Challenges in Panama City, Panama
Introduction
The world has undergone several changes. A number of new technologies and innovations have been introduced, making work and living seem easier for some. However, in spite of these changes and developments, problems still arise. In the economic aspect, perhaps, one of the major and omnipresent problems of the world is poverty. People may be aware about it, what it is and why there is such a problem. Nonetheless, people are less knowledgeable or active in understanding how this problem can be resolved. Indeed it is ironic that in spite of the worsening status of poverty worldwide, a solution is still left undefined ( & , 1992).
People understand poverty in various ways. Some aspects of these definitions are measurable, while some are not. Typically, people define and understand poverty as the inability to provide for ones needs. This condition or state is often termed as “moneylessness”. In a broader yet less concrete perspective, poverty is also considered as an aspect of social pathology, which includes not only the state of moneylessness but also the conditions of helplessness, lack of political influence, dependency and other similar situations. In this case, poverty is also a state of powerlessness. This type of poverty is less easily measured.
In the sense of moneylessness, poverty is defined as a problem of not having enough basic medium of exchange in order to satisfy the basic human needs as well as to function socially and economically. Within any society or part of the world, basic human needs always exist. Although the standards of living tend to vary from place to place, elementary human needs are basically the same. These include nutritious food, shelter, clothing, and sanitation, medical attention, and for some affluent societies, recreation and entertainment. People who are suffering from poverty lack the financial resources ( & , 1998), or money to acquire these basic needs. Accordingly, poverty is the point where the total earnings are inadequate to acquire the minimum necessities of life for mere physical efficiency.
Several other studies have given similar definitions of poverty. For instance, poverty may also be defined as the point wherein resources are seriously below the average family or individual. As the resources of an individual or family continue to diminish, the poor tends to withdraw themselves from participating in activities and customs sanctioned by the culture. This tendency to withdraw is also recognized as poverty line or threshold. More specifically, poverty can be defined in this way: Persons, families or groups are considered to be in poverty when they have insufficient resources to acquire the types of diet, participate in activities, and obtain the living conditions that are usual or at least widely approved or encouraged within the societies where they belong.
In the global scene, there are still cities which are being challenged by this problem and one of these cities is the Panama City. Primarily, the main goal of this report is to investigate the context of poverty in the city. In addition, the report will also include the discussion of some effects of poverty in the city and how the local government has been able to solve this issue as well as its link to urbanization and development.
Overview of the City: Panama
Historically, many people see Panama as a shining city with an innate national location to become the core of commercial activities for the Americans. In the years that past, specifically in 1500s, Panama is noted to be the center of businesses for the entire Latin America. During those times, Nombre de Dios was the intersection for trade routes from Mexico to Peru. From 1599, new trade routes has been produces which brought individuals from all over the globe and the activities of trading initiates a yearly trade fair in Portobello which lasted for about 150 years, thus, makes Panama as the core of commerce in the entire Latin America and regarded to be the wealthiest colony in the New World.
However, such remarks have been noted in the past, today, there are issues which affect the impression of Panama all over the world. Accordingly, Panama has the worst distribution of wealth. It is said that 47% of the total population is living in poverty and 16% lives on under a dollar basis (, 2006).
The percentage indicates that majority of the people in the country is experiencing poverty. According to the estimates made by the government in 1999, 9.8% of people in Panama live in extreme poverty. In the United Nation’s Human Development Report in year 2000, Panama ranked 59 out of 172 nations. This positions Panama in the middle of the rating of nations. Such report presents the measurement of the countries’ GDPs, standard of living and education levels in order to rate them in comparison with other nations. In the report, it shows that many industrialized nations, specifically in Western regions like Norway, Canada, Luxembourg and USA usually positioned among the highest in the report, while those who are included in the less developed countries, ranks in the poorer position of the ranking towards the end of the report. It shows that even though Panama has a high GDP per capita, the realism is that most of the profit in Panama is focused among the few wealthy people. For example, Panama’s GDP was US, 513, but most poor residents earn less than the average.
Table 1
GDP per Capita (US$)
Country
1975
1980
1985
1990
1998
Panama
2,572
2,709
2,887
2,523
3,200
United States
19,364
21,529
23,200
25,363
29,683
Mexico
3,380
4,167
4,106
4,046
4,459
Costa Rica
2,231
2,482
2,176
2,403
2,800
SOURCE: United Nations. Human Development Report 2000; Trends in human development and per capita income.
The context of poverty in Panama is concentrated or focused in particular geographic locations in the county. Like for example in the largest city of Panama which is the Panama City. It seems that although the city is noted to be highly commercialized the distribution of wealth is still unequal which makes the city to become one of the affected areas in terms of poverty issues.
Effects of Poverty to Panama’s People
The ultimate goal of having economic growth should be betterment of the living situations of the poor people. It is said that sustaining urbanized cities does not directed to precise and sustained reductions in poverty which may form more problems than it solutions. In addition, if rapid economic growth is attained at the expense of a worst distribution of resource among the people, it eventually becomes unsustainable, because it creates social tensions. Hence, it is plausible to foresee a situation in which growth in economy only leads to such exacerbation of inequality which poverty actually offers (, 2004).
Because of poverty, there are many other social issues and concerns that emerge, specifically in terms of inequality among the poor and rich. One of these is in accordance with the health status of people. According to the , poverty has a direct effect on the people’s rate should serve as a prerequisite for the success of various health reforms, health status, and in fact, causes the growing number of sick people worldwide. This makes health a sound indicator of economic development (, 2004). Thus, when a society is prosperous, the health status of the population is highly promoted. From this perspective, the UNDP noted that a two-way relationship is existent between economic development and health and suggested that reducing poverty.
Indeed, among others, people suffering from poverty often experience poorer health status in all aspects. This is primarily because poor people are most likely to be unemployed or working in low-paying jobs, have low levels of education, live within unsanitary or damp physical environments and have less access to health services. Poor people are likely to smoke or drink excessive alcohol, have inadequate or poor food intake as well as less exercise. Moreover, being in the poverty line makes it difficult for people to access health care. This in turn reduces their motivation and opportunity to adopt a healthier lifestyle.
In Panama, it is said that there are over 16% of children less than five years of age are suffering from some form of malnutrition. And it is said that about 85% of these people are considered to be impoverished. Those 25% of children who belong to poor families and 33% of the extremely poor are noted to be malnourished. Panama’s government has also been aware of its responsibility. The constitution states that one of the duties of the nation is to provide medical care for all in need of it. In past decades as much as a fifth of the national income has been devoted to public health. About a tenth now goes for that purpose; this percentage is higher than in many other Latin-American countries. The government hospitals in the chief cities have often been called the best in Latin America.
The poor find the cost of drugs their chief medical expense, for hospital and clinic facilities, including the new Social Security Agency clinic, are open to them without charge. Pharmacists are denounced for extremely high prices.
Poverty in Panama City largely affects equal opportunities among people. In this regard, the distribution of essential productive assets including employment, workforce, physical assets, social capital and financial assets seems to be highly unequal. These differences are mostly seen between the poor people and the non-poor. According to some statistics (, 1999), in terms of employment, the most profuse assets of the poor people in the region accounts for 77% of the total income, hence, the poor are restricted in their use of these key assets in many ways. First, the poor are considered to have twice the plausibility of being unemployed compared to those non-poor in the city of Panama. Such disparity is even higher when considering those seasonal and discouraged job finders. Specifically, unemployment is noted to be high for poor urban youths and women ( & , 1999).
Unequal opportunities for good education are other aspects which are affected by the issue in poverty in the city. It can be regarded that there is a higher correlation between education and poverty. As education is a critical elevator for poor people to be lifted from poverty, it is can also be said that being poor obstructs a person to have a good education. Hence, in Panama City, most poor individuals are not given opportunities to have a good education to uplift them from poverty.
Aside from these, inequalities for accessing infrastructure services are also common in Panama City. It has been revealed that the opportunity to access some basic services like potable water, sanitation, telephone, electricity and others is highly correlated with the lower plausibility of being poor. Unequal changes for accessing the given services are very visible in the city. Financial assets are also affected by poverty. It is likely to appear that poor people tends to save less than those non-poor. In addition, poor people in the city may likely to have lesser opportunity to own decent homes which is a part of a quality living. These inequalities and disparities are only some of the effects or implications of poverty in the city of Panama.
Actions Undertaken by National and Local Government of Panama City
Since the government of Panama is aware of the effects and implications of poverty among their people, specifically in the residents in Panama City, the government has started to find solutions to address the issues of poverty. Both the national and local government has begun to seek for ways to solve the unacceptable degree of poverty that emerges in the country, particularly in the city of Panama. In order to do so, the national and local government has been able to undertake intensive campaign to minimize poverty which affects the people. In this regard, the local government of the city of Panama in cooperation with its Community Development Department (CDD) has been able to initiate a Community Development program. The main purpose of this development program focuses on three context, which include housing, economy and social services for the city.
The main objective of the community development program in terms of housing highlights the improvement, preservation and increase in housing opportunities for the poor. The government is trying to provide housing services which are affordable yet convenient, and if possible assuring long-term affordability which contributes to the revitalization of the city. In terms of Economy, the government of Panama City tends to provide equal opportunities of economic functions within the city while still continuing to reiterate the economic objectives of the people living in the City. In this regard, the development of economy aims on achieving the main goal of sustaining and enhancing the local quality of living. Lastly, the government also focuses on social and human services to alleviate the level of poverty in the city. In this regard, the government is seeking to improve the quality of living and promulgate self-reliance, independence, growth and development of the residents. Herein, the government is striving to give both services and resources to meet the fundamental human needs.
The community development program set by the government of the city of Panama are able to reach its mission by giving secured, decent and economical housing for its people, especially the poor one. This is done by preserving partnerships with state and federal organizations, local organizations and other institutions like economical housing developers, NGO’s other who are willing to share the common goal of generating affordable and economical housing units for the poor (, 2007).
With such partnerships those families who are in need (poor, elderly and other low-to-average income families) have the chance to live in a decent housing that they can avail. The community development department of Panama City also offered affordable home ownerships chances for the first-time home buyers. Such programs also tender second mortgage loans in terms of settlement costs and down payment for buying detached single-family home, condominiums or townhouses within the jurisdiction and boundary of Panama City. Herein, purchasers or home buyers are obliged to contribute or provide a minimum of 0 as their own funds for the down payment and/or final cost assistance. This type of program given for the poor people is funded by the State and Federal excise and gives no-interest loans a deferred repayment of 30 years or until such property has been sold.
Moreover, in terms of the down payment/closing cost support, the Panama City’s Community Development gives home ownership guidance to those candidates for ownership and potential applicants. Such program or service is developed to increase the knowledge and comprehension of the home buying process within the city and to adhere to the applicants’ personal conditions and situations with respect to budget, credit and/or saving aspects which may impact or affect the process of home purchase.
The program also provides home rehabilitation activities which enables poor and extremely poor individuals to correct violations of code and other structural dilemmas and to improve the value, worth and livability of the purchased home. In this program, no-interest loans are also given with a deferred repayment for 15 years or until such time that the property has been sold. Aside from providing affordable housing, the government also attempts to improve infrastructure enhancement and development putting in priority those poor and extremely poor individuals. These infrastructures may include but not limited to potable water, hospitalization, health and sanitation and other fundamental needs.
In addition, the country of Panama is also able to see opportunities in commercial activities to uplift their economy and provide more jobs and employment among the citizens. Foreign investments policies has been one of the key solution that Panama government have seen in order to boost their economy and adheres to the needs of the poor people.
Conclusion
Poverty is a broad term which can be defined and understood in many ways. While people would normally relate poverty as a state of having insufficient resources to provide for daily need, various authors have also given their own definitions. In general, poverty is defined as the situation wherein resources are depleted, making the person unable to interact or participate socially. At varying levels, poverty has been a condition observed in all parts of the world.
Indeed, poverty has been a growing problem worldwide. Yet, in spite of the problem’s worsening status, a solution is yet to be identified. Meanwhile, a growing number of people under the poverty line suffer from this economic and social problem. While poverty has led to several difficulties and challenges, the unequal opportunities for the poor have been recognized as among the major concerns.
In the Panama City, the awareness of both national and local government has helped the community to identify different problems that emerges with the existence of poverty within the city. In this regard, the community development department has been able to provide programs for addressing urbanization and development needs of the city. Through this program, poor and extremely poor are given equal opportunities to live quality living and to be able to access all opportunities to enhance their live and uplift themselves from poverty.
The main objective of the government is to reduce poverty and to sustain both human development and urbanization. For the programs implemented by the Panama government, the principal guidelines of its provisions and policies includes the generation of productive employment, basic services accessibility, fostering both communal and civil societal participation, promulgate citizen’s rights and bring a closer government to the recipients by greater decentralization and to create sustainable social policies and programs that would help the poor in uplifting themselves from poverty.
All in all, it can be said that countries in general and cities in particular must be able to find ways on how to deal and solve poverty in order to attain sustainable development in the future. The city of Panama is really far from sustaining its urbanization and development, but with its start in focusing on closing the gap for rich and poor, the country may achieve its goal of poverty reduction.
Reference
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
0 comments:
Post a Comment