Africa needs Sh30b boost for anti-poverty projects

Standard Reporter

Millennium development projects (MVP) in Africa need fresh capital injection of $30 billion (Sh2.2 trillion) for expansion to cover more areas, the UN has disclosed.

Special advisor to UN Secretary General Jeffrey Sachs said the MVP projects were bound to stimulate economic growth in rural areas in Africa.

"We need to pump in more money to MVP to boost income support schemes that protect the vulnerable and poor households," he said.

Prof Sachs spoke while on a tour of Bar Sauri millennium village in Gem District, on Sunday.

Scope

Sachs who is also the Director of Earth Institute at Columbia University, for sustainable development, said since the MVP projects covered a few districts, it was vital to expand their scope.

Sachs noted that the MVP projects were progressing well and with sustained funding livestock, fish, and horticulture, among others would triple food production and reduce poverty levels.

Sachs said over 500 million people still live in the rural areas in Africa, which is why it was important to develop villages.

"We encourage governments to scale up efforts to market and take MVP programmes seriously even as we scout for more funding to expand and sustain the projects," Sachs said.

Currently, the programmes run in 12 African countries but cover a few districts in each country.

Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Eritrea, Rwanda, Malawi, Mozambique, Mali, Senegal, Ghana, and Liberia are some of the countries that have reaped from the project.

Sachs said plans were at an advanced stage to bring Cameroon and Benin on board as part of the expansion plans to cover as many areas as possible.

The programme is expected to run until 2015, before the funding levels are renewed even as the project implementers embark on a fresh mission to push for increased funding.

The project spends US$110 per capita per year in each village. That is US$30 from the government, US$10 from the community and US$70 from the MVP. That is US$550,000 (Sh41 million) per year for 5,000 people.

The local MVP project leader, Patrick Mutuo, UNAids Country Director Erasmus Morah, and Executive Director Michel Sidibe accompanied the envoy.

The Kenyan delegation was led by the National Aids Control Council Director, Prof Alloyce Orago, and Nyanza Provincial Medical officer of Health, Dr Ojwang Lusi among a host of other leaders.