Re: POV-RED: COG working group listserv: poverty reduction

["Austin Muneku" <austinmuneku@hotmail.com>]

Thanks Ravi,

My name is Austin Muneku currently working with Zambia Congress of Trade 
Unions the largest trade union federation in Zambia as Director of Economics 
and Research. I am an economist by profession.

I wish to commend you for this initiative which I think has come at an 
opportune time. Working for a trade union movement in African and in 
particularly Zambia a country ranked among the least developed and Heavily 
indebted poor countries is a big challenge. The issue of poverty is high on 
the African agenda. Poverty does not only present a serious drawback to 
development but also good governance. Poverty limits the ability and 
capacity of the citizens o participate in major decisions and to hold those 
in authorouty accountable.

It is here that the trade unions have a big role to play in tackling the 
issue of poverty. As you maybe aware poverty in Africa is multi-dimensional. 
As the OECD DAC guidelines correctly puts it "poverty encompasses diferent 
dimensions of deprivation that relate to human capabilities including 
consumption and food security, health, education, human rights, voice, 
security, dignity and decent work". Given the extended family system that is 
deeply ingrained into the Africa social fibre trade unions have to address 
poverty from a broad perspective by demanding policy intervention that 
address interests of the poorest of the poor "jobless" and the growing 
number of the working poor (those whose income fall below a basic needs 
budget) "decent jobs". The responses thus required are twofold firts 
national (requires engagement to influence national policies that deliver to 
the poor (education , health, HIV/AIDS), stopping wastage of resources and 
corruption and then second workplace/enterprise engagenment, negotiating for 
decent jobs (durable and adequately remunerated jobs)

I look forward to working with everyone on this net work.

Cheers and happy new year to all.

austin



>From: Ravi Naidoo <Ravi@naledi.org.za>
>Reply-To: povertyreduction@cog.kent.edu
>To: "'povertyreduction@cog.kent.edu'" <povertyreduction@cog.kent.edu>
>Subject: POV-RED: COG working group listserv: poverty reduction
>Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2003 08:37:31 +0200
>
>Dear All,
>
>You are currently subscribed as part of the "ownership distribution and
>poverty reduction in developing countries" listserv of the Capital 
>Ownership
>group.
>
>I am Ravi Naidoo, and I am the co-ordinator of this group. I am the 
>Director
>of the Johannesburg-based National Labour and Economic Development 
>Institute
>(NALEDI), an autonomous policy research institute that works closely with
>organised labour and other social formations in the 'South'.
>
>As you see, the working group goes under the title "ownership distribution
>and poverty reduction in developing countries". It is my view that the
>wording of the title of this working group itself invites discussion, as 
>one
>could discuss the options for "poverty alleviation" (including social
>security) rather than only "poverty reduction" (longer-term economic
>development) and similarly the concept of "developing countries" is worth
>some attention (what are they developing into? Is the process linear? Are
>developing countries not being 'under-developed' by capital outflows and
>declining terms of trade?, etc.) I raise these issues not to be esoteric,
>but rather to illustrate that there are many concepts taken for granted 
>that
>could be interrogated further in our discussions.
>
>There are 29 initial subscribers to this working group.
>
>In kicking-off this discussion, I would suggest that you all send in a
>paragraph or two to the group introducing yourself, what your interest is 
>in
>this issue, and your expectations/ preferred outcomes of this group. You 
>may
>also wish to comment on the introduction I appended to the homepage of this
>working group and/ or highlight other issues that should be discussed. You
>can also take a look at my paper, Employee Ownership in the Context of
>Globalisation: A Developing Country Perspective, found at:
>
><http://cog.kent.edu/lib/NadooEmployee%20ownership_COGdraft0702.htm>
>
>I hope you would all be able to throw something into the pot. I would
>suggest we start the discuss at a broad level, and then narrow down to more
>focused discussions as we go. Also a good start would be to discuss
>international experience and available literature to discuss what has 
>worked
>where and why? (and vice versa). Even a paragraph or two would be a good
>start.
>
>cheers!
>
>
>Ravi Naidoo
>Director
>National Labour and Economic Development Institute (NALEDI)
>Tel: +27 11 403 21 22
>Fax: +27 11 403 19 48
>Email: ravi@naledi.org.za
>Postal address: PO Box 5665, Johannesburg, 2000
>Website: www.naledi.org.za
>
>
>To subscribe to this or another of COG's discussion groups register at:
>http://cog.kent.edu/register.html
>To unsubscribe from this group send a message to majordomo@cog.kent.edu
>with a single line in the body of the message that says:
>unsubscribe povertyreduction


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