International Day
for the Eradication of Poverty 17 October
Building forward together
Ending Persistent Poverty, Respecting all
People and our Planet
The COVID-19 pandemic that gripped the
world during the past year has resulted in reversing decades of progress in the
fight against poverty and extreme poverty. According to the World Bank, between
88 and 115 million people are being pushed into poverty as a result of the
crisis, with the majority of the new extreme poor being found in South Asian
and Sub-Saharan countries where poverty rates are already high”. In 2021, this
number is expected to have risen to between 143 and 163 million. These ‘new
poor’ will join the ranks of the 1.3 billion people already living in
multidimensional and persistent poverty who saw their pre-existing deprivations
aggravated during the global pandemic. As a matter of fact, the measures
imposed to limit the spread of the pandemic often further pushed them into
poverty – the informal economy which enables many people in poverty to survive
was virtually shut down in many countries.
As we embark on the post-COVID recovery
and getting back on track with the Sustainable Development Goals, many are
talking of “building back better,” but the message is clear from the people
living in extreme poverty that they do not want a return to the past nor to
build back to what it was before. They do not want a return to the endemic
structural disadvantages and inequalities. Instead, people living in poverty
propose to build forward.
Building forward means transforming our
relationship with nature, dismantling structures of discrimination that
disadvantage people in poverty and building on the moral and legal framework of
human rights that places human dignity at the heart of policy and action.
Building forward means not only that no one is left behind, but that people
living in poverty are actively encouraged and supported to be in the front,
engaging in informed and meaningful participation in decision-making processes
that directly affect their lives. In building forward, we need to let ourselves
be enriched by the wealth of wisdom, energy and resourcefulness that people
living in poverty can contribute to our communities, our societies and
ultimately to our planet.
