The costs of living in poverty are amplified by adverse outcomes such as increased crime in low-income neighborhoods, limited access to healthcare facilities for the sick, low productivity , etc. (Gwendolyn, 2012) . This reduces the ability of the poor to participate in productive economic activities, while increasing the burden on welfare structures. Human capital development is essential for economic growth where an empowered individual contributes to economic development through increased productivity and innovation. While individualist ideology about poverty, to some extent, makes sense, poverty is much more the result of institutional failures than individual failures. . Previously, efforts to eradicate poverty had focused on mitigating the effects of inequality. This explains why a number of welfare groups have focused on distributing benefits, which are believed to encourage dependency. The fact that capitalist markets contain imperfections that discourage fair competition cannot be disputed. The assumption of some economists that poverty is a trivial matter compared to more serious theories of market equilibrium is misleading. Some other economists, equally misguided, believe that in a properly functioning and competitive market, poverty is bound to be observed. However, current evidence indicates that market imperfections are a major contributor to poverty,