Unit 11 Fighting urban poverty around the world

I. Read the text and point out the main idea.

Rural poverty continues to claim greater attention from many development agencies, but national and international organizations, activists and thinkers are starting to identify urban poverty as the bigger challenge at the dawn of a new century.

Population trends do much to explain the newfound concern. The urban 3population throughout much of the world is growing rapidly. In 1950, 300 million people lived in urban areas. This year, that number is expected to reach 2.85 billion. According to United Nation’s projections, the urban population will reach 4.54 billion in 25 years, with 94% of the increase occurring in low-and-middle-income developing countries.

Many of these new urbanities will be impoverished or close to impoverish unless steps are taken to generate new wealth and redistribute existing wealth within and among nations. At the bottom of the income scale in developing world cities are the permanently unemployed. Usually uneducated, sometimes suffering from physical or mental disabilities, these people are the beggars of the third world. Large numbers of working people are also impoverished. Majorities work in the informal sector, scavenging garbage dumps for salvageable goods and materials, sewing textiles in underground sweatshops. Low-wage jobs in the formal economy – service jobs, unskilled factory work – will frequently lift workers and their families out of deep poverty, but not always by much.

Within the developing world, established organizations of the urban poor frequently take the lead in fighting poverty and its manifestations.

Larger international institutions – notably a variety of United Nation’s agencies and the World Bank – have turned their attention to urban poverty alleviation. These establishment institutions focus attention on programs that improve the conditions in poor communities – investment in housing, sanitation, transportation, support for small local business; and investments in economic growth.

The attention paid urban poverty by institutions like the World Bank demonstrates that urban poverty is finally on the agenda.

Vocabulary

1. poverty – бедность, нищета

2. challenge – проблема, сложная задача

3. population – население, жители

4. urban – городской

urbanity – городская жизнь

5. toimpoverish– доводить до нищеты; разорять

6. togenerate– вызывать, накоплять, порождать, вырабатывать

7. to redistribute – перераспределять

8. unemployed – безработный

9. beggar – нищий, бедняк, неимущий

10. to fight – бороться

11. alleviation – уменьшение

12. to improve – улучшение

II. Match english and russian equivalents.

1. to claim attention a. уменьшение нищеты

2. newfound concern b. городское население

3. urbanpopulationc. физическая или умственная

неспособность

4. physical or mental disabilities d. бороться с нищетой

5. fighting poverty e. накоплять богатство

6. poverty alleviation f. развивающиеся страны

7. developing countries g. новая забота

8. to generate new wealth h. заслуживать внимание