By Dr. Kariuki Muigua, PhD (Leading Environmental Law Scholar, Policy Advisor, Natural Resources Lawyer and Dispute Resolution Expert from Kenya), Winner of Kenya’s ADR Practitioner of the Year 2021, ADR Publisher of the Year 2021 and CIArb (Kenya) Lifetime Achievement Award 2021*

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are expected to inform the efforts of member states in achieving sustainable development, poverty eradication, and environmental conservation and protection. They offer an integrated approach, which is environmentally conscious, to combating the various problems that affect the human society as well as the environmental resources. It has rightly been argued that a development strategy anchored in inclusive growth can have two mutually reinforcing strategic focuses, namely: high, sustainable growth which can create and expand economic opportunities; and broader access to these opportunities which can ensure that members of society can participate in and benefit from growth. This is meant to ensure that growth reaches the impoverished who remain excluded by circumstance, poor governance, and other market-resistant obstacles.

Gender Sensitive Approaches to Poverty Eradication

Poverty affects males and females in varying ways and as such, any efforts geared towards its eradication should bring on board all the affected parties in order to come up with effective mechanisms that will not only reflect and address the needs of all sections of the society, but will also facilitate participation of all. This is also important as it helps generate social acceptance of the government’s policies while are geared towards addressing the real issues affecting its people. In most parts of the world, women comprise the largest group among those excluded from the benefits of economic expansion and thus ought to be closely involved in development agenda to address their unique needs and ensured that they are also empowered in all spheres of life. One of the main reasons why it is critical to empower women is the fact that women are considered as economic actors: they produce and process food for the family; they are the primary caretakers of children, the elderly and the sick; and their income and labour are directed toward children’s education, health and well-being.97 If both men and women are empowered, then households will get closer to eradicating poverty and focus on self-actualization and national development.

Eradicating Poverty for Environmental Sustainability

Poverty deprives people of the choice about whether or not to be environmentally sound in their activities. The 1987 Brundtland Commission Report stated: ‘those who are poor and hungry will often destroy their immediate environment in order to survive: They will cut down forests; their livestock will overgraze grasslands; they will overuse marginal land; and in growing numbers they will crowd into congested cities. The cumulative effect of these changes is so far-reaching as to make poverty itself a major global scourge.’ This may result in climate change, which again, has the reverse effect of contributing to poverty due to dwindling natural resources. Thus, poverty eradication should go hand in hand with climate mitigation measures. Notably, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development acknowledges this interrelationship as it seeks to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and tackle climate change by the year 2030.

Value Addition Model versus Commodity Export Model for Africa

It has been pointed out that one of the greatest unresolved challenges facing Africa’s agribusiness sector is the lack of value addition. As a way of addressing poverty in Kenya and Africa in general, there is a need for governments to adopt and develop the value addition model as opposed to a commodity export model, as a way of promoting the use of the resources as anchors for regional growth clusters and consequently ensuring that they attract value-addition industries for job creation. Notably, most processing of cash crops in Africa is basic where the majority of cash crops go through the bare minimum required for export or sale to the next part of the value chain and the results are that while African farmers and processors put in all the work to make a fungible commodity that is easy to trade, all of the value add goes to those further down the chain.

There is a need to change this practice as way of ensuring that African farmers and processors get value for the African resources and also get an opportunity for job creation which will ultimately help in alleviation of poverty. The lack of an efficient marketing infrastructure in Africa which prevents farmers and processors from getting full value from their crop, even in its raw form ought to be addressed in order to reverse this trend. Such initiatives as the African Union’s African Commodity Strategy, a part of Agenda 2063, should be fully exploited in order to find strategic measures to address price volatility and to use Africa’s wealth of natural resources and absolute advantage in the commodities market to ensure that Africa’s commodities are used for its industrialisation.

Notably, increased participation in international trade can catalyse economic growth and foster sustainable development. As such, promoting value addition and enhancing domestic productive capacity is therefore of continuing importance in developing countries as they seek to participate beneficially in global trade.  There is also a need for diversification of economic activities in the country as this may cushion the communities and national economy generally from unforeseen disruptions or a decline in the agricultural sector production which is prone to climate change yet it is considered to be the backbone of Kenya’s economy. The need for diversification has been witnessed in rural areas where it was reported in 2019 that poverty declined considerably in rural areas, from about 50% in 2005-06 to 38.8% in 2015-16, largely attributed to the increasing importance of non-agricultural income (particularly commerce) to supplement agricultural income for rural households, which has been aided by the expansion of mobile money and the telecommunication revolution. There is therefore a need for the Government to work closely with stakeholders in different sectors to create opportunities for the Kenyan people, as a channel for diversification.

Population Control

Notably, while African economies are generating more income, that income has to be shared among an ever-increasing number of people, thus causing a slower rate in poverty reduction than population growth. The result has been that as more people leave the poverty class, others are joining that reducing the rate of poverty eradication in the continent. For instance, in Kenya, in 2009, it was estimated that Kenya had a population of 37.7 million people and the figure grew to about 47.6 million people in 2019. As already pointed out, high population growth comes with extra expenditure and stretched out incomes thus undoing all the gains made in eradication of poverty. There is a need for the Government to work closely with other stakeholders such as religious organizations, civil societies and NonGovernmental Organizations (NGOs) to educate the communities on the need for birth control. This will not only ease strain on the particular households but also on the national economy.

Need for Increased Access to Finance for Communities Empowerment

It has been pointed out that eradicating deprivations, building capabilities and opening up opportunities require investment and as a result, governments should not only increase public spending towards empowerment programmes and measures but should also work closely with the private sector in order to help increase access and offer new approaches to provisioning. While there has been a number of Kenyan Government funded initiatives aimed at financing youth and women groups for empowerment, and commendably so, there is a need for the Government to also consider the men folk especially in the villages and informal urban settlements especially where the man is the head of the household. This will not only ensure that there is equity and equality but will also empower these households financially especially where the man has children and no wife or the wife is not in a position to work for gain for one reason or the other.

Empowered households are able to tackle poverty without waiting for government handouts and donations and this also safeguards their dignity as human beings. This is also likely to spur economic diversification through investments in non-agricultural sectors such as information technology and science and technology in general, in line with the Constitution of Kenya 2010. The Government should thus continually work with financial institutions to ensure that financing is available to all those who need it. This should target both formal and informal sectors in both urban and rural areas for accelerated eradication of poverty in Kenya. However, the Government should also ensure that as these groups of people make their investment, there is a conducive tax regime to promote growth and development as well as ready markets both within the country and outside Kenya for the marketing of the end products, whichever the sector.

Promotion of Regional and International Trade

Trade is one of the most critical driving forces of economic development for all countries, usually aimed at development and the eradication of poverty. The World Bank asserts that countries that are open to international trade tend to grow faster, innovate, improve productivity and provide higher income and more opportunities to their people. In addition, open trade also benefits lower-income households by offering consumers more affordable goods and services. The Government of Kenya should continually take advantage of the regional and international trade agreements and deals that will ensure that they get markets for goods and services produced or offered in the country and also ensure that the market remains affordable for the average Kenyan especially for goods and services that may not be available locally. This has the twin effect of not only ensuring that Kenyans earn money but also ensuring that they get the best deals when making purchases. The increased disposable income and the potential savings by consumers from an expanded market has the potential to address poverty and ultimately contribute to national development.

*This article is an extract from the Article: “Eradicating Poverty for Inclusive Development in Kenya,” (2021) Journal of Conflict Management and Sustainable Development Volume 7(3), p. 81  by Dr. Kariuki Muigua, PhD, Kenya’s ADR Practitioner of the Year 2021 (Nairobi Legal Awards), ADR Publisher of the Year 2021 and ADR Lifetime Achievement Award 2021 (CIArb Kenya). Dr. Kariuki Muigua is a foremost Environmental Law and Natural Resources Lawyer and Scholar, Sustainable Development Advocate and Conflict Management Expert in Kenya. Dr. Kariuki Muigua is a Senior Lecturer of Environmental Law and Dispute resolution at the University of Nairobi School of Law and The Center for Advanced Studies in Environmental Law and Policy (CASELAP). He has published numerous books and articles on Environmental Law, Environmental Justice Conflict Management, Alternative Dispute Resolution and Sustainable Development. Dr. Muigua is also a Chartered Arbitrator, an Accredited Mediator, the Africa Trustee of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and the Managing Partner of Kariuki Muigua & Co. Advocates. Dr. Muigua is recognized among the top 5 leading lawyers and dispute resolution experts in Kenya by the Chambers Global Guide 2022.

References

Muigua, K., “Eradicating Poverty for Inclusive Development in Kenya,” (2021) Journal of Conflict Management and Sustainable Development Volume 7(3), p. 81.