ACADEMIC Robert Buddan on Thursday called for the creation of a Ministry of Human Development under which all poverty programmes would coalesce for better management of the delivery of services to the poor. Buddan suggests that such a move could bring poverty levels down to single digit.

The idea was immediately endorsed by economist Dr Wesley Hughes, government’s chief planner and director-general of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, who suggested that Jamaica was spending more to administer the poverty programmes than it was giving in benefits to the poor.

“It is difficult for the various agencies to work together,” Hughes said, adding that cost of the delivery of social relief, in many instances, was greater than the relief.

“It can cost $1.50 to deliver a benefit of $1.”

In the mid-1990s, some 70 poverty reduction programmes were scattered among 10 agencies, according to Buddan, lecturer in government at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).

“The NPEP calls for coherence, avoiding duplication and better inter-agency co-ordination,” said the UWI academic, referring to government’s co-ordination unit for poverty projects, the National Poverty Eradication Programme (NPEP).

“This would be achieved by giving the NPEP its own ministry.”

Some 16.9 per cent of 2.7 million Jamaicans now live below the poverty line. The PIOJ currently classifies as poor those Jamaicans who consume less than $58,508.50 in goods and services per year, or less than $160 (US$2.60) per day; or a household of five whose consumption is $221,130 or $606 (US$9.83) per day.

The line is calculated on a basket of 11 commodity groups, including food, rent, transportation, health care and education.

Food is further sub-divided into 11 groups.

The NPEP, which was introduced in 1995, acts as linkage for the various projects and social interventions.

The allocations for the programmes has topped $41 billion, including the $6 billion earmarked for spending this fiscal year, the highest allocation ever in any one year.

Three years into the NPEP’s implementation, poverty levels hit their lowest level in the past decade of 15.9 per cent of Jamaica’s 2.57 million population, recorded in 1998. At the year of implementation, the poverty level was 27.5 per cent of 2.498 million people.

Currently, government’s chief social programmes under the NPEP include the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education, the School Feeding Programme, National Health Fund, and the Rural Electrification Programme.

Additionally, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund has had a series of projects to improve schools, and other community based infrastructure to help improve the quality of life at the local level.

Buddan proposes that government offer a 20-year bond to help finance the operation of the new ministry.

“When taxes and national budgets cannot provide the support needed one has to turn to the market,” said the UWI lecturer.

“There are three markets that have the investments that can be put to social and economic development. the diaspora market, the credit union market, and the mainstream Jamaica capital market.”

According to Buddan, the Jamaican diaspora – that is, persons with Jamaican roots living overseas – is valued at over US$40 billion and is the wealthiest from the English-speaking Caribbean.

The credit unions, with resources of over $24 billion, he added, could issue their own bonds for small enterprise development.

The suggestion came at the first in monthly series of discussions to examine Jamaica’s progress towards economic growth and to determine immediate policy priorities, being hosted by the Office of the Prime Minister at Jamaica House.

The series began with panellists Buddan, Hughes, Dr Herbert Thompson of Northern Caribbean University, and Jaslin Salmon, national coordinator for the government’s poverty alleviation programme, discussing ‘Fighting Poverty: The past, the present, the future’.

Professor Trevor Munroe and Dr Carlton Davis will lead December’s topic – Good governance: Perception or Reality.

The other scheduled forums in 2006 are:

. Jamaica in the international arena – January

. The transforming landscape of Jamaica’s economy – February

. Development of physical and social infrastructure – March.