From Africa Recovery, Vol.11#1 (July 1997), page

Pro-poor policies, external support needed to combat poverty

UNDP's 'Human Development Report' highlights acute challenges in Africa

By Margaret A. Novicki

Facing the "biggest challenges" of any world region in eradicating poverty in the coming decades, Africa can make sustained progress through special international support and "pro-poor" policies. The Human Development Report 1997, published by the UN Development Programme, says the UN should play an important leadership role in creating an international alliance to eradicate poverty in Africa. The UN System-wide Special Initiative on Africa, the report adds, could act as a potential focus for collective support towards this end.

The continent needs special international support in such areas as greater debt relief, higher aid levels better directed towards poverty reduction, and the opening of global markets, especially for its agricultural exports, according to the report. While reducing poverty and inequality would help to avert many conflicts, greater efforts must also be made in the area of conflict prevention and resolution, peace-building and reconstruction. Pro-poor policies, the report states, include promotion of broader political participation, ensuring accountability and transparency of government, promoting free flows of information and ensuring a strong role for community groups and non-governmental organizations in policy-making and legislative decision-making.

While noting that 1.3 billion people worldwide live on less than $1 a day in what is termed "income poverty," this year's Human Development Report, which is published annually, also introduces the more complex concept of "human poverty," stressing that poverty is multifaceted and must be addressed in all its aspects. It has devised a "human poverty index" (HPI) which measures the most basic dimensions of deprivation: a short life span, lack of basic education and lack of access to public and private resources.

The report warns that by the year 2000, half the people of sub-Saharan Africa will suffer from income poverty. The depth of poverty -- how far incomes fall below the poverty line -- is greater in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else in the world.

The region also has the highest proportion of people in "human poverty" and its fastest rate of growth. Six of the seven countries in which the HPI exceeds 50 per cent are in Africa -- Niger, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mali and Mozambique -- meaning that more than half their people are living in various aspects of human poverty.

One of the major indicators of human poverty, the report says, is a short life. In sub-Saharan Africa, the child mortality rate is still nearly 100 per 1,000 live births, and the maternal mortality rate of 971 per 100,000 live births is more than 10 times that in East Asia. While life expectancy at birth in developing countries increased by 16 years during 1960-94, from 46 to an average 62 years, sub-Saharan Africa's life expectancy is just 50 years.

Lack of access to health care is another signpost. While there have been improvements over the past decades, and about 80 per cent of people in the developing world now have access to health services, in sub-Saharan Africa nearly 50 per cent do not.

The region, meanwhile, has 14 million people with HIV, or nearly two-thirds of all the infected people worldwide. In 18 African countries, HIV/AIDS could reduce life expectancy by at least 10 years. In 14 it could push up child mortality by at least 50 deaths per 1,000 live births.

Africa has made great strides, however, in one area of human welfare -- political participation. More than half its states are undertaking democratic reforms -- with some 30 multi-party presidential elections since 1990 -- and strengthening civil society.

Empowering individuals, households and communities to gain greater control over their lives and resources -- of which political participation is an essential component -- is the first item on the Human Development Report's agenda to eradicate poverty in the 21st century. This also entails providing access to credit and other financial services, ensuring food security, education and health for all and building social safety nets.

A second element is to empower women by providing equal access to education, health, job opportunities, land and credit. Third, pro-poor growth which gives priority to full employment and creates an enabling environment for small-scale agriculture, micro-enterprises and the informal sector needs to be accelerated in those economies that are growing slowly, stagnating or declining. Pro-poor growth, says the report, means "mainstreaming poverty reduction into national policy-making."

Finally, the management of globalization needs to be improved to open opportunities for poor countries rather than closing them off. Trade preferences, technical cooperation and capacity building are needed if African countries are to be able to compete in global markets.

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