Blog Action Day 2008: Poverty

Wednesday saw Blog Action Day come and go again without mention from bloggers in Armenia and the South Caucasus. What makes this most surprising, perhaps, is that as poverty is one of the main issues that still needs to be resolved in the region, and especially among the population living away from the capitals and in rural communities, blogs could play an important role in highlighting the need for sustainable development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals as local economies expand after near total collapse in the early 1990s.

In common with other post-Soviet countries, Armenia suffered a dramatic economic collapse in the years immediately following independence in 1991. The proportion of the population living below the poverty line rocketed from about 20% in 1990 to 90% in 1996. In these circumstances the standard target of halving poverty by reference to a baseline year of 1990 is inappropriate; instead the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Armenia seek to reduce poverty back to its 1990 level of 20% by 2015.

The economy has now recovered to exceed its pre-independence level but, due to greater inequality of income and a growing divide between the capital Yerevan and other regions, over 26% of the population remained in poverty in 2006. The poverty line is based on the cost of food plus basic essentials; less than 5% of the population fall into the category of extreme poverty, unable to afford the recommended minimum amount of daily food. The recent rate of progress suggests that the 2015 target for poverty reduction will be achieved. Conversely, the 2005 progress report concluded that all the Goals relating to health (child mortality, maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS) will be “hard to achieve” because of insufficient funding levels and inadequate access to healthcare for the poor.

Regardless, it’s also an issue of global concern worthy of discussion and this is where Blog Action Day came in.

Global issues like poverty are extremely complex. There is no simple, clear answer. By asking thousands of different people to give their viewpoints and opinions, Blog Action Day creates an extraordinary lens through which to view these issues. Each blogger brings their own perspective and ideas. Each blogger posts relating to their own blog topic. And each blogger engages their audience differently.

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Out of this discussion naturally flow actions, advice, ideas, plans, and empowerment. In 2007 on the theme of the Environment, we saw bloggers running environmental experiments, detailing innovative ideas on creating sustainable practices and focusing audience’s attentions on organizations and companies promoting green agendas. In 2008 we aim to again focus the blogging community’s energies and passions, this time on the mammoth issue of global poverty.

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From the smallest online journals, to huge online magazines, to EU ministers, to professionals and amateurs, Blog Action Day is about mass participation. Anyone is free to join in on Blog Action Day and there is no limit on the number of posts, the type of posts or the direction of thoughts and opinions.

Then again, it has to be said — despite working for more than five years on the subject in Armenia and Georgia, this blog also didn’t mention the action even though it was highlighted in a post on Smashing Apps looking at poverty awareness posters, including one photographed and designed by yours truly for the international children’s organization, UNICEF:

I really like this statement on Blog Action Day website

“…the blogging community effectively changes the conversation on the web and focuses audiences around the globe on that issue”

Then I decided to be the part of this campaign. As I told you above that I was searching for the topic that will not make visitors to be bored so I decided to convey Blog Action Day message with the magical images related to poverty. Yes, they are trying to create the awareness about the real problem exists in this world and many of us really do not realize in the way it is.

Here, I listed some collection of images which are posters, photographs, etc and in all of the pictures below you will see the severeness of poverty and how billions of children are effecting with this. It’s a time we should not forget our role and let’s help them or at-least create some awareness from that platform which we have.

I hope at the end of this post you will realize that we live in 2 separate worlds. Spread the word and be a part of this campaign.

Agarak, Aragatsotn Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2003

Still, better late than never, I suppose, and not least because the same day saw a report from RFE/RL on the situation with poverty in Armenia. In 2005, the poverty level stood at 55.5 percent of the population, and in 2006, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported that 29 percent of Armenians were malnourished.

Alongside with Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, Armenia appeared in the last place in the CIS countries’ list with its index.

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As for Armenia’s neighbors, Georgia and Azerbaijan have serious progress in this sphere among the former Soviet countries according to the UNO.

Now the National Statistical Service (NSS) reports that 25 percent of the population lives below the poverty line although there is some concern regarding the way such numbers are measured. Nevertheless, the government says the matter is still one of concern.

“The problem of poverty is still serious in Armenia,” Mnatsakanian told RFE/RL. “Some 800,000 people remain poor.”

The government maintains that poverty has declined in recent years far more rapidly than it had anticipated because of robust economic growth and increased government spending on social programs. Under a Western-backed program to tackle the problem which it launched in 2001, the official poverty rate was due to drop to 26.5 percent only by 2012.

The government said last January it will revise the program in a way that will commit it to further cutting the proportion to 12 percent in 2012 and 9 percent in 2015. Government officials asked Armenian non-governmental organizations dealing with socioeconomic problems to weigh in on the new targets and ways of meeting them.

Some NGO representatives have long questioned the government’s methodology of gauging the scale of property. They believe that the official poverty threshold of about 23, 000 drams ($76) per person is set too low and does not reflect the increased cost of life in Armenia. The country’s average monthly wage currently stands at about 90,000 drams.

Mnatsakanian stood by the credibility of the poverty data. In fact, he said, fewer Armenians consider themselves poor than is shown by official statistics.

True, the situation has improved considerably over the years, with extreme poverty especially in decline. Nonetheless, there should be no room for complacency given that unexpected events such as drought in some rural communities can change that overnight. Moreover, for those still living in poverty, associated issues such as tuberculosis, alcoholism and psychological problems can make the situation harder to solve than simply creating extra jobs.

Hostel, Erebuni, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2003

As elsewhere, there is a need to fight other reasons for poverty and the unequal distribution of wealth and property. In a round-up on Blog Action Day posts in the Americas, bloggers mention corruption and inequality.

For Blog Action Day, Menos Canas [es] thinks it is difficult to talk about poverty, not because it does not exist, rather that one does not know where to start. El Útero de Marita [es] knows where to start and thinks that one cannot talk about poverty without linking it to the ever present problem of corruption.

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In countries of stark contrasts, Hugo Chinchilla recalls visiting the small town of Marale and encountering starving and desperate people. In turn, he wonders how much money politicians spend on luxuries knowing that fellow countrymen and women are in this dire situation. Aaron Ortiz of Pensieve finds out where he ranks on a Global Rich list, and Laurie comments relating a story of a father struggling to buy baby formula.

Coincidentally, two days after the Blog Action Day, the world marked UN Anti-Poverty Day, as the BBC reported. Again, there was little or no mention of it in the South Caucasus.

Activists around the world are organising marches, rallies and concerts to mark the UN’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

The UN says nearly three billion people - nearly half the world’s population - live on less than $2 a day.

It says it is trying to address the situation by working towards the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals.

Last year, 43 million people participated in the anti-poverty day in support of the goals, UN officials say.

[…]

This year’s International Day for the Eradication of Poverty falls in the middle of a global financial crisis.

The leaders of Brazil and India, two key developing nations, have warned that poor people should not be punished for the mismanagement of the rich.

However, Iranian bloggers did see the global picture.

A significant part of the world population lives in poverty and earns less than me and you. Maybe they have even nothing as salary. They are hungry, their children can not go to school, and if their children get sick, they cannot take them to hospitals. These people are poor not because they are less intelligent or lazier than I. They are just poor and do not have a job. I do not have any expertise to talk about this topic, but I know that nothing should deprive people from their rights and keep them poor.

Again rounded up on Global Voices, one blogger in Africa puts the problem in perhaps its most thought-provoking context. For some in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and elsewhere, the situation is the same.

The percentage of households living below the poverty line decreased from 53% in 1995 to 48% in 2005. The poverty line is set at R322 per person per month. That’s the cost of a restaurant meal for two here in South Africa. Read that again. Almost HALF of the people in our country have to cover ALL their living expenses out of LESS than the amount we spend on a single dinner. Sobering, isn’t it?

44-year-old Tuberculosis sufferer one month before her death, Hostel, Erebuni, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2004

Anyway, there are more posts on poverty, children deprived of parental care and homelessness in Armenia on my old blog here. There are also electronic version of two books written, photographed and designed by Oneworld Multimedia on the same subject matter for download.

Armenia: Poverty, Transition & Democracy:
http://www.oneworld.am/armenia_book.pdf

UNICEF Year Book:
http://oneworld.am/final.pdf (English)
http://oneworld.am/armenian.pdf (Armenian)

Internally Displaced Person (IDP), Berd, Tavoush Region, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2004

Starting from next month I shall be returning to the issue of poverty, children deprived of parental care and also disabilities in Armenia. In addition to hopefully staging an exhibition, I hope to be putting together some of the source material together in an audio slide show as I recently did for the Newport Kutaisi Association and EveryChild in Georgia. Watch this space.