Poverty has been a scourge since time immemorial. It is a continuing affront to our
sensibilities, our moral principles, our very humanity. But it doesn’t have to be that way
anymore. We live in an age of promise and opportunity, where technological advances,
successful development experience and political will can be summoned to eliminate
poverty – and in particular to end extreme poverty. Today, we
can
end poverty and free
future generations from its devastating, tenacious grip.
This is not to say that we have not already seen promising results in the fight against
poverty. During the industrial revolution, economic and social transformation in many
countries lifted millions of people out of poverty. There was another impressive advance
after the Second World War, when scientific and technological progress, entrepreneurial
energy, market forces and redistribution policies brought growth and widespread
prosperity to countries in Europe, North America and East Asia.
Progress since 1990 has gone even further, surpassing previous advances in global
poverty reduction. In fact, this generation has been the world’s most fortunate – across all
regions – in terms of poverty reduction. People are taller, better nourished and healthier:
rising life expectancy attests to this, as does the success in achieving the first Millennium
Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the share of people living in extreme poverty
five years before the 2015 deadline! While this outcome owes a lot to the impact of strong
economic growth in the People’s Republic of China, many other countries have also made
striking progress in the fight against poverty. For example, five African countries – Benin,
Ethiopia, Gambia, Malawi and Mali – topped the global rankings in progress against all the
MDGs compared to where they started from. The power of conviction, the determination
and the political will mobilised by the MDGs have made an immense difference in
achieving these very positive outcomes.
Nevertheless, the battle is far from over. More than 1 billion people still struggle daily to
secure adequate food and shelter and fulfil their basic needs. The fact that we are moving in
the right direction is no consolation to an impoverished father in South Africa who has lost his
child to a preventable disease. It is time to tackle extreme poverty once and for all. We need to
galvanise our resources, wisdom and experience, our ingenuity and political will to reverse the EDITORIAL: WE CAN, AND MUST, END POVERTY
DEVELOPMENT CO-OPERATION REPORT 2013 © OECD 2013
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plight of the poorest of the poor. These are the hardest people to reach with public goods and
services, and the most difficult to integrate into economic, political and social life.
We can learn from countries that have succeeded in this fight – from the strategic
choices they have made, the policies and initiatives they have put in place, the priorities they
have established. This report collects leading international good practice based on proven
“local” solutions to tackling poverty – practical, concrete examples that can be adapted to
other country settings. I am indebted to the many leaders, experts and policy makers who
have contributed their knowledge through the examples you will find in these pages.
We are the first generation in world history with the ability to eradicate poverty – and
our motto should be: “Yes, we will!
