STRAIGHT FROM THE BIG CITY

Poverty and livelihood
IKE ‘KA IKING’ SEÑERES

Are we fighting poverty, or are we providing livelihood? This is the philosophical question that I asked my brother Roy, and he gave me an answer that settled the question in my mind once and for all.

Roy said that fighting poverty is like going against a tsunami whereas providing livelihood is like creating a ripple, albeit it is a ripple that could be created many times, and no matter how small the waves it will create, it still amounts to doing something for God’s brethren, an indirect way of doing something for God. Adding more philosophical twist to his answer, Roy said that fighting poverty is too big of a challenge for any person or group, because as big as it is, it is really the job of the government to do it.
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There is no doubt about it, providing livelihood is really the way to get people out of poverty (and consequently to free them from hunger). Many politicians talk about providing livelihood, but do they really get around to providing the complete supply chain of the livelihood business process? Sad to say, many politicians seem to be unaware that livelihood involves both a supply chain and a business process.
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In theory, any household that is the beneficiary of a livelihood project could be liberated from poverty if and when their combined household income exceeds the threshold of the poverty line.

That being the case, it is possible to objectively target the number of households that could be liberated from poverty, at the same time achieving poverty reduction goals.
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The business process of livelihood involves five elements, namely planning, training, financing, marketing and consulting. Planning should be the logical start of the process, and consulting should be the continuing exercise that should sustain the life of projects over the years.
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The supply chain of livelihood involves the materials used for the production component of the project, all the way to the delivery of finished products to the intended markets. The hard part really is to sustain the supply chain, because without this sustenance, the business process will also die.
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For more information about public governance, email iseneres@yahoo.com