The world commemorated End of Poverty Day in the midst of plenty. The World Bank African Region leadership held a video conferencing event on the 17th October which included over 17 its regional offices in Africa, with the Bank’s African region team also joining in from Washington DC. The event which was held under the theme ” Food and Jobs: Fighting Poverty through Sustainable Agriculture ” brought together farmer groups, students, development partners and the media. In Accra, discussions were facilitated by the country office and the Agriculture team. In his presentation on “fighting poverty through sustainable agriculture”, Simeon Ehui, Manager, Agriculture Global Practice of the World Bank stated that Agriculture remains the economic backbone of African economies and other parts of the developing world. However, it has accounted for little in terms of reducing poverty, inequality and stimulating development. The Day which was marked with several activities all over the world aimed at dialoguing on how to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere”. The day was also used to “explicitly recognise that poverty results not only from the lack of just one thing, but from many different interrelated factors that affect the lives of the many people living in poverty around the world” In specific reference to Africa, the day was used to initiate a dialogue on how Africa can achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 1: Which is to end poverty by 2030.
At PDA we believe in the potential of the youth as a critical resource to helping eradicate poverty and drive poverty. We re-publish a story that originally appeared in the Kenyan Daily Nation new paper to buttress this resolve of ours.
Click here to read about how young people are using agriculture to fight poverty
Credit: Sampson Adotey Jnr