Civil Society wants Government o deal with extreme poverty in the country

The Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) has challenged government to
engage in meaningful multi-sectoral dialogue with relevant stakeholders in finding workable, practical and lasting interventions to deal with extreme poverty in the country.

CSPR Board Chairperson John Lijimu says there is need for government to embrace joint action plan which was developed by government itself and his organisation.

Mr. Lijimu said it was worrying to note that poverty continues to remain high in the country despite government implementing interventions meant to reduce it but remain.

“The Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR), through the Ministry of Finance challenges government and any other stakeholders to find opportunities to engage in meaningful multi-sectoral dialogue with all other relevant stakeholders in finding workable, practical and lasting interventions to deal with extreme poverty in Zambia.”

“we would like to use this opportunity to call on Government to embrace the joint action plan for the eradication of extreme poverty in Zambia which we developed with Government last year in October and actively be involved in the process of;

1. Discussing and agreeing on current governance issues negatively impacting eradication of extreme poverty;

2. Build consensus on social sector reforms needed for eradication of extreme poverty;

3. Review, using the Rights-Based Approach, the implementation of policies, systems and strategies of planning, budgeting, disbursements and monitoring and evaluation biased towards Universal Periodic Review and Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) recommendations;

4. Build consensus on the need to expedite planning and budgeting reforms such as adoption of the National Planning and Budgeting Policy and the National Planning and Budgeting Bill, the execution of the Decentralization Implementation Plan that will guarantee budget transparency, adherence and social accountability in the social sectors to ensure extreme poverty eradication;

5. Build consensus on the roles of various stakeholders (government, civil society, private sector, Cooperating Partners, etc.) in extreme poverty eradication.”

He also expressed concern that the country has continued to record an increase in income inequality.

“In the period 2006 to 2010, the Fifth National Development plan was implemented.

“However, strategies implemented did not significantly reduce extreme poverty across the provinces in Zambia. The LCMS (2010) indicates that rural extreme poverty stood at 57.7 in 2010 compared to 58.5% in 2006. This only marks 0.8% percentage points reduction in five years of employing poverty reduction measures as a country.

“In the same period, Zambia has recorded an increase in income inequality overally from 60 to 65%. In the rural areas, the income inequality has risen from 54 to 60%. This can be further validated by Zambia’s Gini co-efficient which currently stands at 0.65. On the human development index, Zambia is ranked 164 out of 187.”

This is contained in a press statement released to the media by Mr. Lijimu.