Poverty is not only the lack of food and will never end by traditional aid policies where only free-food is given to the poor. These policies have indeed not only fueled poverty but generated more and more poverty, as they turn the poor not only to passive consumers with no empowerment for own production but even counteracted their possibilities to join the era of sustainability.  We have already seen that affordability and accessibility to food is very much related to sustainable management of natural resources, in particular water and energy. Sustainable management of natural resources involves, also, holistic approaches for the protection and preservation of all natural resources through the engagement of every citizen in the society. In this context, achieving sustainable socio-economic developments around the world requires establishing appropriate instruments for true poverty alleviation, i.e. all types of poverty, where the inactive and passive poor populations around the world become actively engaged not only in food production but in all the components of achieving sustainable socio-economic developments.

The world needs much more organizations and institutions that can be both actively engaged in poverty alleviation and in engaging the poor in becoming active players for achieving sustainable socio-economic developments rather than being passive observers and consumers. In this context, “SNV Netherlands Development Organization” demonstrates many successful stories around the world. However, much more is still needed as the world competition on the natural resources, in particular water and energy, is becoming much severe.

http://www.snvworld.org/