4 steps to ending extreme poverty
-
0:01 - 0:04We are witness to monumental
human progress. -
0:04 - 0:08Over the past few decades,
the expansion of the global marketplace -
0:08 - 0:13has lifted a third of the world's
population out of extreme poverty. -
0:13 - 0:16Yet we are also witness
to an astounding failure. -
0:16 - 0:18Our efforts to lift people up
-
0:18 - 0:21have left behind those
in the harshest forms of poverty, -
0:21 - 0:23the ultra-poor.
-
0:23 - 0:27What it means to be ultra-poor
goes beyond the monetary definition -
0:27 - 0:29that we're all familiar with:
-
0:29 - 0:31living on less than two dollars a day.
-
0:32 - 0:35It goes even beyond not having assets
-
0:35 - 0:37like livestock or land.
-
0:37 - 0:41To be ultra-poor means
to be stripped of your dignity, -
0:41 - 0:43purpose and self-worth.
-
0:43 - 0:45It means living in isolation,
-
0:45 - 0:47because you're a burden
to your own community. -
0:48 - 0:51It means being unable
to imagine a better future -
0:51 - 0:53for yourself and your family.
-
0:54 - 0:56By the end of 2019,
-
0:56 - 1:01about 400 million people
were living in ultra-poverty worldwide. -
1:01 - 1:05That's more than the populations
of the United States and Canada combined. -
1:06 - 1:08And when calamity strikes,
-
1:08 - 1:12whether it's a pandemic,
a natural disaster or a manmade crisis, -
1:12 - 1:15these numbers spike astronomically higher.
-
1:16 - 1:20My father, Fazle Abed,
gave up a corporate career -
1:20 - 1:24to establish BRAC
here in Bangladesh in 1972. -
1:24 - 1:26Bangladesh was a wreck,
-
1:26 - 1:29having just gone through
a devastating cyclone -
1:29 - 1:31followed by a brutal war for independence.
-
1:32 - 1:35Working with the poorest of the poor,
my father realized -
1:35 - 1:40that poverty was more
than the lack of income and assets. -
1:40 - 1:42It was also a lack of hope.
-
1:43 - 1:45People were trapped in poverty,
-
1:45 - 1:49because they felt
their condition was immutable. -
1:49 - 1:52Poverty, to them,
was like the sun and the moon -- -
1:52 - 1:54something given to them by God.
-
1:55 - 1:58For poverty reduction programs to succeed,
-
1:58 - 2:01they would need to instill
hope and self-worth -
2:01 - 2:03so that, with a little support,
-
2:03 - 2:05people could lift themselves
out of poverty. -
2:06 - 2:09BRAC went on to pioneer
the graduation approach, -
2:09 - 2:13a solution to ultra-poverty
that addresses both income poverty -
2:13 - 2:15and the poverty of hope.
-
2:15 - 2:18The approach works primarily with women,
-
2:18 - 2:21because women are
the most affected by ultra-poverty -
2:21 - 2:25but also the ones most likely
to pull themselves and their families -
2:25 - 2:26out of it.
-
2:26 - 2:27Over a two-year period,
-
2:27 - 2:29we essentially do four things.
-
2:30 - 2:33One, we meet a woman's basic needs
-
2:33 - 2:36by giving her food or cash,
-
2:36 - 2:38ensuring the minimum to survive.
-
2:38 - 2:41Two, we move her
towards a decent livelihood -
2:41 - 2:44by giving her an asset, like livestock,
-
2:44 - 2:47and training her to earn money from it.
-
2:47 - 2:50Three, we train her to save, budget
-
2:50 - 2:52and invest her new wealth.
-
2:52 - 2:56And four, we help
to integrate her socially, -
2:56 - 2:58first into groups of women like her
-
2:58 - 3:00and then into her community.
-
3:01 - 3:04Each of these elements
is key to the success of the others, -
3:04 - 3:08but the real magic is the hope
and sense of possibility -
3:08 - 3:12the women develop through
the close mentorship they receive. -
3:12 - 3:14Let me tell you about Jorina.
-
3:14 - 3:19Jorina was born in a remote village
in northern Bangladesh. -
3:19 - 3:20She never went to school,
-
3:20 - 3:25and at the age of 15,
she was married off to an abusive husband. -
3:25 - 3:27He eventually abandoned her,
-
3:27 - 3:29leaving her with no income
-
3:29 - 3:33and two children who were not in school
and were severely malnourished. -
3:33 - 3:35With no one to turn to for help,
-
3:35 - 3:37she had no hope.
-
3:37 - 3:42Jorina joined BRAC's
Graduation program in 2005. -
3:42 - 3:44She received a dollar a week,
-
3:44 - 3:45two cows,
-
3:45 - 3:47enterprise training
-
3:47 - 3:49and a weekly visit from a mentor.
-
3:49 - 3:51She began to build her assets,
-
3:51 - 3:53but most importantly,
-
3:53 - 3:57she began to imagine a better future
for herself and her children. -
3:58 - 4:00If you were visit Jorina's village today,
-
4:00 - 4:04you would find that she runs
the largest general store in her area. -
4:04 - 4:07She will proudly show you
the land she bought -
4:07 - 4:09and the house she built.
-
4:09 - 4:12Since we began this program in 2002,
-
4:12 - 4:14two million Bangladeshi women
-
4:14 - 4:18have lifted themselves and their families
out of ultra-poverty. -
4:18 - 4:21That's almost nine million people.
-
4:21 - 4:25The program, which costs
500 dollars per household, -
4:25 - 4:26runs for only two years,
-
4:26 - 4:29but the impact goes well beyond that.
-
4:29 - 4:32Researchers at the London
School of Economics found -
4:32 - 4:35that even seven years
after entering the program, -
4:35 - 4:3992 percent of participants
had maintained or increased -
4:39 - 4:42their income, assets and consumption.
-
4:43 - 4:45Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee,
-
4:45 - 4:48the MIT economists who won
the Nobel Prize last year, -
4:48 - 4:51led multicountry evaluations
-
4:51 - 4:55that identified graduation
as one of the most effective ways -
4:55 - 4:56to break the poverty trap.
-
4:57 - 4:59But my father wasn't content
-
4:59 - 5:02to have found a solution
that worked for some people. -
5:02 - 5:06He always wanted to know
whether we were being ambitious enough -
5:06 - 5:07in terms of scale.
-
5:07 - 5:11So when we achieved
nationwide scale in Bangladesh, -
5:11 - 5:14he wanted to know
how we could scale it globally. -
5:14 - 5:17And that has to involve governments.
-
5:17 - 5:20Governments already dedicate
billions of dollars -
5:20 - 5:22on poverty reduction programs.
-
5:22 - 5:25But so much of that money is wasted,
-
5:25 - 5:28because these programs
either don't reach the poorest, -
5:28 - 5:32and even the ones that do
fail to have significant long-term impact. -
5:33 - 5:36We are working to engage governments
-
5:36 - 5:40to help them to adopt and scale
graduation programs themselves, -
5:40 - 5:44maximizing the impact
of the billions of dollars -
5:44 - 5:47they already allocate
to fight ultra-poverty. -
5:48 - 5:52Our plan is to help
another 21 million people -
5:52 - 5:54lift themselves out of ultra-poverty
-
5:54 - 5:58in eight countries over the next six years
-
5:58 - 6:02with BRAC teams on-site
and embedded in each country. -
6:02 - 6:08In July of 2019, my father was diagnosed
with terminal brain cancer -
6:08 - 6:10and given four months to live.
-
6:10 - 6:16As he transitioned out of BRAC after
leading the organization for 47 years, -
6:16 - 6:19he reminded us that throughout his life,
-
6:19 - 6:22he saw optimism triumph over despair,
-
6:22 - 6:25that when you light the spark
of self-belief in people, -
6:25 - 6:29even the poorest
can transform their lives. -
6:29 - 6:32My father passed away in December.
-
6:33 - 6:37He lit that spark for millions of people,
-
6:37 - 6:39and in the final days of his life,
-
6:39 - 6:43he implored us to continue to do so
for millions more. -
6:44 - 6:47This opportunity is ours for the taking,
-
6:47 - 6:50so let's stop imagining
a world without ultra-poverty -
6:50 - 6:53and start building that world together.
-
6:54 - 6:55Thank you.
- Title:
- 4 steps to ending extreme poverty
- Speaker:
- Shameran Abed
- Description:
-
Shameran Abed speaks at TED2020
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 07:09
Oliver Friedman edited English subtitles for 4 steps to ending extreme poverty | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for 4 steps to ending extreme poverty | ||
Erin Gregory approved English subtitles for 4 steps to ending extreme poverty | ||
Erin Gregory edited English subtitles for 4 steps to ending extreme poverty | ||
Camille Martínez accepted English subtitles for 4 steps to ending extreme poverty | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for 4 steps to ending extreme poverty | ||
Camille Martínez edited English subtitles for 4 steps to ending extreme poverty | ||
Joseph Geni edited English subtitles for 4 steps to ending extreme poverty |