Fundamentally, poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, and a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or health clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow food or a job to earn a living, and not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation.

It is an aim of the TDA/SAP Approach to actively encourage poverty reduction or alleviation practices to be incorporated into the SAP development process to reduce the level of poverty in communities, regions and countries.

Further information can be found at:

UNDP-UNEP Poverty-Environment Initiative http://www.unpei.org/

UNDP Poverty Reduction http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/ourwork/povertyreduction/overview.html