Successful efforts to bridge poverty gap to continue

RAISING Living Standards of Low-Income Households (LIH) NKRA targets in providing immediate assistance to the rakyat most in need of help and empowering the extreme poor to become financially independent.

These were the two key goals of the LIH NKRA under the first phase of the Government Transformation Programme.

These goals then helped accomplish two objectives simultaneously – to raise the country’s average gross national income (GNI) while also responding to the plight of the less fortunate to help them escape poverty.

The LIH NKRA recognised that even as Malaysia raced to achieve its high-income nation goals, the widening income gap among segments of the society needed to be given serious attention.

In its first phase of implementation, the LIH NKRA aimed to eradicate hardcore poverty completely while also reducing the incidence of poverty and enhancing the productivity of low-income households.

One of the key achievements of the ministry over the past three years was in moving a significant number of households out of the extreme poor and poor categories.

Some 44,535 households, representing 99.9% of all households in the extreme poor category, were moved out of the bracket while the number of households in the poor category was reduced by 15,868.

Another positive outcome under the GTP 1.0 was that home ownership by poor households increased to 4,865 over the last three years, almost double the previous number.

Moving forward, the second phase of the GTP, the GTP 2.0, will see greater cooperation from NGOs and corporations to leverage on the expertise of these groups in delivering services and aid.

The emphasis of GTP 2.0, which kicked off this year, will be economic empowerment of individuals and communities through basic facilities and the right environment.

The cooperation and support of both corporations and NGOs is essential in the execution of the GTP 2.0. Corporations who intend to give back to society can do so through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes that are in line with the goals of the LIH NKRA.

The LIH NKRA can contribute to these efforts with a ready database of those that require assistance, as well as a good collaboration with relevant NGOs.

Among the assistance that can be provided are the provision of housing, healthcare, education and food supply.