There is nowhere to work. We get sick and we don’t have the medicines because they are expensive. The government makes everything expensive. . . . We don’t have money to buy fertilizers, seeds, everything is in dollars. We don’t have anything to eat. Everything is so expensive. From a discussion group of adult women at the time of a banking crisis, Juncal, Ecuador [Security is] . . . the ability of persons to cope with disasters. From a discussion group, Little Bay, Jamaica |
Achieving greater security requires a heightened focus on how insecurity affects the lives and prospects of poor people. It also takes a mix of measures to deal with economy-wide or region-wide risks and to help poor people cope with individual adverse shocks.
Formulating a modular approach to helping poor people manage risk
Different interventions - at the community, market, and state levels - are needed to address different risks and different segments of the population. A mix of interventions may be needed to support the management of risks for communities and households, depending on the type of risk and the institutional capacity of the country.
Developing national programs to prevent, prepare for, and respond to macro shocks - financial and natural
Economy-wide shocks are often the hardest for poor communities and households to cope with, especially when the shocks are repeated, deep, or persistent. To manage the risk of financial and terms of trade shocks, sound macroeconomic policy and robust financial systems are fundamental. Special measures are also needed to ensure that spending on programs important to poor people - social programs and targeted transfers - does not fall during a recession, especially relative to the rising need.
Addressing civil conflict
Civil conflict is devastating for poor people: the bulk of conflicts are in poor countries and most are civil wars - more than 85% of all conflicts were fought within country borders between 1987 and 1997. In addition to the direct loss of life, they wreak social and economic havoc and create a terrible legacy of psychological and social trauma. While it is immensely important to sustain the focus on rebuilding societies after conflict, it is equally important to take measures to prevent conflict. Violent conflict constitutes one of the most urgent and intractable areas for action affecting some of the poorest people in the world.
Tackling the HIV/AIDS epidemic
HIV/AIDS is already one of the most important sources of insecurity in several afflicted countries in Africa. While the immediate, devastating effects are at the individual and household level, the consequences are much broader, from intolerable strains on traditional child fostering mechanisms, to extreme pressures on health systems and loss of productive labor affecting whole communities and nations. More than 34 million people are infected with HIV (90 percent in the developing world), with 5 million more infected each year. More than 18 million people have already died of AIDS-related illness. Action at the international level to develop an AIDS vaccine is crucial for the future, but differing experiences show that what will really make a difference now is effective leadership and societal change to prevent the spread of HIV and care for those already infected. This can involve confronting taboos about sexuality, targeting information and support to high risk groups such as prostitutes, and providing compassionate care for AIDS sufferers.