The Second Lady, Mrs. Samira Bawumia, has held talks with the International Poverty Reduction Centre in China (IPRCC) to join Ghana in the fight against poverty.
Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the Communist Party has vigorously taken up the fight against poverty, moving over 700 million out of its clutches, according to officials of the IPRCC.
The target is to lift everyone out of absolute poverty by 2020.
“This is a very important topic to me, as it affects women and children the most”, Mrs Bawumia stated, when she paid a courtesy call on the top management of the IPRCC as part of Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s four day State visit to China.
The meeting was to enable the Second Lady have a first-hand briefing on how it happened in China and to learn how to make it happen in Ghana.
Explaining that the girl child is usually the one who loses out in the choice of who gets educated in a poor home, Mrs Bawumia urged the leadership of the IPRCC to help equip her fellow women in Ghana in poverty reduction skills, to help them fight the canker on a more even footing.
“I need your support in the fight against poverty in the world, especially in Ghana. You have proven at the IPRCC that it can be done, that women can be empowered to support their husbands and help manage their homes and most importantly, educate their children,” the Second Lady stated.
Successive governments in the People’s Republic of China, guided by a Development Oriented Poverty Reduction Module, and a Targeted Poverty Reduction Approach, have worked hand in hand with the various organisations and ministries set up for the eradication of poverty, using the top-down approach, IPRCC officials explained.
This translates into helping the local people get out of poverty by building their capacity to enable them earn a living while contributing to the development of the state or province in which they live.
China also mobilises different sectors into the fight against poverty including the army and armed police who have a solemn duty to use their expertise to help the local people to whom they have been posted to, rise out of poverty.
Officials of the IPRCC, promised to engage the appropriate Ghanaian ministries and agencies to design programmes aimed at poverty eradication and women empowerment.