May 1998 Case Study: What to do About Poverty in Zambia?
Abstract
Poverty in Africa is big in the news these days. But will it be big in the policy decisions here in Zambia?
The recent regional meeting in Windhoek, Namibia, highlighted the extremely serious depth and dimensions of poverty among the people of Southern Africa. The very thorough report on the meeting offered by Samuel Ngoma in the TIMES OF ZAMBIA (17 May 1997) emphasized the challenge made at the meeting for governments to "translate fine words into deeds." As Ngoma explained, the causes of poverty in the region are well-known, including crises in governance, debt burden, and refugee burden.
Description
Poverty eradication (or elimination) means doing away with absolute poverty or the severe deprivation of basic needs (food, shelter, etc.). It is the job of structuring society so that there exists at least a minimum standard of living below which no one should be allowed to fall.