We can alleviate poverty without donor support – Professor Bilson Darku

Associate Professor of Economics at the Faculty of Arts and Science at the University of Lethbridge-Canada, Professor Alexander Bilson Darku, has emphasised the need for poverty alleviation in Ghana, calling on citizenry to recalibrate their mindset and jettison the lingering notion that the country cannot win its fight against poverty without donor support.

According to him, past donor-supported programmes targetted at reducing poverty in the country – such as the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) and Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) and many others – have not yielded the intended results. He said although most of them were well-designed and crafted, their implementation was abysmally poor – resulting in them not being able to reach most of the people for whom they were designed for.

“We seem to be trapped under the notion that until we get support from somewhere we won’t be able to do this,” he added.

He noted that aside from its financial dimension, poverty can manifest in other forms: including health poverty, nutritional poverty, illiteracy and social exclusion, among others. He added that eliminating this canker should be a top priority for all.

“No nation should be satisfied with a segment of its people existing in conditions of abject poverty,” he said.

He made these observations while interacting with media at the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Ghana’s international conference held at Tang in Accra, under the theme ‘Piloting China’s Targetted Poverty Alleviation Model in West Africa’.

Additionally, he said, it is high time the nation came out with well-thought-out poverty criteria defining what the canker really is.

“The criteria should not only be income-based but also be based on other things that are important for human development – such as health level, education level, access to clean water and access to infrastructure. Once we have that definition, we can begin to have very fruitful conversations on who is truly poor in this county,’ he elaborated.

He urged Ghana to imitate China’s targetted poverty alleviation model to set its poor citizens free from the canker’s shackles: “China did it with some support, but almost exclusively on their own; and I am optimistic that we can also do it”.

The Institute of Economic Affairs is Ghana’s premier public policy think-tank, with a 30-year track record of educating and influencing public discourse on economic, socio-political and legal issues, and with a commitment to its responsibility of delivering accessible and timely communications which propel positive change for the common good.

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