Poverty problem in P/Town

from the Trinidad & Tobago Express

Phoolo Danny-Maharaj South Bureau

PRINCES Town has the second highest poverty rate of all the regional corporations in Trinidad and Tobago.

This was stated by Gary Tagallie, programme manager of the European Union-sponsored Poverty Reduction Programme of the Ministry of Social Development, at the recent candlelight Vigil and Walk Against Poverty in Princes Town.

According to Tagallie, Princes Town has 11.2 per cent of the nation's poor.

He said: "As civil society, as private sector and as government, we must be concerned that, despite the buoyancy of the national economy, this level of poverty is still too high."

Despite the many programmes available to the poor and vulnerable and the amount of resources spent on poverty reduction programmes both by Government, private sector and civil society, Tagallie said "this level of poverty is unacceptable".

He said the programme is committed to "halving poverty by 2015", which meant reducing it to eight per cent and in the Princes Town area "reducing poverty to 15 per cent".

"We might also be bold to target 2020 or shortly thereafter for the end of poverty in Trinidad and Tobago," said Tagallie, who did not say which corporation had the highest poverty level.

He warned, however, that can only happen if we promote sustainable development and made a personal commitment.

Tagallie, who believes that there should not be any poverty in the region, in this country or in the world, said that the common practice globally to eradicate poverty successfully, meant "collaboration between government and civil society". Such a programme was launched in 2004, he said.

The programme, which is sponsored by the European Union, supports the Government in formulating a National Poverty Reduction Strategy that is more responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable groups in society.