Rapid population growth in the poorest countries, especially in Africa, puts past figures in poverty reduction at risk, according to the second annual Goalkeepers Data Report by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation last week. The report states that if current trend continues, the number of extremely poor people in the world could reverse its two decade decline, and even rise.
While the projections seem to be alarming, the Foundation expresses optimism in that today’s growing youth population could drive progress and that is why investment in health and education of young people would be instrumental in unlocking productivity and innovation, leading to what is referred to as the “third wave” of poverty reduction following the first wave in China and the second in India.
“The conclusion is clear: To continue improving the human condition, our task now is to help create opportunities in Africa’s fastest-growing, poorest countries,” Bill and Melinda Gates write in the introduction. “This means investing in young people. Specifically, it means investing in their health and education.”
Using new data projections, the report reveals that poverty within Africa is concentrating in just a handful of countries, which are among the fastest-growing in the world. By 2050, more than 40 percent of the extremely poor people in the world will live in just two countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria.
While in the past the large youth population has helped drive economies and reduce poverty, unless leaders invest in the youth, the population boom could become a liability.
The report examines promising approaches in health and education, highlighting ways that young people could help transform the continent. According to the report, investments in health and education, or “human capital,” in sub-Saharan Africa could increase GDP in the region by more than 90 percent by 2050.
Every year, the report tracks 18 data points from the UN Sustainable Development Goals, or Global Goals. This includes child and maternal deaths, stunting, access to contraceptives, HIV, malaria, extreme poverty, financial inclusion, and sanitation. Projections provide three potential scenarios for indicators: better and worse scenarios based upon accelerating or reducing the rate of progress, and projections based upon current trends.
The report explores four topics in-depth; Family Planning, HIV, Education and Agriculture.
The Family Planning section underlines that according to data from the United Nations Africa’s population is projected to double in size by 2050 and could double again by 2100. If every woman in sub-Saharan Africa were empowered to have the number of children she wants, the projected population increase could be up to 30 percent smaller, from 4 billion to 2.8 billion.
Most importantly, this would enable more girls and women to expand their horizons, stay in school longer, have children later, earn more as adults, and invest more in their children. The chapter also explores how a novel family planning program in Kenya is providing young women with access to contraceptives.
Bill and Melinda Gates will produce the Goalkeepers Data Report every year through 2030, timing it to the annual gathering of world leaders in New York City for the UN General Assembly. The report is designed to highlight best practices and help hold the Gates Foundation, its partners, and leaders around the world accountable.
Report links investing in youth with harnessing overpopulation
Textile sector to provide incentives for exporters
The textile industry is undergoing reform to increase foreign currency earnings.
The Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute, which is under Ministry of Industry stated that they were studying how to improve export earnings and better develop the manufacturing sector.
“According a Central Statistical Agency study, most of the textiles and garments made in Ethiopia are sold locally,” Sileshi Lemma, Director General of the Ethiopian Textile Industry Development Institute, said.
“We are now working export more products by coming up with incentives,” he added. According to the head of the the textile institute, up to 60 percent of garment and textile production goes to the local market. “The local market is more profitable and attractive than exports,” he explained.
Some of the policy and incentive schemes will be improved to encourage manufacturers to focus on the export market, according to the institute head.
A few years ago there were 80 textile and garment makers now there are 220. “In the past four or five years textiles have grown rapidly,” Sileshi said. However, export earnings have remained stagnant.
The last few years textile exports have brought in USD 120 million but the goal was ten times that amount.
According to Sileshi, for the current budget year the Institute plans to generate USD 240 million from textiles and related exports, which is twice the amount of the 2017/18 budget year.
In relation to the hard currency shortage some international brands that were planning to invest in Ethiopia have instead gone to other destinations like Kenya. Sileshi has accepted the reality and says the country has to work strongly to improve hard currency earnings.
Some factories fear it will be hard for them to transfer their profits to their mother company because of the scarcity of hard currency.
The government has focused on the textile and garment sector as it transitions to an industrial based economy. The industry parks are also targeted to attract textile companies.
However, the parks are not running as expected. For instance, the Hawassa Industry Park that secured the investment cost from the euro bond was expected to generate USD one billion in just a few years but so far has not surpassed USD 25 million, according to the sector leaders.
Textiles are one of the oldest industries in the country. Currently it employs around 10,000.
Advocates call for gov’t agency to help people with disabilities
Difficulty finding jobs, accessing education among issues
People living with physical disabilities are asking the government to establish a state run institution to allocate a budget to work on improving their lives.
Currently non-governmental associations, federations and groups help people with disabilities but no government body has been established to work on this.
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA) is the main federal agency responsible for providing social and vocational rehabilitation for people with disabilities.
Getu Teshome, CEO for the Network of Organizations for the Visually Impaired and the Blind (NOVIP) told Capital that because there is not a state run institution people with disabilities have a very hard time getting work, accessing education, keeping informed and are often exploited at work or victims of sexual assault.
“The government is responsible for managing problems its citizens face, if you go to Kenya and Uganda there are councils and institutions that handle disability issues. Here the issues are handled by non-governmental associations which need to find funding to survive. We cannot continue like this in order to make a significant difference in the lives of people with disabilities we need a government institution.
“Things like job creation, illegal migration, access to healthcare and other issues are not being addressed for persons with disabilities,” he added.
Ethiopia is one of the countries which endorsed in the parliament ‘The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ which outlines the civil, cultural, political, social and economic rights of people with disabilities. Member States which have signed the Convention agree to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people with disabilities and prompt respect for their inherent dignity.
Based on the World Report on Disability jointly issued by the World Bank and World Health Organization, there are an estimated 15million children, adults and elderly persons with disabilities in Ethiopia, representing17.6 per cent of the population. A vast majority of people with disabilities live in rural areas where access to basic services is limited. In Ethiopia, 95 per cent of all persons with disabilities are estimated to live in poverty. Many depend on family support and begging for their livelihoods. A study in Oromia region, for instance, found that 55 per cent of the surveyed persons with disabilities depend on family, neighbors and friends for their living, while the rest generate meager income through self-employment, begging and providing house maid services.
Currently people with disabilities have formed six national associations under the umbrella of a Federation: Federation of Ethiopian National Associations of People with Disabilities (FENAPD),Ethiopian National Association of the Blind, Ethiopian National Association of the Physically Handicapped, Ethiopian National Association of the Deaf, Ethiopian National Association of the Blind-Deaf, Ethiopian National Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy, Ethiopian National Association on Intellectual Disability.
GAAP to change to IFRS this year
Organizations like banks, insurance companies and public enterprises will begin using International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) starting this fiscal year. The institutions had three years to transition to this from GAAP.
The system is considered to be the latest financial language enabling local companies to easily communicate with each other globally.
Asset revaluation was a critical step in the first stage. Some banks brought consultants and experts from overseas to undertake the process.
In the second stage, banks will start using the software before reaching to the reporting stage.
Ratified in 2014, the Financial Reporting Proclamation gave five years to the entire business to enter the new system.
Companies considered to have high public interest will report during the current year.
The second category which consists of international charity organizations, associations and other related organizations are also expected to report using the new system in the next fiscal year. Specially designed for such organizations, International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS), will be made mandatory after a year.
Other businesses which don’t fall into the above categories will be using the Small and Medium Entities (SME) version of the IFRS.
The Auditors and Accountants Board of Ethiopia called the bookkeeping taxpayers this year to register and to start the transition process. They are expected to report using the SME version of the IFRS for the 2012 fiscal year.
While implementing the new system the Audit Board has a limited number of experts who are certified in IFRS.
“There were only two experts three years ago and now we are able to train about 100,” said Abebe Shiferaw, PR Director for the Board. “The number is still limited and we are working with the ministry of education to refine its curriculum in line with the IFRS. Accountants graduating from the public and private universities know the Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in the UK (GAAP, which is going to be out of use very soon.”
Addis Ababa University is expected to upgrade its accounting curriculum this year in light of the IFRS.
Failure to meet this reporting mechanism will result in imprisonment and a fine.
After the full implementation of the new system the GAAP will be outdated.
