Poverty isn’t a lack of charity, it’s a lack of cash
Why is sustainable development not working anymore?
Why is there so much charity and no long term impact? Here’s a controversial thought, perhaps poverty isn’t a lack of charity, maybe it’s a lack of cash? Let’s dive into some psychology and find out…
Forty percent of children in the UK are expected to be living in poverty over the next 3 years. (http://policyinpractice.co.uk/poverty-in-the-uk/)
When I read this recent research by the UN in March this year, it completely shocked me. In the UK?! Really? It seems that our nation is in crisis. With welfare cuts and the impact of Universal Credit we are seeing more people on the streets than ever before.
But why is there so much charity; so many soft services including education, back to work, employment schemes and yet poverty and deprivation continues to get worse? It’s not hard to wonder and ask, are anti-poverty initiatives having any long term impact?
Why is there so much charity, yet so little change?
Here’s a radical and perhaps controversial thought. Poverty isn’t a lack of charity, it’s a lack of cash.
People in vulnerable situations are forced into a continuous cycle of deprivation, with no clear pathway to improve their quality of life. Initiatives to help and assist have been working extremely hard, last year alone charitable donations raised £7.1 BN for individuals in the UK. But current data, like the 3 year forecast, predict hard times still lie ahead.
Why poverty alleviation programs aren’t working
To really understand why the current charitable approach to sustainable development isn’t having any long term impact, we need to look at the psychology of needs. Let’s borrow from Maslow.
Maslow proposed that human needs can be organized into a hierarchy. This hierarchy ranges from basic needs, such as food and water, to more advanced needs such as self-fulfilment. According to Maslow, a lower need must be met first, before we can focus on the next need on the hierarchy.
Our charity services and social mobility programs often dive straight into needs further up the hierarchy, such as safety and self esteem.
Education and budgeting programs have minimal lasting effect on those living in long term poverty because they don’t have any stability in their basic needs.
People living in serious financial stress don’t know how they are going to cover the groceries for this week and mid-term break causes anxiety over extra household expenses due to lack of school meals and needing to get the kids out of the house.
This is the reality of life for so many people in our society today. There can be no long term thinking, or consideration (or even capacity) of re-skilling due to the stress of merely surviving week to week.
The Science behind ESTHER
To borrow from behavioral scientist Eldar Shafir, ‘it’s like teaching someone to swim in a swimming pool and then throwing them out into a stormy sea’.
If you can’t afford to put food on the table for you and your family, then no amount of soft services will give you the stable foundation you need to really grow.
In fact, behavioral research has found an overwhelming correlation between living in poverty and constrained decision making, leading to short term thinking and reduced psychological, social and cultural functioning.
This perspective became the cornerstone of our initial pilot at ESTHER. As a peer-to-peer donation platform, ESTHER allows you to donate money directly to people living in poverty.
When we raised the income of recipients living in poverty by £50 a week, they started to engage in counselling. Not because the money freed it up, but because, for the first time in a long time, they had the headspace to focus on more than just survival.
This is why we encourage the soft services offered by our charity partners, but alongside meeting the basic needs of our recipients.
We need to work together as organizations to give people in need real traction when it comes to working their way out of deprivation.
In fact behavioral research shows that the most powerful thing you can do for someone in systemic poverty, is to give them money. Why focus on the symptoms, when we can directly impact the underlying cause?
George Orwell once said, ‘poverty annihilates the future’.
Let us help our recipients imagine a future where they finally have the space to breathe and grow.