Programme Areas

The National Poverty Reduction Programme is being implemented under 5 Programme Areas:

 

PROGRAMME AREA 1: ADDRESSING EXTREME POVERTY AND BASIC NEEDS

Who is targeted under this Programme Area?

I)  Vulnerable Persons

II) Persons Facing Food Poverty (including children and the elderly)

III) Persons with Disabilities

IV) Pregnant and Breastfeeding Women

What are the Policy Objectives?

  • To strengthen social safety nets 
  • To enhance food and nutrition security 

What are the Strategies and Actions to Achieve these Objectives? 

  • Design and implement appropriate programmes, mechanisms and facilities to ensure the availability, accessibility, safety, and stability of sufficient food supply for the extreme/food poor (food insecure) across the life cycle.
  • Formulate programmes to detect, prevent and mitigate malnutrition caused by inadequate intake of food.
  • Ensure the availability of emergency food stocks in keeping with the National Food and Nutrition Security targets for emergency recovery and relief.
  • Institutional strengthening, integration and expanded coverage, reach and efficacy of the National School Feeding Programme from the early childhood to secondary levels in keeping with nutritional guidelines to ensure equity, adequacy and accessibility.
  • Ensure that basic amenities, public services and facilities are accessible to the poor, whether by means of targeted or universal interventions.
  • Provide social transfers in the form of cash or kind to support the poorest (individuals or families) identified through appropriate screening mechanisms.
  • Facilitate institutional care as required, for the infirm, indigent or homeless, to ensure that the basic needs of the most vulnerable are met.
  • Ensure programmes and interventions are in place to adequately respond to the needs of the temporary poor.
  • While meeting basic needs, support holistic development through promoting income security, human capital development and independence.

PROGRAMME AREA 2: ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT AND HUMAN CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT

Who is targeted under this Programme Area?

I) Unemployed and Unskilled (Including Persons with Disabilities)

II) Working Poor (Including Persons with Disabilities)

III) Small Producers (Farmers, Fishers) and Small Entrepreneurs

What are the Policy Objectives?

  • Promote and expand human capital development among the poor and vulnerable (including children and persons with disabilities).
  • To enhance livelihood creation and income security among the poor and vulnerable.

What are the Strategies and Actions to Achieve these Objectives? 

I) Unemployed and Unskilled

  • Create greater access to education, training, and certification (including remedial education entrepreneurial and skills training) for members of the target group.
  • Strengthen the incorporation of certification/standards acquisition and employment transition support (school-to-work) into training modules that target the poor, and other low-income earners.
  • Facilitate and encourage employment linkages and placement as well as apprenticeship programmes.
  • Include training component in government short-term public-works programmes (Trabajo Peru and Lift-Up Jamaica are examples of such model)
  • Build the capacities of poor households to become independent of social assistance programmes, through strengthened case management, and the appropriate linkages, referrals as well as training and employment opportunities.
  • Strengthen families through improved access to services, information and resources in response to needs.
  • Facilitating community-based and family-based interventions for care services for family dependents (elderly, children persons with debilitative health issues, persons with restrictive disabilities) in order to support the availability of working-age persons for the labour market.
  • Livelihood development and strengthening through access to business development services, micro-finance and social enterprise options for targeted clients.
  • Providing opportunities and support to the elderly for income-generating activities, in an effort to promote active ageing, income security, and inter-generational transfer of knowledge and skills.

II) Working Poor

  • Identification and improvement of personal assets; capacities, talents and skills for income generation and Decent Work.
  • Identification and improvement of community assets for income generation and Decent Work through the engagement of community-based and other non-government organizations to develop skills that enable active participation in the labour market.
  • Timely review and adjustments to the Minimum Wage
  • Promote protection of workers, minimum conditions of work, and participation in social security schemes. Relevant sectors for consideration include Agriculture & Fishery and Wholesale & Retail.
  • The enhancement and promotion of active labour market policies and Labour Market Information Systems.

III) Small Producers (Farmers, Fishers) and Entrepreneurs

  • Improve road and water infrastructure at the local level (including farm roads and irrigation systems)
  • Increase access to potable water and sanitation connections in dwellings.
  • Increase access to electricity in rural areas and electricity regularization in urban areas.
  • Promote the development and expansion of local economic enterprises and social enterprises (e.g. in agriculture and agro-processing).
  • Increase access to suitable land for farming through divestment of available government owned lands.
  • Facilitate access to micro-finance services and technical assistance for productive purposes through financial institutions.
  • Promote and facilitate productive inclusion of local agricultural producers, fishers and fish farmers within the safety net feeding programmes and other local markets.
  • Livelihood development and strengthening through access to business development services, micro-finance and social enterprise options for targeted clients.
  • Expand and support community niche products and industries.
  • Strengthen backward and forward integration; and expand value chain enhancement and connection to markets.
  • Increase natural resource management through prevention and mitigation to strengthen sustainable livelihoods of the poor in areas vulnerable to natural disasters and climate change through river training; rehabilitation of watersheds; slope stabilization; provision of break water systems etc.
  • Promote environmental friendly practices in farming and livelihood creation towards environmental preservation and poverty reduction.
  • Promote healthy environmental practices.
  • Promote participation in national health schemes, the National Insurance Scheme, and other insurance and pension offerings.
  • Promote agro-tourism in rural communities towards improving economic wellbeing.
  • Increase access to economic assets for income generation and wealth creation.

PROGRAMME AREA 3: PSYCHOSOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND NORMATIVE ADVANCEMENT


Who is targeted under this Programme Area?

I) Youth

II) Children

III) Breadwinners (Parents/Guardians)

IV) Service Providers

What is the Policy Objective?

  • To address psychosocial, cultural and normative influences on poverty

What are the Strategies and Actions to Achieve these Objectives? 

I)  Children and Youth:

  • Provide training, education and re-socialization on cultural norms in areas such as: self-control, transfer of hope beyond circumstances, mind-set change, character building, overcoming limits and challenges, personal and civic responsibility as well as trust and relationship building.
  • Create greater access to appropriate reproductive and mental health services and information.
  • Provide training in anger management, mediation, and conflict resolution as well as personal and career development.
  • Encourage and facilitate positive mentorship and training in soft skills and entrepreneurship.
  • Implement participatory approaches that engage this target group in the formulation and implementation of strategies to address issues affecting them.
  • Promote education as a sustainable means of poverty reduction through partnerships with tertiary level institutions.

II) Breadwinner/Parents/Guardians:

  • Provide training and support services in transformative parenting, coping strategies, and management of family dynamics.
  • Provide financial education training and information for heads of households to change attitudes towards management of household resources and assist financial decision making.
  • Create greater access to appropriate reproductive and mental health services and information
  • Encourage and facilitate positive mentorship and training in soft skills.
  • Provide training, education and re-socialization on cultural norms in areas such as: self-control, transfer of hope beyond circumstances, mind-set change, character building, overcoming limits and challenges, personal and civic responsibility as well as trust and relationship building.

III) Service Providers:

  • Provide training for service providers to strengthen skills in transferring hope and influencing positive behaviour change.
  • Provide training to improve service provision, efficiency in service delivery and encourage partnership and linkages to promote the wellbeing of clients in poverty

PROGRAMME AREA 4: BASIC COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE

Where and who are targeted under this Programme Area?

I) Rural Communities and Residents

II) Urban Communities and Residents

What is the Policy Objective?

  • To strengthen basic social and physical infrastructure

What are the Strategies and Actions to Achieve these Objectives? 

  • Provide and facilitate equitable access to basic public infrastructure such as water, sanitation and solid waste disposal, electricity, schools, healthcare and other public facilities and services, in rural and urban communities. The minimum available access should be in keeping with the specified social protection floor.
  • Institutionalize systems for the care and maintenance of public community infrastructure and promote community responsibility among citizens in poor rural communities.
  • Facilitate access to affordable housing solutions

PROGRAMME AREA 5: INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING

Who is targeted under this Programme Area?

  • NPRP Programme Partners and Service Providers (MDAs and NGOs)

What is the Policy Objective?

  • To strengthen coordination and capacity building for poverty reduction

What are the Strategies and Actions to Achieve these Objectives? 

  • As part of the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, identify clear targets and roles for stakeholder involvement, including the Private Sector.
  • Establish a Registry of national poverty reduction programmes/service providers.
  • Develop communication and monitoring systems and schedules for various stakeholders, actively promoting information and data sharing, and networking among relevant organizations implementing programmes under each medium- term framework.
  • Expand capacity development training and provision of resources to enhance service provision in: life-skill training, psychosocial training, parenting, crime and violence prevention and intervention (including domestic violence), and reproductive health awareness and responsibility.
  • Inter-sectoral collaboration within government to support and streamline selected programmes provided by NGOs, CBOs and FBOs.
  • Facilitate the streamlining and provision of services by the Private Sector and Private Sector Foundations at the community level in various areas, towards poverty reduction.
  • Assess the M&E gaps in key programmes and provide training (and follow-up evaluation of application of knowledge) in M&E towards the development and strengthening of M&E systems of relevant programmes and organizations.
  • Develop and implement structured and objective systems of targeting beneficiaries for poverty programmes across government.

KEY RESULTS AREAS UNDER THE NPRP

  • Improvements in educational outcomes, including tertiary and vocational level certification
  • Expansion of income-earning capabilities (skills development, certification and job placement) of the poor towards the reduction of unemployment. 
  • Expansion of economic opportunities and business development
  • Provision of decent work including adherence to the regulatory requirements for wages
  • Prioritizing rural development including creation of sustainable livelihoods to improve the income security of the poor.
  • Building climate resilience particularly in key sectors where the poor is employed including agriculture, and protection of critical infrastructure.
  • Improvement in access to basic social services in targeted areas, in keeping with the Social Protection Floor.
  • Addressing psychosocial issues that perpetuate poverty

The National Poverty Reduction Programme addresses poverty through a three-level approach 

For more information on the NPRP and it Programme Areas click here.