09 Aug 2016

Poverty eradication programme implementers have been asked to diversify these programmes to more sustainable ones that would see more beneficiaries graduating from poverty and transforming into successful business people. 

The call was made by Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele during the poverty eradication workshop in Maun recently.

 The minister advised the implementers to unpack government policies and programmes to see if they could be harnessed to assist in poverty eradication.

The poverty eradication budget alone cannot manage to assist everyone who is poverty stricken but if combined with other government policies and programmes poverty could  be eradicated, he said.

For instance, he said poverty eradication implementers could liaise with the Ministry of Agriculture and see how they could leverage programmes such as Integrated Support Programme for Arable Agricultural Development to assist in the eradication of poverty .

He said the Economic Stimulus Programme could  also be harnessed to help eradicate poverty if implementers think outside the 

box.  

Furthermore, the minister advised implementers to observe the set service standards and ten point agenda as they assisted beneficiaries.

 Mr Makgalemele said Government Accounting and Budgeting System should not be used as an excuse to send back beneficiaries asking for assistance as some of them would be coming from far away places.

 “A greater part in attaining poverty eradication lies in the implementation of government policies that put emphasis on improved service delivery. 

What a marvel if we were all to serve with speed, diligence, respect, love and above all with a smile on our faces,” said  Mr Makgalemele.

He said there could not be any explanation why deserving Batswana could not get the services they needed while government had availed both human, material and financial resources so that they could in future, sustain themselves through the packages they would have chosen.

As part of enhanced intervention, Mr Makgalemele urged poverty eradication implementers to know their enablers.

For instance he said beneficiaries could be advised to sell their produce to the Selibe Phikwe agro-processing plant. 

He advised implementers to encourage beneficiaries to form cooperatives so that they could be assisted as a group.

“My conviction has always been that of building a strong foundation for running some of these programmes through clusters, trusts and cooperatives,” he said. Ends