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Our poverty reduction strategy should vigorously establish the role of education and childhood nutrition in the fight against poverty, and pursue family stability as a strategy for poverty reduction.
Poverty is a very politically charged issue. Consequently, there is an ever present danger of the poverty reduction process being controlled by the government of the day. One way in which this could happen is by government diverting resources away from the poorest stratum of the poor and channeling it towards assisting those who are just below the poverty line and therefore easiest to get over it. Such strategies are capable of reducing the poverty head count considerably and may achieve great political effect, but they exacerbate the severity of poverty by plunging the poorest into even deeper poverty. It is what Banerjee, Benabou and Mookherjee (2006) call the Micawber Problem.
The reduction of poverty severity therefore must become an important component of our poverty reduction strategy, and must be a vigorous standard by which our accomplishments in poverty reduction should be measured. Moreso, it must be introduced to the popular conversation on poverty reduction in Saint Lucia, so that a reduction in the severity of poverty becomes as much a public expectation as a reduction in the poverty head count.
There are established metrics for measuring poverty severity. Notable among these are the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke metrics. However, a more layman-friendly metric might be found in adopting the practice of measuring and reporting progress for different strata below the poverty line; and even above it too where “vulnerability” might be gauged. As such there might be a need to formulate a sub-strategy for fighting indigence and the poverty faced by those at the lowest depths of the poverty pit.
Our poverty reduction strategy should also address the deleterious effect of inflation on the poverty reduction effort, starting with its impact on the poverty line. The poverty line must be adjusted for inflation otherwise it becomes an unreliable measure of poverty, since an increase in income that pulls one over the poverty line may merely be an inflationary or cost-of-living adjustment in income as opposed to a real adjustment. Consequently, even without any improvement in the fortunes of such an individual he would no longer be considered poor, leading to an underestimation of the real poverty level.
Similarly, if income tax thresholds are not adjusted for inflation, cost-of-living adjustments to income may result in bracket creep in which persons who have had no change in their “real” income end up creeping into higher tax brackets and becoming liable to pay higher marginal tax rates, a phenomenon known as fiscal drag. Indeed, this should be a huge concern for local trade unions. And even if the income tax were to be abolished, there are still other areas in which the expressed concern is relevant, including that of social security programming such as pension funds, and the government welfare assistance given to the elderly and indigent. In fact, what is needed is an overall system that comprehensively accounts for inflation and the deleterious effect which it can have on people’s economic wellbeing.
Additionally, our poverty reduction strategy should include the incentivization of labour market participation by the youth away from illicit trades. The potential for participation in these lucrative trades is likely to undermine some of the efforts of agencies like Belfund and NSDC to get the youth to work because these efforts may be perceived as simply unable to yield returns on a scale that would make them viable alternatives to the illicit trades. Consequently, some of the most marginalized for whom the Belfund and NSDC programs were developed may be disinterested in tapping into these government programs. Moreover, the lucrative returns from the illicit trades are likely to restrict labour supply through the labour-leisure substitution effect, and lead to a deleterious culture of work marked by de-motivation and disinclination to the standard commitments of formal employment.
Yet another avenue for fighting poverty is through programs that foster greater family stability. Along with education and childhood nutrition, two of the more widely accepted determinants of an individual’s poverty status, is family stability. It is a major explanatory variable of poverty. Our poverty reduction strategy should vigorously establish the role of education and childhood nutrition in the fight against poverty, and pursue family stability as a strategy for poverty reduction. This in my view is an absolute imperative, as several studies have shown education, early childhood nutrition and family stability to matter significantly in “long term” poverty reduction.
Furthermore, it is not clear to me that there currently exists the policy space and institutional structure for the production of hard-nose social security policy proposals and analysis in Saint Lucia. If it exists, to me it is at best ill-defined.
Whilst social security programs have less to do with the empowerment and ownership of productive resources than anti-poverty programs entail, the role of the former in a poverty reduction strategy can hardly be overlooked. Some social security proposals have emerged from various locations, and perhaps require an institutional locus within the Public Service, such as a Department of Social Security, as opposed to the currently existing Departments of Social Services and Human Services which have mostly been involved in micro welfare initiatives that are not necessarily organically connected to a macro-social security agenda.
Finally, the need for government investment in good quality program evaluation, research infrastructure and expertise, can hardly be overemphasized, as progress in the fight against poverty can only be assessed by good quality research and measurement that is ongoing.
RSS
the best and only way to reduce poverty in stlucia is through re education and it has to start with our leaders…..
The only way to lower poverty is to approach capitalism from a more compassionate angle. The panic to make money is one based on a fear of being a lessor. Until people can discover themselves and become self thinking for answers, poverty and begging will be a national past time. We have been conditioned from birth to be poor.
mr c a pic of the slums all around the city would be better….thats a beautiful picture not blending with the topic at all ….thats a great shot …..MOST SENIORS ARE LONELY…
Poverty should always be locally defined. People are born into poverty and some of these remain in that state till death. Every country has generally two groups of people who become dependents because they are poor and non-working. These are children of school age and adults who have entered retiring age.
When we find human beings in the younger group, they can be helped with proper nutrition and educational assistance including clothing, and then equal job opportunities after training. The older folk have to be helped with better living conditions and with quality of life issues. Assistance to both groups have implications for the annual budget. SLP helped. On their website, some interesting takes can seen by the new LPM.
“Poverty reduction” is an admirable and desirable goal, but it doesn’t go far enough. St. Lucia’s goal should be “prosperity”, not “poverty reduction” . Poverty CAN be eliminated. Peace and prosperity for all CAN be achieved. Violent crime CAN become a relic of the past.
Most St. Lucians will agree that crime and poverty are directly related. As the economy continues to worsen, which it certainly will, crime will continue to rise accordingly. That is simply a law of nature. Therefore, createing prosperity is the ONLY way to eliminate crime. Violent crime cannot be defeated by tinkering with tactics and strategies, such as stepping up patrols in bad neighborhoods, or policing more aggressively. Instead, it is the policy, the “system” which is broken and needs to be examined and changed.
Policy makers in St. Lucia need to examine what went wrong. What are the policies which have brought St. Lucia to its knees economically and socially? And the answer lies in the “free market”, or, more specifically, how St. Lucia does not follow the principles of a free market. Rather, St. Lucia continues to follow the failed colonial model of governance which takes away its citizens’ rights to sovereignty over their own bodies, their own money, and their own lives. Once a government dictates what its people can or cannot smoke, drink or put in their bodies, then individual liberty has been replaced by the violation of one’s most basic human rights. When government insists on legislating morality and personal habits, then a tyrannical state is in place, government has too much power, and a truly prosperous free-market economy is prevented from taking hold.
The “War on Drugs” MUST be re-evaluated. The reason this war was forced on St. Lucia wasn’t because American politicians are great humanitarians who are concerned that St. Lucians might ingest substances which could be harmful to them. Trust me, American politicians aren’t concerned about the well-being of St…
Lucians. No, the War on Drugs was begun years ago by the US for purely political and racial reasons, and it is a failure on too many levels to ennumerate right now. It is used as a weapon by the US to keep “third world” economies down, to continue American dominance, and to prevent the poor and middle classes of the world from achieving prosperity through a truly free-market economy. There is not even a whimper of resistance to this war. Indeed, the nations of the Caribbean have yet to even identify the War on Drugs as the source of nearly all their problems, rather than the solution. Unfortunately, the brainwashing is so complete that politicians simply take this war for granted. But St. Lucia cannot continue to live by the dictates of desperate and dying colonial powers whose own economies are bankrupt and on the verge of catastrophic collapse.
The legalization of hemp and marijuana would create an unlimited productive capacity in St. Lucia. Immediate foreign investment would be so enormous that regulations would need to be enacted to ensure that St. Lucia maintains its sovereignty and that St. Lucians are the ones reaping the most benefits. Jobs would be in abundance, as the hemp plant has literally thousands of by-products which could sustain a self-sufficient economy. Legalization would immediately end all the violent crime and corruption which only exists due to its prohibition. A whole new climate of optimism and hope would replace the current atmosphere of fear, hopelessness and despair. St. Lucia could truly become a role-model of peace, freedom, tolerance and prosperity for all the world to admire.
But time is running out. If we continue on our current course, we will not survive the impending collapse of the dollar, which will occur withing two years at the most, and possibly before the end of 2010. If we decide to make the bold move, the right move, the ONLY move, of moving to a free market society, then we can and will survive and thrive as a…
Wow, that was not an easy read - I feel sometimes that writing in technicalese makes getting the message across less successful - at least to the layperson.
The observation about the problem caused by ‘illicit trades’ is very serious - and I like to think that improving family stability/life would go some way towards steering youth away from that track, but in St. Lucia we have serious social challenges standing in the way of that: it has got to the point that our lack of closure in so many cases of murder and our lack of prosecution in so many cases of bobol or of many of the crimes of theft, assault, drug trafficking,etc, and our seeming inability to get beyond awarding according to t-shirt colour just makes a mockery of instilling such values. We need some serious enforcement by someone, I don’t know who…but someone, somehow.
Then you can teach a man to fish - and if you really teach a man to fish, he’ll know how to fish according to his particular situation, how to fish sustainably, how to even farm his fish - not just how to grab a fish from a shallow pool.
I fear we are a long, long way from that.
Hey I am in the UK and every week i am playing the Euro Millions which is a lottory game, and I always said if I ever win then the winnings will go a very long way in helping my country and one day God willing this will happend.
Definitely not an easy read.
Any poverty reduction strategy must seek to deal with the many aspects of community development. This approach must seek to provide greater access to social and economic infrastructure while at the same time, provide opportunities for the development of the capacity of the vulnerable to first, take advantage of the opportunities this access will bring and to allow for the access to capital for the establishment of income generating activities to improve the standard of living.
By enhancing capacity at the community level the strategy will provide persons with the tools to improve their chances of becoming employ or starting a new business.
That’s why the kids at Compre never understood him…
Fog index results: 22.4080. Note that the fog index score you need for an article to be widely understood is about 12.
It is a mark of intelligence if someone can express ideas simply, and it is a mark of emotional intelligence to communicate at an appropriate level for one’s audience.