We must not only develop such tools, we must give these very tools directly to those who live in poverty so that their lives and those of their children will be better in the future. Along this theme, effective strategies to combat poverty should also be concerned with developing good governance and sound economic policies. Good governance goes hand in hand with alleviating poverty. Governments must be engaged in ensuring access to health care, housing, nutrition, education, infrastructure, and access to land to help the poor. In fighting poverty governments must strengthen, encourage and protect civil society, local independent agencies, women's groups and non-governmental organizations working in their countries.
Poverty alleviation has to be a national priority for all.
Support of macroeconomic and microeconomic policies are necessary for enabling small and microbusinesses to flourish. Daily experience shows that the strongest corollary with poverty alleviation is economic growth. The wisest policy a government can adopt to reduce poverty is to lay a sound macroeconomic and structural foundation for sustainable growth. That means open and undistorted markets, transparent regulatory systems, strong financial oversight and participatory decision-making. These, in addition to improvements in basic living conditions, are the building blocks of prosperous societies.