Eye on poverty

from the Nation News

by TONY BEST

DESPITE ITS SUCCESS in eliminating "extreme poverty and hunger", Barbados still has "pockets of poverty" needing urgent attention.

And the new Thompson administration is to carry out a nationwide poverty assessment study in two months.

That's what delegates from around the world were told yesterday by Minister of Social Care, Constituency Empowerment and Urban Development Dr Denis Lowe.

He said in a United Nation address on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), that Barbados had already achieved many economic and social goals and therefore was "in a position to pursue an MDG-plus strategy in some areas" in order to accelerate the pace of development.

Important goal

"Barbados continues to believe that no goal is more critical to the achievement of global development than the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger," Lowe said.

"Fortunately, extreme poverty and hunger do not exist in Barbados. Nevertheless, we are aware that there were pockets of poverty, especially within the urban corridor, which must now engage our attention and overtime we have implemented a number of policies and programmes and established a number of institutions to assist us doing so."

Available evidence suggests they have achieved some success, he added.

However, he said, there is need for a full evaluation and this will shortly be undertaken through the planned Country Poverty Assessment which will start in about two months.

"In another 18 months we will also be publishing our country's first National Human development Report that will provide, inter alia, some data on the attainment of some
of the targets linked to the MDGs."

Lowe is in New York leading Barbados' delegation during the General Assembly's "thematic debate" on the MDGs, entitled Recognizing The Achievements, Address The Challenges And Getting Back On Track To Achieve The MDGs By 2015.