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POVERTY REDUCTION: conceptual approaches and adaptation of experience in the regional context

The two–days' international conference "Achievement of the First Millenium Development Goal: Conceptual Approaches and Ways of Implementation" was held in early November in Minsk under the patronage of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Prevention and eradication of poverty is one of the UN major priorities. This is a pre–eminent challenge and many countries can hardly cope with it alone. Addressing the development challenges and striving to improve the household living standards, the Belarusian government has initiated a number of projects that have been supported by the UNDP. The first one was the joint project "Assistance in Elaboration of the Basic Foundation for a National Poverty Reduction Strategy in Belarus" and the Minsk conference was a part of it. The event brought together the officials of the central and regional authorities, politicians and opinion leaders from Belarus and other countries of the region and representatives of the international organizations. The key task of the conference was to align approaches to adaptation of the First Millenium Development Goal (poverty eradication) in the regional context and to draft recommendations for its integration in socio–economic development programs.

"Social protection of households is a costly item in the budget of any country," said Antonina Morova, Belarus' Minister of Labor and Social Protection, in her opening remarks. However, despite transition constraints, the Belarusian authorities regard social protection of households as one of the government priorities. This can be confirmed by the fact that over the last 10 years the poverty rate in Belarus decreased by two times. Ms Morova also stressed that the unemployment rate tended to slow down: as of 1 October 2004 it was 2% of the economically active population versus 4% in 1996.

"Starting from January 2001, a new system of targeted social assistance has been introduced in Belarus intended to provide financial support to certain categories of households and individuals whose incomes are below the threshold of 60% of subsistence minimum, — said Antonina Morova. — Belarus has established 155 centers for social care services and now each administrative district has a center providing social services to the elderly, families with children and the disabled. The network of social services involving visiting individuals at home has been expanded nationwide covering over 65 thousand people. We regard the current stage of social services development as a transition to the new high quality system of social protection".

"Compared to other transition economies, Belarus has one of the lowest poverty rates, — said Cihan Sultanoglu, UN Resident Coordinator/UNDP Resident Representative in Belarus. — Only 1% of Belarus' population was living on less than $2 a day in 2003. However, about 30% of the Belarusian households fall into the low–income category. Like in many other CIS countries, the risk of poverty is the highest for rural households, children and one–parent families..." Branislav Jekic, Head of the UNICEF Office in Belarus, elaborated on this statement stressing that each of those present should assume responsibility for improvement of the situation.

"The relevant public services should exert continued efforts to help parents who can work to find a decent job. Children live with adults and depend principally on those adults for their well–being. Children living with poorly educated and relatively young parents are more likely to be classified as poor than other children. Another much — discussed factor associated with the growth in child poverty in recent years is the growth in single–parent families due to the high divorce rate and the growing rate of non–marital births. With fewer adults, a family's earning potential is reduced, increasing the likelihood that children in these families will be poor," said Mr Jekic.

During the first day of the conference a plenary session focusing on discussion of poverty profile, factors contributing to poverty, approaches to development of the poverty reduction strategies and programs and the experience of poverty reduction strategies' implementation in other countries of the region (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Moldova and Albania) was followed by the work in sections. All participants could participate in formulation of proposals and recommendations. On the second day the participants of the conference exchanged opinion and experience and met with the officials of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, non–governmental associations and staff members of the UNDP Project for Elaboration of the National Poverty Reduction Strategy. The participants also visited one of the territorial social care centers.

Having heard the presentations and having exchanged opinion on the broad range of issues, the participants of the conference "Achievement of the First Millenium Development Goal: Conceptual Approaches and Ways of Implementation" adopted the final resolution.

The resoution says that the First Millenium Development Goal can be achieved in the region through ensuring sustainable economic growth and enabling environment for the best realization of human potential. This would also require the efficient social policy aimed at down–scaling of unemployment and ensuring equal access to health and education services to all households. "Efficient collaboration of the national governments, nongovernmental associations and the international organizations as well as mobilization of civil society will facilitate achievement of the First Millenium Development Goal, — says the resolution. — UNDP Regional Offices strengthen relations between countries and make a valuable contribution to the achievement of the First Millenium Development Goal".

Given poverty specifics in transition economies, the participants of the conference recommended to use the proportion of the population living on less than $4.3 a day as the key indicator for regional poverty monitoring. It was also recommended to incorporate in the monitoring system the macroeconomic indicators reflecting the ratio of economic growth and poverty reduction in the countries and the indicators showing both income and opportunity destitution. The findings of the poverty monitoring should be broadly discussed to get a feedback from the key stakeholders and population groups.

As for the social policy, the resolution urged to enhance targeting, to develop social insurance mechanisms and to improve employment policies and wage incentives. As of the economic opportunities, the resolution called for establishment of the system for early prevention of poverty and creation of opportunities helping the able–bodied individuals to overcome poverty through involvement in self–employment and business, development of the effective forms of support to start–up businesses and liberalization of business environment.

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