Latin America and the Caribbean

Fighting poverty

Latin America and the Caribbean is the most urbanized region in the developing world, with three-fourths of its population occupying cities and outlying areas (World Bank, 2004).

According to UNICEF (2005), an estimated 44% of the region's population lives below the poverty line, and 10% of the region's population lives on less than one US dollar per day. Poverty affects an estimated 56% of all children up to the age of nineteen. In Brazil alone, close to 27 million children are from families with incomes of less than $100 per month.

The fight against poverty requires a range of actions and solutions implemented at and by all levels of society. They include include pro-active government policies, support for micro-development enterprises and income-generation programmes, small-scale farming, and access to credit, education, and training by the poor. Equal opportunities must be guaranteed to all children, young people, women, neediest communities, and indigenous peoples.

World Vision seeks to improve the quality of life of children, their families and communities by engaging and organizing communities in their own development, including the construction and improvement of roads and housing, public squares, children's playgrounds, and water, sewer, irrigation and lighting installations, and through a broad range of other development projects.