Poverty is everywhere in the world and it affects continents, nations and individuals differently. It upsets people in various magnitudes and levels and at different times and stages of life. There is no state that is absolutely free from poverty. The main difference is the concentration and the prevalence of this malaise. Nations in sub-Sahara, South Asia and Latin America have the highest level of poverty and low level of socio-economic development (Oyemomi, 2003:16). These nations are also characterised by high level of political violence, social insecurity, unrest and undesirable standard of living (Oyemomi, 2003:16-17). As a result poverty is perceived to be state whereby people are unable to provide sufficiently for the basic needs of food, clothing and shelter; are incapable of meeting social and economic responsibilities, lacks employment, skills, assets and self-esteem. Again, social amenities such as education, potable water, health and sanitation are not easily accessible to the poor. Thus, this limited the expansion of the capabilities of the poor. (Central Bank of Nigeria, 1999:1). This explains the situation of the Binga people because they are unable to produce basic needs as a result of harsh climatic conditions such as high temperatures and low rainfall and animals that attack their crops.
Again there are no formal industries in Binga and even if there were industries lack of skills make the Binga people unemployable in decent job, thus, they remain poor. Again
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this study identified portable water as the main stressing basic need in Binga and CADEC is fixing boreholes in the district so as to help the needy people. The results of this study show that the greater chance of advancing capabilities was dealt with by introducing participation, community projects and training in different activities like fixing boreholes where people realise and exercise their potentials.
The World Bank (2000:1) exposed the several dimensions of poverty that include well-being, psychological, basic infrastructure, illness and assets. Thus, for the World Bank (2000) poverty is a lack of what is necessary for material well-being particularly food, shelter, land, and other properties. In other words, poverty is the dearth of a number of necessities of life that results in starvation and physical deprivation. Furthermore, poverty stricken people do not have voice, power, and autonomy and are subjected to mistreatment and manipulation. Therefore, being poor leads the poor to be vulnerable to disrespect, humiliation, and inhumane treatment by the private and government or State from whom they seek help. With regard to Zimbabwe it is among the 25 poorest countries in the world. In the 1980s Zimbabwe’s poverty was about 15% of its population, however, now it is struggling to reduce it from about 70% of its current population of about 13.5 million. In Zimbabwe about 73% of the poverty stricken people are mainly found in the rural areas where illiteracy is high, there is no potable and clean water and health facilities are hardly available, road and electricity infrastructures are unavailable or ill-maintained just like in Binga district.
The World Bank (2000) indicated that the Human Development Index (HDI) of Zimbabwe was 0.461 which appropriately indicate the miserable state of the countries’ level of poverty and low human development despite being rich in mineral and agricultural
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resources. The percentage of the poor people in Zimbabwe of the poor has doubled over the last two decades, during which time the country received over USD300 billion in agriculture and mineral revenue. However, the level of Zimbabwe’s revenue and her poverty are illogical since more money is used to benefit the rich leaving the poor poorer.
While the revenue profile of Zimbabwe rose from $4 billion in 1975 to $26 billion in 1980, and GNP per capita rose from $360 to more than $1000 in the same period, the percentage of the population that was poor grew from 15% in 1960 to about its present 80%. Zimbabwe used to be ranked 6th and 7th in tobacco and gold production respectively but unfortunately it is ranked the 195th in GNP per capita and is now unpleasantly ranked among the 25th underprivileged nation in the world (World Bank, 2000).
Nevertheless, the discussed case above did not come as a result of mere ignorance of the problem at hand, it was triggered by the land reform policy. It did not come by as a result of lack of response to the hunger of the poor people who needed freedom from their awful and miserable state of hopelessness (Chinake, 1997). Thus, through the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) the world is addressing the many dimensions of human development, such as halving by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty. Developing countries are working to create their own national poverty eradication strategies based on local needs and priorities.
UNDP advocates for these nationally-owned solutions and helps to make them effective through ensuring a greater voice for poor people, expanding access to productive assets and economic opportunities. Additionally, linking poverty programs with countries’
international economic and financial policies. At the same time, UNDP contributes to efforts at reforming trade, debt relief and investment arrangements to better support
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national poverty reduction and make globalization work for poor people (UNDP, 2002 and World Bank 2000). One challenge however, is that there is no agreement on how poverty can be measured.