AN ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLE OF THE POVERTY ALLEVIATION FUND IN COMBATING POVERTY AMONG WOMEN IN SAVELUGU-NANTON DISTRICT IN THE NORTHERN REGION OF GHANA
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BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Poverty, the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Poverty is said to exist when people lack the means to satisfy their basic needs.The primary objective of international development assistance remained one of bringing about the desired change so as to reduce the proportion of poor or otherwise disadvantaged people in the world.
Today, poverty is seen as a complicated and multi-dimensional condition. Despite major reductions over the past 50 years within developing countries, poverty remains an enormous problem worldwide.
It is estimated that one third of the world’s population lives on less than U.S. $1 a day (World Bank, 1996). The World Bank (1997) defines poverty as an income of less than one dollar per day. By this measure, although the percentage of the world’s population living in poverty declined slightly between 1987 and 1993 (from 30.1 to 29.4%), the absolute number of people living in poverty increased from 1.2 to 1.3 billion. In a similar vein, the United Nations indicates that one third of the people in the world live on less than one U.S. dollar a day. In developed countries, a rather grimmer picture is revealed. More than a hundred million people live below the poverty line, and more than five million hover on the brink of destitution and homelessness. The worst decline in the living standards of developed countries occurred in Eastern Europe. In these countries (the former Soviet Union inclusive), a total of 120 million people are living below the poverty line of four dollars a day (World Bank, 2004). The World Bank notes that Africa’s poor, along with those in Asia, remain among the most impoverished in the world. A disturbing phenomenon, the Bank admits, is that urban poverty is growing rapidly. This notwithstanding, the poor in Africa are still, to a large extent, found in rural areas.
The World Bank (1997, p.xii) paints a gloomy picture of eradicating poverty in Africa as follows: "The poor performance of African economies and general lack of success of African governments in addressing poverty have become important issues." The tinge of pessimism in this statement is obvious, and it points to the fact that not only is fighting poverty a daunting one; it is increasingly becoming illusive. Sachs (2005) agrees that poverty reduction is intimately linked to sustained economic growth, but it may not be the ultimate. He posits that although the most powerful mechanism for reducing extreme poverty is to encourage overall economic growth, a rising tide does not necessarily lift all boats. Average income can rise, but if the income is distributed unevenly, the poor may benefit little. In the light of this experience, a paradigm shift in tackling poverty has culminated in the production of the first Human Development Report, thus considering human beings as the "real wealth of nation", and reveals that the primary objective of any development effort, particularly in the Third World, is to create an enabling environment for people to live long and productive lives (World Bank, 2004).
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Poverty can be described as endemic in Ghana as it is in almost the whole of sub-Saharan Africa. The NDPC (2005) revealed that five out of the ten regions in Ghana had more than 40% of their population living in poverty in 1999; the worst affected being the three northern savannah regions – the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions. Nine out of ten people in the Upper East, eight out of ten in the Upper West, seven out of ten in the Northern Region, five out ten in the CentralRegion and Eastern Region were classified as poor in 1999. In the light of these figures, it is not surprising that Ghana ranked 121st out of 174 countries in 1996 (NDPC, 2005).
Though poverty levels in the country continue to be a disturbing issue, the northern region is among the worst affected. Since the incidence of poverty is high in the rural areas, it is food crop farmers who are the most vulnerable. The Savelugu-Nanton District has a total population of about 101,140, with women constituting 51.2 percent.
Studies by NGOs in the area have revealed that there is gender disparity in terms of poverty, with women being the worst affected. The high incidence of poverty among women has often been due to the lack of access to credit, entrepreneurial skills training, and the subservient status of women in these male-dominated societies. The availability of micro-credit loans to women, is believed will enable them undertake income generating ventures, and consequently reduce poverty among women. In a bid to fight poverty in all districts in Ghana, a fund specifically known as the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF) was established in 1993 by an act of Parliament (Act 255) whereby 10 percent of each district’s share of the Common Fund will be retained as a reserve fund to be used to tackle basic developmental problems which are intimately linked to poverty. One of the key strategies at combating poverty, as suggested by the DACF policy, is to set up a revolving fund for the purpose of advancing credit to micro, medium and small scale enterprises (Government of Ghana, 1993). This scheme, known as the Productivity Improvement and Employment Generation Fund or Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF), should be managed in line with the poverty profile of the district concerned and the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy. The Fund has been operational since 1994 This study, therefore, seeks to assess how beneficial the scheme has been to women’s income generating activities in the study area, and to ascertain the effectiveness of micro credit as a tool for alleviating poverty.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to assess the extent to which the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) was helping to reduce poverty among women in the Savelugu-Nanton District. Specifically the study also sought to:
- Assess how the loan scheme has improved the income-generating activities of rural women in the district
- Ascertain if the scheme has facilitated any improvements in the daily lives of the women.
- Assess if there has been any change in behavior of the women towards the saving of earnings in general.
Research Hypothesis
The research is guided by the following Hypothesis:
HO1: Poverty Alleviation Fund scheme has not facilitated any improvements in the daily lives of the women.
HI2: Poverty Alleviation Fund scheme has facilitated any improvements in the daily lives of the women.
HO2: Loan scheme has not improved the income-generating activities of rural women in the district
HI2: Loan scheme has improved the income-generating activities of rural women in the district
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