THE TRUTH ABOUT PHYSICAL POVERTYFacilitated by Victor Cortez

The UNDERSTANDING

that we have of poverty

determines our

RESPONSE to it.

FH’s Mission

“To walk

with churches, leaders and families

in overcoming all forms of human poverty

by living in healthy relationship

with God and His creation.”

“As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one

who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no

one who does good, not even one.”

(Romans 3:10-12)

“POVERTY IS SOMETHING THAT WE ALL SUFFER”

THE NATIONS AREN’T POOR … THEY PRODUCE POVERTY!

1. The fruits aren’t produced casually.

2. The fruits are a visible sign of what exists invisibly in the tree.

3. Their poverty doesn’t come from natural resources, capital, etc. But it comes from the worldview of the people.

4. In almost all of the cases, today’s poorest nations were never impacted significantly by the Gospel and its history.

Lie

Lie

Oppression

Ignorance Underdevelopment

Chaos

Poverty

Injustice

Lie

THE NATIONS AREN’T PROSPEROUS … THEY PRODUCE PROSPERITY!

1. The fruits aren’t produced casually.

2. The fruits are a visible sign of what exists invisibly in the tree.

3. Their wealth don’t come from natural resources, capital, etc. But it comes from the worldview of the people.

4. In almost all the cases, today’s prosperous nations were deeply impacted by the Gospel and its history, or have imitated others that were.

TruthTruth

Truth

Liberty

Science

JusticeOrder

Development

Prosperity

POVERTY AS A SYSTEM OF HELPLESSNESS

Adapted from Christian (1994) y Myers (2002)• False worldview

• Captives to the non-poor

• Lack of options

• Cheated by the principalities

• Damaged identity

• Weak mind and body

BIOPHYSICAL SYSTEM

CULTURAL SYSTEM

SOCIAL-ECONOMIC SYSTEM

PERSONAL SYSTEM

SPIRITUAL/RELIGIOUS SYSTEM

WHO ARE THE MATERIALLY POOR?

“The poor aren’t an ABSTRACTION, but a group of humans that have names, that

have been made in the image of God, whose hairs are counted

and for whom Jesus died”

(Myers 2002, P.60)

WORLD POVERTY MAP

CHRONIC UNDERWEIGHT IN CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS MAP

32% of children < 5 years (178 million) are stunted in all developing countries .

SOURCE: FAO - 2004

CHRONIC UNDERWEIGHT IN CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS

REGION %

Sub-Saharan Africa 41.15

Latin America & the Caribbean 24.67

South/Southeast Asia 49.85

Eastern Mediterranean 23.28

GLOBAL 30

Source: Socioeconomic inequality in malnutrition in developing countries (WHO 2008)

Malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean

• 52 million people in this region are undernourished

• 11 countries have shown little progress and even setbacks in their number of malnourished individuals in 2007

• 9 million children < 5 years of age are stunted

• 22.3 million preschool children, 33 million women of childbearing age and 3.6 million pregnant women have anemia

WHY IS CHRONIC MALNUTRITION (STUNTING) IMPORTANT?

• It is the best indicator of quality of life. It is a sign of a structural problem and reflects objectively the imbalance of social determinants.

• Its multi-causality calls for a multi-factorial and multi-sectorial approach

• It is strongly associated with the individual and social development of the country

• It is useful to assess inequalities among regions and communities

WHY IS CHRONIC MALNUTRITION (STUNTING) IMPORTANT?

• To reduce poverty, there must be policies, strategies and programs specifically tackling chronic malnutrition.

• The prevalence of chronic malnutrition is a relevant and valid measure of endemic poverty and is a better indicator than estimates of per capita income.

• Persistent high prevalence of stunting among children indicates chronic failure in poverty alleviation.

Investing in Malnutrition: a Prerequisite for Reducing Poverty

Source: Alderman, Harold (2004). Linkages Between Poverty Reduction Strategies and Child Nutrition.

Chronic Malnutrition has a High Economic Cost

• When children die or are chronically ill, there are increased health care costs and future productivity losses

• Impaired brain development impacts school performance, causing added costs in the education sector

• Malnutrition causes low(er) productivity in adult life• Due to the above issues, Latin America’s Gross

Domestic Product is negatively impacted by an estimated $6.7 billion annually!

GUATEMALA• 118th position of 177 countries in the Human Development

Index

• 40% profess evangelical faith

• 25,000 churches. In FH work areas there are 3 to 6 churches

in every community

• 3rd place in social violence in Latin America

• 1.1 million women and men have immigrated out

• 92% urban and 54% rural areas have running water

• 72% urban and 52% rural areas have basic sanitation

• Average of 5.6 years of schooling in urban settings, 2.2 years

in indigenous children

Poverty Index

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

56.0%

6.3%

85.5% 83.9%

76.8%81.8%

16.0%

0.4%

29.5% 29.1% 29.3%

38.2%

% of general poverty ** % of extreme poverty **

Source: UNDP (2005)

Chronic Malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean

Chile

Rep. Dominicana

Jamaica

Trinidad y Tobago

Argentina

Costa Rica

Barbados

Uruguay

Guyana

Brasil

Colombia

Venezuela

México

Paraguay

Belice

Panamá

El Salvador

Nicaragua

Haiti

Ecuador

Perú

Honduras

Bolivia

Guatemala

0 10 20 30 40 50 60

1.3

1.6

2.8

3.6

4.2

6.0

7.0

10.6

10.8

11.0

12.0

12.5

12.7

13.7

17.9

18.2

18.9

20.2

23.0

23.2

24.1

24.7

26.5

49.3

Source: IADB (2008)

Chronic Malnutrition in Rural Areas

National A

verage

Guate

mala

City

Nebaj

San Juan C

otzal

San Cris

tobal V

erapaz

San Juan C

hamelc

o 0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

49%

24 %

82.00% 82%

64% 60%

Stunting in Municipalities

Segundo Censo Nacional de Talla 2002 - Ministerio de Educación, FAO, PMA, UNICEF, USAID, Universidad de San Carlos

FH/Guatemala Baseline Result (July 2008) 71.5% malnutrition

Consequences of Chronic Malnutrition

The critical window for a child's optimal physical/ mental growth and development is under age 2.

If the opportunity is missed, the child will be adversely affected for the rest of his/her life.

Consequences of Chronic Malnutrition II

Children who suffer from chronic malnutrition fail to grow to their full genetic

potential, both mentally and physically (Matte, 2001).

Chronic Malnutrition Framework

The UNDERSTANDING

that we have of poverty

determines our

RESPONSE to it.

The two tragedies of the world´s poor

The first tragedy: Jeffrey Sachs notes that 30,000 children die every day from extreme poverty. For example, 1,8 million children die annually from diarrhea that could be prevented with 10-cent doses of oral rehydration therapy

But there is a second tragedy: the West has spent $2.3 trillion on foreign aid over five decades, and babies with diarrhea are still not getting 10-cent doses of oral rehydration therapy

William Easterly, The White Man´s Burden

THANK YOU!

! ALL THE GLORY TO GOD!