Given a fair mixture of insecurity, corruption, disease and economic mismanagement, it is quite easy for governments to create poverty. Solving poverty is not so simple, as many attempted solutions distort local market forces. Aid payments can become a more attractive source of income than any form of employment, leading to a fall-off in productive economic endeavour, and this can in turn lead to entrenched aid dependency.
But this isn’t necessarily the case, according to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia, which – in conjunction with other organisations – is tackling poverty in the town of Otjivero by giving a Basic Income Grant (a “BIG payment”) of 100 Namibian dollars (about $13) per month to each resident. To avoid any stigmas attached to the payment, it is being made to everyone regardless of income. The Otjivero program is a pilot project, which hopes to convince the Namibian Government to make the payments universal. Around 75% of the country’s residents live in poverty.
A recent BBC news item reports many positive outcomes of the project so far. Some people can now afford to pay school fees and shoes for children. Others can now afford to buy food for their families and pay off their debts. Economic activity in the town has increased with the opening of a grocery store, a hairdresser, a barber and an ice-cream business. The project’s administrators believe that the project is helping to reduce dependency, rather than increase it.