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This post was written for the celebration of Blog Action Day 2008, a worldwide campaign with the goal to raise awareness and conversation around the global topic of poverty and in the process raise money for the cause.

Today is October 15, 2008.

Bloggers all over the world are celebrating Blog Action Day 2008 with a focus on POVERTY. As a volunteer for campaigns related to social issues, this blog, StartupsNigeria – dedicated to reviewing and analysing web start-ups, web technologies and applications in Nigeria - is participating in this year’s celebration.

That’s why I have chosen the topic: Can We Blog Poverty out of Africa?

But wait, can poverty really be eradicated from Africa and the rest of the world? I doubt it. Not with the inequality that permeates the world around us. As a matter of fact, the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) suggests that key factors to reducing poverty will include:

The reduction in inequality

The reduction in income differences

This raises the most important question: Will this world ever be EQUAL?

What is the No. 1 Cause of Poverty in the World?

According to this article, many developing nations are in debt and poverty partly due to the policies of international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Following an ideology known as neoliberalism, and spearheaded by these and other institutions known as the “Washington Consensus” (for being based in Washington D.C.), Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs) have been imposed to ensure debt repayment and economic restructuring.

But the way it has happened has required poor countries to reduce spending on things like health, education, technology and development, while debt repayment and other economic policies have been made the priority. In effect, the IMF and World Bank have demanded that poor nations lower the standard of living of their people.

Africa Action, an organization working for political, economic and social justice in Africa is highly critical of SAPS, stating that:

African countries require essential investments in health, education and infrastructure before they can compete internationally. The World Bank and IMF instead required countries to reduce state support and protection for social and economic sectors. They insisted on pushing weak African economies into markets where they were unable to compete with the might of the international private sector. These policies further undermined the economic development of African countries.

How Can We Blog Poverty Out of Africa?

Using recent web technologies, we can at least together reduce poverty in Africa and around the world. The new web space offers a great opportunity in the fight against poverty. Let me now share some of the newest web technologies that could be used to take action against poverty.

1. Social Media

Social Media here includes photo/video sharing sites. Thus, when photos and videos of poverty-related cases are uploaded via these social media sites, they capture the world’s attention. Youtube, the video-sharing site and Flickr, photo-sharing site attracts millions of users from around the world who network with people the world over.

2. Social Blogging

Social Blogging involves capturing news and reviews around the social media market. It is interesting that top social media bloggers such as TechCrunch, Mashable, ReadWriteWeb, ProBlogger, Gigaom, LifeHacker, amongst others are participating in the Blog Action Day 2008.

Therefore, we hope to see an active participation from these and other social media bloggers on the issues around Poverty even after Blog Action Day 2008 is over.

3. Social Networking

Social Networking means making friends and building a network through an online community. Most social networking sites around the world are developed for a purpose, but they hardly support campaigns against world poverty.

Even Facebook, the largest social networking site with over 3 million members, cares less about Fights against Poverty. In my opinion, Facebook and other social networking sites should develop applications that would support the world-wide campaign against Poverty.

4. Social Bookmarking

Social Bookmarking is described as a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata, according to Wikipedia. Sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon, Technorati, Muti, Sturvs amongst others are examples of social bookmarking sites.

Facts about Poverty

Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day. The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) of the 41 Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (567 million people) is less than the wealth of the world’s 7 richest people combined. Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen. 1 billion children live in poverty (1 in 2 children in the world). 640 million live without adequate shelter, 400 million have no access to safe water, and 270 million have no access to health services. 10.6 million Died in 2003 before they reached the age of 5 (or roughly 29,000 children per day).
Read More Facts (and Sources) about Poverty »