Is It Poverty?

The two men in the picture to the right are dyeing agave silk in the medina of Fes, Morocco. The medina is an intricate and fascinating maze of narrow alleyways bustling with commerce. Skilled craftsmen work on their products while shopkeepers display their merchandise and compete for customers. Children run around, family members chat with each other, friends share a laugh. The tourist is struck by the vitality of the place and may wonder whether this can be considered “poverty.” The lives of the people in the medina are simple; yet they often appear happy and dignified. There’s no starvation here, and the many expert artisans take obvious pride in their work. These families are undoubtedly better off than the many we saw in the rural areas of Ghana. But we shouldn’t be misled into romanticizing the lives of these Moroccan households. What they experience, every day, is poverty indeed.

Poverty is best understood as a condition that limits people’s choices. Such choices include not only feeding oneself and one’s family, but also having access to health care, education, and some degree of economic security, as well as having the ability to participate in the life of the community and pursue interests and endeavors considered valuable. Morocco has undoubtedly made great strides toward removing poverty. A mere 2.5% of the population now lives on less than $1.25 a day; this compares to over 50% in the average Sub-Saharan African country. Life expectancy, now over 71 years, is not far from the levels achieved in North American and Western European countries (and nearly twenty years longer than in the average Sub-Saharan African country). Yet literacy levels remain remarkably low and access to health care limited. And there isn’t much of a social safety net to catch those hit by unemployment or a sudden drop in incomes. While the merchants in the medina may get by when things are good, their livelihoods are not secure; an illness, accident, or economic downturn will quickly push them below the poverty line. And their ability to see the next generation move into higher-paying, more secure jobs is drastically limited by an educational system that leaves over 40% of adults unable to read and write.

The next step for Morocco is to expand the reach of its educational system, so as to reduce illiteracy, increase labor productivity, and move a greater share of its population into the relative comfort and security of the middle class. A larger middle class will also allow the country to muster the resources needed to build a stronger social safety net for those who remain at the margins of the economic system.

It is intriguing for the tourist to observe the tanneries in the medina and learn that work conditions here have changed little since medieval times; but chances are that the people who work here hope that their kids will have a better life—one that frees them from the harsh toil of manual labor and affords them more economic security and peace of mind.