Namibia tests cash handout scheme

Can a scheme to handout cash to every non-pension receiving citizen of an African country prove effective in alleviating poverty? Conventional wisdom would have you think that it could never work, that such a scheme would only encourage an attitude of sloth among citizens and that the money would fuel social vices. Conventional wisdom is wrong –at least that is what a test run of such a scheme in Namibia seems to suggest; Namibians citizens in a settlement east of the country’s capital, Windhoek, have in recent months been receiving the equivalent of 13 US dollars a month each –whether they were employed or not- to use almost as they please and it has proven to lift the standards of living and alleviate poverty. The scheme, which is being run by civil society in Namibia, is a private initiative that was put into place when the government refused to act on recommendation by its own commission that would put all non-pension earning Namibians under a similar scheme. The pilot project has shown itself dramatically successful in uplifting lives. Much of the money has been used towards education, meeting basic needs, the launching of businesses as well as health care.

The success of the private programme may prove sufficient in changing the government’s mind and make the scheme country-wide and may provide food-for-thought for policy makers in other African countries.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7415814.stm