Following the United National General Assembly event earlier this month, the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty has produced a call to action for Governments to expand social protection and care systems, and promote decent work to tackle child poverty which launches today, the UN International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. 

David Gordon, Professor of Social Justice in the School for Policy Studies and Director of the Bristol Poverty Institute, is a world-leading expert in this field said, 

“In order to eradicate child poverty during the 21^st century governments, businesses and the International Community need to improve pay and working conditions for adults who bear responsibility to provide for children in their household and also improve social protection, including family and child benefits and paid parental leave.” 

As the cost-of-living crisis continues to hit UK news headlines, it seems closing the global poverty gap and reaching net-zero goals are fast slipping off the radar as economic concerns turn closer to home. 

The United National General Assembly (UNGA) met last month in New York to take stock and accelerate action to help achieve the ambitious sustainable development goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations to improve health and education, reduce inequality, and spur economic growth.  

Sadly, evidence indicates the global poverty increased due to the COVID pandemic. A big part of the problem is there are still no ways of measuring poverty which can be used universally by all countries. Without the ability to accurately assess and monitor the problem and any progress, the lofty goal of eradicating poverty will remain but a pipe dream. 

Tackling this thorny issue, leading researchers from the University of Bristol Poverty Institute, together with the University of Gothenburg and UNICEF, hosted a UNGA Science Summit to drive forward the development of tools to better analyse and understand poverty and deprivation. Standardised survey data holds the key to harnessing robust, multi-dimensional statistics on adult and child deprivation (such as the ability to afford adequate food, clothing and meet your social obligations) to inform meaningful policy advice and change. 

Data is also crucial to help combat another pressing global challenge: climate change. Rapid advances in modelling techniques are transforming the potential to predict flooding, which has a disproportionately devastating impact on low-income countries.