Part B - Activity 1 - Defining poverty
What is poverty?
Three years ago it was a very bad year. The flood washed away all of our crops and there was a lot of hunger around here, to the point that many people actually died of hunger. They must have been at least a dozen, mostly children and old people. Nobody could help them. Their relatives in the village had no food either; nobody had enough food for his own children, let alone for the children of his brother or cousin. And few had a richer relative somewhere else who could help.
"Poverty is pain; it feels like a disease. It attacks a person not only materially but also morally. It eats away one's dignity and drives one into total despair."
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At lease 1.2 billion people, some sixty times the total population of Australia, live in extreme poverty. Being poor means much more than being poor in income - poverty can mean different forms of deprivation. For one-fifth of the world's population, living on less than the equivalent of two dollars Australian per day, poverty often means a struggle for food, shelter, clean water and access to even the most basic levels of education, health and other services. The poor are frequently excluded from being involved in decisions that affect them. They lack the power to hold decision-makers accountable. They are especially vulnerable to shocks such as droughts, civil conflict, illness and environmental degradation. Around seventy per cent of the world's poor are women. Poverty can lead to crime and violence, political instability, and an overall poor quality of life.
Yet there have also been improvements in poverty and living standards over time. Many government and non-government organisations work towards helping people and nations to reduce poverty and increase people's living standards.
Open your workbook.
The term 'poverty' can sometimes form stereotypical views in people's minds. Often it is the people in less-developed countries who are thought of as being poor. People in countries such as Australia, the United States and many countries in Europe are regarded as being rich, yet contain a number of very poor people. There are many ways of defining poverty.
Question 1
Study the following which provides you with different information about poverty. Use your workbook to write a brief summary of each piece of information that you read. Which definitions or images would you prefer to use with your students? Why? Give reasons for not using some definitions.
Question 2
After summarising this information and looking at the images, write your own working definition of poverty.
Complete the poverty quiz. You will need to click and drag the correct answer next to the appropriate poverty question.
Question 3
Read three options for using this quiz in the classroom. Which if these would you use with your students? Why?
Teaching students about poverty
The following sample activities are examples of ways in which the topic of poverty could be introduced to students. It is important for the students to develop some empathy towards people facing very real and serious poverty situations.
Question 4
Your task is to design an activity which will help students develop their own definition for poverty. Use the information you have read and ideas from the sample student activities in your design. The activity should take one lesson for the students to complete.
World Bank definition -