The elimination of poverty lies at the heart of development economics, and provides the main justification for policies of promoting economic growth all over the world. Although arduous efforts have been devoted to poverty reduction all over the world, 20% of total population on the earth still lives under poverty line. The central objective of the millennium goals, agreed by 149 countries at the UN Millennium Summit in New York, is the halving of poverty by 2015. Zambia as a developing country has tried to work out policies and papers in order to beef up development by reducing poverty levels. In July 2002 the government launched the first Poverty Reduction Strategic paper PRSP. This was after entering into bilateral and multilateral arrangements in the region to ensure that the interests are well represented, other measures to revamp the economy included.. Introduction of flexible exchange rates Liberalization of trade Removal of subsidies on production and consumption Public sector reform program Privatization of state owned enterprise Liberalization of agriculture marketing supply and inputs Costs sharing schemes in the provision of public health services There was also 5year plan in all aligning ministries for effective service delivery with the aspect of reaching 2015 millennium development goals. Vision 2030 of becoming a mid income country was drawn; the current 6th national development plan. All these ideas are in the government custody. Manifestos of previous regimes are there to refer to time and again on what worked/what went wrong. Manifestos of oppositions are there to work on, and the manifesto for the current regime is there too for use for nation development. With these entire ideas one would wonder why Zambia is still asleep. Is it that we have not learned lessons of what is workable and what is impossible? Effective poverty reduction does not come without cost; it requires significant change in current structures, attitudes and values*Hjorth 2003*. To make policies effective, it is critical to know why the poor live in poverty. It is my view that clearer and more transparent analysis on the reason of poverty are essential prerequisites of any development policy that puts poverty reduction at its heart. The purpose of this book is to know our status and arise as Zambia. Thus why almost every page posses a now challenge. The World Bank target of *reducing by one half the proportion of people in extreme poverty by 2015* requires a criterion for deciding if an individual or household is poor. Although debates about methods of poverty measurements are common , views widely differ on how individual welfare should be measured, how poverty lines should be set and what poverty measures should be used*Ravallion and Sen, 1996*. According to the World Bank poverty is a situation that *poor people live without fundamental freedoms of action and choice that the better-off take for granted* they often lack adequate food and shelter, education and health’. WorldBank p.1.hence, poverty comprises of two elements; income poverty and human poverty. Income poverty is termed as the lack of necessities for material well-being. Human poverty means the denial of choices and opportunities for tolerable life in none income aspect, such as deprivation in years of life, health, knowledge and housing, the lack of participation in social activities and personal security. Limited amount of rural income constitutes a constraint to opportunity of education and health improvement and to capacity of absorbing risks. Income poverty is the main issue of human poverty, it is critical to identify the poor and measure the intensity of their poverty to fight poverty, two distinct problems need to be resolved including: the specification of the poverty line-the threshold below which one is considered to be poor; and once the poverty line is determined, construction of an index to measure the intensity of poverty suffered by those below that line. *Kakwani 1993, p. 632* With regard to measurement of poverty, it has been revived since the end of the nineteen sixties under the name of income inequality; few studies had been made on the measurement of poverty until the work of Professor Sen. Sen. proposed anew measure of poverty which is free from various the arbitrariness inherent in the poverty measures currently in wide use, including “head count ratio, the poverty gap ratio, and the Gini coefficient of the income distribution of the poor” *Takayama 1979, p.747*. since the publication of Sen’s 1976 article on the axiomatic approach to measurement of poverty, several indices of poverty have been developed that make use of the three poverty indications; the percentage of poor, the aggregate of poverty gap, and the distribution of income among the poor *Kakwani 1993*. Three indicators are adopted by the World Bank. With this is definition of poverty, its now possible for you the reader to know that Zambia with her people is in poverty. Now that we have known our status, then let us arise from the slumber. We have been sleeping and have caused this great nation of ours in deep sleep.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 08:53:39 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015