Empowerment – a new paradigm for poverty eradication

The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER), together with Friedrich Naumann Foundation and ERA Consumer Malaysia, organised the seminar as part of the European Union funded project on empowerment.

The seminar was officiated by YB Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Malaysia, who gave an overview of the Government’s policy in tackling poverty over the years. Amongst the audience was H.E. Dr. Jean Benjamin, Deputy Minister for Social Development of the Republic of South Africa.

Mr. Rainer Heufers, Malaysia Project Director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation, stressed the importance of an integrated approach between government, civil society and the corporate sector to create a sustainable strategy of poverty eradication. The representation at the seminar from the Government, private and civil sector very much reflected this approach.

Economic causes of poverty are usually attributable to lack of skill and capital, restricting the poor from benefiting from the overall economic growth of a country. Measures such as development of skills and resources, access to credit and property rights then becomes essential to tackle the cause of the situation. These measures provide the basis for a sustainable approach to poverty eradication by empowering the poor with the instruments to help themselves.

Speakers included Prof. Dr. Ragayah Haji Mat Zin from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Assoc Dr. Sulochana Nair from Universiti Malaya, who spoke about the concepts and measurements of poverty and the causes and consequences of poverty, respectively. Comparisons and distinctions between the urban and rural poor made apparent that often different strategies are required to tackle with the causes. Papers were also presented by Prof Chamhuri Siwar, also from UKM, on Eradication of rural poverty in Malaysia, while Mr. Sivananthan Balan, Project Advisor for the EU-funded project on women empowerment in Malaysia and Vice President of ERA Consumer Malaysia, gave an overview of the situation of the urban poor in Malaysia.

Mdm Noriyah binti Ahmad, from Economic Planning Unit (EPU) within the Prime Minister’s Office, shared with the audience the strategy the Government has implemented and the future challenges for Malaysia. According to figures provided by the EPU, the government’s policies and strategies have been extremely successful and brought down poverty from close to 50% in the 1970s, to just about 5% by 2002. The challenge is to remove hardcore poverty completely by the year 2010.

In addition to the conceptual and situational analysis of the issue of poverty eradication, a number of practical lessons from implementation programmes were also shared with the audience. Prof Sukor Kasim of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia, shared the experience of the organisation in providing micro-finance service to the rural poor. Other initiatives and case studies presented included a UNDP-funded project by the Women’s Innovative Self Development Movement working with women to utilise herbal plants for income generation, and the EU-funded project on the empowerment of Indian Malaysian women that work with women in suburban areas, providing them with skills to earn and sustain their own living, based on a self-help and education approach.

The event attracted an audience of more than 200 participants from government, media and corporate sector, academia as well as civil sector.

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