Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

I haven't heard anything back from my international partners so I decided to complete the alternative assignment which was to gain 3 insights or ideas on childhood poverty. I went to the website http://www.childhoodpoverty.org to gain information on childhood poverty. I learned some very interesting facts that I had no clue about.

The first insight I learned which was appalling to me

1) Over 600 million children world-wide live in absolute poverty - an estimated 1 in 4. In many countries, rates are much higher with over 60 percent of children living in households with incomes below international poverty lines. Over 10 million children under five still die every year from preventable diseases - the vast majority of them in developing countries. As one of the most powerless groups in society, children often bear the physical and emotional costs of  poverty in the US.

The second insight I learned:

2) Today's poor children are all too often tomorrow's poor parents. Poverty can be passed on from generation to generation affecting the long-term health, wellbeing and productivity of families and of society as a whole. Tackling childhood poverty is therefore critical for eradicating poverty and injustice world-wide. Poverty denies opportunities to people of all ages. Lost opportunities in childhood cannot always be regained later - childhood is a one-off window of opportunity and development. Poverty experienced by children, even over short periods, can affect the rest of their lives. Malnutrition in early childhood, for example, can lead to life-long learning difficulties and poor health.

The third insight I learned was about the purpose of the organization:
The Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre is  a collaborative research and  policy programme which involves Save the Children, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC) and partners in China, India, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia. Running from 2001 to 2005, it aims to contribute to global poverty reduction efforts by:
• Deepening understanding of the main causes of childhood poverty and poverty cycles, and increasing knowledge of effective strategies to tackle them in different contexts
• Examining economic and social factors at different levels - international, national and local - which contribute to poverty in childhood
• Informing effective policy to end childhood poverty,  communicating research findings  to policy makers, practitioners and advocates
• Raising the profile of childhood poverty issues and increasing commitment to tackling them through anti-poverty policy and action.


I thought it was such a shame that this website only ran from 2001 to 2005. This research and policy program should be a continuous effort to battle poverty in the US and across the globe.