Ela Bhatt, former WWB Board Chair and founder of WWB network member Self-Employed Women’s Association, addressed the opening session of the United Nations High-Level Event on the Millennium Development Goals. She called on governments to recognize the working poor as the “backbone of every nation,” who must be active decision makers and participants in ending poverty.

Bhatt, representing the Elders, urged donors to “spend your good money in building local capacities and the local economy; support the efforts of the poor to build their own organizations so they can decide and manage their own destinies.”

“Poverty is powerlessness,” she said. “Poverty cannot be removed unless the poor have power to make decisions that affect their lives. So yes, poverty is a political issue.”

Full text of the speech on PDF.