In the Central Africa Republic, or CAR, there are many causes of poverty that are responsible for the lack of choices and opportunities available to its people. Poverty itself refers to a lack in choices of how to live one’s life, a state of insecurity, and powerlessness. There are several causes for poverty in the Central Africa Republic, such as the lack of development within the economy, the agricultural conditions, the trafficking of women and children, and the lack of proper educational systems.
Poverty can be defined by a lack in both opportunities and choices, and a violation of human dignity. This can include examples such as not being able to clothe oneself or family, not being able to grow or attain sources of food, not being able to earn a living, not being able to attend school, or being susceptible to violence. Additionally, poverty typically includes conditions without access to clean water or devices of sanitation. All of these sources of poverty, when combined, greatly exacerbate conditions for those who are impoverished, such as entire families, single adults, or orphaned children.
The Central African Republic represents one of the most underdeveloped economies across the world. In 2008, the GDP per capita was merely seven hundred dollars. One of the largest factors contributing to the poor economy there is its position geographically, as it is predominately landlocked, which bars it from achieving any beneficial export sales or contact outside of the country. In addition, the policies of the government in CAR are largely misdirected. This results in a very unequal income distribution throughout the country. The CAR receives much help, such as grants from France along with other international groups; however, this help is primarily directed towards humanitarian efforts, such as healthcare, first aid, and the building of homes.
In 2008, GDP growth was estimated to be just over two percent, declining from almost four percent in 2007. The economy underwent a number of various detrimental periods. This led to slowed/depressed activity within the economy, and also led to a plunge in the diamond and timber exports, increased power outages, higher prices of food and fuel, and also elevated tensions between social classes.
In the CAR, the economy relies heavily on the growth and sales of food crops, such as peanuts, yams, cassava, sesame, millet, sorghum, and plantains. The chief export of the CAR is diamond, however, and is also the primary source of revenue for the country. However, poor economic development greatly restrains the trade of exports, in addition to the country’s inland location far from the nearest coast. Many of the women in both urban and rural communities work to transform some of the food crops into alcoholic drinks, such as hard liquor or sorghum beer, which brings in a considerable amount of income yearly from the drinks’ sales.
In regards to Africa’s agriculture, food crops prevail over exported cash crops. For example, cassava, which is the primary food of most people in Central Africa, produces almost 300,000 tons a year; however, the highest exported cash crop, cotton, brings in only 45,000 tons a year at most. In essence, Central Africans benefit far more from the income derived by occasional sales of surplus food crops, rather than relying on the exported cash crops, such as coffee or cotton. This is also due to its geographical location of being far inland.
The conditions of women and children also aid in the impoverished state of Africa. Both women and children face a restriction on human rights, and children are, more often than not, unable to receive an education, with many of them dropping out before they can finish their primary schooling. In addition, the trafficking of women and children in Africa is one of the greater causes of poverty.
The CAR is a notorious origin for trafficking both women and children. Often, children are trafficked to Cameroon, and children from Nigheria, Chad, and Sudan are frequently brought to the CAR, where there is additional internal trafficking. Trafficking in African children and women occurs for either forced labor or prostitution, and is often an outcome of extreme poverty and war. Poverty intensifies the already desperate state engendered by the repression and discrimination against women and children. Additionally, the flawed, or nonexistent systems for birth registration aggregate the issue, as this makes it easier for children to move across borders, as they have never acquired an official nationality. This makes the processes of trafficking quite simple for human traffickers, as children lack the proper records and identification papers to keep them within their home country.
The education systems within the CAR also encourage poverty, in addition to human trafficking. Currently, only half of the children within the CAR are actually enrolled in primary schooling. However, the other half of children are unable to access education due to poverty, violence, lack of schools and facilities, lack of teachers, and even the necessary materials for which a school must have to operate appropriately. There are several Poverty Reduction Strategies that are underway within the Central African government. These directives are aimed at efforts towards granting universal primary education for all children, bettering the quality of the education systems, developing sound programs for literacy, and also for developing training courses for higher education students.
In summary, Africa is facing a number of problems due to poverty, of which stems from a number of causes, such as the underdeveloped economy, lack of education, the agricultural conditions, and human trafficking. Hopefully in the future, these issues can be tackled more effectively, thus leading to a reduction of poverty.
