Voices of the Poor and Marginalized: They too have expectations from Space?
- Paper number
IAC-07-E5.2.01
- Author
Dr. S.K. Srivastava, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
- Coauthor
Dr. V.S. Hegde, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
- Coauthor
Dr. V. Jayaraman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India
- Year
2007
- Abstract
Half the world-nearly three billion people-lives on less than two dollars a day. Living in the bottom of pyramid, they represent the aspirations of masses. Couple of years back, the World Bank collected the voices of more than 60,000 poor women and men from 60 countries. Voices of the Poor chronicle the struggles and aspirations of poor people for a life of dignity. Poverty is voicelessness; it's powerlessness; it's insecurity and humiliation, say the poor across five continents. Poor people feel they have not been able to take advantage of new economic opportunities. The poor, who work primarily in the informal sector, are more insecure and unpredictable than ever before. This is linked to unpredictability of agriculture, employment that are unreliable and with low returns, loss of traditional livelihoods, breakdown of traditional social solidarity, lack of access to justice and lack of affordable health care and educational opportunity. Their aspirations are amenable to space as well and it is important that these aspirations should find expressions in space applications. A vision that drives space applications towards poverty alleviation lies in its specific advantages. Space addresses the widest of the divides – whether digital, knowledge or health – that marginalize the poor, deprive them of their basic entitlements, and lead to their powerlessness in society. Poverty is often seen on the margins of degraded ecosystems; in the extremes of vulnerability to hazards. Through targeted policies and actions, space reaches them and provides unique opportunities for connecting underserved peoples with markets, resources and opportunity. Quite often, governments of developing countries confronting with the problems of chronic poverty face the question – what space has to do in poverty alleviation? Could they be affordable? Should limited resources go to space applications in addition to the fundamental issues viz., food, shelter, health, and education? The choice need not be competitive but complementary. Space has been catalytic, enabling and vital, when used as a strategy in synergy with other technologies for poverty alleviation. With economies-of-scale and the ability to transcend traditional barriers, space technology has been found greatly enhancing and extending the overall processes of poverty alleviation – in areas such as literacy, education, health, inclusion and empowerment in society. Another areas affecting the poor are natural resources, environment and disaster management, which have been addressed with space applications. While “best practices” from developing countries demonstrate the range of contributions that space technology has demonstrated in meeting the aspirations of poor, their large-scale operationalization in response to the voices of poor continues to be a challenge. Drawing lessons from global initiatives viz., UNISPACE, MDGs, WSSD, WSIS and HFA; regional initiative like RESAP of UNESCAP as well as experiences of some developing countries, the paper intends to illustrate an analysis and bring out an insight on - to what extent space has been responsive to the voices of poor.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
IAC-07-E5.2.01.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).
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