Abstract:
Majority of the people in the Sub-Saharan region are religious. They attend weekly meetings to show their belief in God
and allegiance to their old and new cultures. However, the region is still ranked as the poorest in the world. Could their
belief systems and cultures have a major contribution to the rate and degree of social and economic development? This
paper critically examines the correlation between the Church, cultures, government and development partners in their
agenda of empowering the common man. We examined literature and made inquiry via observations in our
methodology. Literature studies show that most governments wish to eradicate poverty, ignorance and sicknesses. We
found that some of the drivers of poverty in Africa have been corruption, superstition, witchcraft, laziness, some cultural
practices and ignorance. These have bred lives of sicknesses, wars and even unnecessary deaths. However, collaboration
between the Church, governments, tribal cultural custodians and developmental partners can address the above
maladies and inculcate honesty, godliness, value of hard work and practices which can enhance brotherhood, wealth
creation and sustainable development. If these virtues are infused with modern scientific and technological advances, the
sub Saharan region can come out of poverty in one generation.
