UNDP Poverty Report 2000

Promoting Local Participation

Mauritania has very low human development - ranking 149th of 174 countries on the human development index. About half its people are in poverty, with 40% of children malnourished and almost 60% of adults illiterate.

The stated objective of its national poverty alleviation programme (1998 - 2001) is to reduce the incidence of poverty by 18%. The strategy has two parts: promoting income-generating activities, especially for the self-employed, small entrepreneurs and members of co-operatives, and increasing the poor's access to social services, particularly education, health care and water and sanitation. The projected cost of the programme is $292 million, with half the funds already mobilized.

To coordinate the poverty pro-gramme, the government established the Commissariat for Human Rights, Poverty Alleviation and Social Inclusion with UNDP support in mid-1998. The commissariat functions with relative autonomy and receives financing from the state, external donors, the private sector and local communities. Its chief executive is the commissaire, who has the same rank as a minister. An advisory board - with representatives from different ministries (planning, finance, eco-nomics, education and environment) - meets every quarter, approves the annual programme and budget and decides on personnel.

Since 1998 several poverty initiatives have been developed. The government has adopted regulations for savings and loan associations that enable them to offer microfinance services and mobilize savings. These associations can provide the poor with access to financial resources and encourage them to save money rather than land, cattle and jewellery.

Promoting Local-level Projects

The Regional Priority Action Programme, with $12.5 million in funding, develops microenterprises and builds schools, health clinics, wells and roads. Drinking water projects have lowered the price of water and raised its quality - while hiring people from the community to maintain the equipment. Social habitat projects are also noteworthy: their formulation, financing and execution involve a partnership of local communities, civil society organizations, bilateral donors and the commissariat.

A social fund for poverty allevia-tion was established in 1998, with funding of 10 million francs from Agence française de développement, the French international development agency. Its objective is to fund small community-based infrastructure and projects that generate employment and incomes - such as building roads and community centres that can provide food and water.

Strengths and Weaknesses

An impressive feature of many of Mauritania's poverty reduction projects is their participatory design and execution. Local communities take part in building and maintaining community education and health facilities. People from local communities are recruited to maintain water pumps and health centres, and communities often share the building costs. And the government has developed an information, education and communication strategy to inform communities about poverty reduction projects and programmes.

Striking in all this is the emphasis on promoting national civil society organizations to specialize in poverty-focused activities, such as agricultural production, fishing, cattle rearing and microcredit. The government is for-mulating an institutional framework to support civil society organizations in these efforts.

Perhaps the weakest element of the poverty reduction programme is the monitoring and evaluation system. Poverty profiles are prepared intermittently and socio-economic indicators monitored irregularly, limiting the capacity to effectively target programmes. Future moni-toring should improve sampling methods and collect more regionally disaggregated information - using a combination of large income and expenditure surveys and lighter, faster poverty surveys.