What poverty is

“Poverty is not simply a lack of income, or other material attributes such as housing, food, access to fresh water or consumer goods. Such needs are, of course, fundamental symptoms of what it is like to be poor, but poverty has far wider dimensions; poverty is a lack of opportunity, a lack of power over one’s own life and prospects, a lack of human dignity. Addressing poverty cannot then simply limit itself to treating the symptoms, important though that is. Real progress will be made when the systemic and structural causes of poverty are challenged. Those in poverty must be supported to take power over the constraints they face; those in power must be held accountable.”

(from Christian Aid Report Poverty: We’re in this Together, page 2)

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