عنوان المقالة:الفقر في دول غرب أفريقيا وآليات مكافحته 1990-2010 دراسة تقويمية Poverty and its Fighting Mechanisms in West African States 1990-2010 Evaluative Study
يساهم الفقر بقسط وافر في كثير من المشكلات والصراعات السياسية والاجتماعية، مما يؤدي إلى استمرار ضمور خيارات وحريات الإنسان، وذلك بالتوازي مع اتساع فجوة المعرفة بين مخرجات النظم التعليمية وأسواق العمل، وتدهور حقوق الإنسان وقيم العدالة، فضلا عن تضاؤل فرص العمل والمشاركة بأشكالها السياسية والاقتصادية، إلى جانب تدهور الوضع البيئي. ويترجم هذا الواقع التنموي المزري في حلقة مفرغة من جديد إلى ارتفاع في مؤشرات الفقر والبطالة والفساد والمرض والجريمة والجهل والقمع والتعصب، ناهيك عن عدم الاستقرار السياسي وكثرة الحروب والصراعات والانقلابات العسكرية..
تعتبر القارة الأفريقية ومنطقة دول غرب أفريقيا خصوصا، حقلا خصبا لدراسة ظاهرة الفقر وآليات مكافحتها، وفقا لثلاثية القيود والإمكانات والبدائل. إذ يظل الفقر مصدرا من مصادر المشكلات وتحديا أساسيا يفرض نفسه على طاولة السياسات الأفريقية، نظرا لتزايد أعداد الفقراء في هذه المنطقة، واتساع هوة الفقر بين الدول الأفريقية وباقي دول العالم، مما دفع إلى تراجع مراتب الدول الأفريقية كثيرا على مقاييس التنمية العالمية بنوعيها البشري المقيد والإنساني الموسع، خلف بقية دول العالم النامي في شرق آسيا وأمريكا اللاتينية والكاريبي، بالرغم من الجهود الوطنية والإقليمية والدولية على مدى عشريات كاملة لاحتواء الأبعاد الخطيرة لهذه الظاهرة.
الملخص الانجليزي
The phenomenon of poverty occupies a large extent of the social science literature and represents an important issue for planners and decision makers as an obstacle to political, social and economic development and as a major cause for many social problems. Poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon caused by a plurality of factors. Poverty reduction therefore requires a comprehensive approach that in turn is either facilitated or constrained by a range of factors. The “capability approach” is one of the newest approaches in neoclassical theories, which suggested by Amartya Sen, in his book development as freedom. He defined the development: as process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy. In recent years there has been a growing interest on poverty reduction in Africa. This dissertation tries to assess fighting poverty mechanisms in West African states; this evaluative study is divided into an introduction, a theoretical, conceptual and methodological entry, three chapters and conclusions. The first chapter introduces the poverty aspects in West African states, by focusing on the general context and historical background of West African states. The historical cause of Africa’s poverty is rooted in the legacy of colonialism. In another hand, the study examines the effects of democratization and corruption on poverty reduction in West Africa. A number of challenges face government and civil society in West Africa to address poverty in general and chronic poverty in particular. The second chapter goes on to survey the variety of anti-poverty measures of government and civil society. Measured by expenditure, the government's social security system is by far the largest antipoverty instrument in the region, and probably one of the more functional. Regional initiatives under the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) are allowing African countries to improve governance; assume leadership and accountability for their development; increase trade within Africa and the world; and enhance the provision of regional public goods such as cross-country transportation and electricity pooling. We seek to understand why the national and regional efforts failed to eradicate poverty in the last two decades. While Africa itself deserves the credit for much of what has been achieved, the response of its international partners has been valuable and enhances the prospects for sustaining the progress made so far. Official statistics do not adequately capture the scale of human deprivation in Africa. Even the progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the best performing countries remains modest at best, and the majority of countries on present trends will take several decades to meet most of the goals. The third chapter tries to evaluate the role of the international community on poverty reduction in West Africa.
ياسين شكيمة | Yassine Chekima | 17610