Attacking Poverty

Case Study: Student Activities

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1.
1. Through flow charts, concept maps or in brief paragraphs, show how any three of the following can cause poverty:
   • poor quality land
   • no title to land
   • inadequate diet and poor health
   • limited or no education
   • limited or no job training
   • poor infrastructure
   • unstable government
   • restrictive trade policies.

2. Through flow charts, concept maps or in brief paragraphs, show how poverty can cause the same three situations.

3. Explain why some people refer to the 'cycle of poverty'.

4. Explain how poverty may affect the lives of people who do not consider themselves to be living in poverty.

2. 1. What are the best strategies for assisting girls and women to emerge from poverty? How can these have positive outcomes not only for the girls and women, but also their families, communities and country?

   2. What are the best strategies for assisting boys and men to emerge from poverty? How can these have positive outcomes not only for the boys and men, but also their families, communities and country?

3. Represent any of the statistics of achievements in developing countries over the past thirty years as graphs, collages or posters, or find out about other remarkable achievements on this site, in Focus magazines or in the resources specified in 'Teachers' notes'.

4. Visit 'The Literature of Poverty: A Collection' on the World Bank internet site at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/povlit/index.htm to understand experiences of poverty as expressed by major writers and poets from a variety of cultures at different times.

5. Individually, in pairs or in a small group, choose one of the five priority areas of the Australian overseas aid program.
   1. Imagine you are in charge of projects in that area and list the five main services or resources your projects would provide to help alleviate poverty. For example, under 'health', you may suggest 'train more doctors'. Think a few steps further for each recommendation. For example, what many things would you need to enable you to train more doctors?

   2. Investigate one or more development projects in your chosen area, and check whether your ideas have been incorporated.

   3. Report on the main features of each project and how it has helped, or is currently helping, to alleviate poverty.

      Demonstrate your findings in one of the following forms: a formal report, a poster project including photographs or illustrations, an oral presentation, a role play of key events, a series of illustrations, (perhaps a 'filmstrip', or series of 'cartoon frames'), or creative writing (perhaps diary extracts or letters either as an aid worker or as someone who has benefited from the project; short stories; or, imaginary interviews with particular individuals or groups).

6. Invite a guest speaker from an overseas aid organisation, ideally someone who has worked on one or more projects to help alleviate poverty. Prepare questions in advance to make best use of the speaker's time and expertise. Find out as much as possible about the organisation and project(s).

7. 1996 was the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. Find a copy of the logo. (See Focus, March 1996.) What did it symbolise? Based on information in the case study, draw your own logo for the eradication of poverty.

8. Perform a diamond ranking activity.
   1. As a class, brainstorm a list of specific strategies for alleviating poverty. Ensure that your list has least nine strategies. If you have more, agree on nine. (This will give you preliminary practice in negotiation for the remainder of the activity.) Number each strategy, 1-9, and write the details of each on a small piece of paper. You should be able to move these pieces of paper over an enlarged version of the diamond ranking grid.

   2. Imagine you are a project officer in the Australian overseas aid program. Prioritise or 'diamond rank' the nine strategies for alleviating poverty, beginning with the one that you believe would be of most benefit, and ending with the one you believe would be of least benefit. Place the strategy considered most important at the top of the diamond, and the strategy considered least important at the bottom. Place the two second-most important strategies on the second level, the three third-most important strategies on the third level, and so on.

   3. In groups of three, compare and discuss your rankings. As a group, attempt to reach agreement on a priority order.

   4. In your group, explain your recommendations to the class, including how easy or difficult it was to agree on the selection of strategies.

   5. As a class, attempt to agree on one priority order. Is this an easy process? Why or why not? What has the activity highlighted generally about strategies for alleviating poverty, as well as decision-making in development projects?

9. Explain how alleviating poverty will contribute to a better world for all people.