Rural Poverty

The Problem

In the world, 1.4 billion people cannot achieve their most basic goals, perform their most basic functions and needs and cannot attain their dreams or desires. Many people believe that most of the world's poverty is evident in urban settings; however, a large segment of today's poverty comes from rural areas. This group consists of farmers, herders, fishers, migrant workers, indigenous people, and many more. By eradicating rural poverty, it respects the capability that anyone can take charge and seek out opportunites to better their lifestyles.

The Solution

There are several ways that people can help to solve this issue. We can improve the overall environment of rural areas where people can find opportunities and have little risk. Also, we can strengthen the collective capabilities of rural citizens which can give them confidence, security, and power to overcome poverty. Another solution is to support local businesses to encourage and help boost the rural community.

Canadian Perspective

Despite Canada's major cities such as Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, Canada is filled with rural communities and areas that are most often unheard of. Many rural communities have people who struggle to feed themselves, and they need to rely on food banks and the donations of other community members in order to maintain their lifestyles. Also, there are many poverish communities that struggle to keep balance in legislature and function, as some communities' have a corrupt town council. These types of rural communities are often shadowed by the poverty in major cities and are often unaddressed.

Our Perspective

We think that rural poverty is and has been an ongoing issue that is underrated and unheard of. The number of rural people who live in poverty is equal or sometimes greater than the number of urban people living in poverty. As humans, it is our virtue to help those in need, and the attention needs to be directed to rural settings, instead of urban settings. It would be beneficial to have youth volunteer at local food banks during special holidays such as Christmas, Thanksgiving, and several other holidays.

http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/briefingpapers/ruralpov/index.shtml

https://www.brandonu.ca/rdi/files/2011/07/RuralPoverty.pdf

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