Poverty in Asia

What Is the Key to Overcoming Poverty in South Asia Nations?

Poverty in Asia
Ways to reduce poverty in the world
Overcoming poverty in South Asia nations
Poverty rate Southeast Asia

The key to overcoming poverty in South Asia nations is to fully understand the multiple factors involved in its cyclical nature. There is no one solution or answer that can undo deeply held beliefs, systems or barricades resulting in a life beyond a day-to-day struggle to survive.

The Borgen Project identifies eight primary causes of poverty to be addressed:1

  1. Population — an area’s population outweighs available resources
  2. Food Security — not knowing when or if you will eat next
  3. Education — illiteracy prevents securing better employment
  4. Health — malnutrition and waterborne illnesses prevent growth, schooling and flourishing
  5. Administration — lack of available infrastructure and support
  6. Natural Disasters — when a major weather event disrupts supplies or demolishes a food chain
  7. Global Recession — the downturn in any world market can affect the stability of another
  8. Social Discrimination — any social structure or norm that prevents a human from progressing beyond poverty

No one organization or government can address all of these issues. Many groups are needed to work on the interdependent nature of many of them. It’s best if an organization can establish programs that tackle multiple issues at the same time. For instance, education is extremely important, but a child who is malnourished cannot concentrate enough to absorb the information. Or if a family is constantly ill from waterborne illnesses because of a lack of clean water, no regular meal will alleviate the constant strain of sickness.

This is why GFA’s child sponsorship program is one of the best investments in overcoming poverty in South Asia. First and foremost, the GFA workers who administer the program are native to the country and have a heart for those they serve. The loving care they provide is essential to instilling a sense of personal value in each person.

Secondly, a child sponsored through GFA, and their family receive community-wide solutions such as nutritious food, clean water, education support, and basic healthcare. According to UNICEF,

“While great strides have been made in improving school enrolment and completion in South Asia, more than 50 per cent of children live in learning poverty – unable to read and understand a simple text by age 10 – and 12.5 million children at the primary level and 16.5 million children at the lower secondary level are out-of-school.”2

Investment in their education is highly important.

Sponsor a child today at $35 a month for that child and their family’s best chance at overcoming poverty. Most likely, he or she was born into that way of life and knows no different. To sponsor them is to lift them out of a destiny that looks grim. Hope, healing, and a future await the child who is given the gift of looking forward to tomorrow.

Learn more about poverty in Asia

1 Mahua Mitra. “8 Important factors about the causes of poverty in Asia.” Borden Project. January 27, 2018. https://borgenproject.org/causes-of-poverty-in-asia/.
2 “Education Programme.” UNICEF. Accessed February 4, 2022, https://www.unicef.org/rosa/what-we-do/education#:~:text=While%20great%20strides%20have%20been,the%20lower%20secondary%20level%20are.