005 at the “G8 Summit, “rich countries were asked to write off the international debt to poorer nations.
- Traditional Farming in Developing Countries: Cash Cropping
Many poor countries governments encourage their farmers to grow lots of sugar, coffee, tobacco or some other cash crop so they can sell them to other countries. They hope it will bring in overseas money so the government can pay off debt and buy the things the country needs from overseas.
Cash crops have some disadvantages too:
- Cash crops use land and energy which could have been used to grow food for local people.
- Cash crops need special seeds and artificial fertilizers, which cost money.
- Cash crops are more vulnerable to drought and disease. (because there is less natural variation)
- If the crop is damaged, the price goes down.
- If families grow inedible crops (like tobacco, tea or coffee), they can’t eat the crop themselves if it is damaged or it drops in price.
Watch video on cash crops:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxF2IB5PJPI
Video Questions:
- Name 3 countries that grow coffee crops?
- From the clip what are the disadvantages of farmers relying on coffee crops.
- Producers earn very little for crops only 1% compared to coffee companies
- Farming Methods
Activity: Go onto www.nationmaster.com and find the statistics for the number of tractors per head of population. Compare this to a country’s GDP.
- Land Ownership
Many poor people do not own their own land, or if they do it is very poor.
Not owning land brings about many problems as land is needed for the following reasons:
- Raising animals
- Growing crops to sell
- Family and tribal heritage
- Security for loans
- Inheritance for children
- Sense of belonging
- A place to live
- Creates standing in the community
- Creates independence – not having to work for someone else
- Growing food for the family.
Political Factors:
The decisions and actions of governments can make a big impact on people’s access to resources, goods and services.
- Capitalism- an economic philosophy where production in the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors is usually owned by individuals or groups of individuals rather than the government; and the motive for production is profit.
- Socialism- a form of government that attempts to share wealth evenly by government intervention and ownership of most economic activities and organisations.
Draw a continuum ranging from Communism to Capitalism with political parties placed on it.
Colonialism:
A colony is a place that has been conquered or taken over by another country, often called the “mother country,” who will often set and impose their own laws upon the colony.
The Mother Country benefits by:
- Land for crops
- Cheap local labour for new industry
- Land for settlers
- New markets
- Natural resources
The Colony is disadvantaged by:
- Losing raw materials
- Industries are not developed by themselves, losing out on skills and knowledge
- Finished goods often sent, sold back to colonies.
- Local people are not educated or empowered the same as settlers
- There is not the same level of involvement in government decisions.
4. Social Factors:
There are many social factors which affect people’s access to resources, goods and services.
- Crime
- War (Results in things like Grandmothers raising children)
- Classes- Caste system in India
- Role of women
- Education (Many people are illiterate and cannot read or write, which makes it difficult to educate them about change.)
- Race
- Alcohol and Gambling
Watch Video Tape – Fredson (or any given new one from Youtube)
Students to take notes down in their notebook under the following categories and these will be discussed later in class:
- Climate
- Water
- Nutrition
- Education
- Tree
- Politics
- Family
- Gender Issues
Learning Intention 5 - Evaluate the ways in which various organisations try to improve the access of less advantaged groups to resources, goods and services.
Discussion point: What should the world be doing to solve the problems of inequality?
Activity: Students read the text for each strategy to reduce inequality. For each strategy they must name a strength and a weakness.
Strategies to Reduce Inequality
- Loans for Development
Developed countries have tried to help their less-developed neighbours by lending money for development. This money usually goes to the government of the poorer country.
They use it to try and increase production and exports, so the country can earn more money. E.G. For road building so farmers can get their crops to the market more easily.
Not all money has been used wisely, and even the well- planned projects sometimes fail because there is no money left to maintain things when they wear out. Some governments have no experience in running and managing these new industries and projects, often resulting in mismanagement and corruption of finances. Most countries that received loans have ended up worse than before.
- Multinationals
Many governments allow foreign investment so they can gain the infrastructure that they could not otherwise pay for and also for the taxes. However, Multinationals like McDonalds, Nike, Gap and Addidas have been called neo-colonists because they practise modern colonialism in poorer countries, by establishing factories in poorer countries and using the people as cheap labour.
These multinationals do not use armies and political might but instead the promise of employment to take hold of these countries.
- Child Care
Some international aid organisations have set up orphanages to give children shelter, food and education.
They hoped that these children would be equipped to get jobs and escape from poverty. But while the children themselves often benefited, the communities around them stayed as poor as before.
- Community Development
Many aid organisations have moved away from trying to help individuals, children and families, to working with whole communities.
These development projects include providing:
- Health care
- Education
- Clean water
- Services such as roads and building and electricity.
- Increasing agriculture production
- Improving the environment
- Reforestation
- Soil Conservation
- Small business management skills
- Leadership training skills
Community members make all the decisions, and aid workers hope that after 10-15 years, the community will be able to continue the improvements without outside help.
- Changing the Rules
Since international structures such as trade rules and debt often cause poverty, some people have suggested that the best way to solve the problem is to change the structures. E.G. Movement called ‘Jubilee 2000’ (Based on the Biblical principle of forgiving debt every 50 years) is campaigning for debt relief. They say that countries which cannot repay their debt should not have to- rather, they should be able to take the money they spend on interest, and instead spend it on health, education and developing their country.
Others want to see fairer trade rules so developing countries can sell their exports more easily.
- Relief Aid
It is important to understand the difference between “development aid” and “relief aid”
Relief aid is what happens after a war or natural disaster. (Tsunami, volcanic eruption, flood, drought) This is when emergency aid is given to help people survive with the essentials of life such as food, shelter, medicine, blankets, clean water and so on. Once the immediate danger is over, some workers stay to help with rehabilitation- rebuilding homes, schools etc and providing seeds and tools so families can grow food again.
Barriers and Pitfalls
Good development work avoids the pitfalls and barriers that often occur during development work.
The following six keys to development can be used:
- Participative – getting people involved in their own development
- People – centred – focus on people rather than money, building and other visible changes
- Sustainable – respect the environment to ensure that improvements will continue on for the long term.
- Structural – address deep causes and symptoms. Do not just put a plaster on the problem.
- Empowering – find ways to transfer power for self determination, often through leadership development
- Holistic – take into consideration social, spiritual and cultural development