What are the effective ways of reducing poverty?

Learning outcome : Students will deepen their understanding of poverty in different countries and some ways of reducing it.   Learning Areas: Social Education; History, Geography, Economics, Civics and Citizenship, English, Mathematics   Year levels: Lower secondary   Duration: Minimum of four 45-minute lessons   Tools needed: Internet, Computers or printouts and reference materials   Define · Locate · Select · Organise · Present · Evaluate Define the task Scenario Each day, while 20% of the world's population uses 80% of the world's resources, 20% of the world's population struggle to survive on less than $1 a day. Much has been written about changing this situation but what has been achieved? Background The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), approved by 189 countries in 2000, set out to reduce poverty and hunger, child mortality and the spread of disease and to improve education, gender equality, maternal health, environmental sustainability and global partnerships. The MDGs recognize that developing countries have much to do but also that developed countries can assist through trade, aid, access to essential medicines and technologies and debt relief. In this Global Learning Quest groups will investigate poverty in a particular country through stories and statistics and progress towards meeting the MDGs. As country representatives you will address a forum on the global question: What are effective ways of reducing poverty? Perspectives on the Global Question Form groups of four or five to investigate a selected country from the Pacific or Asian region, for example: Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Cambodia, Bangladesh and Vietnam. As a team learn about poverty in your selected country - investigate how poverty is affecting its people (particularly women, children and indigenous people).   Locate Country information Global education website - Poverty reduction http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/pid/181 Global education website - Country profiles http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/pid/37 Global education website - Case studies http://www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au/globaled/go/pid/967 AusAID, Australian Government's overseas aid program http://www.ausaid.gov.au Australian Government, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade- Country information http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/ World Newspapers http://www.world-newspapers.com/ One World http://www.oneworld.org/ The Statistics of Poverty CIA The World Fact Book https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html UNDP Human Development Report http://hdr.undp.org/en/ Progress on Millennium Development Goals World Bank - interactive map of progress on MDG http://devdata.worldbank.org/atlas-mdg/ United Nations, cyberschool bus http://www.cyberschoolbus.un.org/mdgs/maps.asp Gapminder http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Trendalyzer/index.html# United Nations, The Millennium Development Goals Report 2007 http://url.edna.edu.au/Jpn2 UNICEF - Voices of Youth http://www.unicef.org/voy/explore/mdg/explore_mdg.php UNICEF - A world fit for children 2007 http://www.unicef.org/progressforchildren/2007n6/index_41401.htm MDG Monitor http://www.mdgmonitor.org/ Select information Understanding poverty in our country What are the recent achievements and challenges of our country? How does poverty affect people in our country? How are poor people represented in the media in our country? How does our government support health and education? What are aid organisations doing to assist poor people in our country? How does trade assist our country? Statistics about poverty in our country What is the average income [GDP per capita (PPP US$)]? What percentage of people live below the national poverty line? What percentage of children attend primary school? What percentage of adults can read (adult literacy rate)? What percentage of people have access to clean water (access to improved drinking water source)? What percentage of people have access to sanitation? How old can children expect to live to (What is the life expectancy at birth)? How many mobile (cellular) phones are available per 1000 people? How many internet users? What percentage of income is owned by the least wealthy 20% of households? What percentage of income is owned by the wealthiest 20% of households? How big is the gap between these the richest and poorest? How much does the government spend on health? How much does the government spend on education? Progress achieving MDGs What progress is being made to meeting the MDGs? What policies and activities are working to reduce poverty? Organise Select the country of focus for your group. Use an atlas, websites and your own knowledge to outline how poverty affects people in your country. Use the statistical websites to create an Excel table of information about the country. Prepare a talk, poster or PowerPoint presentation to give an overview of the way poverty affects people in your country using statistics, maps, 'interviews' etc Include progress towards MDGs Outline a program that is reducing the impact of poverty on some people in your country. Make a recommendation about poverty reduction. Identify any further research you need to undertake to support your answer to the global question: What are effective ways of reducing poverty? Present Each team will present their overview of poverty and poverty reduction activities for their country. As a whole group at the Forum discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each of the methods presented. OR Combine the excel spreadsheets of statistics about poverty in the countries to make comparisons about the impact of poverty on people in the different countries. Evaluate Individually and as a team reflect on what you have learned about methods of poverty reduction in the country your group studied. Also reflect how you have worked with each other as members of a team to complete the project.   High Medium Low Collecting information       Ability to gather relevant information Used a large number of appropriate resources to gather information that was important and related to the questions Used a variety of resources and collected information that was generally useful Used only one or two resources and did not select the key points to answer the questions Ability to use information to support a particular perspective Able to develop an understanding of a particular point of view about the issue and support this well with information gathered Presented a key aspect of a particular point of view about the issue and provided some information to support it Formed opinion with only limited use of the information gathered Working as a team       Ability to work with others in a group Listened carefully to others, shared own information and supported others to express their point of view and keep the group working together well Listened to others and made some comments to support the group to work together Listened to some people but did not always encourage others to contribute their ideas Presenting information       Ability to present information with rationale Presented the key points with supportive evidence Supported the key points with some evidence Presented some key points in a short manner Taking action       Ability to apply learning Able to explain poverty and poverty reduction and question the accuracy of information Able to explain aspects of poverty and how it can be reduced Able to ask questions about poverty

There is no rice without hardship; This photo of a working street child in Bangladesh was taken by another street child as a way of telling his story. Tarikul Islam/AusAID

Learning outcome : Students will deepen their understanding of poverty in different countries and some ways of reducing it.   Learning Areas: Social Education – History, Geography, Economics, Civics and Citizenship, English, Mathematics   Year levels: Lower secondary   Duration: Minimum of four 45-minute lessons   Tools needed: Internet, Computers or Print outs and reference materials