Poverty in the Third World
Burundi has suffered a downfall of their economic system due to civil wars and failure of crops as well as the lack of education in the country. Burundi’s civil war caused poverty to increase from 48 percent to 67 percent between 1994 and 2006. Long periods of war and droughts led to failing crops. War enemies would destroy crops as a technique to weaken their opponents. This technique took place in Burundi. “Though Burundi’s civil war is over, the country still suffers from its effects. Many of those who returned after the war found that their homes and fields had been destroyed, and they did not have the resources to start rebuilding their lives” (World Vision). Lack of education also led the country into poverty. If businesses and schools are built, then Burundians will become self-reliant and that will reduce the need for foreign assistance. As a nation in poverty, businesses are a requirement to build the stability in the economy. Strengthening vocational, technical, and professional education will allow for greater business opportunities (“Burundi Poverty Note”). Death by disease is a result of poverty as well as a creator of poverty. Because of deaths, there are fewer people to work in schools and businesses to help bring revenue to the communities. Poor funding in Burundi threatens the free health services for pregnant women and free health care for children under the age of five. Improving health by cleaning and finding new water sources and creating health centers will lead to a bigger and healthier nation. In order to reduce or annihilate poverty, Burundi’s population must be educated and the economic system must be reevaluated and something must be done to clean up the country.
There have been some helping hands in Burundi to begin the process of reducing poverty. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has assisted the government in increasing access to portable water for 14,467 pupils and 9,410 local residents (“Burundi” UNICEF). In 2014, the percentage of clean water is 74 percent (World Vision). This assistance has brought the nation to a better place with safer water sources. They have also trained 2,989 primary school teachers on HIV/AID’s prevention to help eliminate the mortality rate caused by the disease. The life expectancy is now 54 in Burundi and the death of children five years and younger is 104 out of 1,000. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has also helped Burundi. They plan to build the resilience of Burundi’s rural area to violent conflict (Haidara). “According to World Bank, [in 2014,] Burundi continues to be among the least-developed countries in the world and faces socioeconomic instability” (World Vision). Burundi needs the Internation Fund for Agricultural Development in order to establish effective mechanisms to support community driven planning and implement of sustainable community projects. IFAD also plans to improve the capacity and accountability of the local government for planning and monitoring how services are provided. The Value Chain Development Program wants to reduce poverty and improve food security in rural areas through the development of agricultural value chains. As a way to reduce poverty, they want to empower smallholder farmers to play a central role so that they can achieve maximum value added in their production as well as increasing their income. This program will allow producers organizations to make the most of the value added to their produce and build the physical and technical capacity of smallholder farmers so they can protect their assets (Haidara). Food and agriculture as a whole is important because the Earth is all Africa really has. If goods are not being shipped to Burundi, the nation would not have the resources to strive on their own. If the agricultural part of the society was better established, there could be revenue made from fruits and vegetables that could grow or even the plants they use as a dye to color clothing. If this was available to Burundian’s, they would make a lot of profit, hence widening the monetary flow in the business aspect.
Causes of poverty in Burundi seem to be stemming from illiteracy, inadequate education, health, and water sources, high population, low productivity of labor and low cash income. Eight out of ten Burundians are living below the poverty line, however, majority of its poor people are small scale farmers. Due to long periods of droughts and war, agriculture has taken a fall. Burundians were self-reliant in food production but due to the dry climate and fighting tactics of war enemies, the country no longer has healthy land leading them to depend on other countries. Educating more people would be effective as a step to eliminate poverty because it will reduce the numbers of poor members in one’s family. If a child is educated, they could have the opportunity to move out of the country and later help the rest of his/her family. Burundi’s Education Fund will assist with this because the goal is to allow kids to stay in school to end the poverty cycle (Stay in Touch). Education and education alone might not help however due to the fact that there is no requirement to use what was learned in school to bring revenue into their community. All there is for the community to do is farm because there are no businesses. “Many poor families,” manage by cutting back on food, jeopardizing their health and the development of their children, or by living in substandard and sometimes dangerous housing” says the Children’s Defense Fund, in order to have enough money to live from day to day (Koster 109).
In order to fix Burundi’s current poverty issue, different organizations created programs to help with governance and reconstruction. Vision 2025 was created in 2011 and it’s composed of many pillars of reform: governance, human capital, social cohesion, land use, planning and urbanization, and partnership. This is a “road map” for Burundi’s sustainable development through economic growth and reduction of poverty to about 33 percent by the year 2025.The Transitional Program of Post Conflict Reconstruction (TPPCR) plans to regenerate the land and reconstruct the social capital. To get the trading system a push and to take away a portion of the hunger in Burundi, one thousand three hundred and forty-five pigs, twelve thousand five hundred and sixteen goats, and six hundred and eighty two cattle were distributed to the people in the community. In 2006, the Poverty Reduction Strategy papers were finalized. This to a priority action plan in which invested $1.3 billion U.S. into the assistance given to Burundi’s people and the nation itself (Haidara).
In conclusion, Burundi is now being helped and by 2025, there should be a significant decrease in the percentage of Burundi’s poor. The main causes of the poverty situation were education and their economic system had to be adjusted. Associations and programs like UNICEF and Vision 2025 were created to do just that. Schools and other foundations should still be created however just to give the community an extra boost. It seems that the more educated one is, the easier it is to get out of the poverty stricken lives they are accustomed too. If a child could be educated and leave the country, they could possible set a new trend for the future of their families. Burundi needs more businesses and educated people to run those businesses so that revenue can begin to circulate through the community. However, education has improved since these groups and associations have assisted in Burundi. According to World Vision, Burundi’s school enrollment is 99 percent and its literacy rate is 87 percent. These groups and association prove to be working and by 2025, there should be a 100 percent school enrollment. If Burundi continues on this incline, they would be able to set an example for other third-world countries going through what they have been through.