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Virginia Muwanigwa Correspondent

Where women do not have control over income, providing cash may result in increased poverty, when they lose the battle on what to use the cash on, at family and household level. However, some best practices have been seen by agencies where the cash transfers are used by beneficiaries to participate in the so-called round robins, where little income is increased by being shared among many people.

This is one of a series of articles analysing progress on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the year of review of the SADC Gender Protocol, 15 years post the adoption of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and ahead of adoption of their successor, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Part of the review of the SADC Gender Protocol involves analysing the proposed SDG text and synchronising it with proposals for a revised regional instrument. The Common African Position (CAP) for post-2015 leveraging on the SDGs commits to inclusive growth that will move people out of poverty. With general consensus being that poverty wears a woman’s face, SDG 1 therefore is key to gender equality efforts.

SDG1 seeks to “end poverty in all its forms everywhere”. While this is indeed a priority in Africa and beyond, it is necessary to strengthen the likelihood of success by reflecting on lessons learnt in past similar programmes. The MDG 2014 states that the world has reduced poverty by half, with a 22 percent drop in the number of people who live on less than $1,25 per day, deemed to be an indicator of extreme poverty.

However, the statistics belie the fact that people living below their countries’ poverty datum line has been increasing. This is a situation where people are unable to meet their monthly needs due to lack of or inadequate income. While globally there may a reduction in the number of poor people, close to home in the country, at SADC region and within the continent, it would appear that more people are sliding towards poverty.

The CAP recognises that poverty eradication “will require the empowerment of all people, including those living in vulnerable situations (including women, children, the elderly, youth, people with disabilities, rural populations, displaced persons and migrants).”

The African consensus says that empowerment will be promoted “through inclusive growth that creates decent jobs, improved access to social protection and through the promotion of measures that ensure that no individual remains below the poverty line.”

Finally, the leaders of the African Union commit to ensure that no person — regardless of ethnicity, gender, geography, disability, race or other status — is denied basic economic opportunities. This principled position is very key, only requiring concerted efforts to translate into reality through localised national strategies and priorities. Specific to the SDGs, countries will by 2030 eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1,25 a day. In a region where some populations do not have reliable access to income, no hope of saving and do not qualify for credit, this is a tall order.

It requires strategies that are not one size fits all, but that are informed by context, stakeholder analysis and the sustainability of livelihoods currently subsisting.

“By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions”, reads the second SDG2 target.

“This target may account for the inclusive approach adopted by the CAP. The reference to national context is a key issue in view of the criticism of the MDGs which seemed to expect “similar outcomes to situations that were diverse, specifically that developing countries, most of which are poor, were expected to meet the same targets as those in developed ones”.

The issue of social protection in the wake of increased structural poverty has gained traction. While the specific details of what this entails may differ according to diverse interest groups, this has been addressed by target three which seeks to “implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable”.

Where women do not have control over income, providing cash may result in increased poverty, when they lose the battle on what to use the cash on, at family and household level. However, some best practices have been seen by agencies where the cash transfers are used by beneficiaries to participate in the so-called round robins, where little income is increased by being shared among many people.

The fourth target under the poverty eradication goal seeks to ensure in the next 15 years, “. . that all men and women, particularly the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership, and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology, and financial services including micro-finance”. This cannot be overstated considering that manifestation of poverty lies in lack of access to, control over and where relevant, ownership of resources.

By 2030, target five for poverty eradication seeks to “. . . build the resilience of the poor and those in vulnerable situations, and reduce their exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events and other economic, social and environmental shocks and disasters”. Key in this target is the need to ensure that people are active agents, who recognise not just their vulnerability to natural disasters, but conversely, the role they play and their effect on the environment.

The goals and their targets will come to nought if adequate material; human, technical and financial resources are not secured. This may mean reprioritising issues in response to specific contexts. The CAP has committed to engaging the private sector to be more involved in development, to reduce illicit financial inflows and to be more accountable on expenditure derived from domestic revenues. This would be in addition to foreign direct investment and aid.

The last target seeks to “create sound policy frameworks, at national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies to support accelerated investments in poverty eradication actions”. One lesson learnt from the gender perspective is that emphasis should not be so much on developing new policies but on implementing those that have been adopted at national, sub-regional, continental and global levels. One belief is that once this is done, most of the development goals will be realised.

Virginia Muwanigwa is a gender activist and Chairperson of the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe. She is also the Director of the Humanitarian Information Facilitation Centre (HIFC).