infrastructure vs. basic needs

The solution to poverty is not an obvious one. Church groups, community service organizations, and NGO’s have been working relentlessly in an attempt to end poverty, but it is not enough. Ultimately, the government of a country is the only entity that has the power to end poverty in that nation permanently. Aid can help a family survive for a day; infrastructural changes such as availability of higher education that allows people to get jobs will help a family survive for life. However, it is the situation of the chicken and the egg. Without wealth, a government cannot organize infrastructure to help its citizens, and without an effective social and economic structure the government cannot gain the wealth necessary to make these changes. I think that in situations such as these, it is the responsibility of the international community to act. The international community can offer monetary or infrastructural support to nations that are struggling to grow, especially in nations that have stable governments and only need a push in the right direction.

However, the reason for poverty in many countries is not usually due to a lack of resources or the need of resources such as the technology for genetic engineered crops. In many cases, the reason for poverty is the unstable infrastructure of the government. When there is no clear leader or the structure of the government is so unstable, it can be difficult to direct the aid in the direction that it is needed. Obviously resilient crops or good schools cannot be utilized in places where people are forced out of their homes and into refugee camps due to internal strife. On the same note, it would be a waste of resources to feed the children of a village every day when there are steps that can be taken to make them self-sufficient.

The conclusion that I have come to is that the method of attacking poverty has to be tailored to each separate nation. Different nations have different needs and thus we must approach them differently. In some cases it may make more sense to temporarily abandon humanitarian aid in order to make a lasting change, but in other cases day-to-day aid is the only effective means to combat poverty.

To end with a quote from jusxtapose, “Trees treed rule!!!1!”