Australia currently ranks as the second most developed country in the world according to the United Nations Human Development Index. Cambodia, from where I write this, ranks 139th. With its high levels of poverty, underdeveloped infrastructure, and corrupt government, Cambodia is often described as a “developing” country. Australia by contrast is described as “developed”...
When I think of Ethiopia I think of the terrible famines and emaciated human beings of the 1980s. The Ethiopia of 2012 is still desperately poor but making great strides in improving the well-being of its people. Since the turn of the millennium per capita economic growth has averaged just on 6%, double that of Australia. In the last five years the average has been 7.2%, the highest in sub...
By any measure Bangladesh is one of the poorest nations on earth. Sixty four million Bangladeshi’s live on less than $1.25 a day; forty three percent of children are under-nourished; five percent of children die before their fifth birthday; almost half the population lack access to decent sanitation. The human stories behind these statistics are heart-breaking. But there is good news...
I recently discovered one of the best kept secrets of the 21st century: There is no longer a “third world”. We are accustomed to dividing the world into rich and poor, with the poor nations, the “third world”, ruled by corrupt dictators, going nowhere and trapped in poverty. This may have been the case in 1960 but today nothing could be further from the truth. Yes, a group...
Can we contemplate a world where extreme poverty is ended? I believe we can and that it is quite possible for such a world to emerge in my grandchildren's lifetimes. The key is to look beyond poverty as it exists now to see the larger trends over time. And it is these trends that are encouraging
In recent years there has been a growing interest among Christians in serving the poor. Unfortunately our enthusiasm is not always matched by wisdom. Wipf and Stock have published a paper I wrote on what the development sector has to teach us about being enthusiastic and effective. It’s part of a collection of papers on Baptist futures. [button link=”; type=”icon”...