Fundamental Change is Needed To End Poverty!!

According to an article on the World Bank’s website, the World Bank Group is attempting to pull south Asia out of poverty by providing additional loans, credits, grants, equity investments, and guarantees. The total will reach nearly $6.9 billion in the 2007 fiscal year. This is an increase of $2.3 billion from last year. Eight countries in the region are using the World Bank’s support in 78 projects designed lower poverty and enhance growth by providing education, building infrastructure, health services, and improving government intuitions.
A number of different groups contributed to this increase. These groups included the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the International Development Association (IDA), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Investment Agency (MIGIA).
Globally the World Bank has committed $34.3 billion in the fiscal year of 2007. This is 7.8 percent more than the previous year. Nearly 60 percent of the World Banks commitments to South Asia came from the IDA. More than two thirds of this will be used rural development and human development.
I think that what the World Bank is doing is very good. It will help a huge number of people in South Asia. However, if eradicating poverty was as simple as lending money, we would see a lot less poverty in the world. Now I’m no expert, but it seems to me that there is something inherently wrong with a system that allows a few nations to get richer and richer, while the majority of the others remain poor. There have always been a number of groups donating millions of dollars, and yet poverty is still a huge problem. How can some people make so much money doing a simple activity, like playing sports, while others make pennies doing back breaking work? Just as cold medicine doesn’t actually cure the cold, lending money doesn’t necessarily end poverty. I believe the system is in need of fundamental change, but then again, I am no expert.
Source: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTPOVERTY/0,,contentMDK:21466806~menuPK:336998~pagePK:64020865~piPK:149114~theSitePK:336992,00.html