POVERTY

Hanibal already entered our gates

According to Dr. Marija Donevska from the Institute for Social Work and Social Policy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, in the fight against poverty we should apply basic solutions on local, and not on central level through well-established work on local level and through realizing cooperation with the local NGOs and making community development strategies…

Marijana Ivanova

When you hear the fact that the (financial) ability of the average Macedonian citizen to buy bread has decreased for 18% in comparison with last year, you immediately realize that the poverty is no longer ante portas but it has deeply entered our lives.

Over 24% of the families (not citizens!) in Macedonia belong in the category of poor -according to our standards, of course. And according to the Western-European ones, the number of poor families would certainly appear to be much higher.

Macedonia is one of the poorest European countries although it cannot be compared with the extremely poor countries in the world such as Bangladesh, India and other Asian, African or South American countries. However, the fact that more than a quarter of the households in our country are on the very verge of existence is disastrous indeed. Other statistics state that one in five families is incapable of providing the minimum living standard level.

Depth and acuity of the poverty

The poverty in Macedonia has been marked by an increasing trend in the last ten years, which has been mostly emphasized in the last five-six years, especially after the establishment of the so-called category of “new poor people”, which includes the insolvent workers and those who have been made redundant.

- A survey is done every year in Macedonia regarding the households’ expenditures as a method of evaluating the poverty. This is a quarterly survey and it has been conducted regularly since 1995/96. It includes over 1.000 households and their expenditures (not incomes). The results from the latest survey from 2001 have shown that the extent of poverty has risen to more than 24%. It indicates that over 24% of the households face poverty every day. Through this survey, other poverty indicators can also be assessed, for instance, its depth and acuity. These indicators too, go into negative direction – says Dr. Marija Donevska from the Institute for Social Work and Social Policy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje.

Three categories of poor people

In Macedonia, says Dr. Donevska, there are three types of poor families: The first category includes the traditionally poor families, mostly from the rural areas – farmers having the highest risk for poverty. Those are people with low level of education and low economic potential and have no opportunity to overcome that condition.

The second category of poor people includes the newly established poor households, or the so-called new poor people. All citizen groups whose standard depends on the transition processes that cause changes in the social stratification, belong in this category. We can find them more in the urban areas and this category includes families where none of the members is employed, or they are employed but have not been given a salary for a longer period of time, insolvent workers registered at the National Employment Office.

The third category, says Dr. Donevska includes the chronic poor people – those who are incapable to work, are old, sick or bound to stay in certain institutions, thus remaining poor. The rural households without any income (which do not work on the land) also belong in this category.

Fight on local level

Dr. Donevska thinks that the fight against poverty should start with certain activities regarding the education (re-qualification or training) as well as certain intervention measures in the labor market (encouraging small family businesses, entrepreneurship, exploiting the natural and cultural resources, development of so-called technologic incubators, awarding micro-credits), then, changes in the legislation referring to health protection, developing special programs for children protection, guaranteed minimum salary, etc.

- We should apply basic solutions on local, and not on central level through well-established work on local level and through realizing cooperation with the local NGOs and making community development strategies – says Dr. Donevska.


It has to be defined well what poverty is. If we have become poorer in comparison with 2-3 years ago, then we have all experienced the poverty, says Prof. Dr. Marija Donevska.

According to the Eurostat definition (EU Statistic Service), the category of poor comprises individuals, families and groups whose resources – material, cultural and social – are on such level that excludes them from the minimum acceptable way of living in their own country.


THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

Building Strategy with Public Participation

Within the activities for building a Strategy for Poverty Reduction, the Ministry of Finance organized a Consulting Workshop in Ohrid from 18 to 20 April this year. Participants from different profiles took part at the workshop: sociologists, economists, political scientists and other experts, as well as representatives from several NGOs in Macedonia. The workshop consisted of several groups working on various issues: what are the main reasons for poverty in Macedonia, what priority measures should be implemented for its reduction, for improving the housing conditions as well as the health and education services for the poor.

The goal of this workshop was to consider the public opinion and to enable public participation in the creation of this important document for poverty reduction in our country.
 

  EVGENIJ NAJDOV, WORLD BANK

Halving the Global Poverty by 2015

“One the World Bank global goals is world without poverty. Within its Global Strategy for the Millennium Development, the World Bank offers a set of data and indicators (human development, social indicators, age, literacy, health protection, etc) as a basis for realizing its goal – halving the poverty by 2015. All World Bank programs will be focused upon these indicators” – says Mr. Evgenij Najdov from the World Bank Office in Macedonia.

“This strategy is approaching the local level by identifying the priority areas in the country. In the period of 1998-2001, the Country Assistant Strategy – CAS was implemented in Macedonia. It was expected a new CAS to start, however, due to the conditions in Macedonia, it was decided to approach a Transition Strategy for Support for a period of one year. That strategy contains analysis of the current condition, identified priorities (private sector, terminating the structural economic reforms, need of reforms for a long-term development support, which also includes the public administration reform, health and education reforms, etc. On the basis of this strategy, some of the reforms have started.
Apart from that, the Project for Urgent Economic Support was also implemented and it terminated several weeks ago. At the moment the Project for Municipalities Development is being prepared (in the context of the disrupted inter-ethnic relations). The work on a new basis for the new CAS for a three-year period or another time limit is going to start in June this year.

As far as the previous programs evaluation is concerned, they have been assessed satisfactory. The further support process by the World Bank will be based upon the National Strategy for Poverty Reduction, prepared by the Republic of Macedonia Government. The World Bank offers technical and financial support for the preparation of this strategy. Although it is a national strategy, certain elements will have to be followed – to conduct a good poverty analysis and to identify concrete measures for its reduction and to provide indicators for a long-term monitoring and evaluation” – stated Mr. Najdov.
 


  BLAGICA NOVKOVSKA, NATIONAL STATISTICS OFFICE

The young unemployed from Skopje with the highest risk of becoming poor

The work called “Quantitative Analysis of Poverty in the Republic of Macedonia” by Mrs. Blagica Novkovska, director of the National Statistics Office, published in the book “Poverty Tendencies and Possibilities for its Reduction” (Friedrich Ebert Foundation), among other things states that the increased number social help beneficiaries ( 15% of the families, according to the 1994 census) signals that the income distribution is irregular and that the inequality among population has risen.

In the beginning of the transition, 69.4% of the total households’ incomes were job incomes, and 11.5% were incomes on the basis of social transfers. In 1999, 55.5% of the incomes were on the basis of job and 22% - social transfers. In the period between 1997-1999, the highest rate of poverty was noted among citizens of Skopje. According to the data, the most serious factor of poverty with these citizens was the Kosovo crisis.
Regarding the young households, up to the age of 40, there is a high risk of further impoverishment. In 1997, 19.8% of these households were poor and in 1999 their number increased to 26.9%, it is stated in the book. 
 


ETNIC ASPECTS OF POVERTY

The poorest – Romas

 Although the statistics in our country does not provide data on the living standard of population according to their ethnic belonging, it is obvious that the Roma population live below the verge of poverty and that they belong in the category of poorest citizens.

They are the largest social help beneficiary group regarding the population and households structure.
 


FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY ON LOCAL LEVEL

The Country is not Responsible for the Poor!

 “The country has to take care of the most vulnerable categories of citizens: handicapped, old people, social help beneficiaries, children, people in institutions), however it is not responsible for the poor. They themselves should try to improve their own standard. For that reason, the response to the fight against poverty lies in the good organization of the local communities, and it should be fought on local level – says Dr. Marija Donevska.