Select the CORRECT proposition, according to text 1.Twenty-f...

Text 1

Fighting Poverty and Social Exclusion

Poverty and social exclusion are a major challenge for humanity. According to the Human Development Report 1997, a quarter of the world's population remains in severe poverty, despite the major advances in reducing poverty made during the 20th century. At the same time, social inequality, marginalization and discrimination still exclude many people from full participation in economic, political and cultural life. While poverty and social exclusion represent common problems to policy makers in both poor and rich countries, new initiatives have been developed to combat these problems, initiatives which merit being called "Best Practices".

What are Best Practices? The idea of creating a database for Best Practices is based on the observation that carefully documented case histories can provide excellent guidelines for policy making and planning of new projects. The goal of a database on Best Practices is to present and promote creative, successful and sustainable solutions to social problems arising from poverty and social exclusion in order to build a bridge between experimental solutions, research and policy. 

Best Practices are model projects or policies aimed at improving the quality of life of individuals or groups suffering from poverty or social exclusion. They are typically based on the cooperation between national or local authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and local communities, the private sector, and academic communities. They include a variety of activities in all parts of the world: 

• In England: “The Big Issue”, a magazine sold by homeless people so they can earn a living and re-integrate into society.

• In India: 4,000 women established the Shri Mahila SEWA Sahakari Bank to provide credit at reasonable rates to self-employed women workers.

• In Brazil: the “Living Library” was created to make reading and writing an everyday activity for poor children to combat high rates of failure at elementary school.

Calling these activities Best Practices is to suggest that they can and should be replicated, that ideas can and should be generated from them, and that they can and should contribute to policy development. 

From: <http://www.unesco.org/most/bphome.htm Access on August 18, 2010. (Adapted)