BY TNLM REPORTER
In October last year, Kenya rose to position nine of the top 10 biggest economies in Africa. That reclassified the country as a middle-income country, through a recalculation of its sector under what is known as rebasing.
But as East Africa’s biggest economy comes to terms with its new ranking, like many developing countries, it is realising that the status alone is not enough to make people wealthy.
New research shows that close to a billion extra people globally face a life of extreme poverty if leaders do not make key decisions touching on poverty, inequality and climate change. Two crucial summits are coming up in New York and Paris later this year, and with billions more faced with lives of hardship, world and businesses leaders are expected to chart a new way to lift more people from poverty.
A coalition of organisations from around the world has launched a new campaign called Action/2015 to pressure local and world leaders to take urgent action to halt man-made climate change, eradicate poverty and address inequality. The campaign, officially launched in Kenya in mid-January, released statistics indicating that it is possible to reduce number of people living in extreme poverty – less than Sh114 ($1.25) a day – from over a billion to 360 million by 2030.
Action/2015 Kenya partners and other stake holders have called on citizens to lobby leaders and own local initiatives that can combat poverty, inequalities, climate change, with focus on renewable energy and other pressing issues of concern. In Kenya, nearly half of its 40 million people lives below the poverty line, with the bottom 20 percent classified as extreme.
A study by the University of Denver shows that if critical policies are adopted and implemented, by the 2030, about 4 per cent of the global population will live in extreme poverty compared to 17 per cent currently. Estimates by other researchers, looking at a longer list of variables, show that the eradication of extreme poverty is achievable for the first time in history if world leaders get the policies right.
Economic and social welfare analysts say if leaders fail to build and deliver on the growing momentum for ambitious deals at the “UN Special Summit on Sustainable Development” in September and the “UN Climate Talks” in Paris in December, the number of people living in extreme poverty could actually increase to 1.2 billion over the next 15 years.
Action/2015 activists are being inspired by Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of the Malala Fund, who put her life on the line for the right to education.
“People globally want an end to injustice, poverty and illiteracy,” she says. “Our world is interconnected and… together, we are demanding our leaders take action in 2015 and we must all do our part. I will continue to work tirelessly to call on world leaders to seize this opportunity to guarantee free, quality primary and secondary education for every child.”
Dozens of high profile activists from Queen Rania of Jordan and Bono to Ben Affleck, Bill and Melinda Gates and Mo Ibrahim are backing the coalition of over 1,000 organisations in more than 120 countries around the world to turn the attention of world leaders to agree on plans to eradicate poverty, prevent dangerous climate change and tackle inequality during these summits.
Action/2015 is one of the biggest campaigns ever launched – combining environmental, human rights, development organisations and faith networks. The movement aims to make sure the agreements of 2015 are shaped by the people which, will lead to adoption of policies to facilitate the atainment of better living standards.
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