The Bangladesh government approved the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) with a vow to alleviate poverty that bedevils half the country’s population, from different directions.
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia declared the war on poverty as she asked the poverty-reduction policy-planners to adopt a multidimensional approach in chasing poverty that has assumed a multifaceted nature in Bangladesh perspective.
The Prime Minister, also chairperson of the NEC, chaired the meeting while Cabinet Ministers and government high officials were present at the meeting, convened specially to approve the poverty-reduction recipe.
Attuned to the UN-declared Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the PRSP is an internationally designed country-specific recipe for development planning and spending in poorer countries.
Expressing her government’s will to translate PRSP into a great charter of rights of the poor, Begum Khaleda Zia asked all concerned to work sincerely to implement its provisions for transforming Bangladesh into an abode of peace and plenty for all.
Prime Minister said key objective of her government’s development programmes is quick alleviation of poverty, ensuring people’s overall socioeconomic development. And the PRSP has been crafted with that end in view.
Stating that the PRSP has been made in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals, she said her government is committed to attaining the MDGs by the terminal year 2015.
The Prime Minister reminded that the formulation of PRSP is not the last word – it is just preliminary but remarkable step towards poverty reduction. "Our success, in fact, is depending on implementation of the poverty-reduction strategy paper," she said.
The poverty-reduction plan has been devised simultaneously to achieve two targets—the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the year 2015 as well as to take care of the macroeconomic performance and economic growth, an official explained.
Job creation through enhanced investment has been in the focal point to generate income and remove the problem of poverty.
"The strategy will be successful if we can provide financial assistance properly," said the Finance Minister, pointing to the country’s scarce resources. "Implementation of the strategy will be difficult unless we can mobilise the resources."
The document estimated, for example, an amount of US$ 11-billion requirement only for achieving the education goals by the year 2015, while half a billion dollars would be required to ensure sanitation and a one-billion-plus fund for introducing school lunch.
The document also focussed on eight priority areas – employment, nutrition, quality education, maternal health, sanitation, law and order, good governance, and monitoring.
To generate employment, priority has been given to the areas like agriculture and agro-based industry, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), development of rural infrastructure, and information communication technology (ICT).
The government has started framing the document at the advice of the World Bank and other donors—and in the process accommodated inputs from at least 40 different quarters from root-level people to top-level policymakers.
However, opposition policymakers stayed away from giving inputs and the homespun draft strategy was also not discussed in Parliament, as desired by many quarters.
More
|
