Ambitious poverty reduction plan endorsed

An ambitious plan to tackle poverty in Burkina Faso and reduce the number of people living below the poverty line from nearly 50 to 35 percent over three years was endorsed on Sunday by the government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the civil society.

The US $212 million plan, which is expected to from 2004-2006, is expected to raise the landlocked country's Gross Domestic Product to four percent. It is contained in Burkina Faso's Strategic Paper for Poverty Reduction.

The main innovation in the plan was the government's decision to provide free basic education for children aged six to 16 years old. This includes education from primary school to ordinary level secondary school class.

"We have noted the difficulty of access to basic social services such as health and education. If we succeed in getting the poor to access to these needs, they will be empowered to individually find ways to get out of poverty," Madeleine Sorgho, coordinator of the Womens Associations and NGOs coordinator in Burkina Faso, said.

In July, a government survey found 46.4 percent of the country's 12 million people living below a poverty line of $146 a year.

The survey said low educational standards were the key reason for the poor performance of poverty reduction plans. It found that the literacy rate was as low as 21.8 percent among those aged 15 and above.

The survey also showed that only 4.2 percent of the population visited health centres.

The new plan gives priority to health, rural roads, rural electrification and rural telephone system.

Donors who attended Sunday's meeting demanded that more transparency in the use of funds. A source among the donors told IRIN that the Strategic Paper for Poverty Reduction did not contain enough guarantees of good governance.

The donors, the source said, would issue a statement very soon expressing their position on lack of transparency in management of available resources in Burkina Faso.

However Madeleine Sorgo said: "Their concerns are welcome. The donors are right when they try to see how the allocated financial resources will be spent. It is up to us to be transparent, accountable in order to reach equity," Madeleine Sorgho said.

Speaking on the National Radio, the Finance and Development Minister Seydou Bouda said on Sunday that the government was determined to end corruption by putting up mechanisms to fight it. He did not give details.