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To a significant degree the problems of poverty that World Vision seeks to address have their roots in economic issues. World Vision has identified the following five inter-related issues that it sees as critical:
Aid
Most developed countries have been steadily cutting their aid contributions over the last 20 years. The effectiveness of aid is also undermined by the fact that it is often allocated according to political priorities. Aid flows often do not even offset the debt repayments poor countries are making back to richer states.
World Vision campaigns in many rich countries for increased levels of aid and our global campaigns explicitly call for increased financial commitments from rich states.
Debt
Many developing nations remain mired in debt
much of which was accumulated in the past by corrupt dictatorships and encouraged by banks offering low interest rates. Debt relief for the poorest countries must be accelerated and deepened. World Vision is a supporter of Jubilee 2000.
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) PRSPs were launched in 1999 following the Jubilee 2000 campaign. The intent was to provide comprehensive country-owned plans for poverty reduction that will utilise aid new loans and proceeds from debt.
The results to date however has been disappointing.
PRSPs are a major area of Partnership advocacy with several publications already available. World Vision has also participated in major international conferences and at consultations organised by the World Bank and IMF. World Vision also encourages grassroots representatives to actively participate in their national PRSP consultation processes
in order to advocate on their own behalf.
IMF conditionality
The IMF instructs developing nations on how to run their economies these instructions are called conditionality and states must implement the IMF’s advice to receive the loans they desperately need.
World Vision recommends that the IMF and World Bank move to target-based conditionality in which national performance is judged solely by poverty reduction and economic growth over the medium term.
Trade
World Vision remains concerned by the lack of fairness in the international trading system. Problems include: massive market-distorting EU and US agricultural subsidies high rich-country tariffs on developing country textiles clothing and footwear escalating tariffs which lock developing countries into low value-added exports innumerable non-tariff barriers and patents such as those on HIV/AIDS drugs under the TRIPS (Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights) Agreement which make them unaffordable for most poor countries.
World Vision believes that trade is not an end in itself it must be pursued for the common good. World Vision recommends that levels of technical assistance to developing countries must be greatly enhanced. Developed countries should grant duty-free and quota-free access to their markets for all goods and services from the Least Developed Countries. Furthermore agricultural price support and export subsidies in developed countries should be eliminated and their markets opened to agricultural and manufactured goods from developing countries. |
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