Papers

POVERTY AND THE FAMILY IN THE THIRD WORLD

Author: Kathryn Hauwa Hoomkwap | Date: October 11-13, 2000

- presented at the third world meeting of the holy father with families


I. Introduction

The family remains the basic unit of society in the world today. In its modern meaning, the family is that social unit comprising a man, his wife and their children. In most sub-Saharan African countries, the extended family, which is a more inclusive definition of the family, includes uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents and other distant relations. This paper has deliberately chosen to make the family its center-piece for a number of reasons. We have witnessed in recent years attempts at United

Nations conferences to downplay the importance of the family concept as defined in this paper, and to replace with such alternative terms as “various forms of family” and “household”. Some examples are the conference on population and development in Cairo in 1994 and the Beijing World conference on Women in 1995. There are additional assaults on the family arising from recent developments in international economic and institutional arrangements: to be specific, the introduction of Structural

Adjustment Programmes (SAP) in several sub-Saharan African countries since the mid 1980s, and the emerging system of globalisation that has given rise to severe economic and social problems under-running the stability and sacredness of the family. This paper examines aspects of Structural Adjustment Programmes, globalisation and their repercussions that impact adversely on the family. It then makes suggestions on how these problems can be effectively tackled with a view to restoring the family to its former pre-eminent position in the social organization of nations.



II. Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP)

In the early 1980s, Western conservative economic doctrines, mirroring the economic orientation of the leading Western powers, became dominant in the major International Financial Institutions (IFIs): namely, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In response to the persistent and formidable economic problems of several sub-Saharan African countries in that period, problems which were the result of official corruption and mismanagement, these institutions masterminded the formulation of the basic SAP document. In short, SAP is a conservative and pro-business economic framework which seeks to reduce the role of government in the economy by removing subsidies on goods and services largely consumed by the vast majority of the citizens (education, petroleum products, electricity, fertilizer), downsizing employment in government ministries and institutions, privatization, deregulation and liberalization programmes. Probably, the most important aspect of SAP is continued devaluation of exchange rates which reduces the purchasing power of citizens, and by increasing costs of imported machinery and raw materials, have destroyed a large percentage of industrial enterprises. The implementation of SAP in many countries has, as should be expected, exaggerated the problems of unemployment and poverty, which in turn have severely weakened the African family. Globalisation is the result of international institutional and technological changes in the last two decades. A most remarkable trend in the last two decades of the twentieth century is the increasing consolidation of nations into economic communities, which highlight interdependence and considerable loss of national sovereignty over economic policies to these economic communities, which are in fact supra-national organizations. Another development in the last 50 years is the considerable reduction in barriers to international trade achieved during several Rounds of GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). The last of these Rounds, generally referred to as the Uruguay Round, carried this trade-liberalising trend to its logical conclusion by including within its ambit trade in goods, services, capital flows, the protection of intellectual property rights, and the creation of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to act as the instrument for promoting international trade liberalization and the integration of markers on a worldwide basis. It is quite clear that the integration of global markets favours the developed countries because their technological advancement enables them to capture the enlarged market at the expense of the less developed countries most of which are African. The most important aspects of globalisation are, among others:

- The WTO, championing trade liberalization

- Massive computerization of operations

- Information and communication

- Technology revolution facilitated by satellite communication systems

- Expansion of role of transnational corporations

- Corporate mergers and acquisitions

- Internationalisation of services.

It is clear from available evidence that countries that are not technologically developed cannot compete effectively in international trade under globalisation. It is therefore expected that many of their factories and even farms will collapse in the process further compounding the social problems of unemployment, crime and poverty. The most important aspects of the negative repercussions of globalisation have been given prominence in the Holy Father’s Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in America (pp. 35-36).



III. Pervasiveness of poverty

It is indeed most ironic that at a time when the world has more capability and resources to address global social problems, many third world nations are experiencing the most dehumanizing poverty. The problem is now so serious that the International Financial Institutions themselves and most African countries have introduced poverty alleviation programmes without first addressing in a convincing manner poverty which in Africa is inappropriate economic policy framework, corruption, and economic mismanagement. It is now generally accepted that SAP has virtually wiped out the middle class in Sub-Saharan Africa, thus relegating members of the former middle class to the bottom of the society, and helping to demote Nigeria, ranked a middle-income country in the 1970s, to the class of low-income economies. Poverty manifests itself when citizens are unable to provide for themselves and their families such basic facilities as food, clothing, accommodation, and are deprived access to such essential social services/goods as potable water, electricity, modern sanitation facilities, health care and education for their children. As we have hinted at earlier, the causes of poverty are:

- inappropriate economic policies

- new global institutional arrangements which tend to penalize the technologically weak

- inequitable distribution of income and wealth

- poor governance practices

- external debt crisis in which debt servicing takes large proportions of annual budgets

- collapsing educational systems.

In Nigeria, poverty has created a number of problems which are becoming increasingly intractable and further compromising the stability and sanctity of the family. A listing of some of these problems is appropriate here:

- child labour

- child prostitution

- African teenage prostitution in Western countries exposing such youths to HIV/AIDS and other forms of inhuman treatment

- street trading by children who thus miss educational opportunities

- teenage marriage (for girls)

- women deprived of leisure and opportunities to look after their children as they work long hours to fend for their families

- destruction of the environment as people seek to make ends meet at all costs

- infant malnutrition

- relatively high maternal and infant mortality rates

- increasing high crime rates and youth militancy in marginalized regions

- commercialization of religion and emergence of cults.

How do we address these problems? Should the task be left to national governments alone, or should the international community, the Church, NGOs and local communities be involved? The major objective suggested by these questions is the restoration of the family as the basic social institution and the revival of true Christian ethical values.



IV. Restoring the family

The restoration of the family to its previous exalted position requires collaboration and co-operation among different institutions some of whose policies have contributed to the problems discussed in this paper. Specifically:

- International Financial Institutions and the WTO should pay more attention to the adverse consequences of their programmes and agreements on the common people. A people friendly reorientation is recommended.

- National governments should consider critically the impact of policies suggested to them from external sources, particularly as they relate to the economic and social well being of their people.

- Government should effectively control corruption through good governance principles.

- Civil society (e.g. NGOs, CBOs) should seek to economically empower women, youths, especially unemployed graduates, through sensation and capacity programmes supported by appropriate UN specialized agencies.

- International Creditor Institutions should be pressurized by the Church to apply the Jubilee principle to reduce or even eliminate the external debt problem of poor countries.

- Efforts should be made by the International community and the Church to eliminate certain negative aspects of global satellite broadcasting and the Internet (e.g. pornography, violence, and foul language).

- The Church should intensify its efforts at global evangelisation as we draw near the Second Coming of the Lord. Such effort should include more effective use of the Internet to propagate the true gospel of Christ, the sanctity of the family, and to sensitise those undermining the family to repent and join the blessed family of the Lord.

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