BY MENGESHA AMARE
The question from the outset would with no doubt pull a dire need for looking into ourselves or assessing our working culture or evaluating public administrations or digging out another cause to well find the root cause of poverty in Ethiopia.
It is highly regrettable for Ethiopia to be mentioned as a poor nation having all what is required to bring about real change and prosperity ranging from numerous labor forces to immense mineral resources and indescribable untapped assets.
Such a devastating scenario has to be prettily altered via hard work and proper utilization of natural resources, potential labor force, and water sources like what has been done on the Grand Abay Dam, which is a pioneer in due course of portraying virgin potential the country has possessed to successfully change itself. Besides, responsibly discharging duties and tasks in every sector would help get the root of poverty dried, but how.
Seeking a professional comment or analysis regarding the issue, this writer had a stay with Melkamu Limenih, who graduated in economics from Addis Ababa University.
Melkamu said, “Ending poverty in all its forms far and wide in the nation has to be the national slogan as Ethiopia is highly endowed with all weapons of defeating this social menace and its accompanying elements like malpractices in serving the general public. It is also useful to evaluate the efficacy of existing poverty alleviation approaches, including community organization based micro-financing, capability and social security and good governance.”
Yes, he said developing countries like Ethiopia face higher levels of poverty and destitution that have to be addressed with sturdy financial resources, through quite stronger institutional capacities and improved working culture.
“Participatory and community-demand-driven approaches have to be well expanded so as to address the multi-dimensional nature of poverty in the country. Besides, it is quite important to identify critical factors responsible for poverty alleviation in Ethiopia via reinvigorating homegrown economy,” he opined.
He further stated that the complementarity of various approaches to poverty alleviation needs to be implemented simultaneously for a comprehensive poverty alleviation drive at national level helps bear fruits. The need for applying an integrated and multi-dimensional approach incorporating elements of various schemes for eradicating poverty is the call of the day, indeed!
He said, “Frankly speaking, we Ethiopians do not know our country as foreigners know it. Look at regional states, for instance, Oromia, Amhara, Afar, Southern Nations and Nationalities and other regions, which are highly endowed with natural resources, minerals, tangible and intangible heritages, even crude oil……so where does our poverty emanate from? Is it from poor working culture, lack of good governance, low level of awareness of our country, political instability for what? For how long can this rich country be labeled as a poor one? What a paradox it is!”
It is also true that though poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon, its levels are often measured using economic dimensions based on income and consumption. Poverty alleviation programs all over the nation have to predominantly aim at reducing the level of scarcity and shortage through various participatory and community-demand-driven angles.
“Needless to state, economic growth is one of the principal instruments for poverty alleviation and for freeing the poor from deficiency through productive employment. Community organizations based micro-financing, capability and social security, good governance and participatory development activities are instrumental in poverty alleviation,” he said.
He also said that services like skill development training, technological support, and strategies related to better education, health and sanitation, including livelihood enhancement measures need to be well consolidated than ever before since the country has now these days stepped in a very promising and lucrative boulevard.
He said improving individuals’ capabilities also helps in the pooling of resources while allowing the poor to engage in activities that economically benefit them. As social inclusion of vulnerable communities through the removal of social barriers is also as significant as financial inclusion in poverty reduction strategies, social security is a set of public actions designed to reduce levels of vulnerability, risk, and deprivation. Such a bold step is an important instrument for addressing the issues of inequality and vulnerability, which add value to poverty.
It is also quite significant to focus on promoting non-farm livelihoods, along with farm activities as they can offer pathways for economic growth and poverty alleviation in developing countries like Ethiopia, he added. Since good governance is also relevant to poverty alleviation and paramount importance in bolstering growth and prosperity, Ethiopia has to deal with enormous challenges related to social services and security by far.
Let alone its contribution to declare independence, good governance approach towards poverty reduction has become a prerequisite for Ethiopia in order to receive financial aid from multinational donor agencies. Hence, the country has to capitalize on good governance if it likes effectively battling poverty, Melkamu opined.
As to Melkamu, from an economic perspective, the lack of social protection coverage leads to inefficient use of resources, forcing poor rural households to opt for low-risk, low-return crops, to hold liquid but less productive assets, and to withdraw children from school in response to crises. The call for strengthening a participatory, transparent, and accountable form of governance needs to be enhanced to reduce poverty and lift the country from the poverty it finds itself in.
“Regarding the innovations in ideas, it is essential to optimize the value of eradicating poverty based on the spirit of the right to development. Actually, the poverty eradication should be guided by the value of the right to development,” he said.
It is also an excellently verifiable fact that no country is immune from corruption as actors operating in it have to have undertakings run following the act of doing favor in one way or another. Undoubtedly, corruption attracts poverty as the lower level of the society in a given country are over dominated by some culprits and irresponsible bodies who would like to amass undeserved profit at the expense of fellow citizens.
Since corruption and bribery are cancerous for development and change, the government of Ethiopia has to consolidate efforts against fighting these social disorders, which undermine economic development, growth and real change. It also flourishes where the criminal justice system and governance are weak, where decision-making is unaccountable and access to decision-makers is dependent on restricted social networks, where pay is low and where management controls are weak.
According to Melkamu, the very steps the government has to take to contain poverty need to swell towards reaffirming commitment to helping all walks of life address corruption, developing and implementing rapid and sustained economic growth policies and programs, in areas such as health, education, nutrition and sanitation as well as allowing the poor to participate in and contribute to advancement, he underlined.
In sum, poverty does have numerous roots that need to get uprooted. True, encouraging sectors, investors and business community to engage in nation building schemes and homegrown economy as these are instrumental in fueling growth and prosperity as well as helping citizens promote livelihood ranging from securing daily bread.
Besides, creating and improving access to jobs and income and develop entrepreneurial talent, as well as improving all people with access to basic social services helps meaningfully reduce poverty.
To do this, it is time for removing barriers to equal access to resources and services and providing access to technology and innovation and affordable energy thereby reducing poverty in the country in general and improving the livelihoods of citizens in particular. Such a haunting move has to be expanded to all levels across the nation so that the fight against poverty could hit its intended target.
The Ethiopian Herald January 4/2023
