In Africa, poverty is being fought village by village, using the Millennium Villages approach, which attacks poverty across a wide front. After only two years, the communities involved are already showing real results.
The Millennium Villages Project grew out of research and policy deliberations directed by Jeffrey Sachs, as special adviser on the Millennium Development Goals adopted in 2000. “The Millennium Villages approach is based on two central ideas: The first is that simple and inexpensive changes in nutrition, health, water, sanitation, education, women’s status, agriculture, communications, roads and electricity can lift rural Africans out of severe poverty. The second is that a combination of community mobilization, government support and external aid can fund the villages for only about $110 per person per year. Most of the Millennium Village projects are being implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).”
First launched in 2004 in Kenya, there are now Millennium Villages (affecting more than 400,000 people) in Ethiopia, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda.
Read more about the approach and the signs of success.
Tags: Anti-poverty strategies