“HOW DOES LANGUAGE SIGNIFICANT IN ACHIEVING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

(MDG)”

The Millennium Development Goals, or simply known as MDG, consists of eight ambitious
agenda with measurable targets and clear deadlines that aims to reduce poverty and improve
the lives of the world’s poorest people and make the world more equitable and sustainable
place. The worlds leaders agreed on it at the Millennium Summit in September 2000. The
United Nation member states have committed in halving global poverty since 2015, but even
the deadline is fast approaching, the global poverty remains a grim reality. However, let us
focus on how is language significant in achieving the MDG goals, specifically the first goal which
is eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

Language is the principal method of human communication that consists of words used in a
structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech, writing, or gesture. According to the
philosophy expressed in the myths and religion of many people, language is the source of
human life and power as it plays a vital part of human connection. Although all species have
their own ways of communicating, humans are the only ones that have mastered cognitive
language communication. Language allows us to share our ideas, thoughts, and feelings with
others. It has the power to build societies, but also has the power to tear them down. Language
is the preferred method of communication in every culture. It is the fuel we use to empower
our desires and to direct and align our energy. Language has immense power and its impact
depends entirely on how we wield it because words are so often used automatically and
unconsciously, so we have to learned how to treat them lightly.

Language is the medium through which human beings communicate and grow intellectually as
well as socially. In order for the MDG to be attained and be effective, all people must be
included and language plays a very important role when it comes to inclusion as it is the center
of all human activities, self-expression, and identity. Language is significant in any discussion of
poverty reduction as it determines who has an access to educational, political and economic
resources. It is the basic tool for communication and no human life can exist without it. It is also
the language that has exposed the hidden and often bitter realities of the world. The role of
language in the adult education system reduces poverty as it removes language barriers and
enables more people to benefit from available education and information networks. Language
is an embodiment of a community's knowledge, wisdom and experience and its exclusion might
results in their loss. Aside from that, if we want to participate in the affairs of the community or
the country, we need to have a linguistic proficiency that will enable us to negotiate and
influence. It is also the main link between the poor and rich nations, so in order to achieve the
goal of disseminating useful information and eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, the adult
education programme needs to recognize the different languages that exist in the country.
Philippines has a fairly high poverty rate below the poverty line, and because lots of Filipinos
are reliant on agriculture for an income and inequality in wealth distribution, many Filipinos are
struggling to afford basic necessities. So, I suggest that they must pay attention to
education,health care, agriculture, family aid, infrastructures, and job opportunities outside the
agriculture sector.

One factor of the systematic poverty is the lack of access to education in impoverished areas
because people gain basic skills and increased job opportunities through education. I also
suggest that they must look for qualified Filipinos to help through the Pantawid Pamilyang
Pilipino Program or the 4P’s. This particular program which is a government cash-handout
project has helped reduce poverty. However, as to what I see, there are poor family, real poor
who aren’t on the 4P’s lists and there are families who aren’t actually poor that are on the lists
and I think it isn’t right. It is a job of the respective local government to look into it because as
far as I remember, 4P’s is a poverty reduction strategy that provides grants to extremely poor
households to improve their health, nutrition and education particularly of children aged 0-14.
So, I think they must look into it. Aside from that is the expansion of jobs outside the
agricultural sector since many of the farmers nowadays leaving behind farm works and going to
find jobs in manufacturing hubs in the urban areas of the country due to experiences of massive
typhoons and other natural calamities that causes their farms to be ruined. Lastly, providing
birth control to the poor. For me, it is a powerful tool for families who now have full control
over family planning because poverty presents itself in a vicious cycle affecting mainly the
uneducated population who tend to live in large family units. These family units usually have
only one head of the household who provides income for the entire family, and with that they
will have fewer children. This, in turn, will mean that families can provide more responsibly.

The Philippine government is actively trying to speed up its poverty reduction plan. Its long-
term goal is to be able to provide more economic prospects, which in turn would help many of
their citizens earn a higher and more stable income. Unfortunately, poverty is expected to
increase in the Philippines because of the coronavirus crisis since 2019 up to the recent year.
This will lead to a decrease in consumption growth and further income losses. Therefore,
greater efforts are necessary to combat poverty in the Philippines amidst the pandemic, which
has hit the impoverished the hardest. So, I think that the government should focus more on the
economic improvement first before anything anything else including all those that I’ve been
mentioned since the Philippine economy dropped because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We can
eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, or at least reduce it, by voicing out our suggestions and
recommendations as Filipino citizens to the government, so they can make action through it.