A Critical Note on Poverty Eradication Target of Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim big -as one of its target is to eradicate extreme poverty by 2030 for all people everywhere. This paper offers a critical review and outlines some potential challenges in achieving this noble target. In doing so, it offers a critical review of poverty scholarship to assess the notion of extreme poverty adopted in the SDGs. This also takes stock of past global anti-poverty programmes to set an appropriate context for forecasting potential challenges to eradicate poverty everywhere. It is highlighted that i) a number of poor countries will have to perform a magic against their track records, ii) the world needs to be consistently peaceful, iii) significant and equitable reform should take place within world economic structure, iv) quality and international comparability of poverty data in poor countries need to be improved significantly, and v) uncertainty about required investment in poor countries should be addressed rigorously in order for achieving poverty eradication target of the SDGs. These lead to the argument that without strong political commitments by all related stakeholders and an approach to look beyond existing models poverty eradication target may turn out to be another statement of good intentions by the international aid architecture with little meaningful practical relevance.

So far so good? Tracking the poverty eradication goal of SDGs in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa

“…Among these include the ambiguity surrounding the very conceptualization of the first goal, namely, "to eradicate poverty in all its forms and dimensions" (Akolgo, 2018). Furthermore, it has been argued that the SDGs did not identify possible challenges that could make countries not to meet the target in 2030 despite the inevitability of such challenges (Kamruzzaman, 2016). Although this paper is not an assessment of the SDGs per se, it draws insights from these various challenges by tracking the present progress made by the SSA countries (Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa) Nigeria, and South Africa, respectively (Dziedzic, 2015) 1 .…”

Addressing Poverty through Social Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Development: A Comprehensive Bibliometric Analysis

“…Nevertheless, achieving this target is not devoid of obstacles, such as the need for robust political commitment, tranquility, and equitable economic restructuring (Kamruzzaman 2016). Poverty reduction is an imperative component of sustainable development and requires the utmost government attention (Liu et al 2015).…”

The Sharing Economy in the Context of Sustainable Development and Social Responsibility: The Example of the Czech Republic

“…Each of the 17 goals represents an area of sustainable development for which it is necessary to formulate a transformation strategy for the most important stakeholders: governments, civil society, science, and business [36,37]. More and more interest is being taken in issues, in particular in social topics relating to poverty [38], equality and inequality [39][40][41], education [42], peace, violence and justice [43], dignified work [44], work-life balance [45], and responsibility [46], a fact that is illustrated by the continuing growth in importance of the social aspects of sustainability.…”