Eradication of poverty requires proper indicators

Goal 8 of the sustainable development goals calls for the promotion of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

Presenting her paper on poverty eradication during the Policy Forum’s Breakfast meeting last Friday in Dare s Salaam, whose theme was ‘Ending Poverty by Year 2030:

The prospects and challenges,’ the Executive Director Science, Technology and Innovation Policy Research Organization (STIPRO) Dr Bitrina Diyamett said that achieving poverty alleviation therefore required three important things or conditions to fulfill.

She mentioned them as sustainable growth (a necessary, but not sufficient condition); growth must enhance employment potential, and this employment potential must include majority of the people, including the poorest (inclusive growth, inclusive development, among others.)

So, what sectors to focus on?

Dr Diyamett further noted that in order the above mentioned factors to be implemented; she called on the government and other key stakeholders to focus on the following sectors:

The manufacturing sector: It is critical for employment generation (goal 9: Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation).

The industrial sector consists of three major sub-sectors: Manufacturing, mining and construction sectors.She noted that, but more important sector is the manufacturing:

overall observations by many scholars and practitioners have revealed the critical importance of the manufacturing sector in growth and development because of its potential for employment and its unique multiplier effect.

Apart from its own huge potential for employment generation, the development of the manufacturing sector stimulates demand for more and better services including banking, insurance, communication and transport, which leads to further job creation.

The growth of the manufacturing however, presupposes growth of the agricultural sector – structural transformation process.

Extensive literature on structural transformation indicate that there would first be growth in agricultural productivity with falling share of employment, giving way to rise of the manufacturing sector in terms of share of employment and contribution to GDP.

Along this process is usually a radical fall in poverty – case of Malaysia indicative.Strategic actions
esources for implementation of SDGs in Tanzania largely be focused on the achievement of goal 8 and 9.

Goal 8-promotes sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

In the short term: Increase agricultural productivity, while at the same time opening avenues for the non-farm activities in the rural areas, especially in agro-processing.Enhance innovation in both sectors:

Build agro-industrial innovation system by strengthening agricultural R&D and linkage with farmers; enhance marketing of agricultural products, including linkage between farmers and agro processors; provide finance; build capabilities for agro processing (entrepreneurs, technology, markets and skills).

Encourage mineral processing – provide incentive for value adding to minerals rather than raw export or very little value added. FDI can be instrumental here.

Develop innovative clusters that also include local companies around mining sites (including, mining, processing, associated metal sector, and other support organization).

In the medium term

The same can be done for the gas and oil sectors that are emerging; and new pharmaceuticals.

In the long term

Move towards a more diversified, sophisticated and internationally competitive national manufacturing sector.

In all the terms, it important to build both knowledge and physical infrastructure; promoting, science, technology and innovation:

Poverty alleviation is basically a process of building capabilities of very diverse nature, but above all is innovation capabilities:

The difference in income levels across countries comes basically from differences in capabilities to produce and market internationally competitive goods for prolonged period of time (Lee and Mathews 2013).

Challenges

Building innovation capabilities is very challenging: being systemic, innovation requires coordinating policies of very diverse nature: agricultural policies must be very well coordinated with the industrial policy for effective structural transformation.

Science, technology and innovation policies must be coordinated with the industrial, investments, trade, and education policies. Policy coordination requires effective governance of the system.

Building innovation capabilities require continuous follow up and evaluation of the performance of the system, which require special expertise, which the country to a large extent currently lacks.

Some recommendations

Basically, it targeted at addressing the mentioned challenges towards strategic actions: Endeavor to coordinate Science, technology and innovation policies with education, industrial, agricultural, trade and investment policies, including FDI.

Establish a high level and effective body that should govern the national system of innovation.

Endeavour to build national expertise on innovation studies, and monitoring and evaluation of the performance of the national systems of innovation:

The government should take decisions on the basis of adequate information, coherently presented and well argued.

In essence the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replace the former Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that ran from 2000 to 2015. By end of 2015 some targets of the MDGs have been met and others have not.

The SDGs, popularly known as Agenda 2030, builds on MDGs by moving beyond meeting basic human needs in order to promote dynamic, inclusive and sustainable development.

Close examination of these issues revolve around poverty, which has been a major subject of debate in individual countries and international organizations, even before the MDGs.

Memories of poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSP), which unfortunately had very minimum impact on poverty levels, are still very much fresh in the minds of many.

Most importantly, even the current SDGs acknowledges the fact that addressing issues of poverty is central to the Agenda 2030; in its preamble, for instance, the Agenda states:

“We recognise that eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.

These issues, together with the implementing of “Agenda 2030 for Poverty Reduction in Tanzania: How are we prepared” will feature as part of the discussion during the Breakfast Debate on Friday 26th February, 2016.

Eradication of poverty requires proper indicators to measure and monitor it: if you cannot measure, you cannot influence it.