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UN Global Goal 1: End Poverty

Solutions Journalism Network

The Goals for Sustainable Development provide an agenda for governments, agencies, and individuals to work toward universal prosperity.  With more than 780 million people living below the international poverty line (1.90 US dollars per day), poverty underlies many of the goals.  Poverty serves as a root cause of hunger, poor health, inadequate education, and many other manifestations of inequality worldwide. The first of the 17 UN Goals for Sustainable Development, therefore, aims to end poverty in all its forms everywhere by 2030.

Although the UN notes an improvement in the reduction of extreme poverty worldwide since 2000, this has not stopped a dramatic increase in global wealth disparity that continues to rise.  By 2030, the mission to end poverty aims to reduce extreme poverty (defined as living on less than 1.25 US dollars per day) by half, discerning the models and approaches that work for each nation.

The stories in this collection highlight approaches and success factors that address systemic causes of poverty.  In order to achieve economic gains and combat poverty, approaches must be inclusive, enrolling various stakeholders and communities in decision-making processes. 

Economic gains achieved must also foster community resilience, especially amid climate and other environmental challenges. The women who farmer an arid region of southern India switched from planting maize and wheat to millet, a more resilient crop that has reversed the fortunes of their village.  Elsewhere, in Pakistan, a soil renewal program sponsored jointly by the UN and local government has allowed farmers to dramatically enhance crop yields and boost income.  In another story, we learn about how GiveDirectly piloted a research program to gather data on the benefits of universal basic income in 6,000 Kenyan households.  In the context of the pandemic, we learn about California's "homeless-to-motel" plan, under which society's poorest and most vulnerable are moved off the streets and out of jails to proper housing.

Click here for more stories in the Solutions Story Tracker on ending poverty.
 

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