Bill of rights
In Nairobi, the impact of this corruption on the urban poor has been devastating
For the past several years, the Republic of Kenya has been stricken with one food crisis after another. This vulnerable country has experienced poverty specific injury on a variety of security concerns. The citizens have been subject to extreme violence and conflict, much of which has stemmed from government corruption and unethical elections.
In Nairobi, the impact of this corruption on the urban poor has been devastating. Poverty in Nairobi means extreme food shortages and a lack of basic resources. The burden of this has disproportionately been inflicted upon those who dwell in Nairobi’s sprawling and overpopulated slums. Nearly 4 million people live in the grueling poverty of these slums and struggle to survive in conditions so horrible, the extremity providing its own cover of anonymity from the outside world (Bahamondes, 2003).
There is a concern that this could be the next crisis Kenya faces. With a population projected to increase more than tenfold by 2050, and with more than 60 percent of the population expected to reside in urban areas by 2030, the implications of the situation only stand to worsen.
The government has declared yet another food crisis and does not have effective agencies or policies to contend with this extreme manifestation of poverty. The poverty in Nairobi’s slums would constitute a humanitarian crisis anywhere else. Normally, for a given geographic location to have a malnutrition rate of over 15 percent, there would be an emergency declared and a response expected from the global community. Poverty in Nairobi is so extreme that NGO’s and the government are not equipped to administer aid to the millions of starving children and families (Bahamondes, 2003). There is also no long-term plan to try and lessen human suffering or contain the damage from this food crisis.
Without effective governance, there is no one to implement a solution. Without an effective policy, a solution does not exist. Poverty in Nairobi and throughout Kenya is a government-created, and the government maintained through corruption and ineptitude.
From the soaring price of maize at more than 133 percent to an overall declining income of more than 20 percent to the increasing numbers of Kenyans relocating to urban centers, there has been enough indication of this crisis only worsening to implore international response. The burden on families has only increased with significant numbers of children being removed from school to help provide income as well as an alarming spike in the number of children being forced into sex work.
Unless the government can contend with this crisis and implement a policy that would implement long term goals to guarantee food security and stability, there can be no reprieve.
Poverty is one of the major factors that affect the country, especially the economic state of this country. Individuals in the society, most of them are driven by the urge to learn in order to eradicate poverty in their families, most of them which are the community members in the community. This study will enable the rise and realization of the benefits of technology and also enable the start of various activities that will enable poverty reduction.
Poverty is generally characterized by low incomes and the inability to satisfy basic needs. It also entails the exclusion of individuals and families from the productive process, from integration into the larger society and from access to opportunities. The roots of poverty can be found in the unequal distribution of resources and opportunities, socially determined access to the benefits of development, and the inability of governments to compensate for social imbalances. Often people are forced by poor living conditions to engage in various productive enterprises regardless of the risks involved, or the strenuous conditions for production so as to attain basic requirements and to survive. Attempts to reduce poverty should thus also involve the provision of basic services such as health and education. Education, skills, and technology improve not only the efficiency in production but also the lifestyles of the producers. Thus, at another level, poverty should also be considered in light of the environmental circumstances which impede the development of certain capabilities, such as knowledge, information, or inequality in access to resources.
Technology, on the other hand, refers to the aggregate of mental and physical capabilities designed to address a certain issue, e.g., a problem or production process. It involves the application of human potentials skills, knowledge, information, and physical or material aspects, equipment, tools, and artifacts. With respect to poverty reduction, this description can be used to explain the objectives of efficiency, whereby technology is referred to as ‘an aspect of the relationship between man, the natural environment and the satisfaction of material needs and wants’ (Nguluma, 1990). It assumes a process linking the natural resources and people’s capabilities to tap their material necessities from it. Technology can thus be adapted to inject or enhance human productive capacities. This situation can be conceptualized through the following aspects:
Employment: technological development allows more efficient use of human labor and absorbs the unemployed and taps other sources of labor, particularly the disadvantaged through the easing of complicated production processes, especially with respect to women in mineral extraction.
Economic: technology has the ability to improve or raise productivity and incomes. In the urban areas, this may be realized through an increase in net benefits accrued after enhancing the production processes, and savings may be possible to allow reinvestment in economic activities.
Time: It is assumed that if technology facilitates the easing of the production process, more time would be saved and directed towards other activities. Thus mining can also be developed into a self-sustaining occupation if some extra time is gained, particularly because most miners are also engaged in other economic activities, such as agriculture, business, or trade.
Health and Safety: Technology minimizes accidents and makes the production process safer and healthier. Also, it is expected that the use of equipment like air compressors, water drainage facilities, and others reduces physical discomfort and illness and thus leads to better health, lower medical costs, and increased production.
Environment: In agriculture, technology enhances the ability to reclaim the land after use for other activities and enables the prevention of pollution Nguluma (1990) terms this description mechanistic definition, which does not take into account the social relationships involved in such technological applications. This is because technology does not only entail ‘mechanistic aspects,’ it also embodies social aspects related to the organization of production and the nature of other social relations related to the processes of production, distribution, and consumption (Nguluma 1990). Generally, investment in technology by most production enterprises is often based more on economic principles than social objectives, whereby profit maximization with minimum costs is regarded as primary rather than addressing issues like promoting employment and higher income levels. As such, the profits accrued may not necessarily benefit all actors in the production process, and insensitivity to the inequalities make poverty alleviation attempts irrelevant. Technology may be sensitive to production but fall short of addressing issues of consumption patterns and the nature of the distribution. The organizational aspect of technology is thus instrumental in promoting poverty sensitive technology.
Technology does not operate in a vacuum. According to Chungu and Mandara (1994), the terminology ‘technology climate’ is normally what determines the nature of the technology to be applied, its effectiveness, and its social and economic implications within the sphere it operates. This implies that while the processes of poverty involve other broader processes, such as lack of appropriate technological infrastructure, inequitable macro-economic policies, depletion of environmental resources, etc., which deny people access to basic amenities in life, they are often mediated by institutional structures of law, policy, entitlement, and practices which shape an individual’s access to and control over resource
Community members Poverty in urban areas is seen as a sickness by other individuals in society such that they bring about certain negative impacts on them, such as on education, malnutrition in children, health, and also a behavior that becomes antisocial due to stigmatization.
Education
Many people living in poverty are unable to attend school from a very early age. Families may not be able to afford the necessary clothing or school supplies. Others may not have a way for their children to get to school. Whatever the reason, there is a clear correlation between families living in poverty and their lack of education. Without the ability to attend school, many people go through life illiterate.
The literacy rates in countries with high poverty levels indicate that these two are linked. Low literacy rates can affect society in various ways, including the labor force and politics. Obtaining a basic education could bring 171 million people out of poverty. A bad cycle is created; poverty prevents people from gaining a good education, and not obtaining an education prevents people from escaping poverty.
Health
This includes things from diseases to life expectancy to medicine. Diseases are very common in people living in poverty because they lack the resources to maintain a healthy living environment. They almost always lack in nutritious foods, which decreases their bodies’ ability to fight off diseases. Sanitation conditions are usually very low, increasing the chance of contracting a disease. Sometimes these diseases can be minor, but other times they can be life-threatening. In general, people living in poverty cannot afford appropriate medicines to treat these illnesses.
Life expectancy and child mortality are greatly affected by poverty. Statistics show that life expectancy in poor nations is up to 30 years below that of wealthy nations, like the United States. Child mortality is shockingly high in poor countries; 13.5 percent of children die before the age of 5 in poor countries. This number is the average for poor countries; however, some African nations have a child mortality rate of 20 percent.
Malnutrition
This is especially seen in children of poor families. People living in poverty rarely have access to highly nutritious foods. Even if they have access to these foods, it is unlikely that they are able to purchase them. The healthiest foods are usually the most expensive; therefore, a family on a very small budget is much more likely to purchase food that is less nutritious, simply because that is all they can afford.
Sometimes people in poverty are malnourished simply because they do not eat enough of anything. For some people around the world, quality food is a luxury. A total of 14.3 percent of people in developing countries face hunger, and about 25 percent of Sub-Saharan Africa are considered malnourished Bahamondes, (2003). Poor nutrition causes 45 percent of deaths in children under the age of 5. Malnutrition can also lead to many other health issues as well.
Antisocial behavior
One of the other effects of poverty on children’s development is to lead them to build an antisocial behavior that acts as psychological protection against their hostile environment. Discrimination and social exclusion often push them to more aggressiveness and less self-control and nuance in reaction to stressful events. Having often been taken advantage of in their early childhood, they rarely come to a constructive way to deal with conflicts.
As they grow up, these behaviors are more and more entrenched in their personalities and often considered unrecoverable. This highlights the importance of taking action as early as possible to improve children’s living conditions. Policymakers should understand that not just income but a child’s social environment at large (parenting, school violence, housing, but also sanitation, uncontaminated food and water) play a big role in creating new effects of poverty.
References
Bahamondes, M. (2003). Poverty environment patterns in growing economy . Chile.
MANDARA, A. C. (2004). The Use of Technology in Alleviating Poverty in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press.
Nguluma. (1990). The Role of Law and Administrative Mechanisms in the Development of Science and Technology: Policies and Strategies in Post-Independence Tanzania. IDRC Manuscript Report no. 242.