13 Feb 2019

The acting Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Machana Shamukuni has launched the exit strategy and value chain book for the Poverty Eradication Programme. 

   He said the move would help ensure that beneficiaries got the necessary support in terms of inputs to their enterprises as well as being assisted in properly packaging, branding and delivery to markets.

The assistant minister said the strategy would significantly contribute to the sustainability of projects and take citizens out of poverty while creating the necessary jobs.

   He said the interventions would serve to facilitate programme uptake, profitability of the packages, sustainability and ultimately graduation from poverty and the programme. 

Mr Shamukuni said even though the Poverty Eradication Programme had positive results, there were still some people who doubted its impact on the lives of beneficiaries.

“Government acknowledges that winning the fight against poverty demands all to join hands to be in one accord,” he said. 

Poverty Eradication Programme national coordinator, Mr Montshiwa Montshiwa said so far, 33 000 beneficiaries had been enrolled in the programme, with 26 000 operational and doing exceptionally well while 2 009 of them were ready to exit the programme.

Mr Montshiwa divulged that P1.2 billion had been used since the inception of the programme.

He said the country had a challenge of producing less than it consumed in the horticulture and textile sectors, which were the main packages beneficiaries normally opted for.

Mr Montshiwa said though government was doing all it could to empower beneficiaries, there was still a problem of sourcing things such as seedlings and cloth as there were no local producers and/or suppliers. 

“It is important to capacitate and buy from local producers as that will go a long way in empowering them to ultimately exit the programme,” he said.

Mr Montshiwa said for the strategy to work, appropriate interventions should start where the process begins. ends