Poverty is an economic condition which reflects that the available means are less than the needs.  It does not have a universal standard.  The standards for poverty vary for different societies.  Poverty is a major social issue in most of the developing and under-developed countries especially in Asia and Africa.  Poverty in a specific country directly relates to the economic and social conditions of that country.  Despite the gains, poor people will express a sense of voicelessness and powerlessness. Participatory poverty assessments (done jointly with Oxfam, Action aid, and Save the Children) found that people were hungry for a two-way flow of information from the government to them about the nature and timing of public policies and programs affecting their lives and from them to the government to influence those policies and programs.