Contributing Writers: Azad Ali, Tangerine Clarke,
George Alleyne, Nelson King,
Vinette K. Pryce, Bert Wilkinson
GENERAL INFORMATION (718) 260-2500
Caribbean L 10 ife, Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 2019
By Jomo Kwame
Sundaram and Anis
Chowdhury
KUALA LUMPUR and
SYDNEY, Nov 26 2019
(IPS) — Historically, most
social security systems
have developed in the formal
sector of rich economies.
However, most of the
poor and hungry in the
world live in rural areas,
surviving in the informal
economy.
Meanwhile, the world
economy continues to
struggle to recover following
the 2008 financial
crisis. Prospects remained
bleak as many governments
pursued fiscal austerity in
the face of perceived financial
market pressures.
Most developing countries
continue to experience
high underemployment,
even if official unemployment
rates remain low.
With low commodity prices
and escalating trade tensions,
things are likely to
get worse in the medium
term.
Eliminating hunger
and poverty
Even if long-term growth
really lifts all boats, which
there is no evidence for,
it cannot eliminate hunger
and poverty by 2030, especially
as inequality mutes
the impact of growth on
poverty reduction. The
struggle to escape poverty
is slowed as growth is not
inclusive.
Many non-poor households
remain vulnerable to
poverty as they face various
shocks which cause them
to fall into poverty. Such
shocks typically have longlasting
negative impacts on
the poor. However, with the
requisite political commitment
and fiscal resources,
poverty and hunger can be
reduced quickly with welldesigned
social protection.
The United Nations
2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development Goals
(SDGs) commits countries
to “implement nationally
appropriate social protection
systems and measures
for all, including floors, and
by 2030 achieve substantial
coverage of the poor and
the vulnerable”.
The Food and Agriculture
Organization’s (FAO)
2015 State of Food and
Agriculture showed that
social protection can not
only quickly reduce hunger,
extreme poverty and
deprivation, but also economic
and social risk as
well as vulnerability. Having
social protection in
place also enables governments
to better respond to
crises.
Reducing
vulnerability
Social protection should
involve policies and programmes
designed to
reduce and prevent poverty
and vulnerability. World
Bank estimates suggest
that social protection prevented
150 million people
worldwide from falling into
poverty in 2010, albeit unevenly.
Social protection can
also enable investments by
beneficiaries to enhance
their own productive
capacities, earned incomes,
consumption, health, education,
and wellbeing. Contrary
to widespread popular
prejudices, it does not
reduce adult work effort
and incomes, enabling
children to work less, and
to attend school instead.
Lack of social protection
leaves people vulnerable
to poverty, inequality and
social exclusion, constituting
a major obstacle to
economic and social development.
Higher incomes
also boost demand in local
economies, with desirable
multiplier effects.
Social protection can
ensure more and better
food consumption, reducing
food insecurity and
seasonal hunger besides
increasing dietary diversity.
Improving food access
and diets reduces the economic
burden of undernutrition,
improving living
standards, productivity and
incomes.
It also helps poor households
better manage risk,
reducing reliance on, and
vulnerability to usury,
clientelism and other
exploitative arrangements.
Gender-sensitivity in the
design and delivery of
social protection not only
improves food security, but
also empowers women.
By Al Baldeo
In sport, as in life itself,
a worthy warrior can suffer
injustice, and defeat. Many
heroes have been cheated out
of glory and robbed of their
hard earned and deserving
kudos. Cheddi Jagan said it
best when he encapsulated his
own misfortune, “Cheated, but
not defeated.” In 2006, I was
declared the winner of a historic
State Senate seat in the
USA by many exit polls, but, lo
and behold, that groundbreaking
achievement was reversed
to “lost by a fraction of a percent.”
It was not lost on me when I
spoke to Guyanese boxing hero
and World Title aspirant, Elton
Dharry, that he was cheated
out of his World Title dream
by the unjustified and controversial
stoppage by the referee,
which enabled his opponent
Andrew Moloney to de
declared the winner on technical
grounds (TKO). This controversial
decision demands
review and reconsideration.
Elton told me that he was
still seeing, and that the ring
doctor did not perform any
tests prior to recommending
a stoppage, that the Australians
wanted to keep their sole
World Title in boxing in Australia,
and that he was in control
of the fight, and would
have beaten Moloney. He also
said that the other doctors
who examined him during and
immediately after the fight said
that the ring doctor was wrong
in ordering a stoppage. Those
who have competed in sports in
Australia, will tell you how difficult
it is to win Down Under.
The Australian newspapers
said that “Andrew Moloney
picked up an interim WBA belt
with a gritty, hard-fought win
over Elton Dharry…The gutsy
Dharry (24-6-1, 14 KO) had
Moloney (21-0, 14 KO) in serious
trouble in the fifth round,
landing a beautiful right uppercut
counter that stunned the
28-year-old Aussie contenderin
fact, Moloney’s right knee
hit the canvas, and it should
have been scored a knockdown,
but it happened so quickly that
it’s legitimately likely that referee
Ferlin Marsh just didn’t see
the knee touch down.” Maloney
OP-EDS
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Continued on Page 11
Continued on Page 11
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Social protection
necessary to quickly
end poverty, hunger
Elton Dharry deserves
another shot at title
Elton Dharry is a popular champion who would also indulge
in cricket matches when not training, like with the Braves
Cricket team, which includes Al Baldeo (Third from left).
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