Target poverty reduction programmes – Prof Darku
By Selorm GBORBIDZI, Accra
SENIOR economist at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), Professor Alexander Darku has called for the targeting of poverty reduction programmes in Ghana to ensure maximum impact.
This strategy will mirror the Chinese model, which saw the Communist state lift about 770 million people out of poverty, after deliberate policy targeting.
The Economist said that although poverty alleviation plans have been drawn up by past governments with the aim of reducing policies, targeting of these programmes have not been comprehensive nor effective.
Making a presentation on a comprehensive and effective poverty targeting strategy, at a conference organised by the IEA and the Chinese Embassy in Accra yesterday, Prof Darku said there was a need for effective targeting of poverty alleviation programmes.
He also admonished for the huge disparities of access to poverty programmes between the Northern and Southern sectors to be addressed.
Also integral towards poverty reduction, he said, is the need to address inter-governmental and inter-Ministry consistencies in programme design, implementation and monitoring.
As part of the suggestions, he said there was a need to design and implement a comprehensive National Poverty Reduction Strategy (NPRS) that is not dependent on donor funding, and is also part of a home -grown national development agenda.
This strategy should also be capable of self-funding through shared growth and development, with the capability of reducing poverty significantly.
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Dan Botwe, said, during his address, that the aims of extreme poverty reduction can best be achieved if we use what the constitution has proposed and use the decentralization as the vehicle towards achieve a relatively developed country.
Dan Botwe noted that the issue of poverty reduction is policy implementation, coupled with monitoring and evaluation.
He said, “it is when the living conditions of people have improved that you can say that poverty has been alleviated.”
Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Lu Kun, explained that China, in its quest to move a huge chunk of its populace out of extreme poverty, adopted specific strategies in six areas, such as identifying the poor accurately, developing a targeted programme, taking measures that targeted individual households. They have also instituted a policy of following up in those areas where poverty has been reduced where the rural.
He indicated that China’s focus is not just internal, but that with policies such as the Belt and Roads Initiative (BRI), it could help lift about 2 million people out of poverty the world over.
The President of the Ghana-Chinese Enterprise Chamber of Commerce, Yang Qun, said there is the need to provide comprehensive assistance to poor. This idea includes creating access to healthcare and providing financial assistance.
He noted that the Chinese model was not one size fits all, but urged the policy makers to approach with open hearts and minds.
