THE government and international donors need to dedicate more financial resources to alleviating poverty, despite recent improvements, the top United Nations official in Myanmar told The Myanmar Times last week.
The results of a joint UN-government household living conditions survey released last week show the number of people living below the poverty line has declined almost 20 percent in the past five years, from 32pc of the population to 26pc. Based on this figure and varying population estimates, somewhere from 3-3.6 million people have worked their way above the poverty line since 2005.
The country-wide survey of 18,660 households was conducted in 2009-10 by the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development and UN Development Program (UNDP), in coordination with UNICEF and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The report defined the poverty line as K754 a day, up from K324 in 2005.
Mr Bishow Parajuli, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, welcomed the positive progress but said more cooperation was needed to reduce poverty further.
“We are very pleased to know that the poverty level has decreased throughout the country but poverty still remains high in some of the regions,” said Mr Parajuli, who is also the UNDP resident representative.
In a statement released on June 10, UNDP urged “caution … in the interpretation of data on poverty levels and trends, in particular on the magnitude of the decline in poverty”.
“The survey results indicate that the overall poverty and food poverty incidence in the country has been reduced, yet expenditure on food as a share of household consumption has risen for the poor, and that landlessness amongst the poorest appears to have increased,” the statement said.
Mr Parajuli said the new government had shown its commitment to addressing poverty through the holding of a workshop on poverty alleviation. The workshop, held in Nay Pyi Taw from May 20 to 22, was attended by President U Thein Sein.
Mr Parajuli said that the government could “add impetus” to poverty alleviation efforts by inviting UN and international non-government organisations to participate.
“I think [holding the workshop] is a very good initiative from the new government to address poverty as it has provided an opportunity for many professionals and economists to discuss and develop ideas and programs on poverty reduction. What is important now is to take action, based on the outcome of the discussions at the workshop,” he said.
This includes increasing the budget of ministries that play a role in poverty reduction.
“I think the education and health sectors in Myanmar will get about 4pc of GDP this fiscal year, which is a good increase on the previous year but I think is still too low.”
The budgets for the ministries of education health both increased by about 16pc in 2011-12. The education budget for this year stands at K310 billion, or 5pc of the total budget, while health will receive K90.8 billion, about 1.5pc of the total budget.
Mr Parajuli said donors also needed to show they were prepared to financially support poverty alleviation programs in Myanmar, which receives the lowest amount of aid per capita of all least-developed countries and significantly less than neighbouring Laos and Cambodia.
“We have many challenges; assistance from international donors is very low because of the policy of some donor countries. More funding is necessary. We also need to seek more development support from the international community in order to address poverty reduction,” he said.
He said that the government needed to better facilitate the development activities of UN agencies and international NGOs.
“We need to trust each other more … All stakeholders need to join hands in an effort to reduce poverty. Contributions from the government, the business community, the political parties as well as the international community, donors and the UN are very important to effectively help the people of Myanmar.”
The results of the poverty survey were released in Nay Pyi Taw on June 6. Minister for National Planning and Economic Development U Tin Naing Thein said the survey showed “that poverty has been alleviated drastically” in the past five years.
“The statistics will make [a] significant contribution towards rural development programs to be implemented by the new government,” he said.
“[T]he objectives of the National Workshop on Poverty Alleviation held by the government two weeks ago are consistent with the work programmes of UNDP.”
The UNDP statement said survey data was also used to compile reports on poverty dynamics and Millennium Development Goals progress.
“I believe that the poverty profile, MDG relevant information and poverty dynamics reports will be very useful for rural development and poverty alleviation,” U Tin Naing Thein said in his opening remarks, according to the statement.
“This is the first survey of its kind to be done in Myanmar,” Mr Akbar Usmani, acting UNDP resident representative, said in the statement. “We hope that the survey will contribute to well-informed pro-poor decision making and to improving the living conditions for the people of Myanmar.”
The results of a joint UN-government household living conditions survey released last week show the number of people living below the poverty line has declined almost 20 percent in the past five years, from 32pc of the population to 26pc. Based on this figure and varying population estimates, somewhere from 3-3.6 million people have worked their way above the poverty line since 2005.
The country-wide survey of 18,660 households was conducted in 2009-10 by the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development and UN Development Program (UNDP), in coordination with UNICEF and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The report defined the poverty line as K754 a day, up from K324 in 2005.
Mr Bishow Parajuli, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar, welcomed the positive progress but said more cooperation was needed to reduce poverty further.
“We are very pleased to know that the poverty level has decreased throughout the country but poverty still remains high in some of the regions,” said Mr Parajuli, who is also the UNDP resident representative.
In a statement released on June 10, UNDP urged “caution … in the interpretation of data on poverty levels and trends, in particular on the magnitude of the decline in poverty”.
“The survey results indicate that the overall poverty and food poverty incidence in the country has been reduced, yet expenditure on food as a share of household consumption has risen for the poor, and that landlessness amongst the poorest appears to have increased,” the statement said.
Mr Parajuli said the new government had shown its commitment to addressing poverty through the holding of a workshop on poverty alleviation. The workshop, held in Nay Pyi Taw from May 20 to 22, was attended by President U Thein Sein.
Mr Parajuli said that the government could “add impetus” to poverty alleviation efforts by inviting UN and international non-government organisations to participate.
“I think [holding the workshop] is a very good initiative from the new government to address poverty as it has provided an opportunity for many professionals and economists to discuss and develop ideas and programs on poverty reduction. What is important now is to take action, based on the outcome of the discussions at the workshop,” he said.
This includes increasing the budget of ministries that play a role in poverty reduction.
“I think the education and health sectors in Myanmar will get about 4pc of GDP this fiscal year, which is a good increase on the previous year but I think is still too low.”
The budgets for the ministries of education health both increased by about 16pc in 2011-12. The education budget for this year stands at K310 billion, or 5pc of the total budget, while health will receive K90.8 billion, about 1.5pc of the total budget.
Mr Parajuli said donors also needed to show they were prepared to financially support poverty alleviation programs in Myanmar, which receives the lowest amount of aid per capita of all least-developed countries and significantly less than neighbouring Laos and Cambodia.
“We have many challenges; assistance from international donors is very low because of the policy of some donor countries. More funding is necessary. We also need to seek more development support from the international community in order to address poverty reduction,” he said.
He said that the government needed to better facilitate the development activities of UN agencies and international NGOs.
“We need to trust each other more … All stakeholders need to join hands in an effort to reduce poverty. Contributions from the government, the business community, the political parties as well as the international community, donors and the UN are very important to effectively help the people of Myanmar.”
The results of the poverty survey were released in Nay Pyi Taw on June 6. Minister for National Planning and Economic Development U Tin Naing Thein said the survey showed “that poverty has been alleviated drastically” in the past five years.
“The statistics will make [a] significant contribution towards rural development programs to be implemented by the new government,” he said.
“[T]he objectives of the National Workshop on Poverty Alleviation held by the government two weeks ago are consistent with the work programmes of UNDP.”
The UNDP statement said survey data was also used to compile reports on poverty dynamics and Millennium Development Goals progress.
“I believe that the poverty profile, MDG relevant information and poverty dynamics reports will be very useful for rural development and poverty alleviation,” U Tin Naing Thein said in his opening remarks, according to the statement.
“This is the first survey of its kind to be done in Myanmar,” Mr Akbar Usmani, acting UNDP resident representative, said in the statement. “We hope that the survey will contribute to well-informed pro-poor decision making and to improving the living conditions for the people of Myanmar.”
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