Introduction
A detailed and accountable strategy with clear legislative targets and timeliness is essential for the development and implementation of a poverty reduction plan. These blueprints should purpose to address lack of education, Unemployment issues, overpopulation, epidemic diseases, and environmental problems which inherently cause poverty in many countries (Cosgrove & Curtis, 2017). While this condition affects the poorest society members, the overall effect deprives the entire economy of growth; thus its eradication should include a concerted effort involving every member regardless of their socioeconomic or political status.
The high unemployment rate is an indicator of rising poverty levels since it is a disincentive to access of disposable income among households. The incapacitation to spend as a result of unsustainable income shifts expenditures towards the most basic needs at the expense of other priority services like quality health care, and quality education (Barros, Corseuil, Mendonça & Reis, 2015). Moreover, the lack of income in totality may contribute to homelessness and malnutrition. The long term effects result in crowding of public facilities like hospitals and schools adding to reduced services. The state authorities through their legislative organs should formulate monetary and fiscal policies that open opportunities for employment and support youth entrepreneurship programmes. The developed countries may consequently increase income assistance for the disabled in proportion to the inflation index. There is a need to reduce bottlenecks that impede access to these funds. The adjustments of the economy in curbing rising unemployment rates thus improve the economic welfare of the Country.
Further, the poor health services due to the crowding of public hospitals require an elaborate and affordable universal health care coverage plan. The strategy should focus on the capacity building of the entire health care system such as infrastructural expansion and human resource capacitation. Moreover, the health care plan should advocate on the strategies of reduces overpopulation which is another attribute to poor living conditions, especially among the Sub-Saharan regions. Such interventions should involve the community health workers and volunteers who hail from the localities and are more acceptable in teaching family reproductive health. Further, the government should implement the Nation Health Insurance fund framework to facilitate affordable healthcare access.
The government is the custodian of all demographics and should analyze economic indicators relating to housing. The outcomes are essential in formulating affordable housing policies such as informal settlement upgrading. However, in implementing such plans, the government should conduct public participation approaches in soliciting for views that can make the process successful. Moreover, such poverty eradication programmes should involve the private sector and other Non-Governmental organizations who can attract additional funding to the projects. A successful poverty eradication plan should, therefore, rely on critical, informative agenda which include affordable housing, Universal health coverage, quality education, and sectoral transformation of the economy to open employment opportunities through active participation by all stakeholder with specificity to society members who receive the impacts.
‘Housing First’ Approach as an Alternative to Social Welfare Policy
The use of ‘housing first’ approach is a quick problem solver to homelessness in most societies. The strategy focusses on the rapid reallocation of people who are undergoing through homelessness into independent and permanent houses which aids them with the opportunity to pursue personal goals and improve quality of life (Aubry, Nelson & Tsemberis, 2015). The mechanism centers on principles that people are better off in making advances in life when they have proper housing as the priority. These standards make the approach more outstanding as compared to other housing welfare mechanisms. The method involves the assessment of vulnerability and the intensity of their needs after which funds are mobilizable from the government and other well-wishers (Kennedy, 2015). The intervention of the initiative reduces the risk of exposure by the homeless. Further, the strategy has become popular in countries like Canada where the awareness creation has not only shifted discussions towards housing but has also been a success factor in mobilizing funds for the vulnerable, thus making a capable system.
Despite its successes, the homelessness is a complex phenomenon. The condition may arise from poverty, shortages of affordable housing, low wages, and marginalization. The reliance on this initial approach is not enough since Housing First and other interventions may solve homelessness but cannot eliminate the causal links, thus making the problem perpetual. The attributes of these causal factors heighten the rental market thereby making the operation of the approach ineffective. Even though such challenges exist, their prevalence does not necessarily negate the positive outcomes. Thus Housing First intervention remains an effective problem solver to homelessness.
Literature Review
Evans, P. M. (2009). Lone mothers, workfare and precarious employment: time for a Canadian basic income?. International Social Security Review, 62(1), 45-63.
The article suggests that unwarranted unemployment rates reveal a significant threat to the current social assistance income policies. Despite the challenges created by lack of job opportunities, research exploration on the topic remains scanty. The aim is to examine the specific consequences of the adverse outcomes for the case of lone mothers living in Ontario, Canada who are unemployed. The study establishes that factors such as gender disparity in welfare systems which provide money to the unemployed isolates the women without husbands and thus significantly contributing to their financial vulnerability. Further, the Basic income (BI) of the mothers alone is inadequate to eradicate the precarious unemployment and can only determine their ability to enter or leave the job market. The basic income approach purports to guarantees citizens, especially the lone of a basic income to cater for their primary needs. Even though the intention of the initiative is acceptable, the problem lies with an infiltrated government system that demeans lone mothers. Because of the ineffectiveness of the BI, the unions of workers and organizations should enhance policies and modernize income security, improve salaries, and the conditions of working. Therefore, due to the challenges the women face because of gender discrimination, social assistance should reinforce the abolishment of such workfare systems and redesign other policies that would bring financial stability to lone mothers.
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Social Policy and Children’s Social Welfare
The rate of child poverty is relatively higher in Canada than most of the industrialized countries. Even though the degree is much lower than the developing states; it depicts a troubling state of affairs for countries of such status. The efforts to eliminate the situation receive little success since measures such as (LIM) used to anticipate the conditions obscures the reality and is inefficient in the people in need and the best strategies of offering assistance (McKeen, 2006). Moreover, despite many debates associating poverty to the deprivation of necessities, families can access the primary needs but still live below the LIM thresholds. This situation may validate the LIM approach as a crude measure of inequality in society (UNICEF, 2012). Such discussions also pose the validity of the statistics from child poverty index at 16 percent before taxes and transfers (UNICE, 2012). Thus, necessitates the significance of social policy in establishing the framework of measuring child poverty.
Despite the high poverty index, the federal government of Canada introduced social policy mix in an attempt to alleviate poverty and contribute to the income security for the Canadians. The interventions include benefits for children, family members, people with special needs and other Aboriginal groups of people (McKen, 2006). Moreover, the policies promote other social systems which facilitate education programmes and market attachment program as the key solution to adequate income and thus reduce poverty. Despite the advancements, strategies such as MESO yielded fewer results since it accommodates the political interests, thus portrays more of a policy debate than a policy-making approach (McKen, 2006). Therefore, the successful eradication of child poverty in Canada should focus more on the policy-oriented mechanism that evades political uncertainties decelerating the solution seeking process.
Maltreatment; Data and Prevention
The child maltreatment data from UNICEF scorecard reveals a deplorable state of affairs. The study discloses 235, 842 cases relating to maltreatment which were either reported or speculated. Such incidence comprises of sexual harassment, severe punishments, and family-based violence. Such occurrence not only causes physical harm but also contribute to long term consequences such as persistent mental disorder which affects their relational behaviors and poor academic performance (Hardcastle, Bellis, Hughes & Sethi, 2015). Because of the adverse results, stringent legal policy frameworks are, therefore appropriate for perpetrators of child based violence, for instance, longer jail terms and hefty penalties to curb the atrocities.
Further, the government should fund initiatives that enact child rescue centers where the victims can access quality education and mental health counseling. It is also essential for such policies to promote proper parentage through awareness creation and training. Such policy formulation should advocate for parents involved in the children education by designing programmes like open days for parents, teachers, and students in the school curriculum which enhance participation of the community in respecting the children’s right. Moreover, the government should outlaw corporal punishment and advocate for alternative methods of instilling discipline such as rewarding good behavior, teaching new skills, and providing logical consequences.
References
Aubry, T., Nelson, G., & Tsemberis, S. (2015). Housing first for people with severe mental illness who are homeless: a review of the research and findings from the at home—chez soi demonstration project. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 60(11), 467-474.
Barros, R. P. D., Corseuil, C., Mendonça, R., & Reis, M. C. (2015). Poverty, inequality and macroeconomic instability.
Cosgrove, S., & Curtis, B. (2017). Understanding Global Poverty: Causes, capabilities and human development. Routledge.
Hardcastle, K. A., Bellis, M. A., Hughes, K., & Sethi, D. (2015). Implementing child maltreatment prevention programmes: what the experts say.
Kennedy, J. (2015). Evolution Towards “Housing First”: A Qualitative Analysis of Service Provider and Participant Perspectives.
McKeen, W. (2006). Diminishing the concept of social policy: The shifting conceptual ground of social policy debate in Canada. Critical Social Policy, 26(4), 865-887.
Unicef. (2012). The state of the world’s children 2012: children in an urban world. eSocialSciences.