001 - Poverty 

Reduction

Geographic Knowledge and Understanding

Global and regional/continental progress towards poverty reduction, including the growth of the "new global middle class".

Key Concepts

The way in which a country develops is a process. Each country will ‘experience’ a different process due to their own unique situation - governance, natural resources, geographical location, climate and population resources.

Aims

Key Terminology

Define the words above by using the useful links below and the course textbook. You will be expected to use these words throughout this unit and beyond.

Useful Links

Activity One - Describe

In Geography it is really important to be able to describe trends effectively. When you are faced with a graph you need to describe the overall trend (increasing, decreasing, fluctuating etc) and then illustrate it with data. Then describe any anomalies which also need illustrating with data. If you do not include data in your answers you are losing out on easy marks.


Activity Two - Examples

A fundamental aspect of Geography is being able to link theory to real-life examples. But what is the difference between a case study, a detailed example, and an example?


Case Studies Vs Detailed Examples Vs Examples

Case Study

'A case study is located, detailed and used for discussion. Ideally case studies should be recent...' (IBO Geography Guide 2017)

Example

'When examples are used, students should not just provide one-word responses but should offer some development. An example is a sentence or two that enriches an answer; it may include a specific location, an amount, or a date, all showing a greater depth of knowledge and understanding.' (IBO Geography Guide 2017)

Detailed Example

So what is a detailed example? This bridges somewhere in between the case study and example. A paragraph that includes a specific location and data to show understanding.

Mr. Allaway coined the idea of the IB 'Big Five' countries to try and focus his students to research a more manageable number of case studies. We will be trying to do the same but it is not a hard and fast rule as there are some countries or areas of countries that will help us to answer a syllabus point more effectively than the 'Big Five'. We are going to focus on the following countries:

  

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Useful Resource

Our World in Data - Poverty - Look at the map called 'Share of population in extreme poverty'

Activity Three - Explain

You can hopefully now describe the changes in poverty around the world over time but it is crucial to be able to explain why this has happened. Is it just because the UN have developed a number of goals to be achieved? Or is it changes to the general economy that have occurred in different countries? Or a different reason entirely?


Activity Four - Middle Classes - Describe and Explain

While the overall population size of the world is increasing so is the overall wealth. This is generating a larger amount of people who class themselves as middle class. What are we? How can we tell?


Exam Style Question

Describe and suggest two reasons for global progress towards poverty reduction. (2+2+2 marks)