Structural, comprehensive, targeted efforts needed to help the poor

The Social Weather Stations’ latest survey on self-rated poverty (SRP) conducted from Sept. 28 to Oct. 1, 2023, (www.sws.org.ph, 1/17/24.) is significant for at least three reasons. First, it brings to the surface the progress (or regress) in our collective and individual efforts to reduce poverty in all its forms and dimensions. Second, it can provide valuable insights into the respondents’ experiences and perceptions of their economic well-being. Third, it lends a very established and credible voice to the 48 percent, or an estimated 13.2 million Filipino families who regularly experience a lack of resources to meet their daily basic needs.

More than a reality check, there is also the human drive to know and explore the underlying causes and challenges of poverty and thus better discover how we can all contribute to its more significant reduction, if not elimination, as the United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goals envision for all the people in the world.

The problem of social inequality is also partly rooted in the whole social structures and systems of relationships that could shape, if not determine, how even people of goodwill choose to respond to the sufferings of others. There are two broad views as to why many people stay poor. One emphasizes differences in fundamentals such as ability, talent, or motivation. The other view highlights differences in opportunities that stem from access to wealth. Beyond these is the third view, which analyzes how political and economic systems influence the inequitable distribution of power and resources. Power resources theorists hold that those with greater control over critical resources have more power.

In the context of poverty, one can argue that the unequal and inequitable distribution of resources, such as wealth, education, and employment opportunities, contributes to a power imbalance. Those who lack access to these resources find themselves in dire straits. Only the privileged can climb the social ladder, and the poor stay marginalized and deprived of their fundamental human rights. Thus, reducing poverty in our society calls for more radical and sustained changes in the political system.

Beyond the unbridled individualism and vested self-interests of those who have the power to make significant change but would not, the solutions would require structural, comprehensive, and targeted efforts, which experts classified as:

• improve access to livelihoods, entrepreneurial opportunities, and productive resources;
• provide universal access to essential social services;
• develop social protection systems to support those who cannot help themselves;
• empower people living in poverty and their organizations;
• address the disproportionate impact of poverty on women;
• collaborate with interested donors and recipients to allocate increased shares of official development assistance to poverty eradication; and,
• intensify international cooperation for poverty eradication.

All these efforts can only fall short of expectations if the people who have in their hands the power to implement them have become sensitive to the needs of people dehumanized by cruel poverty. To enhance our empathy and solidarity with the least fortunate, Pope Francis suggests that we walk the streets of a city to see many forms of poverty, exclusion, and marginalization. “We need to go and see them for ourselves, to spend time with people, to listen to their stories, and to confront reality, which always in some way surprises us,” he said.

Their untold stories can provide nuance to a conversation like this that, at times, has glaringly lacked it. Unless we open ourselves to a dialogue of life with them, we will most likely remain mere bystanders and spectators of the daily oppression and injustice inflicted on people with low incomes. There is no substitute for seeing things firsthand. Come and see!

Noel G. Asiones and Orlando B. Cantillon, [email protected]