Friday, November 4, 2011

Fight against poverty: Amédée Darga cited the example of Mauritius in South Africa

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The president of Enterprise Mauritius was invited by the Southern Africa Trust to make a presentation of the strategy adopted by Port-Louis to overcome poverty. He listed the measures taken by the country since independence to enable Mauritians to achieve a better standard of living.
The method of Mauritius to combat poverty was cited this Thursday, November 3 in South Africa by President of Enterprise Mauritius, Amédée Darga. Also a consultant to the Africa, it was invited by the Southern Africa Trust, an organization which works our compatriot Prega Ramsamy, to dissect the Mauritius Strategy so that it serves as an example for the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Community of Southern Africa.
From the outset, this High Level Dialogue on Challenges of Regional Integration for Poverty Reduction, Amédée Darga said that Mauritius has adopted a strategy against poverty than two decades ago. But since independence, measures have been initiated to enable Mauritians to achieve a certain standard of living.
Maurice has done so to create jobs, promote entrepreneurship, provide social benefits to both old and those with disabilities to invest in essential services such as providing clean water, electricity, education, among others. Any economic strategy was also built around these priorities.
At independence, highlighted Amédée Darga, Maurice was almost the same level as other African countries in terms of income per capita, which was around 250 U.S. dollars. Isolated from the world, depending on the sugar cane industry, with no natural resources and a prey to hurricanes, the island has managed to overcome these challenges.
Since then, every ten years, says Amedee Darga, income per capita has taken an upward slope and the Gini coefficient - a measure of income inequality - over the last twenty years has remained stable, demonstrating that is a distribution of wealth.
Maurice also played an interventionist role in the economy, while acting as a facilitator for the private sector and the regulator to protect vulnerable groups and sectors. The fight against poverty, Amédée Darga added, was to ensure that all Mauritians have access to free health care, free education, to be connected to electricity and potable water and a roof.
Speaking of housing, the president of Enterprise Mauritius said that 88.9% of Mauritians own. To arrive at this figure, he listed the measures taken, such as the creation of the Mauritius Housing Corporation (MHC), which offered loans at a time when others do not offer loans and the allowance for slab, provided by the state.
The state is also at the bedside of the poor through the construction of houses called "low cost" and in the 1980s, the Mauritians who took a loan to build a house could deduct a certain amount of tax.
Amédée Darga also mentioned the establishment in 2006 of the National Empowerment Foundation (NEF). Besides the aim of ensuring that every household in the bottom income and obtain shelter, their children receive the help they need to learn.
He did not fail to mention the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) adopted in 2009. Besides using the European Union through the Decentralised Cooperation Programme.
The President of Enterprise Mauritius has highlighted that while everyone agrees that growth does not necessarily reduce poverty, local experience has shown that a well-oiled strategy ensures economic development. There is no magic formula, he says, most of providing an opportunity for everyone to have a job.
Within the SADC, he said, it is a central strategy to overcome poverty.
Meanwhile, Prega Ramsamy, former Secretary General of SADC, has him focused on investment and trade as an engine for sustainable development. Which in the long run, will help eradicate poverty.

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