CAP-ful of ideas on fighting poverty

from The Daily News Longview, Washington

Ilona Kerby, the leader of one of the area's largest social service organizations, cites a sobering statistic about poverty in the United States: About 37 million Americans lead a hand-to-mouth existence.

"That's one in 12. Those are huge numbers," said Kerby, who then adds with enthusiasm: "We're excited to be able to provide safety nets for some of those people. We are changing the face of poverty."

Since becoming executive director of the Lower Columbia Community Action Council (CAP) in September last year, Kerby also has also been trying to change the 42-year-old organization, which runs 20 assistance programs to help feed and shelter the needy. They include Help Warehouse, Meals on Wheels, energy assistance, helf-help housing and community jobs programs.

It's been a "whirlwind" first year on the job, said Kerby, whose main goal since taking over has been to reduce CAP's dependence on unstable government funding.

"We need to model the behavior we want from our clients," Kerby said. "We want them to move toward self-sufficiency, and we should, too."

CAP, housed in the old Sears building on Commerce Avenue, is a private organization that applies for competitive grants and funding. The agency receives about $3.7 million, or 64 percent of its revenue, from government grants and contracts.

"The biggest misconception I face is that people think CAP is a government agency," Kerby said. "We are a nonprofit, and I'm excited that we are learning ways to serve our mission and generate revenue." In March, CAP took a major step to wean itself from government support by appointing Alan Rose as the agency's first-ever community relations and development director. Rose, who had been CAP's director of community services since 1999, now oversees grant-writing, coordinates fundraising activities, and acts as staff to the CAP Foundation.

The purpose of the CAP Foundation, formed three years ago, is to raise endowment funds for future financial security. Interest from the funds can support underfunded CAP programs. It has grown in the last year from five to 13 active members, most of them businesspeople who are soliciting funds for the endowment.

"The CAP Foundation is energized with new leadership and members," Kerby said.

Another new avenue for income -- still in the idea stage -- is to create "enterprise ventures." Such businesses. also called "social enterprises," generate revenue while also being a training program for unemployed clients to learn skills to begin a career, Kerby said.

"Once in the workforce, 85 percent of those who started at minimum wage are still working after three years and have higher than minimum-wage incomes," she said.

Kerby said CAP also wants to start up "asset-building" programs to help people learn banking skills and establish savings accounts. CAP also wants to expand its self-help housing project, in which participants help build their homes in exchange for mortgage assistance.

"We are always looking for creative ways to move people out of poverty," she said.

Making Rose the development director was the right move, Kerby said, but it left her acting as both executive director and community services director, forcing her to run day-to-day operations of CAP's myriad assistance programs. "We hope to fill that position soon," Kerby said of Rose's old slot. "That will allow me more time to focus on the big picture."

Kerby worked for CAP from 1986 to 1991, helping people 55 years and older find work. She then worked for Lower Columbia College and spent 10 years heading up offender services programs for Cowlitz County before returning to CAP.

When she become CAP's executive director, she said people told her it would take three years for her to feel like she had a handle on the large organization.

"At the time, I didn't think it would take me that long," Kerby said. "But it's been a wild first year. I'm feeling a lot more confident, but there is always something else to learn."

New name for CAP?
There's long been a disconnect between Lower Columbia Community Action Council and its common name -- CAP. But that might change.
CAP, which stands for "Community Action Program," is a generic name for thousands of community agencies across the country. The Lower Columbia Community Action Council is one of 31 CAPs in Washington.
The confusion may be ending soon, though, because CAP Executive Director Ilona Kerby said the agency in January will launch a community-wide competition for a new name.
"We want one name that the community will recognize," Kerby said.

Democrats should work with Republicans to end poverty, religious leader says

from The Boston Herald

By Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Democrats and Republicans should work together to find new ways to end poverty, curb government corruption and strengthen families, Rev. Jim Wallis said Saturday.

“Answering the call to lift people out of poverty will require spiritual commitment and bipartisan political leadership,” Wallis, the head of the liberal Sojourners/Call to Renewal, an evangelical social justice movement, said in the weekly Democratic radio address.

“Real solutions must transcend partisan politics,” he said. “It is time to find common ground by moving to higher ground.”

President Bush has signaled his readiness to consider Democratic priorities such as a federal minimum-wage increase with certain amendments and to find compromise on renewing the No Child Left Behind education law and overhauling immigration policy.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he was pleased the nonpartisan Wallis gave the address - even though the religious leader has been openly critical of Democratic politicians and titled his best-selling book “God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It” - because Democrats “need to move beyond partisanship in Washington and find common ground to move America forward.”

In the address, Wallis stressed the spiritual underpinnings of issues facing the new Congress, saying leaders need a “new, morally centered discourse on politics.”

“Corruption in government violates our basic principles,” he said. “Money and power distort our political decision-making and even our elections.”

He said protecting the environment is a “moral and religious question” and that changing U.S. policy in Iraq is essential.

“Leaders in both parties are acknowledging that the only moral and practical course is to dramatically change the direction of U.S. policy, starting with an honest national debate about how to extricate U.S. forces from Iraq with the least possible damage to everyone involved,” Wallis said.

He also suggested both parties could find common ground on the divisive issue of abortion.

“Wouldn’t coming together to find common ground that dramatically reduces the number of abortions be better than both the left and the right using it as an issue to divide us?” he asked.

Here is a transcript of the speech... Kale
I'm Jim Wallis, author of God's Politics. I was surprised and grateful when Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid called to say his party wanted to set a new tone and invite, for the first time, a non-partisan religious leader to deliver their weekly radio address and speak about the values that could unite Americans at this critical time.

So, I want to be clear that I am not speaking for the Democratic Party, but as a person of faith who feels the hunger in America for a new vision of our life together, and sees the opportunity to apply our best moral values to the urgent problems we face. I am not an elected official or political partisan, but a religious leader who believes that real solutions must transcend partisan politics. For too long, we have had a politics of blame and fear, while America is eager for a politics of solutions and hope. It is time to find common ground by moving to higher ground.

Because we have lost a commitment to the common good, politics is failing to solve the deepest crises of our time. Real solutions will require our best thinking and dialogue, but also call us to transformation and renewal.

Most Americans know that the important issues we confront have an essential moral character. It is the role of faith communities to remind us of that fact. But religion has no monopoly on morality. We need a new, morally-centered discourse on politics that welcomes each of us to the table.

A government that works for the common good is central. There is a growing desire for integrity in our government across the political spectrum. Corruption in government violates our basic principles. Money and power distort our political decision-making and even our elections. We must restore trust in our government and reclaim the integrity of our democratic system.

At this moment in history, we need new directions.

Who is left out and left behind is always a religious and moral question. In the Hebrew Scriptures, the health of a society was measured by how it cared for its weakest and most vulnerable, and prosperity was to be shared by all. Jesus proclaimed a gospel that was "good news to the poor."

I am an evangelical Christian, and a commitment to "the least of these" is central to my personal faith and compels my public actions. It is time to lift up practical policies and effective practices that "make work work" for low-income families and challenge the increasing wealth gap between rich and poor. We must find a new moral and political will to overcome poverty that combines personal and social responsibility with a commitment to support strong families.

Answering the call to lift people out of poverty will require spiritual commitment and bipartisan political leadership. Since the election, I have spoken with leaders from both parties about creating a real anti-poverty agenda in Congress. We need a grand alliance between liberals and conservatives to produce new and effective strategies.

This week, President Bush met with Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq, seeking solutions to the rapidly deteriorating situation in that civil-war torn nation. Nearly 3,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died. The cost and consequences of a disastrous war are moral issues our country must address. Leaders in both parties are acknowledging that the only moral and practical course is to dramatically change the direction of U.S. policy, starting with an honest national debate about how to extricate U.S. forces from Iraq with the least possible damage to everyone involved.

Our earth and the fragile atmosphere that surrounds it are God's good creation. Yet, our environment is in jeopardy as global warming continues unchecked and our air and water are polluted. Good stewardship of our resources is a religious and moral question. Energy conservation and less dependence on fossil fuels are commitments that could change our future - from the renewal of our lifestyles to the moral redemption of our foreign policies.

A culture that promotes healthy families is necessary to raise our children with strong values, and the breakdown of family and community in our society must be addressed. But we need serious solutions, not the scapegoating of others. And wouldn't coming together to find common ground that dramatically reduces the number of abortions be better than both the left and the right using it as an issue to divide us?

We need a new politics inspired by our deepest held values. We must summon the best in the American people, and unite to solve some of the moral issues of our time. Americans are much less concerned about what is liberal or conservative, what is Democrat or Republican. Rather, we care about what is right and what works.

The path of partisan division is well worn, but the road of compassionate priorities and social justice will lead us to a new America. Building that new America will require greater moral leadership from both Democrats and Republicans, and also from each and every one of us.

I'm Jim Wallis. Thank you and God bless you.

And here is a link to the audio of the speech - Kale

Business & Money: Pensioners are hit by poverty

from Sunday Life

One in every four pensioners in Northern Ireland is living below the poverty line.

And the number suffering from malnutrition is rising steadily.

The shock statistics mean many OAPs face misery during the Christmas period and beyond. Some are already having to make a stark choice - between eating or heating.

Last winter, 449 people over the age of 65 in Northern Ireland died from cold-related illnesses.

The staggering total is one of the highest in Europe. A recent survey initiated by Help the Aged revealed that across the province:

* 20pc of pensioners stay in bed longer to keep warm

* 16pc turned off their heating because they were worried about the cost, and

* 14pc wore outdoor clothing indoors to keep war.

Joanne McKeirnan, the charity's communications officer in Belfast, told Sunday Life: "It's a national scandal so many people over-65 are put at risk every year. We want to see an end to means tested benefits and an increase in the basic state pension to a liveable level."

Microcredit guru Yunus in telecom deal to wire up the poor

from INQ7

HONG KONG--Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus has teamed up with some of the world's largest telecom firms to leverage communications technology to help alleviate poverty, he announced Sunday.

Yunus' successful Grameen microcredit bank, which has helped provide small business loans to millions of poor his native Bangladesh, said linking impoverished communities to the hi-tech world was vital.

"It has become a fast track for getting out of poverty," Yunus said of his Grameen projects that have so far brought mobile phones and Internet links to villages in Bangladesh.

Under a new partnership with telecom firms, including American giants Cisco Systems and Qualcomm, the scheme will be extended into other countries throughout the developing world.

Services and hardware will be offered at cut price rates in the same way as Yunus' Grameen bank offers small loans at low interest rates to stimulate entrepreneurship.

Since 1976, Grameen Bank has leant billions of dollars in collateral-free small business loans to 7 million poor Bangladeshis, mostly women.

The idea behind it is that many people are held back from productive lives for lack of small amounts of start-up capital. The bank's success contributed to Yunus being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October.

The tie-up was announced at the opening of the International Telecommunications Union's (ITU) trade show, World Telecom 2006, which will be held in Hong Kong throughout this week.

ITU is backing the scheme, which will see villages linked to the net and other international networks via telecenters.

Cisco vice-president Tae Yoo said access to network connections would bring opportunities to poor communities.

"It could offer farmers access to online information on crop strategies," said Yoo. "It will also allow us to give the resources to the entrepreneurs who can best address the different issues to which information and communication technology can best be applied."

Qualcomm senior director for government affairs in Southeast Asia, Shawn Covell, said giving villages access to technology was empowering.

"If you empower individuals, then that empowers the community, the region and the country," Covell said.

Mario Conti calls for ‘realistic’ attack on poverty

from The Sunday Herald
By Jenifer Johnston
THE ARCHBISHOP of Glasgow is bringing together academics, politicians and religious leaders to examine poverty "realistically" at a major conference next year.

Archbishop Mario Conti has organised the Transcending Poverties event in conjunction with the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The February conference will explore why poverty has not been eradicated in the west of Scotland despite billions of pounds having been spent on social work, education and health initiatives.

However, critics have claimed the conference is another example of the church playing at politics.

Hosted by Baroness Helena Kennedy, the archbishop will be joined at Glasgow City Chambers on February 20 by Professor Lindsay Paterson, a noted authority on Scottish education; historian Professor Michael Pacione, health expert Professor Phil Hanlon and John Miller, former moderator of the Church of Scotland.

Archbishop Conti told the Sunday Herald he was prompted to organise the event by a "loss of a sense of the sacred in society".

He said: "That leads to a loss of respect for society itself and its pillars of school, family, government, religion and law and order, and subsequent disengagement from mainstream society.

"This disengagement leads to an ever more isolated search for satisfaction of the basic human needs, and resort to drugs and alcohol follows, leading to further poverty, lawlessness, a dependency culture, health problems and ultimately early death."

Describing 21st-century poverty as "a depressing and truly vicious circle", Conti called for an end to the "piecemeal" approach of different agencies. "It is only by pooling all that knowledge that we can hope to tackle this issue and make life better for people," he said.

In Scotland 1.2 million people live in "poor" households, while four of the top five ranked areas for multiple deprivation are in west central Scotland. The Scottish Executive has vowed to eliminate child poverty by 2020. However, campaigners say fragmented agency responses have meant that no substantial differences have been made to people's lives.

Professor John Richardson of the Royal Society of Edinburgh said he hoped the conference would be a "frank analysis of the historical and present state of Glasgow society; the root causes of social difficulties past and present."

Steven Purcell, the leader of Glasgow City Council, who will also be addressing the conference, said Glasgow had received £4.2 billion in investment in 2006. He added: "I'm determined that our focus will be on providing people with the opportunity, skills and ambition needed to eradicate poverty for good."

Alistair McBay, a spokesman for the Scottish Secular Society, said the conference was "another example of religion getting involved in politics".

"Generally speaking, if someone like Conti wants to focus on poverty then that's fine, but the church tends to pick and choose what it wants to do. Recently we've seen church leaders not willing to support the government's anti-discrimination laws on sexual orientation."

He added: "In some ways it's shameless politics and self-publicising, and it will be interesting to see what is going to come of it."

Address poverty to eradicate child labour: CJ

from The Deccan Herald

Implementing the law against child labour will be difficult unless it is backed by concerted measures to eradicate poverty from society, Chief Justice of Karnataka Cyriac Joseph said here on Saturday.

He was speaking after inaugurating a one-day workshop on awareness of Child Labour Act, organised by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority. “By making laws, we can’t eradicate poverty. We have no dearth of laws but the real issue is not targeted or addressed. Determined and concerted efforts need to be made to eradicate poverty, so that children get motivated to pursue education and parents get inclined to send their children to school,” he said.

Justice Joseph said that poverty comprised the ‘practical’ side of the issue of child labour and added that the question on why parents were sending their children to work needed to be addressed. “The hard reality is that, like the employer who eyes profit by employing children, parents too look at such options to survive poverty,” he said.

Restaurateurs, construction industry promoters and owners of automobile garages attended the workshop, which was jointly organised by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority, Labour Department, Women and Child Development Department and UNICEF. The delegates were briefed at the workshop on the legal issues involved in child labour, apart from the child welfare schemes taken up by the State.

Natural disasters’ impact worsened by poverty--analysts

from INQ7

Agence France-Presse, Associated Press

THE PHILIPPINES is naturally prone to disasters but rising poverty and climate change are making the problem steadily worse, analysts said.

Despite repeated disasters, many people are too poor to leave dangerous areas, they say.

Some 30,000 people fled the Mayon volcano when it started rumbling in August only to return when the activity subsided. But this week, typhoon-triggered mudslides swept hundreds of these people to their deaths.

Typhoon “Reming” (international codename: Durian) was the fourth "super" typhoon in four months to hit the country, swamping the Mayon volcano with so much wind and rain that ash and boulders cascaded down its slopes in walls of black mud that swamped entire villages Thursday.

The Philippines has long tried to minimize the damage caused by the 20 or so typhoons that hit the sprawling archipelago every year. Despite a combination of preparation and mitigation measures, high death tolls and destruction persist.

The Philippines' location in the northwestern Pacific puts it right in the pathway of the world's No. 1 typhoon generator, according to meteorologists.

"We are often the first to experience typhoons before they go to China, Taiwan and Japan," said Thelma Cinco, senior weather specialist of the Philippine weather bureau.

Roger-Mark De Souza of the Washington-based Population Reference Bureau said the danger from natural disasters here has risen markedly in recent years.

"The risk to human life from natural disasters in the Philippines has increased dramatically over the past generation," he said in a recent report. "From 1971 to 2000, natural disasters killed 34,000 people but from 1990 to 2000, natural disasters killed or disrupted the lives of 35 million people."

Nationwide in 2001-05, 2,892 people were killed and 909 others went missing in typhoons and other storms, which caused damage totaling P26.05 billion ($521 million), the National Disaster Coordinating Council says.

During the past century, bad weather has cost the country about P15 billion ($300 million) a year just in infrastructure, said Anthony Golez, the council's deputy chief, noting that the estimate doesn't include losses to employment and other economic opportunities.

Sitting on the edge of the "Pacific Ring of Fire," the Southeast Asian archipelago nation is also vulnerable to earthquakes, at least six a day, and volcanic eruptions from its 18 active volcanoes.

It all makes for a deadly mix making the Philippines one of the most disaster-prone countries on earth, according to the International Red Cross.

In a country where more than 50 percent of the population are living on less than two dollars a day, the human cost of such disasters is enormous.

Senator Richard Gordon, who heads the Philippine National Red Cross, said better planning is needed.

"We have to break the cycle of disaster and poverty by being smarter, by being sure we can plan our community smarter," he said. "The big problem here in our country is we don't plan our communities. It's every man for himself."

He said the government has money for disaster mitigation but that politicians look to building projects that last only long enough for people to remember them during election campaigns.

For all the stark images from the devastation wrought by Reming, the scenes were troublingly familiar.

In the eastern island of Leyte earlier this year, 1,800 were killed when a mudslide caused by heavy rains obliterated the farming community of Guinsaugon.

The International Red Cross has estimated that some 5.9 million Filipinos were killed or injured as a result of natural or manmade calamities in the 10 years to 2001.

In its 2005 Disaster report the IRC said the impact of natural disasters "aggravate pre-existing poverty, creating a downward spiral of vulnerability, arresting development."

Leoncio Amadore, one of the Philippines' foremost meteorologists, believes that climate change is also contributing to the severity of the typhoons now hitting the Philippines.

"The combination of strong typhoons, excessive rain and landslides has caused a great deal of death and destruction in the Philippines.

"If we do not act urgently, climate change will further intensify the severity of extreme weather events," he said.

But how can Filipinos deal with typhoons?

"The country would need a big umbrella," Golez quipped. "Figuratively, that umbrella is the knowledge that we should instill in our people -- knowing about disaster preparedness."

He said Filipinos should be "bombarded" with disaster information, including stories of the Indian Ocean tsunami two years ago and the Guinsaugon landslide.

"They have to get scared, or else," he said. "We have to give them the reality, and it's a sad reality. We have to tell them the truth."

But work should go beyond preparedness, Golez said. Too many people live close to danger zones like mountainsides or riverbanks, he said.

"They are pushed there because they do not have any choice. If you develop their economy, then they would have more options," he said.

Mayor Jessie Robredo of Naga City, Camarines Sur, said his people are used to the yearly storms and began bracing for Reming a week before it arrived. The result was "zero casualty" this time, he said.

But he laments that emergency funds, used to help his constituents get back on their feet after every typhoon, could be used for economic projects.

"We would have been more progressive, more productive," he said. "The worst part of a typhoon is that instead of using our funds for livelihood, we use them for relief to help people rebuild their lives. Instead of building infrastructures, we repair buildings."

The cycle seems unlikely to break soon. But Robredo said life goes on in Typhoon Alley.

"The people of Naga are very resilient," he said. "Typhoons are like a way of life, a part of life. We do not like them, but our attitude is that there is still another day and we will rise again."

World Bank: China’s 10% poorest situation has worsened

from Merco Press

China must concentrate on social security and welfare programs now that it has advanced in achieving a reduction in poverty, said the World Bank Friday.

However "income shock" such as failing crops, health problems and injury were the main cause of a decline in the incomes of the poorest 10% of China's 1.3 billion people from 2001 to 2003, points out the WB.

Economists from the bank revealed last week that the incomes of more than 100 million Chinese had fallen by 2.4% during a period when China's economy was growing at an average of about 10% annually.

"China's impressive growth has been an important driver of poverty reduction, but it is true that not everybody has equally benefited from this growth," David Dollar, the World Bank's China director, told reporters.

"It is becoming clear that the nature of poverty in China is changing as the poverty rate declines," Dollar said.

"You can go just 100 kilometres from Beijing to villages where there is not a large number of poor, but almost every village will have a few people living in poverty.

"This means that growth and developmental policies still remain important for poverty alleviation, but in addition the policies emphasized by the current government, which target individual vulnerability such as health insurance and 'dibao' (basic social security), gain in importance" he said.

In a report on its preliminary analysis of poverty in China, the bank said the number of poor declined from 16% to 10% from 2001 to 2004.

"Between 1990 and 2002, the latest year for which global poverty numbers are available, China reduced poverty by 195 million people according to the 1 dollar per day consumption standard". But income inequality rose between urban and rural areas, as well as within all areas of China.

The bank saw the rising income inequality as "in part the result of desirable developments" such as greater incentives created by economic reforms and skill-based wages paid "according to market principles".

It found "considerable movement in and out of poverty" from 2001 to 2004. About 70% of those on the lowest incomes were "temporarily poor because an income shock, such as layoff, injury, ill health, or crop failure had pushed them into poverty".

"The preliminary policy implications are that overall growth continues to provide a good environment for improving lives of the poor" said the WB.

"However, the findings suggest that, as in other countries, there are poor people in China who will not escape poverty by growth alone".

Dollar said better health care and social security systems would also make families "more confident about increasing their consumption" and help to shift China's growth towards domestic markets.

Last month, the World Bank forecast a "modest slowdown" in China's economic growth to 9.6% in 2007 and urged Beijing to promote domestic consumption, limit investment and curb its rising trade surplus.

"We are concerned about some of the global imbalances" Dollar said, adding that China's exports had increased by an average of 29% annually since it joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001.

'Explosive growth' in tiny loans to poor

from The Financial Times

By Krishna Guha in Washington

More than 113m people took part in microfinance programmes last year according to a new report that documents explosive growth in the business of making tiny loans to poor people.

The study, by umbrella organisation Microcredit Summit, says the number of loans reported by member lenders has risen at an average annual rate of 34 per cent since 1997. A growing share ofmicrofinance loans are funded by for-profit businesses.

The report does not put a cash value on the loans, but one Microcredit Summit official estimated that it could be as high as $30bn.

The report follows the award of this year's Nobel Peace Prize to Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, one of the pioneers of microfinance.

The report says that of the 113m people with microfinance loans last year, 82m were among the poorest people in the countries in which they live. The vast majority were women.

Microfinance activists had hoped to reach a target of 100m of the poorest by 2005, but say they will now reach that goal this year. However, organisers admit that microfinance programmes in Africa and Latin America have struggled to reach the most disadvantaged.

The report claims data increasingly supports the contention that microfinance is an effective way of reducing poverty.

Research by Shahidur Khandker, a World Bank economist, suggests microcredit has had a significant impact on poverty alleviation in rural Bangladesh.

Hutton: jobs are key to ending poverty

from IC Wales

WORK and Pensions Secretary John Hutton yesterday rejected the argument that child poverty can only be eradicated by rises in benefit payments, and gave his blessing to Rhodri Morgan's key election pledge.

Mr Morgan says ending child poverty by 2020 will be the major theme of his third-term administration if he remains First Minister after next May's election.

But Plaid Cymru's shadow justice minister Leanne Wood expressed doubts about the policy, saying, "Until the Assembly has power over the benefit and tax system, any Assembly Government of whatever colour will find it difficult to tackle child poverty. It is the tax and benefit system which is the main tool to do this."

Mr Hutton, who was in Cardiff and Merthyr Tydfil visiting projects that have helped economically inactive people back into work, strongly disagreed, saying, "I think the Welsh Assembly Government has got it right. The best and most sustainable way of getting people out of poverty, for lone parents and others in Wales, is to get work.

"And I think with tax credits, designed to provide additional help when you get into work, that is the right way to try to square the circle.

Tackling urban poverty big challenge: Selja

from New Kerala

New Delhi, The Centre today warned that urban poverty was likely to become one of the toughest problems in the country in the 21st century, as the proportion of indigent people in urban areas was higher than rural areas as seen in many states.

Addressing the first meeting of the National Core Group on Urban Poverty, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja said urbanisation must be encouraged to tackle rural poverty and to absorb more labour.

She said providing micro finance and entrepreneurial skills could address livelihood and poverty issues in cities.

The National Core Group on Urban Poverty has been constituted to assist the Ministry in the implementation of basic services to urban poor and in slum development.

'Discriminated HIV sufferers face poverty'

from ITV

Increasing numbers of people are being driven into isolation and poverty because of the stigma associated with HIV, a report issued on World Aids Day has said.

Charities Crusaid and the National Aids Trust claim prejudice and discrimination can lead to people falling on hard times as well as damaging them physically and mentally.

One in three people diagnosed with HIV has turned to Crusaid for financial support since the charity was set up 20 years ago.

The average income of applicants to the charity's Hardship Fund fell to £60 per week in 2005 while the number of requests for help to cover basic needs such as food and clothing rose sharply.

HIV positive asylum-seekers, who are prevented from working and claiming benefits, are living in substandard housing and are unable to afford basic food and clothing, researchers said.

Chief executive of Crusaid, Robin Brady, said: "Our report shows how HIV and poverty are intertwined for so many people. It is shocking that after 20 years Crusaid is still being called upon to help people living with HIV and in poverty.

"That is why we teamed up with the National Aids Trust to produce a report that exposes the problems that people living with HIV face on a daily basis.

"There is a need to challenge and alleviate the growth in HIV-related poverty in the UK. This report highlights the need, and it is time for Government to pick up the responsibility."

Meanwhile, the International Labour Organisation has said that the workplace may be the best setting to have drugs administered to millions of people living with HIV and Aids.

The UN agency said that more than 24 million people in the global workforce in 2005 suffered from HIV or Aids and almost 67 per cent of these live in Africa.

It estimated that 1.8 million more African workers would be alive in 2010 if 80 per cent of the workforce were to start and stay on anti-retroviral drugs from this year.

Kenya: Poverty Fuelling Spread of Aids

from All Africa

The Nation (Nairobi)

Zipporah Musau
Nairobi

Men, money, and mobility may have been among the main drivers of the HIV/Aids epidemic in its early days, but now poverty, widespread in Africa, has increasingly become one of the major risk factors.

Although we have known for the past 20 years the cause of HIV infection and how it is spread, we are only now beginning to understand what fuels the epidemic.

Food insecurity and malnutrition accelerate the spread of HIV, both by increasing exposure to the virus and by increasing the risk of infection following exposure, according to Dr Stuart Gillespie, a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

"Hunger and HIV/Aids are entwined in a vicious cycle. Malnutrition and lack of food heighten susceptibility to HIV exposure and infection, while Aids in turn exacerbates hunger," says Dr Gillespie.

When people are short of food, they may be forced to separate from their families to earn a livelihood. Migrant workers are at the heightened risk of HIV exposure and infection, and may spread the virus when they return home. Poor women may trade sex to feed their families. They may also be less able to access information about the disease or less able to act on their knowledge of risk to minimise HIV exposure.

Lack of proper nutrition may lead to increased HIV transmission efficiency by lowering immunity and compromising the strength of stomach and genital lining. Malnutrition among pregnant and breast-feeding women may increase the chances of infecting their babies.

In addition, reduced food intake and food quality hasten the progression to full-blown Aids among people already infected with HIV. Studies show that weight loss of five per cent over a period of four months, for example, leads to opportunistic infections and increased risk of death. Infections are longer-lasting and more severe in someone who is malnourished. They may also be more frequent.

Food an important weapon

According to Dr Gillespie, links between HIV/Aids and hunger are particularly acute in rural communities, where households are often dependent on agriculture for both income and food. Improving rural livelihoods and agricultural production can help reduce both the spread of HIV and the effects of Aids. He says that programmes that reduce the need for poor people to migrate to look for work, for example by restoring degraded land, can also reduce their risk of being exposed to the virus.

As evidence of the interactions between Aids and hunger has accumulated, both agriculture and nutrition specialists have begun to take Aids into account. In turn, Aids experts have become increasingly aware of the critical importance of nutrition, particularly if anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs) are to be effective.

A recent study shows that if patients are malnourished when they start ARV therapy they are six times more likely to die than well-nourished patients.

They are also more likely to suffer side-effects, which may cause them to stop taking the ARVs altogether. And if many people stop, drug resistance will spread fast.

Malnutrition also increases the chances of disease transmission between adults. For example, Vitamin A deficiency is particularly associated with an increased risk of STDs, including genital ulcers and cervical herpes simplex virus shedding, which increase the risk of HIV transmission.

Focusing on the single premise that high rates of HIV prevalence in Africa are mainly due to high levels of unprotected, non-monogamous sex has restricted policy interventions. Hence, prevention of HIV is pursued predominantly through initiatives to "change behaviour", such as the ABC approach (Abstain, Be faithful, and use a Condom). Several studies stress the need to look beyond proximal factors of high-risk behaviour in HIV transmission. There is need to investigate why people engage in high-risk behaviour to successfully address the crisis.

Moreover, the use of the term "pandemic" conceals the fact that multiple epidemics may differ in causation, velocity, duration, and impact.

On World AIDS Day, woman releases book

from Inside Bay Area

Group becomes 'hands and feet of Jesus' in Africa

By Tim Hunt

Editor's note: Former Herald editor and associate publisher is traveling in Africa to Kenya and Malawi with a Heart for Africa team. He is chair of the Heart for Africa board and filed this report from Malawi on World AIDS Day.

LILONGWE, Malawi

A TEAM OF 27 NORTH AMERICANS arrive here today to work in the poorest areas of Lilongwe with Theresa Malila and her Somebody Cares organization of Lilongwe.

Leading the Heart for Africa team is Janine Maxwell, whose book Its Not Okay With Me, is being released today on World AIDS Day. Maxwells book describes her transformation from successful marketing agency owner to leader of this faith-based humanitarian organization based in Atlanta.

Its appropriate that Im here in Africa as the book God led me to write is being released in North America. My heart is here coming alongside Africans who are doing the work of caring for some of Gods poorest and neediest kids, Maxwell said. Im excited to have other North Americans here with me to be the hands and feet of Jesus along with our African partners.

Too many of Gods precious children die in Africa every day because theres no food, no safe water and the HIV/AIDS pandemic has left in its wake 15 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa. God has called me and my family to do what we can to help change this awful reality, Maxwell continued.

Maxwells life changed dramatically after she was in New York City with one of her clients, Kelloggs Canada, when the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks occurred. The first chapter of her book traces her escape from New York City after which she fell into a deep depression and began questioning what she was doing with her life.

In 2003, she went to Kenya on a mission trip, which began the transformation of her life. By mid-2004, God had led Maxwell and her husband, Ian, to close their agency, Onyx, and search for a way to make a difference. Their client list included many of the Fortune 50 companies in Canada and they had 75 employees.

Meanwhile, she continued to travel to Africa and began raising money to help orphans. In 2005, her entire family went to Africa to spend the summer as volunteers with Dream for Africa, the predecessor organization to Heart for Africa. Two months after they agreed to join the staff, Ian Maxwell was named president in late September 2005.

The organization has taken more than 4,500 North Americans to Swaziland, South Africa and Malawi to plant gardens to help Africans move toward food security. In Swaziland, more than 95 percent of the homesteads have been planted.

The book chronicles some of the amazing incidents Maxwell encountered while working in Africa, such as one involving a young girl named Lillian and her sisters. On Maxwells first trip to Kenya in 2003, she was in the Kipsongo slum in Kitale with Charles Mully, founder of the Mully Childrens Family.

They were told to go into one hut and discovered a girl who weighed just 12 pounds and was near death. They took her to a hospital and later learned her parents had both died of AIDS and shed lived alone in that hut for eight months. Amazingly, with treatment and lots of prayer, Lillian recovered and now lives in the Mully home in Ndali.

Equally amazing, on two successive trips into that slum — months apart — Maxwell recognized two girls who looked remarkably like Lillian. They were the sisters that Mully and Maxwell did not know existed. The three sisters now all live in Ndali.

Maxwells book tells of the awful poverty and living conditions of millions of African children, but also provides hope that if caring people intervene, they can make a big difference, one child and one family at a time.

The title calls people to action by agreeing that its not OK that:

- A child in sub-Saharan Africa dies every three seconds because of hunger and malnutrition.

- Every 14 seconds a child is orphaned by AIDS.

- Orphans live alone or in gangs on the streets because, in many heavily AIDS-infected countries, theres no one to care for them. The governments are simply overwhelmed by the numbers. Last year, the World Health Organization estimated there are more than 15 million orphans in sub-Saharan Africa.

- Orphans and poor children live in deplorable conditions in slums and scavenge garbage dumps for something to eat. In many slums, theres no clean water supply or no simple sanitation, such as pit toilets.

Here in Malawi, the Heart for Africa team will spend several days working in the Nagona slum, as well as several villages outside of Lilongwe. Team members will be putting roofs on mud huts damaged in the recent torrential rains and planting community gardens to help the Malawians grow nutritious vegetables to improve their diet.

The lack of food and poverty multiplies the effects of HIV/AIDS. Even if the anti-viral drugs are available, many Africans are so malnourished that their bodies cannot process the drugs.

The community gardens are one way that Heart for Africa is helping Africans toward a sustainable food supply. North Americans plant vegetable seedlings and then Somebody Cares provides the ongoing support for the community gardens and the families they feed. Heart for Africa focuses its efforts on hunger, orphans, poverty and education.

Working in the villages of Deya, Matunda, Chatimba and Njewa, Heart for Africa and Somebody Cares have installed three bore holes, fixed a fourth bore hole, committed to building a school that will break ground in February, planted community gardens and brought immediate aid and comfort to thousands of people in Malawi.

Somebody Cares, the Lilongwe-based partner organization, provides home-based care in the poorest areas of this city. Its headed by Theresa Malila, who received Heart for Africas Woman of the Year award in 2005.

For additional information about the book, visit http://www.itsnotokwithme.com. To learn more about Heart for Africa, visit http://www.heartforafrica.org.

Bulgaria Marks World AIDS Day with 677 HIV-Positive

from The Sofia News Agency

Bulgaria marks this year's World AIDS Day with information campaigns across the country, part of a nationwide initiative for HIV/AIDS prevention.

Bulgaria's HIV-positive patients on record grew to 677 in November, up by 76 since the beginning of the year, latest figures show.

Though experts suppose the actual number of the infected exceeds that figure, AIDS is not an epidemic of catastrophic proportions for a population of approximately 8 million.

The lethal disease has been spreading mostly among men, younger people and residents of larger cities. HIV has already crossed into the mainstream population and take its toll among people from all ages, social groups and professions.

In over 90% percent of the cases the disease has been transmitted through sexual contacts. In this form the disease knows no age limits - unprotected sex inflicts with HIV people aged from 16 till 70.

Bulgaria's young pay a high price for being the first generation to have lived so far without the strict restrictions of the former totalitarian regime, often without any clear vision for the future and often in poverty. More than 70% of HIV infections are among 20-39 years old and the spread of the virus is particularly severe among young intravenous drug users. The youngest is aged 16.

Bulgaria is considered to have a relatively low number of HIV positive people presently, and health officials say efforts must focus on prevention.

The government seems to try hard to address the issue. As early as 2001 the National Strategy and the National Action Plan for Prevention and Control of AIDS was adopted to cover the period from 2001-2007.

HIV pushing sufferers in Britain into poverty

From Reuters Alert Net

By Patricia Reaney

LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Shortly after breaking up with his partner, a British man with HIV found that his address was posted in a shop window along with a warning that he was an AIDS carrier.

Days later he was beaten with chair legs by men in his home.

"I spent years coming to terms with living with HIV, then just one person turned my life around through pure spite," said John, a 36-year-old who lives in the Midlands.

Twenty-five years into the AIDS epidemic, people infected with the virus still face hate crimes, stigma, discrimination and abuse. In Britain where an estimated 63,000 people are infected with HIV, it is driving many sufferers into extreme poverty.

"It is a real enough phenomenon for us to need to do something about it," said Yusef Azad of the National AIDS Trust (NAT) in Britain.

A report by the trust and Crusaid, a charity dedicated to helping people affected by HIV/AIDS, shows a third of all people diagnosed with HIV in Britain have sought hardship help to relieve their poverty.

"We're talking very significant proportions of people living with HIV who are having to deal with poverty issues," Azad said in an interview.

"HIV often drives people into poverty and poverty makes the condition more difficult to manage and deal with," he added.

MONEY FOR FOOD

The report, released on World AIDS Day, highlights cases of people hounded out of jobs because of their HIV status, or who faced discrimination when they tried to get one. Others live in sub-standard housing and have been abandoned by friends and family and ostracised by their community.

"My bosses never said anything in particular but kept making it clear that I should consider taking a long rest and maybe not return at all," said Graham, who eventually quit because he felt so isolated.

Britain has one of the highest increasing rates of HIV in Europe. In 2005 it recorded the biggest ever number of new HIV diagnoses in gay and bisexual men. About 85 percent of the rise in heterosexual transmissions is in people who migrated from other countries with high infection rates.

"The worrying thing is that, at a time when HIV is probably the most serious communicable disease threat for the UK, funds for HIV prevention are being cut," said Azad.

More people are being pushed into poverty because of HIV/AIDS and it is becoming more extreme. In the past people sought money from Crusaid's hardship fund to buy items such as appliances. Now it is for food.

"The depths of destitution and the depths of need are much more severe than they have been in the past. The people in those categories, and there are many more of them, tend to be people within the asylum and immigration system," according to Azad.

The report called for the government and police to establish policies that explicitly address HIV hate crimes and help tackle unemployment and poor housing among people with HIV.

"The asylum and immigration system needs to insure people living with HIV have enough to live on ... and should allow people who have been here for six months the right to work," Azad added.

Mauritania gets E4 million Italian poverty grant

from The Angola Press

Nouakchott, Mauritania, Italy will grant Mauritania 4 million euros to help fund of a poverty reduction project under an agreement signed here by the two governments, an official source said here Thursday.

Mauritania`s Interior Minister Mohamed Ahmed Ould Mohamed Lemine, and Italian Ambassador to Mauritania, Augustino Mathts, Wednesday afternoon signed the agreement for the funding.

Execution of the project over the next three years will help improve the level of food security and reduce under-nutrition in two regions located in the north of the country (Inchiri and Adrar).

It will also help to carry out many actions to open up some areas, improve nutrition and develop income-generating activities.

Minister Promises to Pursue Good Governance

from The Ghanaian Chronicle

The Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment, Stephen Asamoah-Boateng proclaimed that the government needs to assure that the people are heard so they can drive the mantle of development and bring themselves out of poverty.

As he closed the 1st Accra Governance Dialogue he promised that he would make sure democracy was implemented in Ghana and hoped other African Ministers would follow suit.

After a two-day conference, delegates concluded that for Africa’s development, good governance was an essential requirement within African countries, and Ghana was praised for its political and economic advancement since independence.

The topic of ‘Consolidating Political Stability in Africa for Accelerated Economic Growth’ was discussed with delegates from Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Gambia as well as Ghanaian Ministers of State.

The Chairman of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu said that political stability is often hampered by corruption. He said the efforts to eradicate corruption would be fruitless if there was not a stable political environment encouraged by the people.

He used the current predicament in his country as an example, telling the delegates that 120 people who had been recently convicted of corruption were friends with the Nigerian president, Olusegun Obasanjo.

He said: “Above all, the political will must be present at the topmost level of political decision-making to allow such catalytic forces to work in such a way that they do not become the business-as-usual model which has become the bane of many reform programmes in the region.”

He told the audience that good governance would come from fair elections by the people. “The ability of the people to vote in a free and fair election, bolstered by informed choices, and for the elected representative to deliver on electoral promises, all form aspects of the cocktail of principles which coalesce into what we have come to define properly as governance.”

The importance of fair elections had already been emphasized by the Ghanaian Chairman Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari Gyan who said on day one that by holding a successful democratic election would in itself not signal the arrival of democracy or good governance but was a step in the right direction.

He said “In so far as elective public offices are concerned, a successfully executed democratic election is the only genuine door to democratic leadership, and therefore the first step towards good governance.

“Elections form an important factor in consolidating political stability, which indeed is essential for accelerating economic development,” he added.

The representatives were encouraged to realize that Africa has its problems and remains a poor continent needing a lot of work. Discussing the import role that the private sector has in good governance, Ishmael Yamson, Chairman of Unilever Ghana and Standard Chartered Bank said: “We cannot for ever blame the unfavorable world trade terms for our slow development and pervasive poverty when we do nothing to change the structure of our economies.

“A company is not a country so no private sector organization can replace the state in ensuring political stability. What the private sector can do and do better is promoting good governance.

“First the private sector must become competitive and strong. A weak private sector is a liability to any country especially if the conditions for growth are present. When the private sector becomes competitive it will grow, generate more wealth and create prosperity for all its stakeholders. It is in the area of wealth-creation that the private sector can play a leading role,” he added.

As Mr Asamoah-Boateng closed the dialogue he said that by building on and learning from past experiences, Africa could develop into a democratic and fair continent. He said Africans needed to keep on talking of democracy and building on it.

He said: “A lot has been discussed here on democracy and good governance. I hope that they are taken forward and implemented. I will make sure, that here in Ghana, the issues are pursued and implemented.

“We need to bring our people up so they can drive the mantle of development and develop out economies.”

He also said that regardless of which party was in power, the people needed to be brought out of poverty and this would only be done if all the country worked together and pushed for political stability.

Graphic Communications said they organized the conference with an aim to encourage the development of democracy and good governance in the country and Africa.

Mr Asamoah-Boateng thanked the Graphic and praised the group for its hard work. He said other media organizations needed to also aid in the political stability of the country by exposing corruption and campaigning for democracy.

“The Government will support media practitioners as we strive for political stability and so together we can shape our country.”

Why giving a goat for Christmas 'hinders those in poverty'

from The Daily Mail

By PAUL SIMS

They are the fashionable Christmas gifts at the centre of a multi-million pound fund-raising campaign aimed at those desperate to help save the world from poverty.

But critics now claim that buying a goat, cow or even half a dozen chickens through schemes run by Oxfam, Christian Aid and others is doing more harm than good.

Instead of helping impoverished communities in the developing world flourish it is spreading disease, damaging the environment and wiping out vital water supplies.

Yesterday, the World Land Trust and Animal Aid said it was simply "madness" to send farm animals to areas where they will add to the problems of drought and desertification.

John Burton, director of the trust, said: "I was prepared to put this down to ignorance of the issues last year, but now it seems utterly cynical. They seem to be doing this just to make money at Christmas. It's a gimmick."

He added: "The goat campaign may be a pleasing gift and a short term fix for milk and meat for a few individuals but in the long-term the quality of life for these people will slowly be reduced with devastating effect."

Animal Aid claims that six chickens, costing £11 and bought as a Christmas present for a friend, will heighten the disease risk and severely damage the local habitat.

Two goats, purchased for £125, can reduce the amount of farmland available to local people and result in villages becoming deserted whilst a cow, at £750, will drink up to 90 litres of water every single day.

"At Christmas time, people are desperate to make a gesture that will benefit the world's most vulnerable communities, if only to make us feel better about the relative great wealth the majority of us in the developed world enjoy," said Andrew Tyler, director of Animal Aid.

"But while donating animals might make the donor feel good, such gifts simply add to the burden of the impoverished recipients. There are many worthwhile initiatives to help people in developing countries that do not involve the exploitation of animals.

"We urge the public this year to boycott all donate-an-animal schemes and support projects that actually help people, animals and the environment. These schemes are not a good thing."

Animal Aid, which was formed in 1977 to campaign against all forms of animal abuse, claims that the various charities raise up to £10 million every year but routinely ignore the damage they are causing.

They accused aid agencies like Oxfam and World Vision of creating a much wider problem and being 'quick to spot a marketing opportunity'.

"All farmed animals require proper nourishment, large quantities of water, shelter from extremes of weather and veterinary care. Such resources are in critically short supply in much of Africa," added Mr Tyler.

But last night officials at the aid agencies named by the World Land Trust and Animal Aid insisted that its critics had simply misunderstood the schemes. They also said that whilst Animal Aid sold organic chocolates and wines the trust offered people the chance to preserve an acre of rainforest.

A spokesman for Oxfam said: "We strongly dispute these claims by Animal Aid and the World Land Trust. We work closely with the communities where we have worked for over 60 years to provide them with exactly what they need to lift themselves out of poverty.

"If you were to go to a village in Africa and ask the people what kind of difference these Christmas gifts make to their lives they would tell you that it makes a world of difference."

A Christian Aid spokeswoman said: "We work with local organisations on the ground who know the needs of the community better than anyone else. We don't just distribute hundreds of cows.

"We work with communities where there is enough water for the cows to drink and where the benefits are sufficient enough for them to drink the water. In terms of the risk of disease posed by chickens we make sure that proper veterinary advice is taken before we do anything."

"It is about what is most appropriate in each country at that time. There is a huge appetite for ethical gifts - it has trebled in the last three years."

Potable Water for All, Sign of Poverty Eradication – Obasanjo

from This Day Online

President Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday said the fight against poverty could not be said to have succeeded, until “wholesome drinking water” was provided in every home.
Obasanjo said this as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) declared that 40 million Nigerians, representing 35 per cent of the country’s population still lack access to safe water.

Obasanjo, who yesterday in Abuja launched the 2006 Human Development Report (HDR) with the theme: “Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis,” said, “we cannot really say we are succeeding in our fight against poverty until we can get wholesome drinking water to everyone where he lives, and that is our objective.

“The global water crisis casts a shadow on sustainable development in Nigeria, as it does in most parts of Africa and the developing world. Water scarcity has impacted severely on food availability, human health, and economic development,” Obasanjo said, adding that “this leads us to the simple conclusion that conservation of environmentally friendly and sound use of water resources is crucial for socio-economic development and poverty alleviation.”

Statistics, he said have identified Africa as having the lowest total water supply coverage of any region, with only 62 per cent of the population having access to improved water supply.

“The situation is worst in rural areas, where the coverage is only 47 per cent, compared to 85 per cent in urban centres. It is predicted that the continent will face increased population pressures over the coming decades, with the greatest increase occurring in urban areas. As a result, approximately 210 million people in urban areas will need to be provided with access to water supply services, if the international coverage target for 2015 is to be met.

Obasanjo said a similar number of people in rural areas will also need to gain access to clean water.

He added that, “the Water Vision seeks to harness Africa's water resources to meet the critical development needs of its people. It calls for, among other things, strengthening institutional governance of water resources; improving water wisdom; meeting urgent water needs; and strengthening the financial base for desired water future.”

He stressed that, it is evident that water is a cross-cutting issue that goes a long way in aiding the fight against extreme poverty, hunger and preventable diseases while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability and that the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) document recognizes the fact that a large percentage of Nigerians do not have access to potable water.

He also pointed out that, “in addition, many people spend valuable time which could otherwise be invested in more economically productive activities sourcing for water for domestic use. Water supply and sanitation therefore remains a primary focus of the government under our NEEDS programme.

Accordingly, the key objectives of the government's water resources policy aim to ensure the development and management of an effective water resources policy and the protection of water resources and the environment for balanced social and economic development. This is all encapsulated in our Presidential Water initiative, tagged Water for People, Water for Life.

Funding for the sector has steadily increased from less than N8 billion in 1998 to about N55 billion in 2006, in addition to 100 billion naira set aside from the debt relief gains in the 2006 budget in the MDGs key sectors which include water
esources development. This is clear evidence of our priority attention to the sector.”

He however psoited that, the challenges not withstanding, Nigeria and all nations across the world, as well as stakeholders and development partners need to stay the course and sustain the current tempo of priority rating for water resources development in the developing countries, especially in Africa.

“The international community, under the aegis of the United Nations, urgently needs to come up with a practical, functional, and holistic framework to address all the variables to the issue of water before it evolves into a trigger of international conflict of unimaginable proportions,” he urged, while saying, “we on our part will continue to encourage international cooperation, public-private participation, as well as productive partnerships with international organizations like the UNDP in the water sector in line with evolving international best practices so as to build an enduring and sustainable water future for all our peoples.”

In his opening address, Country Representative, UNDP, Mr. Alberic Kacou notwithstanding the “serious commitment” of the Federal government towards increasing access to safe water in the country, a lot needed to be done given the fact that 35 per cent of Nigerians (40 million people) still lack access to safe water.
According to him,” it is important to acknowledge the serious commitment of the Government of Nigeria under the leadership of Mr. President to increasing access to safe water in the country. Budgetary allocation has been increased, and major investments have been made in dams and irrigation projects. According to official figures, access to water has increased to 65 per cent in Nigeria. This is commendable.

Nevertheless, a lot more still needs to be done. Two reasons make this compelling. One is that the 35 per cent of Nigerians who still lack access to safe water is huge, given that this amounts to more than 40 million Nigerians, more than the population of many countries.”

He pointed out that, “all efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals in Nigeria will be at risk if access to safe water is not significantly expanded, for water is critical to food security, reasonable standard of living, basic education, gender equality, child and maternal mortality, environmental protection and overall good health. And as it is clear to everyone, Africa cannot meet the 2015 deadline for the MDGs without Nigeria.”