Anti-poverty Champions to be formed

February 10,

Kathmandu

A meeting of the prominent personalities today agreed to form of a group of eminent persons to work as champions of anti-poverty campaign in Nepal. The meeting, organized by Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF), was participated by former bureaucrats, development planners, economists, academicians, sociologist and civil society leaders, among others.

 

"Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) will work on selecting the name, develop Terms of Reference and proposed the structure of the group, to be finalized in the next meeting," Mr. Janak Raj Joshi, vice chairperson of PAF said. The proposed group will also provide regular feedbacks for improved performance of PAF and work as facilitators while dealing with other stakeholders.

 

The half-day meeting was organized to discuss issues and gaps relating to poverty alleviation and  solicit suggestions  for creating effective  poverty alleviation mechanism at the national level,  and to identify the key constraints in poverty alleviation--ranging from institutional to policy , legal to managerial.

 

Participating experts also stressed the need of the formation of an oversight agency to coordinate all the poverty alleviation programme and activities of the country to reach out the poorest segment of the population.  They also said that the people should be strategized in their fight against poverty.

 

On his welcome note, PAF  Vice Chairperson, Mr Joshi highlighted the need of changing the status of PAF from a fund administrator to an oversight agency on poverty alleviation, with the continuation of the best practices adopted by PAF.

 

"PAF is not only a programme, Vice chairperson Mr Joshi said, "It’s a development model and concept which is delivering results at the grass root level."

 

Speaking on the interaction programme, Dr  Pushkar Bachracharya, former NPC member, said that  more investment should be made in agriculture, livelihood and micro enterprises, infrastructure and human resource development for poverty alleviation. Dr Bina Pradhan, another development expert, said that PAF should be free from any political and bureaucratic influence.  Saying remittance is the temporary solutions to poverty alleviation, Professor Nobel Kishor Rai stressed the need for huge investment in education.

 

Earlier, highlighting the achievements of PAF, Mr Raj Babu Shrestha, Executive Director, of PAF, said that targeted programme has resulted in the formation of 17, 537 community organizations covering 40 % of the VDCs of Nepal.

 

Highlighting the findings of the recent impact evaluation conducted in six PAF districts, Dr Gayatri Acharya,  Task Team Leader for Poverty Alleviation Fund, World Bank Nepal office, said that PAF has demonstrated that the little resources provided to the poor has really helped them to come out of the poverty. She also said that the PAF has contributed in increasing the per capita consumption by 49 per cent and food insecurity declined by 10 per cent.

 

The meeting was participated by former speaker of the parliament Mr Daman Nath Dhungana, former Vice Chairperson of National Planning Commission, Dr Pitamber Sharma, former Chief Election Commissioner, Mr Bhoj Raj Pokhrel, veteran civil society leader Mr Padma Ratna Tuladhar, former chief secretary Dr Bimal Koirala, Professor Novel Kishor Rai, Professor Bishowmber Pyakurel and the World Bank representatives Dr Gayatri Acharya, Dr  Roshan Bajracharya and Mr Hiramai Ghimire. Also , the meeting was attended by President of FNCCI, Mr Suraj  Vaidya,  President of Nepal Chamber of Commerce, Mr Surendra Bahadur Basnyat, National Planning Commission Secretary, Mr Yub Raj Bhusal,  Professor Madan Dahal, Dr  R D Singh,  Former Chairperson of National Dalit Commission, Mr Bijul Kumar Bishwokarma, Mr Shambu Saran Kayastha and PAF Board Members, among others.

For Further Information, Poverty Alleviation Fund, Gyaneshwor, Telephone, 014410041