By Wezi Tjaronda
WINDHOEK
The United Nations Commission has cited Namibia’s Basic Income Grant (BIG) proposal for Social Development as one of the possible good practices relating to full employment and decent work.
The Chairman’s summary of the Commission for Social Development (CSD) 45th Session on Full Employment and Decent Work for All mentioned the basic income grant proposal, Brazil’s Bolsa Familia and India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee as some of the several good practices that would alleviate poverty and empower rural households to improve their lives.
This follows the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia’s Bishop Kameeta’s presentation to the United Nations Commission for Social Development in New York in February where he participated in a panel discussion on the topic, “Good practices for promoting employment and decent work”.
Kameeta said BIG has the capacity to be the most significant poverty-reducing programme in Namibia, while supporting household development, economic growth and job creation at the same time.
Just last week, The Lutheran World Federation Council at its meeting in Sweden, urged its member churches to consider poverty reduction initiatives like Namibia’s Basic Income Grant proposal.
The CSD Chairman’s summary said: “A recent proposal for a basic income grant for all had emerged a good practice model for alleviating poverty, and for empowering the poor to improve their livelihoods.”
The BIG coalition, which comprises the Council of Churches in Namibia, the Namibia Non-Governmental Forum, the National Union of Namibian Workers, the Legal Assistance Centre, the Namibia National AIDS Service Organisations and the Labour Resource and Research Institute has proposed a monthly grant of N$100 to be paid to every citizen until pensionable age to provide security that reinforces human dignity.
The idea is that the cash remittance would curb mass poverty, thus freeing people from the destructive cycle of poverty and also redistribute wealth to the majority of the people.
Brazil’s Bolsa Familia (Family Stipend) established in 2003, provides financial aid to poor Brazilian families on condition that the children attend school and are vaccinated. The programme attempts to both reduce short-term poverty by direct cash transfers and fight long-term poverty by increasing human capital among the poor through conditional cash transfers.
Currently the programme gives a monthly stipend of about N$50 per child attending school, to a maximum of three children, to all poor families and an additional sum to families living in extreme poverty.
Last year, Bolsa Familia is estimated to have cost about 0.5% of Brazilian GDP and about 2.5 percent of total Government expenditure.
The summary report said Bolsa Familia provides cash transfer to 11 million low-income families and the long run goal of poverty reduction through increases in human capital among poor families.
The other programme, National Rural Employment Guarantee provides an adult member of rural families 100 days of paid employment on a guarantee basis every year. The goal of the programme is to provide a social safety net for vulnerable groups and the enhancement of livelihood security in rural areas by generating wage employment through works that develop the infrastructure base of the area.