What assessment task are we working towards?Hypothetically, a donor has raised $1,000 to donate to a non-government organisation (NGO) that is helping to reduce child poverty in Cambodia. The donor's aim is to help achieve Global Goal 1: No Poverty.
The thing is, there are over 2,000 NGOs in Cambodia. What do YOU recommend as the most effective way to donate the $1,000? You will present your research and recommendation/s in the style of a guided mini-investigation (worth 12.5%), to help you prepare for your major investigation (worth 30%). |
(1) Background Theory for Folio Tasks 2 & 4: Different Types of Poverty
It can be argued that in Australia people living in poverty mainly experience RELATIVE POVERTY. A definition of this is:
When individuals and/or families have an adequate income to satisfy basic needs but their income falls markedly below that of the rest of the community ... They may be said to be in poverty relative to the rest of the community. (Aspin 1996, p. 108) |
For Folio Task 2, we will concentrate on ABSOLUTE POVERTY. A definition of this is:
This occurs when the amount of income, if any, is insufficient to meet basic needs of food, clothing and shelter, no matter how efficiently the money is managed. (Aspin 1996, p. 107) |
Check out this app to compare Australia with global income levels:
http://www.globalrichlist.com/ This theory also relates closely to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, that we looked at during Folio Task 1:
|
(2) Case Study: Cambodia
|
|
Follow up activity after watching Small Voices - Omar Havana's photography
What might absolute poverty LOOK like FEEL like SMELL like TASTE like SOUND like for a child?
Life in a Cambodian rubbish dump Amy Simmons, ABC News Online 11 November 2011 Just 30 kilometres from Cambodia's world famous Angkor temples is an astounding sight tourists don't see. Tucked away from foreign eyes on the outskirts of Siem Reap is a community of about 500 people who live - or survive - in a rubbish dump. Spanish photojournalist Omar Havana spent seven months from October 2010 to April 2011 getting to know the people at the dump and documenting their lives. |
See the images on the ABC website
|
(3) Charities in Cambodia
We will start this part of our background learning by watching an episode of Australian Story (ABC 2012) to learn more about the Cambodian Children's Fund, which featured in Small Voices. It was founded by Scott Neeson, who grew up in Elizabeth.
|
Follow up activity after watching Australian Story - Cosi's Cambodian charity
|
|
There are a whole range of charities working towards alleviating child poverty in Cambodia. Browse through the material Ms Grant brought back from her trip to Cambodia and the 'Unsung Heroes' book (Anderson, Griffin & Hartley 2013).
|
(4) More harm than good?
Wouldn't life be easy if we could just throw money at a problem to fix it?! Unfortunately there are many complications when it comes to donating money to alleviate child poverty in Cambodia (and elsewhere).
Devil's Advocate 1/4:
TOO MUCH HELP, NOT ENOUGH COORDINATION? |
Joel Brinkley's book Cambodia's Curse: The modern history of a troubled land (2011, p. 297) states that: "In 2009 more than 2,000 donor and NGO [non-government organisations] were based in Cambodia - more per capita than most anyplace in the world. And the money they disbursed per person far exceeded the average for poor countries receiving foreign aid ... |
Devil's Advocate 2/4:
WHERE TO START? |
Remember how when we were studying the Global Goals, we discussed how it's hard to achieve one of the goals without also achieving the others? These infographics from UNICEF Cambodia's Facebook page show the wide variety of social and cultural factors to take into consideration when deciding how to alleviate child poverty. |
Devil's Advocate 3/4:
WELL-MEANING BUT MISGUIDED HELP? |
These media stories highlight the ethical concerns surrounding removing children from their families. "Aussie do-gooders tearing families apart" (SBS News, 20 February 2015) featuring the Friends International video:
|
Devil's Advocate 4/4:
WHO ACTUALLY GETS THE MONEY? |
|
Follow up activity after Devil's Advocate exercise - Think Child Safe campaign
|
|