Vatican City, May 2, 2017 / 10:33 am
Traditional solutions to the problem of poverty typically take a top-down welfare approach, focused on fulfilling a person's most basic needs, such as food and shelter – but which don't address the issue of societal participation and inclusion.
The plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, held at the Vatican April 28-May 2, aimed to find solutions which promote inclusion for the otherwise marginalized, especially the poorest in society.
"All of the 20th century, and the end of the 19th century, the response to the poorest of the poor was to provide them with absolute basic necessities, such as the workhouse, food, clothes," said Margaret Archer, president of the Academy of Social Sciences.
"This is not enabling them to participate in society; at best, only to survive. Life is about more than just simple survival. Welfare is a top-down solution. So this was the motive for the conference on participation," she said.