Julius Uma
31 December 2008
THE litany of the woes within the African continent is rather too familiar, captured daily in the world media - malnourished infants in dusty places, reflecting the high level of poverty .
Recently, while catching live proceedings of 'Focus on Africa' on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) evening edition, I was amazed at what Uganda's disaster and preparedness minister, Prof Tarsis Kabwegyere told the world.
He said: "Uganda has embarked on a robust approach" to make poverty history but he did not clearly explain how it is going to be done. Many people will probably agree with me that in Africa, it is easier said than done.
The concept of poverty can broadly be defined as both a social and economic handicap, whereby its victims are denied access, and the right to freedom of choice in consumption and to an equitable share of the benefits of development.
According to the United Nations Committee on social, economic and cultural rights, "poverty may be defined as a human condition characterised by sustained or chronic deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights."
It should be noted that beyond the income indicators, the definition of poverty has been broadened to cover the concepts of deprivation, vulnerability and isolation.
However, the broader definition of poverty connotes the absence or denial of personal life-sustaining necessities such as food, shelter, clothing and or lack of access to basic social services (education, health, water) and infrastructure (roads, railways and housing).
According to the 2007 Population Census, Uganda's population is growing at a very high rate of about 3.3% per annum.
With a total population of 24.4million people in 2002, Uganda adds approximately over a million people annually. The country's population increased from five million in 1948 to 24.4million people in 2002. Thus if this "abnormal" population growth rate is not checked and the trend continues, Uganda's population may reach 51.9% by 2025 and even double to about 103 million by 2050 (Population Secretariat Report, 2006).
Unfortunately, this rapid population growth rate coupled with the uneven spatial distribution could have serious implications on social and economic development polices and programmes implementation.
On a positive note, the Government commitment to eradicating poverty, through the Poverty Eradication Action Plan has seen a reduction in the percentage of those living below the poverty line from the initial 56 percent in 1992 to just 38 percent in 2002 (Population Secretariat Report,2005).
Perhaps this poverty eradication strategy being adopted by Uganda is in line with the much publicised UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The eight MDGs, which range from halving extreme poverty, universal primary education, maternal and child health care address, to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS, all by the target date of 2015 - form a blueprint agreed upon by over 189 world leaders gathered at the 2000 UN millennium summit in New York.
These leaders all galvanised unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world's poorest people. Hitherto, it has been noted that United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)'s ethical and intellectual mandate and its role in standard setting and policy promotion, places it in a key position to contribute to achieving the first MDG, that of eradicating poverty, especially extreme poverty and hunger its anti-poverty strategy.
Poverty has been identified as one of UNESCO's two cross-cutting themes in order to promote inter-disciplinary collaboration across all its sectors, enhance efforts to understand and address the multi-dimensional nature of poverty and to promote innovation and efficacy in fighting it.
UNESCO has thus been called upon by its member states (including Uganda) through various general conference resolutions and in executive board decisions, to make its specific contribution to poverty reduction through the design of an appropriate long-term strategy.
The executive board concurred with the director-general's subsequent proposal that poverty eradication be selected as a cross-cutting theme for the activities of the organisation as a whole. Only time will tell Uganda's fate, as the world continues watching us all.
The writer is a Ugandan Journalist based in Juba, South Sudan
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