Poverty and precarity Books

Book SynopsisPoverty alleviation is a common issue facing the majority of the Third World countries. Since the 1970s, the fact that the number of the poor in some developing countries has increased together with the fact that economic growth has aroused widespread concern of the international community. Therefore, development economics stressed the trade-off between "efficiency" and "equity" under special circumstances and clearly differentiated the concept of "growth" from "development." From then on, how to alleviate and eliminate poverty while pursuing economic growth became a development issue. At present, poverty in China is manifested as regional poverty in the rural society. Unlike the countries which allow free migration of population, the poor of China are concentrated in rural areas. This study focuses on the examination of the role of "Yigong-daizhen" projects in poverty alleviation.

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Book SynopsisIt has been said that the poor will always be with us. But that does not mean we are obliged to ignore squalor. Concern about poverty stretches across national borders, from the third world to the street corners of Manhattan; whether one believes the poor are victims of their own shortcomings or of poor public policy, the impoverished cannot be ignored. This book collects a set of essays exploring the unavoidable issue of poverty. A broad array of scholars present studies and opinions about where the poor come from and what we can do to help them.

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Book SynopsisThis new and timely book deals with the magnitude and the intensity of the poverty in Latin America, Mexico and the state of Nuevo Leon. The enormous and chronic social problems of poverty in 1970 struck approximately 40% of the families of Latin America or 119 million people. In 1990, of 423,913,043 habitants of Latin America, 46% were living in poverty, that is to say, 195 million people were suffering this calamity (CEPAL). According to the same CEPAL, in 2002 44% of the population of Latin America was poor, whereas 19.40% were living in extreme poverty, indigence or misery. Seen in another way, the poverty in Latin America increased in that period of 20 years, from 1970 to 1990, 38.97%. At the moment, in Latin America there are 225 million poor people. This book is an essential reference to a problem which the world must, if for no other reason than necessity, deal with in a vigorous and just manner.

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Book SynopsisIt has been said that the poor will always be with us. But that does not mean we are obliged to ignore squalor. Concern about poverty stretches across national borders, from the third world to the street corners of Manhattan; whether one believes the poor are victims of their own shortcomings or of poor public policy, the impoverished cannot be ignored. This book collects a set of essays exploring the unavoidable issue of poverty. A broad array of scholars present studies and opinions about where the poor come from and what we can do to help them including such questions as gender inequality and poverty, minimum wages and development and its impact on poverty.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides important information regarding the Millennium Development Goals, adopted unanimously by the United Nations in 2000, setting explicit targets in terms of achieving progress in the developing world. This volume provides both a theoretical overview of the role of education in development and also illustrates this with various case studies (based on work of non-government organisations and other donors) in the Asia-Pacific region. The authors include a mix of development practitioners as well as academics engaged in research in this field. Thus, the theory is illustrated and extrapolated by case studies focussing on community development interventions.

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Book SynopsisPoverty is a social fact of life for billions of people around the world. The developed countries abhor poverty, or seem to, for several reasons. Perhaps it is a blotch on their consciences. Perhaps there is a genuine desire to help those who are not prospering while others around them are. Perhaps they wish to pay lip service to the good cause of eliminating either poverty or the poor, whichever comes first. This new volume concentrates on world poverty issues including their alleviation.

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Book SynopsisThis book addresses the state of poverty and its effects on education and development. It is organised into two sections: Poverty, socio-economics, poverty and gender. Section one focuses on the state of the lives of the peoples in Africa as a result of poverty. These chapters raise arguments to challenge the status quo as unacceptable. The second section of the book focuses on poverty in relation to gender. It explores how lack of education and inequality of females in the society can impact poverty of the nation in general. These chapters discuss the influential factors of poverty in Asia and Africa, and how it enriches the section by looking into Appalachian single mothers'' lived experiences from the South-eastern portion of the US.

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Book SynopsisThe Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides federal grants to states for a wide range of benefits, services, and activities. It is best known for helping states pay for cash welfare for needy families with children, but it funds a wide array of additional activities. TANF was created in the 1996 welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193). TANF funding and program authority were extended through FY2010 by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA, P.L. 109-171). TANF provides a basic block grant of $16.5 billion to the 50 states and District of Columbia, and $0.1 billion to U.S. territories. Additionally, 17 states qualify for supplemental grants that total $319 million. TANF also requires states to contribute from their own funds at least $10.4 billion for benefits and services to needy families with children -- this is known as the maintenance-of-effort (MOE) requirement. States may use TANF and MOE funds in any manner "reasonably calculated" to achieve TANF''s statutory purpose. This purpose is to increase state flexibility to achieve four goals: (1) provide assistance to needy families with children so that they can live in their own homes or the homes of relatives; (2) end dependence of needy parents on government benefits through work, job preparation, and marriage; (3) reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and (4) promote the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. Though TANF is a block grant, there are some strings attached to states'' use of funds, particularly for families receiving "assistance" (essentially cash welfare). States must meet TANF work participation standards or be penalised by a reduction in their block grant. The law sets standards stipulating that at least 50% of all families and 90% of two-parent families must be participating, but these statutory standards are reduced for declines in the cash welfare caseload. (Some families are excluded from the participation rate calculation.) Activities creditable toward meeting these standards are focused on work or are intended to rapidly attach welfare recipients to the workforce; education and training is limited. Federal TANF funds may not be used for a family with an adult that has received assistance for 60 months. This is the five-year time limit on welfare receipt. However, up to 20% of the caseload may be extended beyond the five years for reason of "hardship", with hardship defined by the states. Additionally, states may use funds that they must spend to meet the TANF MOE to aid families beyond five years. TANF work participation rules and time limits do not apply to families receiving benefits and services not considered "assistance". Child care, transportation aid, state earned income tax credits for working families, activities to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies, activities to promote marriage and two-parent families, and activities to help families that have experienced or are "at risk" of child abuse and neglect are examples of such "nonassistance".

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Book SynopsisThe aim of this book is to provide the reader with the broad spectrum of poverty and social policy issues in Central and Eastern Europe, and address the most urgent topics of welfare state research, namely poverty, children and social policy; gender, social policy and poverty; urban policy, renewal and poverty, and overall challenges to social policy reform. The book demonstrates that despite an increase in poverty and inequalities in many Central and Eastern European countries during the last 18 years, the social policy systems have not experienced a radical dismantlement throughout the entire region. The post-Communist welfare state still shows more comprehensive solutions to social problems than residual ones. Nevertheless, the deteriorated fiscal capacities of the state in some cases hinder the successful poverty solutions as well as the expansion of the welfare programmes. Yet, the Central and Eastern European region is very diverse regarding the scope and depth of social problems encountered and some countries have implemented more successful policy solutions than other ones. Furthermore, the findings of this volume demonstrate that Central and Eastern European countries are not so dramatically distinct from Western Europe, neither in their social problems encountered, nor in their solutions. Nevertheless, the experience of the socialist regime, the relatively lower wages and lower social benefits as well as the higher share of GDP produced in a shadow economy allow the CEE countries to group into the distinct post-Communist regime.

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Book SynopsisOver the past few decades poverty has emerged as a global problem and a global agenda item in need of action. For that reason, the United Nations made its eradication the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG). The MDG''s plan is for extreme poverty to be eliminated by 2015. Poverty is more of a concern on the African continent than elsewhere. Three fourths of poor people in Western and Middle Africa -- an estimated 90 million people -- live in rural areas and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. One in five lives in a country affected by warfare. In conflict-torn countries such as Angola, Burundi, Mozambique and Uganda, the capacity of rural people to make a livelihood has been dramatically curtailed by warfare, and per capita food production has plummeted. A child dies every three seconds from AIDS and extreme poverty, often before their fifth birthday and more than one billion people do not have access to clean water. Every year six million children die from malnutrition before their fifth birthday. This book brings together new research on programs and policies from around the globe related to poverty in Africa and its elimination or alleviation.

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Book SynopsisFreedom of poverty is a universal human prerogative and right. Hence the tackling of poverty in developing countries is a social obligation for governments, MNCs and MNOs at a national, intergovernmental and supra-national level especially with its institutionalisation within the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Tourism was a sector that was actively promoted by the above mentioned institutions in order to act as a catalyst for development and poverty reduction. Nevertheless in the course of times tourism did not deliver the expected result: poverty reduction. Hence this book embarks on exploring, by adopting a participatory approach to research, the extent to which the various controlling interests'', external (development agencies) and internal (government institutions), dictate and influence tourism development in the ex-colonial geographical areas under investigation and their relationships with various community constituents - mainly those in the local communities at the grass-roots level.

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Book SynopsisIn 2011, the U.S. poverty rate was 15.0% -- 46.2 million persons were estimated as having income below the official poverty line. Neither the poverty rate nor the number of persons counted as poor differed statistically from a year earlier. Since 2006, when the poverty rate stood at 12.3%, marking its most recent low, the number of poor has grown by 9.7 million persons. The 46.2 million persons counted as poor in both 2011 and 2010 are the largest numbers counted in the measure''s recorded history, which goes back as far as 1959. The 2011 poverty rate of 15.0%, statistically tied with the 2010 rate, is the highest seen in the past 18 years (1993). The increase in poverty since 2006 reflects the effects of the economic recession that began in December 2007. The level of poverty tends to follow the economic cycle quite closely, tending to rise when the economy is faltering and fall when the economy is in sustained growth. This most recent recession, which officially ended in June 2009, was the longest recorded (18 months) in the post-World War II period. Even as the economy recovers, poverty is expected to remain high, as poverty rates generally do not begin to fall until economic expansion is well underway. Given the depth and duration of the recession, and the projected slow recovery, it will likely take several years or more before poverty rates recede to their 2006 pre-recession level. This book examines poverty in the U.S. and the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).

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Book SynopsisThe Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly called the Food Stamp Program, is designed primarily to increase the food purchasing power of eligible low-income households to help them buy a nutritionally adequate low-cost diet. This book describes the rules related to eligibility for SNAP benefits as well as the rules for benefits and their redemption. SNAP is administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture''s Food and Nutrition Service (USDA-FNS). A variety of benefits may also be available to unemployed workers to provide them with income support during a spell of unemployment. The cornerstone of this income support is the joint federal-state Unemployment Compensation (UC) program, which may provide income support through the payment of UC benefits for up to a maximum of 26 weeks. This book describes three kinds of unemployment benefits which are the regular Unemployment Compensation, Extended Benefit, and Emergency Unemployment Compensation. The book explains their basic eligibility requirements, benefits, and financing structure.

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Book SynopsisThe poverty rate increased markedly over the past decade, in part a response to two economic recessions. A strong economy during most of the 1990s is generally credited with the declines in poverty that occurred over the latter half of that decade. The poverty rate increased each year from 2001 through 2004, a trend generally attributed to economic recession and failed to recede appreciably before the onset of the next recession. This book provides a progress report of poverty 50 years later as well as insight on the poverty levels of the United States in 2012.

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Book SynopsisThis year marks the 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty, but poverty remains a difficult policy challenge. The Obama Administration and some in Congress have offered proposals that seek to address poverty, with the proposals differing considerably in their focus and content. However, the themes reflected in these proposals echo prior efforts to address the issue of poverty. The terms "poverty" and "welfare" (commonly thought of as cash assistance for the poor) are often intertwined, but federal policies affecting poverty are broader than a single program or set of programs. In fact, the social insurance program of Social Security may be the nation''s most important antipoverty program. The incidence and character of poverty is affected by many facets of public life. This book begins with an overview of trends affecting both the incidence of poverty and characteristics of the population, and highlights changing perceptions of the poor and causes of poverty. The book then provides a short history of key federal policies enacted over the past century to address poverty. To provide a framework for analysing current and future proposals, the book then presents several overarching themes that have recurred in poverty policy debates over the course of this history.

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Book SynopsisPoverty reduction and inequality are undeniably the buzz issues of the millennium. And where else would one go to understand the dynamics and paradoxes they raise for policies other than Africa, the continent historically synonymous with poverty until recently when chants of ''Africa rising'' seem to have replaced mourning for ''the dark continent''? Humongous resources have been dedicated to policy, research and intervention programmes and projects to reduce poverty and inequality, with Africa and South Asia getting more than their fair shares. But while everyone agrees that something is amiss with the input-output ratio of efforts aimed at poverty reduction, these efforts continue unquestioningly. This book is borne out of the need to question that missing link. It sets out to examine contents, contexts and interventions. The work begins with continent-wide evidence on Africa, examining the rising penury in the midst of abundant endowments and growth. The conclusion that the authors have come to: something is not right with definitions, measurements and policy measures for tackling poverty across the land. Country experiences (Nigeria, Cameroon, Australia and the United States) also agree with the position that poverty reduction seems to raise, indifferent to the broad policy environment within which it thrives. This book shows why poverty may not have been responsive to growth in developing countries in recent years. It examines outcomes of policies and insists that poverty, inequality and reduction strategies need not only be context-specific, but should involve much more than just narrow interventions. If, therefore, you are interested in questioning conventional positions about poverty and inequality, this book is for you.

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Book SynopsisFor almost six decades, the United States has played a leading role in global efforts to alleviate hunger and malnutrition and to enhance world food security through international food aid assistance -- primarily through either the donation or sale on concessional terms of U.S. agricultural commodities. Objectives of U.S. foreign food aid include providing emergency and humanitarian assistance in response to natural or manmade disasters and promoting agricultural development and food security. This book includes a description of U.S. international food aid programs under current law; several important policy issues related to U.S. international food aid; and describes Administration and congressional proposals intended to change the nature of U.S. food international aid. This book also reviews the U.S. Agency for International Development''s (USAID) processes for awarding and modifying cash-based food assistance projects and assesses the extent to which USAID and its implementing partners have implemented financial controls to help ensure appropriate oversight of such projects.

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Book SynopsisThe Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly called the Food Stamp Program, is designed primarily to increase the food purchasing power of eligible low-income households to help them buy a nutritionally adequate low-cost diet. This book describes the rules related to eligibility for SNAP benefits as well as the rules for benefits and their redemption. In addition, this book discusses categorical eligibility and some of the issues raised by it. It first describes the three different types of categorical eligibility: traditional categorical eligibility conveyed through receipt of need-based cash assistance, and the newer "narrow" and "broad-based" categorical eligibilities conveyed via TANF "noncash" benefits. It also provides recent information on current state practices with regard to categorical eligibility, and discusses proposals to restrict categorical eligibility. Finally, the book discusses the Nutrition Title (Title IV) of the enacted 2014 farm bill.

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Book SynopsisOver the years, Congress has authorised and the federal government has administered programs to provide food to the hungry and to other vulnerable populations in this country. This book offers an overview of hunger and food insecurity along with the related network of programs. This book provides a bird''s-eye view of domestic food assistance and can be used both to learn about the details of individual programs as well as compare and contrast features across programs.

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Book SynopsisFarm businesses'' debt-use decisions can affect their growth and survival, as well as the economic vitality of farm-dependent rural communities. Thus policymakers, agricultural lenders, and other farm-sector participants closely follow trends in farm debt. This book is a primer on the use of debt by U.S. farm businesses for policymakers, researchers, and others interested in the financial well-being of U.S. agriculture. It presents data on basic debt-use patterns by farm businesses (in 2011, over 900,000 farms operated as farm businesses based on their size, organisational structure, or the occupation of their principal operator) and explores key trends over 20 years. U.S. farm debt use varies widely by farm size, specialisation, operator age, and other farm characteristics.

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Book SynopsisThe Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) provides supplemental nutrition-rich foods and nutrition education (including breastfeeding promotion and support), as well as referrals to health care and social services, to low-income, nutritionally at-risk women, infants, and children up to five years old. Eligible women are specifically limited to those pregnant and post-partum (if breastfeeding, women are eligible for more benefits for a longer period of time). The WIC program seeks to improve the health status of its participants and prevent the occurrence of health problems during critical times of growth and development. This book provides an overview of the WIC program, including administration, funding, eligibility, benefits, benefits redemption, and cost containment policies. It also examines program trends, and discusses some of the major economic issues facing the program.

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Book SynopsisCommunity Services Block Grants (CSBG) provide federal funds to states, territories, and tribes for distribution to local agencies to support a wide range of community-based activities to reduce poverty. Smaller related programsCommunity Economic Development (CED), Rural Community Facilities (RCF), and Individual Development Accounts (IDAs)also support antipoverty efforts. CSBG and some of these related activities trace their roots to the War on Poverty, launched more than 50 years ago in 1964. Today, they are administered at the federal level by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). This book provides information on the CSBG; describes several smaller related programs that are administered by the same federal office that currently oversees the CSBG; discusses a proposal pending in Congress to reauthorize CSBG and related activities; summarizes a new "Upward Mobility Project" initiative of the Obama Administration; and discusses current and recent funding activities affecting the CSBG. Furthermore, this book describes the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund''s (CDFI Fund) history, current appropriations, and each of its programs; and informs the congressional debate concerning the Community Reinvestment Act''s (CRA) effectiveness in incentivising bank lending and investment activity to low- and moderate-income (LMI) borrowers.

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Book SynopsisThe federal government provides assistance aimed at helping people with low-incomes who may earn too little to meet their basic needs, cannot support themselves through work, or who are disadvantaged in other ways. This book describes federal programs (including tax expenditures) targeted to people with low incomes; identifies the number and selected household characteristics of people in poverty; identifies the number, poverty status, and household characteristics of selected programs'' recipients; and examines research on how selected programs may affect incentives to work.

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Book SynopsisThe Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly called the Food Stamp Program, is designed primarily to increase the food purchasing power of eligible low-income households to help them buy a nutritionally adequate low-cost diet. This book describes the rules related to eligibility for SNAP benefits as well as the rules for benefits and their redemption. It also provides an overview of the problem of food insecurity in the United States and the important role that SNAP plays in addressing it.

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Book SynopsisThe origin of rural poverty is complex and multidimensional. Some aspects of this origin include culture, climate, gender, markets, and public policy. Similarly, the rural poor population is quite diverse both in the problems they face and the possible solutions to those problems. This book examines nature and characteristics of rural poverty and how it develops, its persistence, and how it has caused destruction to environmental resources. The quest for global stability and peace has placed poverty issues at the centre of deliberation. In the year 2000, the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) directly addressed the problem of poverty and its alleviation. Natural resources degradation is usually understood in terms of over use of scarce non-renewable and potentially renewable resources. It entails damage or destruction of key natural resourcessuch as soils and forestsand the subsequent production of wastes. Low-income rural dwellers have much lower levels of consumption than middle and upper income groups, but occupy much more land per person than middle and upper income groups. Yet, low income groups consume less food and generally have diets that are less energy and land intensive than higher income groups. However, low income populations deplete natural resources for settlements, farming and extraction of resources for many urban dwellers. This book has created the linkages between poverty in rural areas and environmental resources degradation. It draws conclusions from examples from all over the world and emphasises on a case study in rural Ghana. This book is recommended for academicians, rural development professionals, environmentalists and the general public.

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Book SynopsisBy the late 19th century and the early 20th century, there were at least nineteen large and small areas, streets or neighbourhoods that were declared or labelled slums in Toronto. By the 1960s, almost all the slums had been cleared and were replaced by institutional, governmental and residential modern buildings. However, the foot prints of these slums, their boundaries and characteristics of their residents had been lost. This book intends to trace the development of these slums and outline their lifecycles. Although the book deals with all major Toronto slums, the emphasis focuses on Regent Park, which replaced the largest Anglo-Saxon slum in North America named Cabbagetown. Regent Park was also the first large housing project that received the approval from Toronto electors, which partially replaced Cabbagetown. In order to comprehend why Toronto ratepayers approved the project, we are considering the movement to implement the project (that had been recommended by the Curtis Report) as a social movement for affordable housing and utilising the Resource Mobilization Approach (RMA) to analyse and evaluate the success and/or failure of the project. In this book, the authors want to challenge the widely held assumption that policy making in Canada was an elite process primarily involving Cabinet ministers and senior civil servants by bringing the citizens participation back in and highlighting their critical role in challenging the governments housing policy and the building of Regent Park. This book has two parts: the first part examines the fate of the slum dwellers. Now that slums are gone, what happened to the poor working classes that used to live in these slums? The second part argues that when all the slums in the old city dissolve and are replaced by luxury condominiums and expensive gentrified homes, where will the recent immigrants go for accommodation? The recent information indicates that the majority of the low-income immigrants are seeking accommodations in the high-rise apartments of St. James Town or in the inner suburb communities in Scarborough, North York and Etobicocke. As these high-rise apartment buildings (mainly built in the 1980s and 1990s) age and deteriorate while overcrowding continues, there is a possibility that what happened in the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century will be repeated, causing the development of new slums. This alone should draw the attention of the municipal government and is one of the goals of the authors of this book.

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Book SynopsisFood insecurity-the condition of having inadequate food due to a lack of resources-affected roughly 1 in 10 Americans in 2019, and this number increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chapter 1 looks at the food insecurity in America. Although housing assistance programs are designed to free financial resources associated with housing cost burden, household food insecurity is still prominent among low-income, HUD-assisted adults as reported in Chapter 2. Chapters 3 and 4 summarise research on the extent and effects of food insecurity among college students and recent efforts by students, institutions, and governments to reduce food insecurity among this population. Global food security assistance from the United States and other countries and organisations is discussed in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 summarises how the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may affect global food security needs.Table of ContentsPreface; A Look at Food Insecurity in America; Household Food Insecurity and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Housing Assistance; Food Insecurity Among College Students: Background and Policy Options; Food Insecurity: Better Information Could Help Eligible College Students Access Federal Food Assistance Benefits; Global Food Security: Information on Spending and Types of Assistance Provided by the United States and Other Donors; COVID-19 and Global Food Security: Issues for Congress; Index.

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Book SynopsisNear the Kenya-Sudan border, a team of international health program evaluators are abducted and force marched under a desert moon. Their pasts and presents — and those of their abductors — unravel before them. An orphan named Money is one of 66 too hungry to sleep. A rich public health doctor is gradually losing his points of attachment. A driver tastes the river of wealth through the vehicles he’s provided. Some escape; others are recaptured; a few are held at ransom. All are lured into schemes that often lead to unexpected results.Because of Nothing at All is a story of choices, identity, and wealth, its richly drawn characters pitched into isolated and desperate circumstances. Born from the underbelly of the modern era of internationalism, Sunga’s vividly compelling novel depicts the inequities of a world gone awry, where the lines between madness and sanity, between justice and injustice, are blurred, if not erased.Trade Review“Paul Sunga has penned a thoroughly absorbing read: a deep dive into capitalism and foreign aid that lays bare the limits of the latter in the face of the former, and the absurdities of both. Big-hearted, ambitious, and incredibly funny, Because of Nothing at All is the novel everyone needs to read.” -- Sharon Bala, author of The Boat People“Few readers will know the Turkana territory of Because of Nothing at All, but they should recognize the ‘dry wasteland’ that is always at the periphery of our own prosperity. Conjuring a swirl of heat, dust, corrupted bodies, and lost dreams, Paul Sunga writes with a commanding narrative voice. His transparent and visceral prose lets us glimpse the uncertainty at the heart of much that we call evil.” -- Michael Kaan, author of The Water Beetles

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Book SynopsisFrom the bottom to the top of our economy, capitalism is too blunt an instrument to tackle Britain's epidemic of inequality. Soaring rents, unfair taxation and a growing gig economy have brought about unprecedented economic shame: Amazon warehouse workers living in tents, nurses turning to foodbanks, London firemen commuting hundreds of miles to work. Even those higher up the ladder are losing their grip on the life they were promised. Barristers take home less than the minimum wage and doctors are starting out with £100,000 student debts on salaries lower than the national average. We’re all facing a new economic phenomenon – in-work poverty. At the same time a generation of young professionals is coming to terms with never being able to own even the cheapest home in their area. From the bottom to the top of our economy, capitalism is too blunt an instrument to tackle Britain's epidemic of inequality. Soaring rents, unfair taxation and a growing gig economy have brought about unprecedented economic shame: Amazon warehouse workers living in tents, nurses turning to foodbanks, London firemen commuting hundreds of miles to work. Even those higher up the ladder are losing their grip on the life they were promised. Barristers take home less than the minimum wage and doctors are starting out with £100,000 student debts on salaries lower than the national average. We’re all facing a new economic phenomenon – in-work poverty. At the same time a generation of young professionals is coming to terms with never being able to own even the cheapest home in their area. Hard work no longer pays off. But there is hope for a better, fairer future.Trade Review‘How the system became rigged so that even the fortunate lose out: a masterpiece.’ * Danny Dorling, author of Inequality and the 1% *‘The latest in the series of powerful books on the divisions in modern Britain, and will take its place on many bookshelves beside Reni Eddo-Lodge’s Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race and Owen Jones’s Chavs.’ * Andrew Marr, Sunday Times on Posh Boys *‘[A] hard-hitting, forensic takedown.’ -- Herald (Glasgow)

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Book SynopsisIf you had a trillion dollars and a year to spend it for the good of the world and the advancement of science, what would you do? It's an unimaginably large sum, yet it's only around one per cent of world GDP, and about the valuation of Google, Microsoft or Amazon. It's a much smaller sum than the world found to bail out its banks in 2008 or deal with Covid-19. But what could you achieve with $1 trillion? You could solve the problem of the pandemic, for one, and eradicate malaria, and maybe cure all disease. You could end global poverty. You could settle on the Moon and explore the solar system. You could build a massive particle collider to probe the nature of reality like never before. You could build quantum computers, develop artificial intelligence, or increase human lifespan. You could even create a new life form. Or how about transitioning the world to clean energy? Or preserving the rainforests, or saving all endangered species? Maybe you could refreeze the melting Arctic, launch a new sustainable agricultural revolution, and reverse climate change? How to Spend a Trillion Dollars is the ultimate thought experiment but it is also a call to arms: these are all things we could do, if we put our minds to it - and our money.Trade ReviewHow To Spend a Trillion Dollars is both original and ingenious. Rowan Hooper looks at the problems facing the world today - all the big ones - and presents solutions that are realistic and workable, if governments can wring the money out of giant corporations - and billionaires - that don't like paying tax. Hooper writes with great vivacity and persuasiveness and his book is an exhilarating, encouraging, and hopeful reminder that the solutions are there if we have the will to find them. I hope it sells a trillion. -- Philip PullmanWill someone iust give Rowan Hooper a mere trillion dollars and let him, very sensibly, save the world? -- Caitlin Moranln a world of doom-scrolling, trembling on the brink of causing a mass extinction event that will devastate civilisation, it's crucially important to point out that we already have the abilities needed not only to avoid catastrophe, but to thrive. That's what Hooper does in fascinating and exciting detail. -- Kim Stanley RobinsonAt a moment when science is proving it can solve the most urgent of problems - given the right funding - Rowan Hooper asks a very interesting question. How much would it cost to solve all the world's other problems? ... Like any good game, this is deadly serious. What starts off seeming absurd ends up feeling obvious. Why would we not invest in our future? As Hooper says, "The world is full of extraordinary opportunities, and the vast majority are never undertaken" -- James McConnachie * Sunday Times *Brimming with exciting possibilities for a future in which the health and safety of the whole population becomes their responsibility -- Delia SmithWhat would you do with a trillion dollars? In this hopeful and very readable book, Rowan Hooper shows us how a thoughtful investment of financial capital could be used to solve the great challenges we face. None is more near and dire than the climate crisis, and Hooper provides reason for optimism here. The solutions-green energy chief among them-already exist. It's simply a matter of us investing in them. And a trillion dollars spent on climate solutions would payback several times over in avoided damage and destruction and new jobs. Read this book and be inspired to change the world. -- Michael MannI've never before read a book which made me aspire to be a tax collector. But if I was, and if I could just get all the money which the greedy mega-Corps dodge paying, what Hooper so elegantly yet pragmatically shows is that we could so easily "save the world" and have so much fun too. I'll get my suit on! -- Chris PackhamIn a world in which everything seems to be going wrong, this is a refreshingly optimistic book about what real solutions to the world's biggest problems could look like - and cost. Beautifully positive, lucid and accessible. -- Angela Saini, author of SuperiorBy assessing what it would take to tackle the world's biggest problems, Hooper finds that even huge investments pay for themselves many times over. In that sense, his book is like a new version of Brewster's Millions: spend now, win later, with more jobs, better health and, crucially, a better functioning biosphere. * New Scientist *Rowan Hooper shows that the world's most intractable problems might not actually be intractable, if we just devoted the resources to solving them. How to Spend a Trillion Dollars is a fascinating, thought-provoking work. -- Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Sixth Extinction

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Book Synopsis 50 years ago, World Bank President Robert McNamara promised to end poverty. Alleviation was to rely on economic growth, resulting in higher incomes stimulated by Bank loans processed by deskbound Washington staff, trickling down to the poorest. Instead, child poverty and homelessness are on the increase everywhere. In this book, anthropologist and former World Bank Advisor Glynn Cochrane argues that instead of Washington’s “management by seclusion,” poverty alleviation requires personal engagement with the poorest by helpers with hands-on local and cultural skills. Here, the author argues, the insights provided by anthropological fieldwork have a crucial role to play.Trade Review “[This book] offers many significant insights regarding the World Bank, its institutional outlook, and [its] practices. The author, given his early involvement at the Bank, as well as his subsequent experience with NGOs, the private sector, and other organizations, is an ideal candidate to provide such an account.” • A. Peter Castro, Syracuse UniversityTable of Contents Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1. Money-Moving Chapter 2. Reputation Management Chapter 3. Disciplines Chapter 4. Public Service Chapter 5. Social Soundness Analysis Conclusions Appendix A: Engagement Issues for Anthropology Appendix B: The Culture of Poverty Debate Appendix C: World Bank Social Development Group Appendix D: Culture and Development Assistance Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis'The Door Is Open' is a compassionate, reflective, and informative memoir about three-and-a-half years spent volunteering at a skid row drop-in centre in Vancouver's downtown eastside. In an area most renowned for its shocking social ills, and the notorious distinction of holding the country's "very poorest forward sortation area of all 7,000 postal prefixes," Bart Campbell dismantles our hard-held notions about poverty, the disenfranchised, substance abuse, and the nature of charity.'The Door Is Open' is one man's story of a transformative journey into the complicated and complex world of poverty. Finalist BC Book Prize Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize "His narrative reads like a 1930s 'noir' journey into the seamier sides of cities once prowled by the likes of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. It is this straight-up style that is both the book's strength and, on occasion, its only weak link. Readers looking for a sense of hope will find little of it in Campbell'sgritty descriptions. Indeed, some readers might mistake his unrelenting portrayl of skid row inhabitants as representative of the homeless population across Canada, most of whom are not victims of addiction or mental illness, but of an economy that has been stacked against them for most of their lives, if not for generations before." - Quill & Quire "What is most refreshing about Campbell's memoir is that it neither self-aggrandizes nor propagates a misinformed political message. His work has an objective tone and each chapter is well researched...this is one of the best books I've read all year." - Discorder Finalist City of Vancouver Book Prize

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisMany children in Namibia find themselves facing a social crisis. They have been abandoned or abused, are malnourished, homeless, or live in shacks that barely provide any protection. However, amidst these disastrous living conditions, children have developed remarkable survival skills, and come up with equally clever and disillusioned analyses of their situation. For three years, Michaela Fink and Reimer Gronemeyer conducted interviews in Namibia with women who take care of vulnerable children. The book gives these children a voice in interviews and essays.

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Book SynopsisWorldwide child and youth poverty and deprivation remain the biggest barrier to achieving a better life in adulthood. Progress in lifting children out of poverty in the last decades has been slow and limited in the developing world, while the recent global economic crisis has exacerbated child poverty, youth unemployment, and social exclusion in many developed countries. By critically unravelling the long-term consequences of growing up poor, the close linkages between multiple deprivations and violation of human rights in childhood and adolescence, and their effects on labour market entry and future career in a number of developing and developed countries, this book significantly enriches the existing literature. Drawing on multiple disciplinary perspectives, it makes a forceful case for the eradication of child poverty to take centre stage in the Sustainable Development Goals.

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