Our Common Humanity in the Information Age. Principles and Values for Development

SHARED RESPONSIBILITY IN ERADICATING 
POVERTY
Seth Werfel, Executive Director, Rajiv Ramakrishnan, Director of Public 
Relations, Positive Foundations, Brandeis University
The United Nations Millennium Declaration established the eight principle anti-poverty 
benchmarks that the world must achieve by the year 2015, known as the Millennium 
Development Goals. It is now 2007 and half the time permitted to reduce extreme 
poverty has elapsed. While increased efforts to raise awareness and foster international 
giving have improved, especially in recent years, 1.2 billion people still suffer from 
extreme poverty. The epicenter of this crisis is Sub-Saharan Africa, where armed conflict, 
rampant disease and lack of political stability all compound the problem of poverty. To 
those of us who live in the developed world, living on less than a dollar a day may seem 
like the next attempt at a reality-T.V. show. But for those 1.2 billion people in the most 
destitute places on earth, it is the only reality they have ever faced. 
Indeed, poverty is a global emergency, and one that must be dealt with ferociously if we 
are to prevent the further deaths of hundreds of millions, and that responsibility, once left 
for the likes of the Peace Corps and the United Nations Development Programme, is 
today the duty of every person on Earth. The task is ours not only for the moral and 
ethical purposes, but very pragmatic reasons as well. Each of us, from the poorest family 
in the heart of Africa, to the wealthiest entrepreneur in the Global North, to everyone else 
somewhere in between, will benefit from a world rid of poverty. 

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140 | Our Common Humanity in the Information Age 
The Global North 
The developed nations of the world have truly been blessed by tremendous prosperity 
and, as such, they have the resources required to eradicate poverty and achieving the 
Millennium Development Goals. In recent years, we have witnessed a large increase in 
donations to poverty eradication efforts from developed nations. The largest act of 
philanthropy came this past year when Warren Buffet, an American investor gave $37 
billion to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which sponsors anti-poverty projects 
around the world. This generosity must continue, even if this means fostering a sense of 
philanthropic competition amongst the world’s wealthiest. Yet, it is surprising it is not a 
slow pace of charity that is hindering development, for indeed there is enough wealth to 
eradicate poverty. The real responsibility of the Global North is not only amassing 
monetary might but fostering political will. The reason that the necessary capital isn’t 
flowing to the impoveris hed nations in the world is due to the inertia of political 
measures and policies that are hindering development. It is time to move anti-poverty 
efforts off the back burner and on the fore front of national agendas. In effect developed 
nations must put poverty eradication on par with national security, and for practical 
reasons, as the two are intertwined. No one can deny that poverty breeds terrorism. Lack 
of economic and social opportunity is often the driving force for a young person to join a 
terrorist organization. Sustained depravation and destitution make the mind ripe for 
manipulation and produce the perfect psychological target for terrorist recruiters. The 
prospect of food and shelter may draw people to a terrorist camp only to find that with 
basic sustenance come indoctrination and a call to arms against innocents. Thus, it is in 
the direct interest of developed nations to do everything they can, both monetarily and 
politically to eradicate poverty and give those with literally nothing, hope and help. Too 
many lives depend on it.