by Ravi Embar

Created on: July 16, 2008   Last Updated: October 12, 2011

Technology is one of the individual links in a chain of actions that will enable the process to alleviate world poverty.

The most important element is to have transparent, effective and accountable governance. In almost every country that is suffering from the degradation of poverty, the government has been riddled with corruption, inefficiency and unaccountability.

In an ideal scenario, the administration of the anti-poverty program is composed of a small and adaptable central overseeing authority which delegates as much of the decision-making as possible to local units. The local units, staffed by dedicated individuals as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations, interface directly with the citizenry and ensure that the food ends up in the hands of those it was originally meant for.

There have been any number of cases where large amounts of stockpiled food items have rotted away in transit storage facilities while officials have delayed the distribution either due to bureaucratic or logistical problems. In other cases, the food items allotted for free distribution to the citizenry has ended up in the hands of illegal hoarders who charge inflated prices as the unused stockpiles become infested with vermin and rot.

Technology can help in tracking and monitoring the food distribution and in storing the food properly, this will enable the responsible officials in keeping the hoarders and traders at bay while also ensuring that the food items do not spoil.

Another important aspect is knowledge management. There needs to be administrators who have the expertise and the know-how to utilize and implement best practices from countries where poverty is now history. Without reinventing the wheel, the officials can make use of successful training programs from international organizations and developed nations to create a cadre of indigenous skilled trainers. These skilled trainers can then mentor the local populace in implementing the best practices and successful programs from the countries which have effectively eliminated poverty. The administrators should have the leeway to adapt the best practices with innovative and indigenous techniques where necessary and when these actions will end up being more cost-effective.

Technology can play a very important part in the process of gathering, analyzing, computing and presenting the statistics in a clear format that can be readily understood by lay officials responsible for tracking and implementing solutions to alleviate poverty.

Technology by itself is not the cure for poverty. However, technology in conjunction with the measures mentioned above will certainly go a long way in alleviating poverty around the world.

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