Multiple Perspectives for Poverty Reduction

The 193 United Nations member countries, focused on halving world poverty by 2015, set eight Millennium Development Goals. A new 2030 agenda for sustainable development has replaced the failed goals; it comprises 17 new sustainable development goals including ending poverty. 1.2 billion people (about 20% of the world's population) cannot fulfil most basic daily needs to live without fear, hunger, or suffering. The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) estimates that more than one billion people in the world live on less than US$1 a day while 2.7 billion struggle to survive on less than US$2 per day. The chapter strategically examines four perspectives (economic, sociological, occupational, and educational) to identify some of the key success factors to ensure the viability of new micro-businesses. A theoretical framework that incorporates these perspectives and the SEED–SCALE methodology is proposed, demonstrating how the establishment of new micro-businesses may be used to reduce poverty in developing economies.