There is a tendency to minimize or forget about the poverty reduction. Actually, poverty reduction and in the case of Congo, eradication of extreme poverty should be the first or the priority need.
It is simple, if people can not afford health and education, then you have provide it FREE. And, it could be a handout forever. Therefore, I think poverty reduction is necessary for sustainable development.
Poverty reduction requires more time and more trials and errors. Also, it is more of the arts of side of development. Health and education interventions can be delivered in neat little packages. Ready for the photos!
Poverty reduction first requires asking lots of questions to ascertain the local environment. No two African countries or even no two areas of Congo are alike. So, you have to figure out what works and what is sustainable. This phases requires trials and error corrections.
I think we are too impatient for immediate results. So, we get sucked into the education and health blackholes. Outside funding is needed each and every year or else the gains start to disappear.
Congolese mothers and fathers want the best for their families, too. They know that education and health is essential. Also, the parents do not have to be reminded that earning a living is required. They want to see their children healthy, wealthy, and wise. Actually, their own lives depend on it especially in the later years for survival.
Children are being educated. Young men and women are attending the universities in Congo. However, the prospects of a good paying job is almost nonexistent. When I visited with university students, they wanted to return to their village BUT they needed a job.
The same is true for health. We are making some progress and saving children for death and misery. But are we delaying the more painful reality of not having a ladder of prosperity to climb?
Coming from a missionary perspective, I see that poverty reduction and sustainability was a failure. The education and health systems are weak but they function. However, there are virtually no income producing or poverty reduction projects or programs in place today.
You can not medicate or educate away poverty!
Link: allAfrica.com: Congo-Kinshasa: Five Year UN Agency Action Plan Launched (Page 1 of 1).
In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kinshasa on 3 April 2008, the DRC government and the UN agencies of UNICEF, UNDP and UNFPA signed a new five year programme action plan for the country, for the years 2008 to 2012.
In attendance for the signing ceremony was the DRC Foreign Affairs Vice Minister Mr. Alain Lubamba, resident UN agency system coordinator Mr. Ross Mountain, as well as the following UN agency country directors: Mr. Adama Guindo (UNDP), Ms. Margaret Agama (UNFPA) and Mr. Tony Bloomberg (UNICEF).
Mr. Lubamba hailed all DRC's international partners for their contribution in helping to rebuild the country, and said that "the priority area for the DRC is poverty reduction," as well as "improving access to healthcare and education."
The UN Development Programme (UNDP) two main programme objectives in the DRC are good governance and the fight against poverty. Its aims at contributing to the emergence of a state in which citizens human rights will be respected, and a state which will give its citizens an opportunity to attain a reasonable standard of living.
The UN Childrens Fund (UNICEF) will focus its attention in the DRC on child and youth development, gender issues and HIV/AIDs. Areas in which UNICEF will be involved include health and nutrition, access to drinking water and the improvement of family and community practices that impact on their survival.
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) has three main areas of work in the DRC: health and reproduction, population and development, and gender issues. As part of the new programme, UNFPA will give an overall support to 22 health zones in the country's
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