Targeted approach to poverty – Director of Audit

Dominica: A leading public servant says the Dominica Government’s efforts to implement poverty reduction measures over the last few years, has better positioned the Roosevelt Skerrit administration to deal with the socio-economic factors within the country, according to a report on Dominica News Online.

According to Director of Audit, Clarence Christian, the Government is currently better able to formulate a more targeted approach to dealing with the issue of poverty.

He made the observation while confirming poverty level figures announced recently by the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), which put poverty levels in Dominica at over 28 per cent.

The DNO report said Christian has indicated that poverty on the island has fallen from 39 percent in 2003 to 28 percent in 2009.

He also confirmed additional information provided by the CDB, explaining that absolute poverty had also declined from 10 percent in 2003 to 3.2 percent in 2009.

The Director of Audit has acknowledged that the information was obtained from on a survey which was conducted by a Trinidad and Tobago based consulting firm with support from the (CDB).

The DNO stated that the Government Information Service reports that in 2003, the Dominica Labour Party Government  began putting measures in place to alleviate poverty on the island.

According to GIS the measures included the introduction of the Housing Revolution Programme, a Squatter Regularization Programme, and the sustenance of the Island’s Public Sector investment Programme (PSIP).

Dominica is among developing countries that have benefited from funds from the CDB and its partners including Britain’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the UNDP – the United Nations Development Programme, the DNO reported.