By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –
A MULTI-DIMENSIONAL approach is the suitable way of checking poverty levels in the country, National Development Planning Permanent Secretary Auxilia Ponga has said.
Dr Ponga said multi-dimensional measures of poverty allowed the Government to relate to common economic issues of poverty.
She said this during the launch of a Zambia Institute for Policy Analysis and Research (ZIPAR) report on ‘Recounting the miseries of the poor: A multi-dimensional measurement of poverty in Zambia’.
“The multi-dimensional approaches serve as a check on the result of the income approach since it tells us what the developments are at the grassroots level,” she said.
Dr Ponga said people in the planning processes should be cognisant of multi-dimensional approaches and ensure that there was improvement in access and quality of education.
“If we are to uplift the lives of the majority in our society we need to be cognisant of the multi-dimensional approaches.
“I am fully aware that launching this report does not put to rest all the limitations with respect to understanding the plight of the poor,” Dr Ponga said.
She said the Government had put in place initiatives with the common objective of reducing poverty through the medium-term expenditure framework, national budget and Seventh National Development plan.
Dr Ponga said the initiatives had all been aligned to transform the economy in order to improve the welfare of the poor.
Speaking at the same event, ZIPAR acting executive director Shebo Nalishebo said secondary education continued to be a problem in Zambia.
He said the Government should start thinking of how to improve access to education for the poor.