Poverty trends between 1993 and 2004 in Namibia
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Date
2007
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Abstract
Poverty is one of the most researched topics, simply because it touches the lives and souls
of the people. However, even though much has been written on the topic, there are
information gaps regarding the movements of poverty incidence in Namibia. Malaysia, a
role model for most of the developing world does have an idea on its poverty trends
overtime. Knowledge on poverty trends and prevalence assists public policy in achieving
poverty reduction through a pro-poor growth strategy to provide the social and physical
infrastructure required for growing the economy and target specific groups amongst
whom poverty incidence is highest or has moved negatively.
The inquiry used secondary data extracted from the two Namibia Household Income and
Expenditure Surveys of 1993/94 and 2003/04. The trends are established through the
head-count indexing as proposed by Ravallion, Shimeles & Thoenen and others. The
computation followed the following formula: H = q/n, where H is the proportion of total
population per coverage deemed to be poor; q represents the number of people who are
poor by the definition of the poverty lines(s); while n is the population size. The study
based its findings on the consumption poverty line. Histograms, Pie charts and Graphs
are used in the paper.
Amongst the major findings are that; extreme and relative poverty are present in Namibia
with rural areas poverty more than doubling the urban areas poverty. Regionally, there
are those regions that have successfully reduced poverty from 1993 to 2003, while others
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have increased. The regions that identified to be poorer are the Kavango and Omaheke
regions, while the least poor are: Khomas and Erongo regions.
NPC is expected to use this information to: (a) Know what the situation is nationally,
regionally and rural/urban with respect to the movements of poverty (EP & RP). (b)
Monitor/ assess the progress of the policies aimed at poverty reductions, as it is the
custodian of overseeing the implementation of the PRSN, Vision 2030, NDPs and
MDGs. ( c) Be able to advice the president as per constitutional obligation on the best
interventions needed to be employed, once the knowledge of national, regional and
rural/urban is determined. The following recommendations are recommended for policy
actions:
• There is a strong necessity to review the PSRN of 1998 as the study revealed that
it's focus looks outdated.
• The Government shall expedite the enactment of rural development policy, as the
inquiry revealed that poverty is a rural phenomenon.
• Regions should re-evaluate their major policy intervention that is in NDP2 to
include what is identified in the study lacking.
• Labour intensive investments should become the first appraisal tool to investment
promotion.
The paper is organized into five chapters. Chapter 1 includes the background, research
problem, objectives of the study, methodology and significance of the study, Chapter 2 is
the literature review, Chapter 3 contains results and findings, Chapter 4 has key findings
and policy implications and Chapter 5 contains summary and policy conclusion.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Public Policy and Administration
Keywords
Poverty, Economic conditions