Massive investment in infrastructure needed to end poverty

On September 25, 2015, the United Nations adopted a set of 17 goals to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Over the next fifteen (2015-2030) years, with these new goals that universally apply to all, countries will mobilise efforts to end all forms of poverty, fight inequality and tackle climate change. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and aim to go further to end all forms of poverty.
 The new goals are unique in that they call for action by all countries -- poor, rich and middle-income -- to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. They recognise that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs including education, health, social protection and job opportunities, while simultaneously tackling climate change and environmental protection. Though the SDGs are not legally binding, governments are expected to take ownership and establish national frameworks for the achievement of the goals.  Countries have the primary responsibility to follow-up and review the progress made in implementing the goals.  
Ending Poverty has been marked as number one goal of  the 17 SDGs.  Extreme poverty rates have been cut by more than half since 1990. While this is a remarkable achievement, one in five people in developing regions still live on less than $1.25 a day, and there are millions who make little more than this, while many risk slipping back into poverty. Poverty is more than the lack of income and resources to ensure a sustainable livelihood. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion as well as the lack of participation in decision-making. Economic growth must be inclusive to provide sustainable jobs and promote equality.
GLOBAL POVERTY SCENARIO: BASIC FACTS
* 836 million people still live in extreme poverty
* About one in five persons in developing regions lives on less than $1.25 per day
* The overwhelming majority of people living on less than $1.25 a day belong to two regions: Southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa
* High poverty rates are often found in small, fragile and conflict-affected countries
* One in four children under age five in the world has inadequate height for his or her age
* Every day in 2014, 42,000 people had to abandon their homes to seek protection due to conflict
SDG TARGETS TO END POVERTY BY 2030
* Eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
* Reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
* Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all,  and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable
* Ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
* Build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters
* Ensure significant mobilisation of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions
* Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions
POVERTY POSITION IN BANGLADESH: Poverty itself is both a cause and consequence of marginalisation and social exclusion. The problem of poverty in Bangladesh is rooted in the way the society is organised. To be more specific, the society is organised in classes so that an elite class dominates the others and exploits them. Most of what is produced goes directly into the hands of this elite class and the harvest from agriculture itself is far from fabulous: the whole infrastructure and techniques are far too underdeveloped. Poverty in Bangladesh is such a problem that any minor change in food prices or weather can threaten the lives of millions of people. Quite a lot of programmes have been tried since independence in 1971, but the rate of success is not enough. Obviously, each time an anti-poverty programme fails, it gives fuels the richer class to argue that there's no point trying to help the poor. Each poverty eradication programme was fated to gain little success because it could not exert sufficient positive impact on social inequality in the country.
However, there was a change in the 1990s in the way international organisations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank came up to help developing countries. This change was (and still is) led by the neo-liberal idea that the state isn't efficient enough in delivering services or humanitarian aid -- which is true to some extent. Therefore, the idea was to rely on the market (private companies) as well as non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to help develop the economy. Considering the massive corruption and lack of interest from the political class in tackling poverty in Bangladesh, it did sound a good idea. But as the NGOs became the main channel for delivering aid and did reach more people than the state ever could, it also became obvious that their impact was limited. The problem with NGOs is that they are not able to reach out to large target groups in as efficient a manner as desired. Besides, there is a lack of cooperation between the state and NGOs to help the local population, in particular the rural people.
What over 100 years of development has shown is that most countries which are today considered developed have managed to do so by massively investing in infrastructure and in creating a sustainable economy. NGOs work great when delivering emergency relief and aid, and when working in coordination with local governments. But they can't lay the tracks for an entire country to develop its economy and sound institutions that protect and serve its citizens.
FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO POVERTY IN BANGLADESH: A study over 15 years has shown that there is a variety of factors that influence poverty in Bangladesh. Education, access to land, job opportunity, as well as the size of the family are all critical factors. Where families are small and women are allowed to work or where children go to school, the level of poverty is much less. In fact, education matter just as much as land ownership in reducing inequalities and improving income both in urban and rural Bangladesh. Poverty is also a geographical phenomenon. Some areas are poor because they have fewer schools, lesser number of roads to connect villages and towns and poor infrastructure in general. So, any sound anti-poverty programme can't neglect the importance of addressing geographic poverty and should address all related issues including improving local infrastructure.
Dr Muhammad Abdul Mazid is a former Secretary and former Chairman, NBR.
mazid.muhammad@gmail.com