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Sewers, bridges and power lines are often taken for granted in countries like the UK, Australia and New Zealand.  But many developing countries around the world lack even the most basic infrastructure. Infrastructure is important, not just for the provision of basic services, or for the economy, but also allows for the poorest communities in the world to gain access to a wide array of social services, healthcare and greater possibilities for livelihood.

‘Around the world more than 1 billion people lack access to roads, 1.2 billion do not have safe drinking water, 2.3 billion have no reliable sources of energy, 2.4 billion lack sanitation facilities and 4 billion are without modern communication services.’ 

 

Lack of adequate infrastructure perpetuates poverty.. because it denies possibilities. Hunger, one of the most obvious symptoms of poverty, is often less the result of a lack of food than a distance from food.  When people live far away from food sources, food security depends on infrastructure that ensures food can be transported in an efficient and cost effective way.  

Lack of infrastructure also leads to lack of employment by acting as a disincentive to investment. Companies who struggle to produce and sell goods in an area with inadequate roads, electricty or water supply do not want to set up the factories or businesses that could potentially generate employment, improve living standards and reduce poverty. 

Lack of infrastructure can also lead to poor health and high mortality. Where there are no clinics or hospitals available, or where lack of roads or bridges makes them inaccessible, people cannot access the medical services that they require to be healthy and productive. A villager in Mozambique explains "The most dangerous thing is that [cholera] has always appeared during the rainy season, and it is then that the river is in spate and boats cannot cross." 

The answer to treating cholera in this case is not medicine or doctors, it's a bridge. 

Infrastructure that provides access to water and sanitation facilities are also key to good health.  Tube wells or piped water are needed for people to drink, cook and bathe.  Sanitary toilet facilities are required to prevent the spread of bacteria and disease.  

In addition to health, education is another important factor that enables people to overcome extreme poverty.  Where there are no schools - another essential element of basic infrastructure - it becomes difficult to educate children or adults.. leading to a cycle that deprives later generations of learning.

Investment in infrastructure development and maintenance is essential to address these as well as other factors that contribute to poverty. 

However, simply developing infrastructure is not enough.  In addition to perpetuating poverty where infrastructure does not exist, poverty can also affect how much access people have to infrastructure where it does exist.  This is especially true for women, who make up two thirds of the world's poorest and who have the least access to economic infrastructure as a result of social and cultural norms.  Infrastructure must be pro-poor and gender sensitive to ensure that it benefits those who depend on it to escape extreme poverty.To read more about Women and Gender, click here.

Infrastructure and the MDGs

Each of the eight MDGs depends on some element of infrastructure.  From reducing hunger through improved roads on which to transport food or better irrigation systems, to building gender-sensitive infrastructure that benefits women, substantial investments in infrastructure will be required to meet the MDGs and their targets. 

 There are some challenges: 

• Affordability: Infrastructure is relatively expensive.  For infrastructure to have an impact, funding and resources must be provided for it to be properly constructed and maintained, but high costs lead to underinvestment and poor maintenance.  In the Nigerian capital, Lagos, costly infrastructure was neglected to the point that “Over the past 20 years, the city has lost much of its street lighting, its dilapidated road system has become extremely congested, there are no longer regular refuse collections (...). The city’s sewerage network is practically non-existent and at least two-thirds of childhood disease is attributable to inadequate access to safe drinking water.”

• Privatisation: Involving private companies can be an effective way to facilitate infrastructure development; private companies are often more efficient and cost effective when it comes to building and maintaining infrastructure.  However, privatisation can also be based on financial models that are disadvantageous to the poor, such as 'user pays' schemes. In many cases "infrastructure privatisation has proceeded without adequate consideration being given to the needs of the poor."  Jerome suggests, "The goal should be a more efficient sector delivering quality service while fulfilling its social responsibilities. Privatisation is only an effective means towards the achievement of this goal if it is done in the context of an appropriate market and regulatory framework."
  

• Displacement: Large infrastructure projects require land that may displace individuals or communities living there. In such cases, the governments and agencies involved in the construction of infrastructure must take responsibility for the compensation and resettlement of those communities. Unfortunately, this process is not always adequately managed, particularly when the communities being displaced are the poor, who often don't have legal rights to the land they live on.  The most well-known example of infrastructure development leading to displacement is the case of the Three Gorges Hydro-Electric Dam in China.  More than 1.2 million people have already had to relocate to make space for the project, and another 4 million may be displaced to ensure environmental safety.   While the dam will generate valuable electricity that can foster wider economic growth, it is possible that the people whose lives where uprooted by the dam many not directly benefit from this energy production.  
  

..and Solutions