WINDHOEK – The Ministry of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare plays a critical role in coordinating and implementing the country’s blueprint on wealth redistribution and poverty eradication in collaboration with other ministries, public enterprises and agencies.
“By coordinating these two key policy frameworks, the ministry is responding to its mandate which is to ensure that all government poverty eradication policies, programmes and initiatives implemented by government offices, ministries and agencies as well as public enterprises are effectively coordinated and synchronised for the benefit of all Namibians,” said the minister, retired Bishop Zephania Kameeta.
Kameeta said it is through effective coordination that the government’s food bank programme is being ”successfully” implemented.
The ministry is implementing the food bank programme with the active participation of regional and local government, street committee members and development partners, the minister said yesterday.
“The ministry appreciates the cooperation and good spirit in which we have worked together since the introduction of the food bank,” said the former man of the cloth. Furthermore, he commented on the country’s classification as an upper-middle income country.
In this regard, he said high income inequality in Namibia depicts the actual poverty situation on the ground.
“This status often disadvantages the country when it comes to receiving support from the international community,” said Kameeta.
He commended the United Nations organisations and other development partners operating in the country for their “unwavering support and commitment to the development agenda of Namibia”.