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Develop, expand innovative programmes to reduce poverty – Author

December 14, 2021

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Accra, Dec. 14, GNA— Mr Trenchard Domegure Youri, an Author, says in the absence of proper national strategies to reduce poverty in the country, an array of innovative locally based programmes must be developed and expanded across the country.

He said little had been done to broadly develop programmes and diverse strategies to reduce poverty, particularly entrepreneurship development programmes, to accelerate industrial development.

Towards that end, he proposed that the government appointed a committee which should engage in research programmes and consider local approaches for the disadvantaged to promote growth and create employment opportunities and skills training at all levels.

Mr Youri, also an accountant, made these proposals in his book titled “Ideas for debates by Ghanaians for a development policy and programme, poverty reduction strategy and job creation from the bottom up.”

The 88-page book, which was launched Monday, proposes, and analyses basic but important concepts and strategies for job creation and poverty reduction.

He said the interventions were even more challenging today due to the quickened pace of change in the economy, adding that not only must the programmes assist clients in becoming viable economically, but must help develop the flexibility and skills base needed to adopt unpredictable change.

Mr Youri said such programmes, if strategically placed, would address the categories of other programmes he had identified which had impacted on poverty reduction through job creation and business development.

“Micro enterprise programmes will fall under categories commonly associated with general business development and economic growth such as business incubators and flexible manufacturing networks model with the potential of directly addressing employment for the poor,” he said.

He said the viability of incubators were indisputable with their potential impact on local employment and economy.

He stated that poverty was not an individual calamity as it required a collective action and said the purpose of the book was to begin filling the broad gaps in knowledge regarding potentially sustainable poverty reduction and to stimulate national debate.

With that mindset, he encouraged development programme practitioners to redefine their efforts and to openly express their experience base options regarding broader strategies, including areas bordering on entrepreneurship, job training and placement, job creation and retention.

Mr Roland Affail Monney, President, Ghana Journalist Association, who officially launched the book, said it was timely since the nation was still grappling to find a link between greed and the poverty that continued to plague the country.

He applauded the author for his contribution in attempting to make policy proposals in remedying the employment gaps in the country as unemployment was vast and required a multi-faceted approach with a collective effort to deal with it.

“The title of the book is predicated on the idea that no one person can do it all. The intellectual class alone cannot solve the degree of unemployment and poverty in the country,” he said.

Mr Samuel Osei-Frempong, News Editor, Ghana News Agency, in a review of the book, said, Ghana’s development path had been rough, with some recurrent detours, and the country had abandoned some ideas and even resorted to other worthless ventures.

As a nation, he said “we are reminded by Trenchard Domegure Youri to step back and see if the path to national development is straight.”

The author, he noted, adopted a simple style of writing to convey his ideas and concepts, engaging his readers and withdrawing when they expected an answer to his questions.

“He concludes the book by proposing a Technocracy for Ghana. Surprisingly, he does not propose an autocracy but rather calls for a referendum on the issue,” the News Editor added.

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