If you have ever been to a truly impoverished part of the planet, especially in Africa, you may have already witnessed that, in the majority of remote rural communities, there is usually nothing whatsoever that is happening to end extreme poverty.
The only change that can ever happen in such communities, or the only change that will ever last in these places, is the change that is directly led by the ultra poor themselves.
It is also worth noting that, in many of these poor communities, countless antipoverty interventions have come and gone, often without leaving a trace — a big reminder once again, that the only change that will ever last, or the only way global extreme poverty can ever end, is when the extreme poor themselves are directly at the helm.
The bad news?
Humanity still insists that the best way to end global poverty, is for the world’s ultra poor to sit and wait for the right people (i.e., those from the global development sector), to come and move them from poverty.
And without mincing any words, humanity is very keen to make this clear, by making sure that only 1% of all the money that is intended to end global poverty, is what is given directly to the extreme poor in the global south, keeping the other 99% in the hands of the people from the development sector.
Specifically, only 1% of all Official Development Assistance (funding from agencies like USAID, UKAID etc), and an even smaller portion (0.4% in 2018 alone) of all international humanitarian assistance (all charitable global antipoverty funding included), is what goes directly to local and national grassroots organizations in the global south, today.
Moreover, for the latter, the 0.4% in 2018 was an increase, according the 2019 Global Humanitarian Assistance Report. In earlier years, that figure was even smaller.