Eradicating poverty in all its forms remains one of the greatest challenges facing the world today
The number of people living in extreme poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa has grown from 278 million in 1990 to 413 million in 2015.
How Action on Poverty is contributing
This is why Action on Poverty focuses all of our work on the needs of people who are the hardest to reach. We take a holistic approach: supporting people to earn sustainable incomes through access to skills development and lasting work opportunities, while building their confidence and capacity to tackle the root causes of poverty, so that everyone is able to fulfil their potential now and in the future.
We have particular expertise in reaching out to vulnerable women, people with disabilities and youth – you can find out more about this here.
Why we do what we do
Change can happen
Since Action on Poverty was established, significant progress has been made to help people break free from poverty:
- In Uganda, income poverty levels decreased by two thirds between 1990 and 2015 (UNDP, 2015).
- In Sierra Leone, the literacy rate for young women aged 15-24 has increased from 37% in 2005 to 63% in 2018 (UNESCO, 2018)
- Malnutrition among children in Kenya has fallen considerably in recent years – between 2009 and 2014, the proportion of children who are stunted (low height for age) fell from 35% to 26%.
We are proud of contributions to this progress over the years, from supporting young women in Sierra Leone to develop skills for employment, to improving child nutrition through sustainable camel milk enterprises in Kenya.
The challenge now is to ensure that development and economic growth is inclusive and sustainable, so that it benefits the most vulnerable sectors of the population.
Sustainable Development Agenda 2030
Our work cuts across all of the Sustainable Development Goals, but in particular we are focusing on ending extreme poverty (Goal 1) through:
- Creating opportunities for all people to earn a fair income, with safe working conditions and good prospects for the future (Goal 8)
- Empowering all women and girls and addressing the barriers that limit their participation in income generation and other opportunities (Goal 5)
- Focusing on the needs and issues affecting the most vulnerable people, raising their voice and tackling wider stigma (Goal 10)
