The golden triangle

A standard means of measuring well-being, or poverty, is the Human Development Index. The HDI measures three basic dimensions of human development:

• A long and healthy life (life expectancy at birth).
• Knowledge and education (adult literacy rate and gross enrollment in schools)
• A decent standard of living (gross domestic product at purchasing power parity).

It focuses attention on wider aspects of development than the per capita income, and is a pathway into the wide variety of more detailed measures.

The Human Development Index is a standard means of measuring well-being, especially child welfare. It is used, for example, to measure the impact of economic policies on quality of life.

The three basic aspects of the Human Development Index are expressed in what we have called the “Golden Triangle” of poverty eradication, focusing on:

• Preventive Health Care
• Economic development and environmental reclamation
• Education and cultural identity
  

We have elaborated these issues into the Framework of Contents for poverty eradication.

Many issues are included in each of these three aspects, al very relevant to eradicate poverty in rural areas. Improvements must be obtained in all three aspects of the golden triangle, simultaneously.

Previous experience was unknown to us integrating so many different and diverse issues in one program all at once, from building latrines, improved kitchens, vegetable gardens, sanitation, improved management of plant seeds, fish culture, sanitation, maintenance of infrastructure, reforestation, improved livestock management, and so on.

Would it be possible to achieve great results, in just a few years, with the majority of the population in so many different issues at a shoestring budget?

DEXCEL-Peru elaborated a proposal and started a Project financed by DEXCEL-International that tried to do just that. It implemented the proposal with SERMANU an organization of 66 farmer and indigenous communities in and around Manu National Park. We selected the most remote communities, all extremely poor. Many were surprised to see that families and communities worked extremely hard, sometimes even at night, to improve their plight. Probably the central issue that explains these results is the cultural one. See: the project.