Poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Poverty has always been an issue in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Over 60% of the population lives at the poverty line, 54 out of 78 million live on $1.90 a day or less. In the readings for this week, Steven Radelet informed us that the World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on $1.90 a day or less. The main result of this extreme poverty in the region comes in the form of hunger. According to the World Food Programme, a division of the UN, estimated in 2017 that 250,000 children could've starved in the region of Kasai because of the poor economic conditions. Along with the 250,000 children that were projected to die from starvation, 7.7 million people face acute hunger (Concern). Along with hunger, almost 4 million people have had to flee their homes and there's also another 600,000 refugees.
But how did the conditions get so bad? "Most the problem comes from centuries of exploitation and violent plundering by colonizers, leaders, private interests, neighboring countries and internal warring factions" (Concern). The DRC has many valuable natural resources, gold, copper, diamonds, oil, and timber. Some of the most valuable resources to people. So they do have a high potential wealth but "Even if there was no conflict, the most basic obstacles to development abound. Comparable in size to all of Western Europe, DRC's vast geography is characterized by low population density and expansive forests. According to the UN, there are only about 1,400 miles of paved road in the DRC, and just over 9,000 miles of unpaved road, which are frequently impassable during the rainy season" (Concern). Another thing that is not the best for increasing poverty is that from this weeks' readings, Homi Kharas, Kristofer Hamel, and Martin Hofer wrote in their article that Africa was seeing a trend of stagnation across its markets which is not good for the efforts to try and get the DRC above the poverty line.
The problem of poverty is not a new idea in the DRC. However, the issue only started to get attention back in 2017 after the World Food Programme issued a warning of an impending humanitarian disaster. Over the past few years the only thing done to increase the conditions has come from small non profit humanitarian aid groups. These groups come in and try to help the people increase their standard of living by giving them access to clean water, giving shelter to those that have been displaced due to the fighting, food rations, and cash. The World Food Programme has been ramping up emergency service and is planning to reach 500,000 of the most vulnerable (WFP). What the DRC really needs to solve its poverty issue is for the internal fighting to stop. Next the DRC needs to acquire funding to build up the infrastructural system. Once there is an ettiequte road system since the DRC has lots of precious metals and valuable resources they need to get these industries up and running to where they can compete on a global scale because they have the resources and plenty of them they aren't able to extract, transport, and sell them effectively and they won't be able to effectively open up these industries until the fighting stops and the roads are built.
Work Cited
Democratic Republic of Congo: Exposing the world's forgotten crisis. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2020, from https://www.concernusa.org/story/drc-worlds-forgotten-crisis/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw2or8BRCNARIsAC_ppyYZxe9eBWjGl5-G6PepHJrSbqKo_78TGrLcjMKvUoKKdcpN57kKGnoaAqVWEALw_wcB
Democratic Republic of Congo: Exposing the world's forgotten crisis. (n.d.). Retrieved October 11, 2020, from https://www.concernusa.org/story/drc-worlds-forgotten-crisis/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw2or8BRCNARIsAC_ppyYZxe9eBWjGl5-G6PepHJrSbqKo_78TGrLcjMKvUoKKdcpN57kKGnoaAqVWEALw_wcB
Radelet, Steven. “Prosperity Rising.” Foreign Affairs, 21 Aug. 2019, www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/2015-12-14/prosperity-rising.
Visiting WFP Chief warns of impending humanitarian disaster in Democratic Republic Of Congo's Kasai. (2017, October 30). Retrieved October 11, 2020, from https://www.wfp.org/news/visiting-wfp-chief-warns-impending-humanitarian-disaster-democratic-republic-congo
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