Discussion
Conclusion
While we were ultimately successful in creating indicators, modifying the formula, and designing a company, there are various elements which have potential for alteration and improvement. Most importantly, we are not trained or formally educated in economics, data collection, poverty measurement or business. Consequently, the indicators may not form a comprehensive picture of urban poverty, and they may not necessarily be more successful than other methods for measuring urban poverty; we have learned about many. The UN also requires all the data from the MPI to come from a single survey done by each household, and this would be a concrete limitation if we were to ever implement our system.
If HELP U.P. was ever to be carried out, it could possibly go bankrupt; although it provides microfinance loans, they would take a considerable amount of time to pay off. Not to mention, there is no guarantee that companies and individuals would be willing to partake in the idea, and lend money to those in need, despite the many benefits which we present. In addition, the criteria we would use for selecting loan candidates could prove to be too simple, and individuals might never repay the loans. On the other hand, the criteria could prove to be too difficult to meet, or HELP U.P. might not catch on, thus loan candidates would never be accepted, or they might not even have the chance to hear about it. Of course, simply providing loans is not enough—for poverty to be completely eradicated, the stigma around it must be eliminated and the environments in which we live must change drastically. This is where governments come in, as they must act as liaisons on the municipal, provincial and national levels, continually reinvestigate policies and procedures that could create barriers, formulate realistic benchmarks to track progress, and back, regulate, implement and monitor large-scale poverty reduction strategies (Baharoglu and Kessides, 2002, p. 150). We are determined to continue developing both the measurement and solution aspects of our project, as well as raising awareness about urban poverty in more developed countries and encouraging our governments to take action, in hopes of eventually reducing global poverty completely.
Our goal in this project was to create indicators that would allow for urban poverty to be multidimensionally measured in an index, as the UN does using its MPI. We were also looking to formulate a plan for a company which could utilise our indicators to create a loan system for those suffering from poverty. Through our indicators, we succeeded in creating something that, from our research and analysis, is a comprehensive picture of urban poverty. Likewise, we drafted hypothetical data in order to demonstrate the results of utilising our indicators with the UN formulas. In addition, we generated a detailed plan of a company that we could launch, using our findings; by using non-monetary requirements to choose suitable borrowers of loans, we could support those facing urban poverty in their journeys towards becoming self-sustaining.
All in all, we succeeded in what we had aimed to do short-term, yet there is an incredible amount of work that must still be done. In order to make true progress, we need political leaders and communities that are willing to take poverty seriously, and consider solutions that are not simply about repairing the damage caused. Instead, the goal ought to be to investigate and attempt to understand the root of the issue. Our research is definitely a huge step in the right direction, but there needs to be action at a much larger scale in order to create a substantial difference in our world.