14 Nov 2021

Government has been commended for dedicated efforts in the fight against poverty, which has positively impacted the lives of rural fcommunities.

Republic of Cote d’Ivoire Minister of Solidarity and fight against poverty Ms Missy Dogo said this during her team’s tour of some poverty eradication projects in the Good Hope/Mabule constituency on Friday.

Area MP, who is also the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mr Eric Molale accompanied Ms Dogo and her entourage.

The visitors had a chance to visita brick molding project in Phitshane and the detergent project in Mabule.

Ms Dogo observed most of the projects comprised women, which showed government commitment in developing its citizens, saying in her country, they believe that once you train a woman, you have trained the whole household.

She said it was thoughtful of government to have taken a deliberate decision to procure locally made goods as part of the efforts to keep such businesses afloat.

She further congratulated the beneficiaries for their hard work and resilience and urged them to keep up the positive spirit of self-reliance rather than relying on handouts.

She pleaded with her counterpart to assist the projects with brand strategies and to help them acquire modern equipment, which would speed up production and save time.

Ms Dogo was of the view that branding and mass production would help the projects to even challenge bigger markets.

For his part, Minister Molale said the projects were funded through the poverty eradication project scheme while beneficiaries were also equipped with necessary skills for their project needs.

They were also facilitated to find space from which they could operate.

Mr Molale said government went a step further and made a commitment to buy locally made products from those businesses.

The Minister said it was through hard work and determination that government managed to convince potential customers and even private companies and parastatals to support these businesses saying it was difficult for individuals to warm up to the idea of buying locally produced goods. Ends