The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Africa Agenda 2063 are initiatives to tackle the global challenge of poverty, Amatus Nobabumah, the head of education, Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), has said.
He said, for instance, that the SDG 1 sought to eradicate poverty in all forms by 2030 while the Africa Agenda 2063 aimed to create a prosperous Africa based on inclusive and sustainable development.
He added that in Ghana, the Medium-Term National Development Policy Framework (MTNDPF) 2022-2025 also sought to build a prosperous nation and create opportunity for all Ghanaians.
Mr. Nobabumah said this in Wa, at the opening of a two-day dissemination workshop of the maiden district-level Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
The MPI report identified people, who were most deprived extending beyond traditional money-metric measures of poverty and serving as a strategic tool for policymaking.
It assessed the simultaneous deprivations experienced by people in a locality, based on several identified dimensions of poverty in a particular setting, including living conditions, health, education and employment to complement the monitory indicator of poverty.
“The poor suffer from multiple disadvantages. They may have poor health or malnutrition, lack clean water or electricity or poor quality of work.
Focusing on one factor alone, such as income, is, therefore, not enough to capture the multifaceted nature of poverty,” Nobabumah explained.
John Gambo, the Upper West Regional Statistician, underscored the need for stakeholders to understand the extent and nature of deprivation among diverse groups in society if the desire to end poverty in all its forms would be achieved.
“As a nation, the elimination of poverty would only be possible when the extent and nature of deprivation for different groups of the population are known.
“Without this fundamental understanding, our collective efforts in poverty eradication will be an exercise in futility,” he said.
Gambo indicated that the report provided the baseline data for measuring progress made toward eliminating poverty in all its forms in the country.
He explained that the report also provided relevant and timely data to support the implementation and monitoring of the country’s MTNDPF 2022-2025 and the SDG indicators including SDG on poverty eradication.
The regional statistician stated that the MPI would help in providing interventions for targeted resource allocation, monitoring and evaluating local government development programmes, tracking trends in multidimensional poverty over time and providing insights into the progress the country was making in ending poverty among others.
Gambo explained that the need for evidence-based decision-making had generated widespread demand for timely, credible, and relevant statistical data hence the GSS had continually produced and disseminated crucial statistical information to the public to meet that need.
Peter Maala, the chief director, Upper West Regional Coordinating Council, said they expected the MPI report to be ready before the commencement of the preparation of the district assemblies’ medium-term development plans.
He, however, said though the plan preparation period had elapsed, the report would still help to monitor the implementation of the plans to ensure the “scarce resources that we have” went into the right places to improve the lives of the people.
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