I've been living in rural East Africa for about 10 years, and I want to share a field perspective with you on global poverty. I believe that the greatest failure of the human race is the fact that we've left more than one billion of our members behind. Hungry, extreme poverty: these often seem like gigantic, insurmountable problems, too big to solve. But as a field practitioner, I believe these are actually very solvable problems if we just take the right strategies.
Ja živim oko 10 godina u ruralnoj istočnoj Africi, i hteo bih da podelim sa vama sliku sa terena o globalnom siromaštvu. Verujem da je najveći neuspeh ljudske rase to što smo zapostavili više od jedne milijarde ljudi. Glad, ekstremno siromaštvo: često deluju kao ogromni i nepremostivi problemi, isuviše veliki da bi se rešili. Ali, kao neko sa terena, mislim da su ovo veoma rešivi problemi ako se primene adekvatne strategije.
Archimedes was an ancient Greek thinker, and he taught us that if we lean on the right levers, we can move the world. In the fight against extreme poverty, I believe there are three powerful levers that we can lean on. This talk is all about those levers, and why they make poverty a winnable fight in our lifetimes.
Arhimed je bio stari grčki mislilac, i on nas je naučio da ako imamo adekvatnu polugu, možemo da pomerimo svet. Verujem da u borbi protiv siromaštva postoje tri bitne poluge koje možemo upotrebiti. Ovaj govor je o njima i zašto je sa njima siromaštvo borba koju možemo da dobijemo u našem životnom dobu.
What is extreme poverty? When I first moved to rural East Africa, I stayed overnight with a farm family. They were wonderful people. They invited me into their home. We sang songs together and ate a simple dinner. They gave me a blanket to sleep on the floor. In the morning, however, there was nothing to eat. And then at lunchtime, I watched with an increasingly sick feeling as the eldest girl in the family cooked porridge as a substitute for lunch. For that meal, every child drank one cup to survive. And I cannot tell you how ashamed I felt when they handed one of those cups to me, and I knew I had to accept their hospitality.
Šta je ekstremno siromaštvo? Kada sam se doselio u ruralnu istočnu Afriku, prenoćio sam sa jednom farmerskom porodicom. Bili su divni ljudi. Pozvali su me u svoj dom. Pevali smo pesme zajedno i zajedno smo večerali. Dali su mi ćebe, da spavam na podu. Ujutru, međutim, nije bilo ništa za jelo. I onda sam za vreme ručka, posmatrao sa mučnim osećajem, kako je najstarija devojka u porodici skuvala kašu kao zamenu za ručak. Za taj obrok, svako dete je popilo po šolju kako bi preživelo. I ne mogu vam reći kako postiđeno sam se osećao kada su i meni dali jednu od tih šolja, i znao sam da moram da prihvatim njihovo gostoprimstvo.
Children need food not only to survive but also to grow physically and mentally. Every day they fail to eat, they lose a little bit of their future. Amongst the extreme poor, one in three children are permanently stunted from a lifetime of not eating enough. When that's combined with poor access to health care, one in 10 extremely poor children die before they reach age five. And only one quarter of children complete high school because they lack school fees. Hunger and extreme poverty curb human potential in every possible way. We see ourselves as a thinking, feeling and moral human race, but until we solve these problems for all of our members, we fail that standard, because every person on this planet matters. This child matters. These children matter. This girl matters.
Deci je potrebna hrana da bi preživela i da bi rasla, fizički i psihički. Svakim danom koji ne jedu, izgube deo svoje budućnosti. Među ekstremno siromašnima, jedno od troje dece je trajno zaostalo usled nedovoljno hrane. Kada se na to doda loša zdravstvena zaštita, jedno od 10 siromašne dece umre pre svoje pete godine. I samo jedna četvrtina dece završi srednju školu, pošto nemaju za školarinu. Glad i ekstremno siromaštvo ograničavaju ljudski potencijal u svakom smislu. Mi vidimo sebe kao misleću, osećajnu i moralnu ljudsku rasu, ali dok ne rešimo ove probleme za sve naše članove, pali smo na tom standardu, zato što svaka osoba na ovoj planeti vredi. Ovo dete vredi. Ova deca vrede. Ova devojčica vredi.
You know, we see things like this, and we're upset by them, but they seem like such big problems. We don't know how to take effective action. But remember our friend Archimedes. Global poverty has powerful levers. It's a problem like any other. I live and work in the field, and as a practitioner, I believe these are very solvable problems. So for the next 10 minutes, let's not be sad about the state of the world. Let's engage our brains. Let's engage our collective passion for problem-solving and figure out what those levers are.
Znate, mi vidimo ove stvari, i uznemireni smo njima, ali one deluju kao tako veliki problemi. Ne znamo kako da preduzmemo efektivnu akciju. Ali setite se našeg prijatelja Arhimeda. Globalno siromaštvo ima jake poluge. To je problem kao i bilo koji drugi. Ja živim i radim na terenu, i kao čovek u praksi, ja verujem da su ovo veoma rešivi problemi. Tako da u nardenih 10 minuta, hajde da ne budemo tužni o stanju u svetu. Hajde da uključimo naše mozgove. Hajde da podstaknemo našu kolektivnu strast za rešavanjem problema, i zaključimo koje su to poluge.
Lever number one: most of the world's poor are farmers. Think about how extraordinary this is. If this picture represents the world's poor, then more than half engage in farming as a major source of income. This gets me really excited. All of these people, one profession. Think how powerful this is. When farmers become more productive, then more than half the world's poor earn more money and climb out of poverty. And it gets better. The product of farming is, of course, food. So when farmers become more productive, they earn more food, and they don't just help themselves, but they help to feed healthy communities and thriving economies. And when farmers become more productive, they reduce environmental pressure. We only have two ways we can feed the world: we can either make our existing farmland a lot more productive, or we can clear cut forest and savannah to make more farmland, which would be environmentally disastrous. Farmers are basically a really important leverage point. When farmers become more productive, they earn more income, they climb out of poverty, they feed their communities and they reduce environmental land pressure. Farmers stand at the center of the world.
Poluga broj jedan: najsiromašniji među ljudskom populacijom su farmeri. Zamislite kako je ovo neobično. Ako ova slika predstavlja siromašne na Zemlji, onda je za više od pola njih poljoprivreda glavni izvor prihoda. Ovo je veoma uzbudljivo. Svi ovi ljudi, jedna profesija. Razmislite koliko je to moćno. Kada farmeri postanu produktivniji, onda više od polovine siromašnih na svetu zarađuje više novca i izlazi iz siromaštva. I postaje bolje. Proizvodi poljoprivrede su, naravno, hrana. Tako da kada farmeri postanu produktivniji, imaju više hrane, i ne pomažu samo sebi, već da se nahrani zdrava zajednica i razvija ekonomija. I kada farmeri postanu produktivniji, smanjuju pritisak na okolinu. Imamo samo dva načina da nahranimo svet: da napravimo naše farme produktivnijim, ili da pretvorimo šume i savane u zemljište za poljoprivredu, što bi bilo pogubno za okolinu. Farmeri su suštinski, veoma bitna poluga. Kada farmeri postanu produktivniji, zarađuju više, izvlače se iz siromaštva, hrane svoje zajednice i smanjuju pritisak na životnu sredinu. Farmeri stoje u centru sveta.
And not a farmer like this one, but rather this lady. Most of the farmers I know are actually women. Look at the strength and the will radiating from this woman. She is physically strong, mentally tough, and she will do whatever it takes to earn a better life for her children. If we're going to put the future of humanity in one person's hands, then I'm really glad it's her.
I ne farmeri poput ovoga, već više poput ove dame. Većina farmera koje poznajem su zapravo žene. Pogledajte snagu i želju koje izbijaju iz ove žene. Ona je fizički jaka, mentalno snažna, i ona će uraditi šta god je potrebno da zaradi za bolji život svoje dece. Ako treba da stavimo budućnost čovečanstva u ruke jedne osobe, onda sam zaista srećan da je to ona.
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There's just one problem: many smallholder farmers lack access to basic tools and knowledge. Currently, they take a little bit of saved food grain from the prior year, they plant it in the ground and they till it with a manual hand hoe. These are tools and techniques that date to the Bronze Age, and it's why many farmers are still very poor.
Postoji samo jedan problem: mnogo malih farmera manjka u pristupu osnovnim alatima i znanju. Trenutno, oni uzimaju malo sačuvanog zrnevlja hrane, od prošle godine, i to sade u zemlju i zalivaju manuelnim ručnim crevom. Ovo su alati i tehnike koje datiraju iz bronzanog doba, i to je razlog zbog koga je mnogo farmera i dalje siromašno.
But good news, again. Lever number two: humanity actually solved the problem of agricultural poverty a century ago. Let me walk you through the three most basic factors in farming. First, hybrid seed is created when you cross two seeds together. If you naturally pollinate a high-yielding variety together with a drought-resistant variety, you get a hybrid that inherits positive traits from both of its parents. Next, conventional fertilizer, if used responsibly, is environmentally sustainable. If you micro-dose just a pinch of fertilizer to a plant that's taller than I am, you unlock enormous yield gain. These are known as farm inputs. Farm inputs need to be combined with good practice. When you space your seeds and plant with massive amounts of compost, farmers multiply their harvests. These proven tools and practices have more than tripled agricultural productivity in every major region of the world, moving mass numbers of people out of poverty. We just haven't finished delivering these things to everybody just yet, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Ali opet, dobre vesti. Poluga broj dva: ljudi su rešili problem poljoprivrednog siromaštva pre jednog veka. Dozvolite mi da vas sprovdem kroz tri osnovna faktora u poljoprivredi. Prvo, hibridno seme nastaje kada se dva semena međusobno ukrste. Ako prirodno oprašujete vrstu sa velikim prinosima zajedno sa vrstom koja je otporna na sušu, dobićete hibrid koji će naslediti pozitivne osobine od oba roditelja. Dalje, konvencionalno đubrivo, ako se koristi odgovorno, je ekološki održivo. Ako mikro dozirate malo đubriva za biljku koja je viša od mene, dobićete neverovatan prinos. Ovo je poznato kao inputi za farmere. Inputi za famere se moraju kombinovati sa dobrom praksom. Kada posadite seme sa velikom količinom komposta, farmeri multiplikuju žetvu. Ovi dokazani alati i metodi su utrostručili poljoprivrednu produktivnost u svakom većem regionu na svetu, izvlačeći narod iz siromaštva. Samo nismo stigli da dostavimo to svima još uvek, pre svega podsaharskoj Africi.
So overall, this is amazing news. Humanity actually solved agricultural poverty a century ago, in theory. We just haven't delivered these things to everybody just yet. In this century, the reason that people remain poor is because maybe they live in remote places. They lack access to these things. Therefore, ending poverty is simply a matter of delivering proven goods and services to people. We don't need more genius types right now. The humble delivery guy is going to end global poverty in our lifetime.
Tako da, ovo su odlične vesti. Čovečanstvo je rešilo poljoprivredno siromaštvo pre jednog veka, u teoriji. Samo što nismo svima to i isporučili. U ovom veku, razlog zbog koga ljudi ostaju siromašni je možda zato što žive na udaljenim mestima. Nemaju pristup ovim stvarima. Tako da, rešenje siromaštva je, pitanje dostavljanja dokazanih roba i usluga do ljudi. Ne trebaju nam genijalci trenutno. Skromni dostavljači će da okončaju globalno siromaštvo u našem dobu.
So these are the three levers, and the most powerful lever is simply delivery. Wherever the world's companies, governments and nonprofits set up delivery networks for life-improving goods, we eliminate poverty.
Ovo su tri poluge, i najjača poluga je jednostavno isporuka. Kada god svetske kompanije, vlade i NVO osnuju distributivne mreže za robu koja unapređuje život, eliminisaćemo siromaštvo.
OK, so that sounds really nice in theory, but what about in practice? What do these delivery networks look like? I want to share the concrete example that I know best, my organization, One Acre Fund. We only serve the farmer, and our job is to provide her with the tools that she needs to succeed. We start off by delivering farm inputs to really rural places. Now, this may appear initially very challenging, but it's pretty possible. Let me show you. We buy farm inputs with the combined power of our farmer network, and store it in 20 warehouses like this. Then, during input delivery, we rent hundreds of 10-ton trucks and send them out to where farmers are waiting in the field. They then get their individual orders and walk it home to their farms. It's kind of like Amazon for rural farmers. Importantly, realistic delivery also includes finance, a way to pay. Farmers pay us little by little over time, covering most of our expenses. And then we surround all that with training. Our rural field officers deliver practical, hands-on training to farmers in the field every two weeks.
OK, ovo zvuči super u teoriji, ali kako je u praksi? Kako ove distributivne mreže izgledaju? Želim da podelim ovaj primer koji znam najbolje, moju organizaciju, One Acre Fund. Mi samo služimo farmere, i naš posao je da joj pružimo alate koji su joj potrebni da uspe. Počinjemo dostavljanjem inputa za farme u ruralnim oblastima. Sada, u početku ovo može biti izazovno ali je moguće. Dozvolite mi da vam pokažem. Kupimo inpute za farmu zajedničkim snagama naše mreže i to čuvamo u 20 ovakvih skladišta. Onda, prilikom dostave inputa, iznajmimo na stotine 10-tonskih kamiona i pošaljemo ih farmerima koji čekaju u polju. Onda oni dobiju svoje porudžbine i odnesu ih do svojih farmi. To je slično Amazonu za ruralne farmere. Važno je što realistična isporuka takođe uključuje finansiranje, način plaćanja. Farmeri nam vremenom plaćaju malo po malo, pokrivajući najveći deo naših troškova. I onda mi zaokružimo sve treningom. Naši ljudi na terenu omoguće praktični trening iz prve ruke farmerima na polju svake dve nedelje.
Wherever we deliver our services, farmers use these tools to climb out of poverty. This is a farmer in our program, Consolata. Look at the pride on her face. She has achieved a modest prosperity that I believe is the human right of every hardworking person on the planet. Today, I'm proud to say that we're serving about 400,000 farmers like Consolata.
Gde god da radimo, farmeri koriste ove alate da se izvuku iz siromaštva. Ovo je farmer u našem programu, Konsolata. Pogledajte ponos na njenom licu. Ona je postigla skroman uspeh za koji verujem da je ljudsko pravo svakog radnog čoveka na planeti. Danas, ponosan sam što mogu da kažem da služimo 400.000 farmera, poput Konsolate.
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The key to doing this is scalable delivery. In any given area, we hire a rural field officer who delivers our services to 200 farmers, on average, with more than 1,000 people living in those families. Today, we have 2,000 of these rural field officers growing very quickly. This is our delivery army, and we're just one organization. There are many companies, governments and nonprofits that have delivery armies just like this. And I believe we stand at a moment in time where collectively, we are capable of delivering farm services to all farmers.
Ključ ovoga je prilagodljiva isporuka. U svakom području, angažujemo čoveka koji isporučuje naše usluge ka 200 farmera u proseku sa više od 1.000 ljudi koji žive u tim porodicama. Danas, imamo 2.000 ovih stručnjaka i to raste brzo. Ovo je naša distributivna vojska, i mi smo samo jedna organizacija. Ima mnogo kompanija, vlada, NVO koje imaju slične armije. I verujem da se nalazimo u trenutku gde smo zajedno u mogućnosti da pružimo svim farmerima usluge.
Let me show you how possible this is. This is a map of Sub-Saharan Africa, with a map of the United States for scale. I chose Sub-Saharan Africa because this is a huge delivery territory. It's very challenging. But we analyzed every 50-mile by 50-mile block on the continent, and we found that half of farmers live in just these shaded regions. That's a remarkably small area overall. If you were to lay these boxes next to each other within a map of the United States, they would only cover the Eastern United States. You can order pizza anywhere in this territory and it'll arrive to your house hot, fresh and delicious. If America can deliver pizza to an area of this size, then Africa's companies, governments and non-profits can deliver farm services to all of her farmers. This is possible.
Da vam pokažem koliko je to zaista izvodljivo. Ovo je mapa podsaharske Afrike, sa mapom SAD-a radi poređenja. Ja biram podsaharsku Afriku zato što je ovo ogromna distributivna teritorija. Veoma je izazovna, ali mi smo analizirali, svaki blok od 50x50 milja na kontinentu, i ustanovili smo da samo pola farmera živi u osenčenim delovima. To je neverovatno malo područje ukupno. Ako biste poslagali ove kutije jedne pored drugih unutar mape SAD-a, oni bi samo pokrili istočne SAD. Možete da naručite picu bilo gde na ovoj teritoriji i ona će stići u vašu kuću vruća, sveža i ukusna. Ako Amerika može da dostavi picu na ovom području, onda afričke kompanije, vlade i NVO mogu da omoguće usluge za farmere za sve. Ovo je izvodljivo.
I'm going to wrap up by generalizing beyond just farming. In every field of human development, humanity has already invented effective tools to end poverty. We just need to deliver them. So again, in every area of human development, super-smart people a long time ago invented inexpensive, highly effective tools. Humanity is armed to the teeth with simple, effective solutions to poverty. We just need to deliver these to a pretty small area. Again using the map of Sub-Saharan Africa as an example, remember that rural poverty is concentrated in these blue shaded areas. Urban poverty is even more concentrated, in these green little dots. Again, using a map of the United States for scale, this is what I would call a highly achievable delivery zone. In fact, for the first time in human history, we have a vast amount of delivery infrastructure available to us. The world's companies, governments and non-profits have delivery armies that are fully capable of covering this relatively small area. We just lack the will.
Završiću generalizacijom koja prevazilazi poljoprivredu. U svakom polju ljudskog razvoja, čovečanstvo je već pronašlo načine da okonča siromaštvo. Samo moramo da ih isporučimo. Opet, u svakoj oblasti ljudskog razvoja. super-intelegentni ljudi su davno razvili jeftine, veoma efikasne alate. Ljudi su naoružani do zuba jednostavnim, efektivnim, rešenjima za siromaštvo. Samo je potrebno da ih isporučimo na prilično malu površinu. Opet, koristeći ovu mapu podsaharske Afrike kao primer zapamtite da je ruralno siromaštvo koncentrisano u plavo senčenim sredinama. Urbano siormaštvo je više koncentrisano u ovim malim zelenim tačkama. Opet, koristeći mapu SAD-a kao primer, ovo je ono što bih nazvao zonom lake distribucije. Zapravo, po prvi put u ljudskoj istoriji, imamo pregršt distributivne infrastrukture raspoloživo. Svetske kompanije, vlade, NVO imaju distributivne armije koje su potpuno osposobljene da pokriju ovo relativno malo područje. Samo nam manjka volje.
If we are willing, every one of us has a role to play. We first need more people to pursue careers in human development, especially if you live in a developing nation. We need more front line health workers, teachers, farmer trainers, sales agents for life-improving goods. These are the delivery people that dedicate their careers to improving the lives of others. But we also need a lot of support roles. These are roles available at just my organization alone, and we're just one out of many. This may surprise you, but no matter what your technical specialty, there is a role for you in this fight. And no matter how logistically possible it is to end poverty, we need a lot more resources. This is our number one constraint. For private investors, we need a big expansion of venture capital, private equity, working capital, available in emerging markets. But there are also limits to what private business can accomplish. Private businesses often struggle to profitably serve the extreme poor, so philanthropy still has a major role to play. Anybody can give, but we need more leadership. We need more visionary philanthropists and global leaders who will take problems in human development and lead humanity to wipe them off the face of the planet. If you're interested in these ideas, check out this website.
Ako smo voljni, svako od nas ima ulogu da odigra. Prvo nam treba više njih u ljudskom razvoju, pogotovo ako živite u zemlji u razvoju. Trebaju nam medicinski radnici, nastavnici, farmeri, agenti prodaje za robu koja poboljšava standard. Ovo su ljudi koji su posvetili svoje karijere da unaprede živote drugih. Ali takođe nam trebaju i uloge podrške. Ove uloge su tražene u samo mojoj organizaciji a mi smo samo jedni od mnogih. Ovo vas može iznenaditi, ali bez obzira na vašu tehničku ekspertizu, postoji uloga za vas u ovoj borbi. I bez obzira koliko je logistički moguće okončati siromaštvo, potrebno nam je više resursa. Ovo je naša prva prepreka. Za privatne investitore, potreban nam je rast rizičnog kapitala, privatnog kapitala, radnog kapitala, dostupnog na tržištima u razvoju. Ali takođe postoje ograničenja ononga šta privatno preduzetništvo može. Privatno predsuzetništvo se često bori da profitabilno usluži ekstremno siromašne tako da filantropija i dalje igra bitnu ulogu. Svako može dati, ali nam je potrebno više vođstva. Potrebni su man vizionari filantropi i lideri na globalnom nivou koji će se posvetiti problemima ljudskog razvoja i povesti čovečanstvo da ih zbriše sa lica planete. Ako ste zainteresovani za ove ideje, pogledajte sajt.
We need more leaders. Humanity has put people on the moon. We've invented supercomputers that fit into our pockets and connect us with anybody on the planet. We've run marathons at a five-minute mile pace. We are an exceptional people. But we've left more than one billion of our members behind. Until every girl like this one has an opportunity to earn her full human potential, we have failed to become a truly moral and just human race. Logistically speaking, it's incredibly possible to end extreme poverty. We just need to deliver proven goods and services to everybody. If we have the will, every one of us has a role to play. Let's deploy our time, our careers, our collective wealth. Let us deliver an end to extreme poverty in this lifetime.
Potrebno nam je više lidera. Čovečanstvo je poslalo ljude na Mesec. Izmislili smo super kompjutere koji staju u naš džep i povezuju nas sa svima na planeti. Trčimo maratone tempom od pet minuta po milji. Mi smo izuzetni ljudi. Ali smo zapostavili više od jedne milijarde naših pripadnika. Sve dok svaka devojka poput ove nema priliku da ostvari svoj pun potencijal, propustili smo da postanemo iskreno moralna i pravedna humana rasa. Logistički pričano, neverovatno je moguće okončati ekstremno siromaštvo. Samo treba da isporučimo robu i usluge svima. Ako postoji volja, svako od nas ima ulogu da odigra. Hajde da upotrebimo naše vreme karijere, naše bogatstvo. Hajde da okončamo ekstremno siromaštvo u našem životnom dobu.
Thank you.
Hvala.
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