The Bono East Regional Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has kick started a two-day workshop to summit the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for all the 11 districts within the Bono East region.
The MPI, a comprehensive measure of poverty that goes beyond income and includes various indicators such as health, education, and living standards, provides valuable insights into the socio-economic conditions of different regions in Ghana.
The GSS aims to facilitate evidence-based policymaking and coordinate the efforts of government stakeholders to address the unique challenges faced by vulnerable populations in each region, hence the workshop. It will also provide a tool to coordinate the efforts of government stakeholders towards the social progress of individuals and households in line with meeting the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Ghana.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index was developed by the Ghana Statistical Services with support from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), while receiving technical support from the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford.
The release of the MPI is part of Ghana’s ongoing efforts to combat poverty and improve the well-being of its citizens. By using this tool, policymakers can identify areas that require targeted interventions and monitor progress over time. The GSS hopes that the MPI will serve as a catalyst for action, driving meaningful change and moving Ghana closer to achieving the SDGs.
The Bono East Regional statistician, Mr. Richard Kumashie, explained that, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is designed to provide indebted knowledge on poverty.
He said poverty is not only about financial challenges but poor education, health, condition of living are all classified as poverty.
“Aside income or money that we use to measure poverty, we also look at other dimensions such as living conditions, education, health, and employment, so the workshop is to help these stakeholders to fashion out projects and interventions that can tackle these dimensions of poverty that we have discovered in our region.
“It is to help them to understand and appreciate the findings and we believe that when this is done, they will be able to allocate the available resources efficiently towards addressing these problems.
In additional to that, we are introducing them to stembank which is an online platform which allows users of the data to have easy access of these data and based on their interest, they will be able to generate their own tables and come out with issues that are of interest in terms of improving lives of the people.” He told the media.
Mr. Emmanuel Owusu Boateng, a staff of the Bono East regional statistical service heighted some of the areas that the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) report wants to tackle to ensure that poverty can be eradicated.
“We have data on all the districts within the region, so if you are planning to build a clinic, hospital, school or any other project to improve the livelihood of the people, you have to get data.
“If the government wants to build a hospital in the Bono East region, they have to know which district that lacks quality health care, if they want to build a market or a factory, they have to know where they will be getting raw materials to feed the factory.
“The Multidimensional Poverty Index, will help the various assemblies to know which community is in need of a particular project at a given point in time.” He said.
Source: Elvisanokyenews.com
