Statement by
Arigatou International’s
Inter-Faith Initiative to End Child Poverty
on the International Day for the
Eradication of Poverty, October 17th, 2013
Poverty
is the greatest global challenge facing mankind today. It presents an
unbearable injustice to those who experience it. Extreme poverty has the
horrifying effect of taking away an individual’s dignity and a people’s
humanity. It is one of the greatest moral scandals of this age that while there
are enough resources for everyone, millions of people continue to live in
abject poverty. Eradicating extreme poverty should be humankind’s primary
priority today. No one, and in particular children, should live in poverty.
The
occasion to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
presents a good opportunity to consider the effects of extreme poverty on
children. Poverty denies a child his or her rights and weakens the child's
protective environment. Most abuse and exploitation of children is linked to
deeply rooted and widespread poverty. Poverty blights a child’s life with ill
health, poor nourishment, and compromised physical and mental growth. A child
brought up in poverty hardly has any energy or confidence to face the future.
While eradicating
poverty continues to take center stage in international development goals,
including the Post 2015 Development Agenda, attention must focus more
specifically on children. The most urgent need in this respect is to put in
place appropriate safety nets and measures that guarantee that children are out
of harm’s way. These measures will require immediate and longer term
investments by governments, civil society, faith communities and families in
securing children's rights and wellbeing. Fortunately, the dividends for such
investments far outweigh the cost. Spending on a child's health, nutrition,
education, social, emotional and cognitive development is an investment in a
healthier, more literate and, ultimately, more productive population.
Resources that
Faith-Based Organizations offer in the fight against poverty
Extreme
poverty issues emanate from a multiplicity of long acting social, economic and
political conditions and are best tackled by a variety of institutions and
actors. Faith communities and faith inspired initiatives such as the Arigatou
International’s, Inter-Faith Initiative to End Child Poverty (IIECP) present
one such array of actors in local and global efforts against extreme poverty.
Faith
Inspired Organizations bring to this effort a unique resource not least their
presence in community, passion for good, influence, spirit of volunteerism and
the genuine compassion called forth by faith. It is imperative that such
communities are enjoined and form part of the local and global effort against
poverty.
It
is unlikely that government alone, even while acting through bilateral and
multilateral arrangements, can match the mission of the broad-based effort that
is required to decisively scale back poverty. Any effort to eradicate poverty,
especially in the post 2015 Development Agenda and Sustainable Development must
result in a broad coalition between governments, multilateral organizations,
civil society and faith-inspired organizations. Given this joint cooperation
and the necessary resources, we can make a difference to the fight against
poverty in general and child poverty in particular.
Our Commitments as
Arigatou International:
Through
the Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC) we commit ourselves to
maximize on the comparative advantages of faith inspired resources in
mitigating child poverty by:
1.
Raising
the consciousness of our communities on the plight of child poverty.
2.
Engaging
in sound theological reflection, prayer and action to mitigate the human and
spiritual causes of poverty including greed, hatred, fear and ignorance, as the
necessary steps to finding lasting solutions to the problem.
3.
Strongly advocating against structural causes
of poverty such as the unequal distribution of recourses, corruption, bad
governance and violent conflicts.
4.
Accompanying selected sustainable and
replicable grass root flagship projects that, aim to enhance quality education
and retention of poor and vulnerable children in school; transform violent
conflicts that exacerbate poverty; and promote income generating activities for
low income groups and families.
Our Appeal to
governments and the international community:
1.
Ensure
that the best interests of children are central to any poverty eradication
initiative
2.
Ensure
that poverty eradication efforts go beyond the use of simple
tools such as the US$ 1.25/day income measure, to address multi-dimensional
aspects of poverty and adopt a truly human-centered, bottom-up approach to
poverty eradication.
3.
Involve Faith-Based Organizations in the
effort to fight poverty during planning, implementation and monitoring of such
efforts at local, national and international levels;
4.
Make use of the moral and spiritual influence
of Faith Communities and leaders in the society to engage in poverty
eradication campaigns;
We
wish to express our sincere commitment to forge concrete partnerships, both
intra-faith and multi-religious, and with other sectors of society, at all
levels-global, continental, national and local to advocate for concrete
measures that will address child poverty.
Contact person:
Rev. Fred Nyabera
Director,
Inter-Faith Initiative to end Child Poverty, Arigatou International – Nairobi
Email: fnyabera@arigatouinternational.org
or iiecp@arigatouinternational.org
Tel: +254 20
2573920/1
