Tackling rural poverty, together

Extract

This GDPRD advocacy pamphlet explains why poverty is mainly rural and why investing in rural areas pays off. The pamphlet is based on the GDPRD paper: 'The role of agriculture and rural development in achieving the MDGs: a joint donor narrative' (available as well under 'Platform Products')

Extreme poverty is a world-wide scourge. Three-quarters of the poor live in the rural areas of the developing world. Poverty is not simply a measure of income. It is also a lack of access to education, to even the most basic of health care services, and to the economic opportunity that people need. Poverty means inequality between income groups, between rural and urban people, between men and women. This is unacceptable to the world community.

To achieve the first MDG means above all investing in rural areas to spearhead dynamic poverty reduction:

• poverty is mainly rural
• rural areas are driven by agriculture
• investing in rural areas pays off
• many more resources are needed
• the rural poor need a fair chance to help themselves ...
• ... and a say in what is done.