Challenges of reducing poverty in urban and rural areas
A significant challenge in overcoming poverty in Urban areas is the rapid urbanization of the Third World, which is estimated to exceed 4 billion by 2025. This is evident in the sprawling slums of cities like Mumbai, where about 55% of its inhabitants live in informal settlements without proper access to essential services such as proper sanitation and clean water (Department for International Development, 2015). These informal settlements expand at a rate faster than local governments can plan or adequately invest in necessary infrastructure. The limited public resources make it even harder for the government to spend on the improvement of the living standards in the mushrooming urban areas. This is evident in Urbanization in African cities like Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya, which have prompted a proliferation of informal settlements commonly referred to as slums (Mwau, B., & Sverdlik, 2020). Such regions develop as a consequence of rural dwellers who are searching for better economic opportunities, and this often leads to overcrowding in cities and a lack of public amenities such as water and sanitation facilities. Residents live in miserable conditions as the rate of growth vastly exceeds the ability of municipal authorities to offer relevant social amenities. In most of these informal settlements, there is a scarcity of water, sanitation, and even lighting. The families reside in temporary shanties constructed from debris without adequate hygiene services, thereby posing risks to their health. The lack of formal waste management systems makes environmental deterioration worse and promotes health risks in these communities (Mwau, B., & Sverdlik, 2020). However, these settlements spread fast in places that are vulnerable to natural disasters or hazardous environments, for instance, flood plains and steep slopes. The situation is also escalating for people living in such areas as there is a greater possibility that they may face adverse consequences such as floods, thus making it even more difficult to overcome their socioeconomic problems.
Unchecked development of urban areas may also result in insufficient availability of civil amenities required by every individual dweller in the city (Kimari, 2021). Moreover, this can prolong poverty and inequality whereby urbanization devastates capacities of the government to offer basic services and infrastructure provision. This is because urban poverty is usually underestimated by governments and international institutions, hence rendering poor policies at times, such as the divide-and-rule policy in Nairobi, Kenya (Kimari, 2021). This results from the insufficiency of data collection tools and poverty indicators that do not reflect the ever-urbanizing condition. For instance, most measurements of poverty only focus on household income and ignore the fact that housing, education, and employment costs are higher for poor people in urban contexts. The International Institute for Environmental Development supports this by positing that many poverty definitions and measurements are based on income level. Yet, they fail to consider the high cost of urban living (Walnycki, 2014). As a result, there is an establishment of low poverty lines compared to the actual costs of urban foods and other non-food necessities, leading to a higher level of urban poverty.
The lack of inclusive approaches to urbanization is also a significant challenge for effective poverty eradication in urban areas, increasing inequalities (Kimari, 2021). Despite the high urban growth in urban areas such as Mumbai in India, there is a wide gap between wealthy neighborhoods and sprawling slums, revealing an exclusionary pattern. In addition, most of the urban people residing in the slums are commonly not considered when planning to supply the basic needs and build the necessary infrastructure, thus maintaining poverty in cycles. It has been evident that there is inadequate planning and governance on an inclusive basis that results in the displacement or forced evictions of at-risk communities so as to pave the way for urban improvement projects, for example, in Ghana (Obeng-Odoom, 2011). For example, even some parts of Southeast Asia, where the majority live informally, have been evicted, clearing land for commercial or infrastructure development, increasing the level of vulnerability and impoverishing such areas. Many marginalized groups in most urban centers, including migrants, informal workers, and ethnic minorities, are denied easy access to quality housing, education, healthcare, and jobs. For example, in some areas in Latin America, indigenous people are subjected to discrimination, resulting in poor sanitation that eventually forces them to live on the fringes of society (Satterthwaite & Mitlin, 2014). Most times, exclusionary practices can be worsened by inappropriate policies and urban planning. For example, zoning laws may reinforce spatial segregation by preventing some people from accessing certain parts of the cities. The absence of access to essential resources and prospects for betterment significantly undermines social mobility and solidifies the gap between the rich and the poor.
On the other hand, in rural areas, poverty reduction is greatly hampered by climate change and environmental degradation in most of the poor countries’ rural areas, especially due to overdependence on agriculture. Such as in sub-Saharan Africa, where long periods of drought have devastated farms, leading to the loss of crops and livestock and resulting in food shortages and economic difficulties for farmers (Alobo, 2015). Elevated sea levels and enhanced salinity of waterways have disturbed farming that provides income to millions of people in Bangladesh. These environmental problems are direct threats to livelihoods in rural areas and worsen poverty through a reduction in food availability as well as declines in income-generating avenues. Furthermore, the destruction of other natural resources such as forests and water sources also contributes to worsening livelihood situation within rural regions. In another instance, the degradation of rainforests by deforestation interferes with the ecosystem, which affects the native dependents using it as food supply and occupation. In Southeast Asia, overfishing and pollution deteriorate the marine environment, which affects coastal people who are engaged in fishing for their livelihood (Fallin et al., 2021). Increasingly adverse climate events, such as hurricanes and floods, worsen the fate of these poor population groups with regard to their shelters, buildings, and means of subsistence being destroyed. However, there are several solutions that should be employed to deal with them. These include, among others, the adoption of sustainability in agriculture, resource optimization, and preparedness for disasters as a way of improving rural people’s well-being and ending poverty caused by environmental damage.
Also, the lack of essential resources in rural areas increases the challenge experienced by these populations towards poverty eradication. For example, rural parts of some Indian regions where there are poor road networks, and the absence of transport links cut off communities from marketing and employment centers (Gaal & Afrah, 2017). The isolation denies them access to vital resources and impedes their marketing of products, thereby worsening their poverty state. Lack of efficient access to clean water and sanitary facilities is a grave danger to health in sub-Saharan Africa, giving rise to waterborne diseases and poor conditions overall. In addition, limited access to educational facilities, mainly post-primary levels, restricts skills acquisition and impedes avenues of economic improvement in most rural areas. This educational disparity deepens poverty and denies people the opportunity to develop skills and acquire knowledge that can assist them in building streams of income to eradicate poverty issues (McKnight, 2023). Also, a lack of quality education prevents individuals from qualifying for demanding jobs that can provide resources to get rid of poverty. The healthcare in rural areas is dismal at best, with little equipment and inadequate medical personnel. This is the case, especially in remote regions of some countries like Nepal, where village elders walk for days before they get to medical centers that provide essential health services. The absence of equitable healthcare systems creates a situation where people are unable to access healthcare services. It not only puts the health status of individuals at risk but also causes economic crises as medical expenditures hike up. At the same time, productivity decreases, making it difficult for individuals to sustain themselves for a long time.
This is exacerbated by the lack of electrification in many parts of the countryside, and most of these electrification deficit zones exist mainly on the map of Sub-Sahara Africa, as well as for other Least Developed Countries (LDCs). It has been estimated that 80% of those without access to electricity live in sub-Saharan Africa. At the same time, in some countries within this region, including the democratic republic of Congo, Malawi, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda (IEA, 2023), rural electrification in the least developed nations is much lower than for example; least electrified countries are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Communities in rural areas cannot run businesses and use modern farming facilities, let alone read past sundown without reliable electricity. The lack of power infrastructure makes it difficult to adopt some technologies that could be beneficial in boosting productivity in agriculture or helping set up small-scale industries. However, solutions to these concerns may involve strategic policies that are appropriately supported by comprehensive infrastructure deployment, which could include scaling up renewable energy resources.
References
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