Op-ED: End Poverty Day – time to regroup and build back better – By Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough

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Op-ED: End Poverty Day – time to regroup and build back better – By Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough
Op-ED: End Poverty Day – time to regroup and build back better – By Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough

Africa-PressMozambique. On October 17th each year, the world marks the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, colloquially known as the End Poverty Day. An important date given major setbacks registered recently across the globe in the fight against poverty, and the ever-growing challenges humanity is faced with.

This is a difficult year at the outset of what is poised to be a difficult decade ahead. Madagascar and Mozambique — two of the countries under my direct supervision as far as the World Bank’s program is concerned – are at the receiving end of important crises, including those on climate and its spillover effects in the form of water and food scarcity, natural disasters, forced migration, rural exodus, to name a few.

It’s clear that climate-induced crisis is an overarching emergency at the centre of today’s development agenda. The devastating twin cyclones Idai & Kenneth that caused an estimated 700 deaths, destroyed vital infrastructures, and ravaged local economies and livelihoods — plunging millions across many countries in the region into deprivation, especially in Mozambique, parts of Madagascar, Comoros, Zimbabwe, and Malawi — offer a glimpse into the devastating effects of changing weather patterns. While Sub-Saharan Africa has contributed the least to global warming, without rapid deployment of inclusive, climate-informed development investments, 43 million people could fall below the poverty line by 2030 in Sub-Saharan Africa. The cost of inaction is even higher. Financing adaptation is still more cost-effective than frequent disaster relief.

Madagascar and Mozambique, among the poorest countries in the continent, and which were under fiscal distress prior to the COVID-19 Pandemic, are bearing the brunt of the severe economic crisis compounded by the advent of the pandemic. However, as is the case for many other Sub Sahara African countries, these two are also showing encouraging signs of economic recovery, albeit from a lower rate if compared to the pre-COVID-19 period. As the recent World Bank’s Africa Pulse report notes, this growth rebound, estimated at 3.3 percent in SSA, is currently fuelled by elevated commodity prices, a relaxation of stringent pandemic measures, and recovery in global trade. However, the report warns, it remains vulnerable given the low rates of vaccination on the continent, protracted economic damage, and a slow pace of recovery.

These are some of the reasons why this year’s End Poverty Day is not the moment of celebration. This is the moment to reflect, regroup, and recommit to rebuild and increase resilience for future shocks, because they will come.

Ending poverty starts with a conviction that poverty is not a fatality. Poverty can be defeated. It takes a combination of the right set of policies, attitudes, and commitment; it takes unquestionable conduct by all of us in the position of power; it takes transparency with and accountability to those we serve; it takes probity amongst the best of us in the public sphere; it takes moral principles of honesty and decency between public officials upon whom citizens bestow their trust. Only through those principles we can restore the social contract and trust in institutions that work for the majority and the most vulnerable, and not the few and well-off. To address poverty, it will take a vision, which should emanate from an open and engaging society, where solutions result from dialogue and constant engagement. Only through dialogue can we achieve greater inclusion, and can we build societies grounded on principles of equity, where institutions work for all, and where the economy is deliberately and resolutely broad-based in order to create jobs and achieve shared prosperity.

At the World Bank — an apolitical institution renowned for its prolific generation of knowledge — we base our work on evidence we collect from our work across many countries in the globe. We put that knowledge to use in the best of our ability in countries we serve in response to local needs. That wealth of knowledge is adapted to local circumstances through our engagement with local policy makers and other stakeholders.

As we start the discussions aimed at updating our operational strategies, named Country Partnership Frameworks (CPF), which define the composition and volume of our lending and non-lending portfolios for the next 4 years in Mozambique and soon in Madagascar, we’ll rekindle our engagements with civil society organisations, opinion leaders and other relevant non-state actors, and we will make those engagements sustained over time. This will complement an already existing sustained engagement with government and development partners, as we continuously deepen our understanding of development challenges and potential solutions in a fast-moving global and local context. We look forward to your feedback and comments on how we can collaboratively support the people of Mozambique and Madagascar to reach their goals.

By

Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough

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