Full Text: End Poverty Day Remarks By World Bank Country Director, Henry Kerali

Salutations
Senior Government Officials
Development Partners
Representatives of Youth Organizations
Ladies and gentlemen
Welcome to the World Bank Group office, and a special welcome to the media who are covering this important event and to the youths who are here present.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the declaration by the United Nations General Assembly, designating October 17th as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Eradicating poverty in all its dimensions, as embodied in Goal 1 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, remains one of the greatest global challenges. Indeed the World Bank Group twin goals are to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity in a sustainable way!

In the Africa Region, the focus for this end poverty day is on Africa’s Youth and the Future of Work. This will be reflected in much of the discussions today. Indeed, a focus on young people is crucial for progress in reducing poverty. I would like to quote one of Ghana’s much revered sons, the late Dr. Kofi Annan:

“Young people should be at the forefront of global change and innovation. Empowered, they can be key agents for development and peace. If, however, they are left on society's margins, all of us will be impoverished. Let us ensure that all young people have every opportunity to participate fully in the lives of their societies”.

(Slide 2)
Ghana achieved the first Millennium Development Goal of reducing the national poverty rate by more than half. The national poverty rate in Ghana declined from 52.7 percent in 1991 to 23.4 percent in 2017.

However, there is still a wide gap between educated and non-educated households. For example, in 2017 the poverty rate was 37 percent among households whose heads received no formal education, while the poverty rate was 7.5 percent among households whose heads completed senior high school (SHS). Furthermore, the poverty rate of households whose heads completed tertiary education was less than 1 percent. These numbers suggest that investing in education is key to ending poverty in Ghana.

(Slide 3)
Even before SHS was declared free in Ghana, the enrollment rate had significantly increased among girls, especially in the wealthiest 20 percent of households. Between 2006 and 2017, SHS enrollment rate increased from 25 percent to 43 percent among girls in the wealthiest 20 percent.

As a higher level of education leads to better jobs and economic opportunities, Ghana can expect rising earnings for girls in the very near future. A study by the World Bank finds that each additional year of education is associated with a 6 to 10 percent increase in earnings.

However, a concerning observation is that SHS enrollment rates showed little increase among boys and girls among the poorest 20 percent households. In this group, SHS enrollment for girls increased from 2 to only 6 percent between 2006 and 2017. As a result, the disparity of SHS enrollment rate widened between girls in rich and poor families. The SHS enrollment rate of the poorest 20 percent households for boys is only 5 percent, even lower than that for girls.

The new free senior high school education program is expected to remove the cost barrier for both girls and boys in poor families.

(Slide 4)
People who completed SHS and tertiary education are more likely to get jobs in the formal sector and earn stable wages. They are also more likely to use reading, writing and computer skills compared with people who completed only primary school education.

The use of skills is strongly related to employment. Formal employment requires an intensive use of reading and writing skills. More than 84 percent of formal sector employees use reading and writing skills daily. However, computer use remains low even in the formal sector. Only one third of formal sector employees regularly use computers.

(Slide 5)
In the Ghana Employers Association Skills Gap Survey, 47 percent of employers reported computer literacy and IT as the most lacking skills among employees. In addition, 30 percent of employers indicated that employees lack technical and practical skills.

The IT sector is rapidly growing in Ghana and makes up most of service exports. However, there is a shortage of IT trained workers. Ghana needs more young people with IT and computer skills, because the advancement of the IT sector can accelerate innovation and create more jobs for the youth.

Sub-Saharan Africa performs poorly on shared prosperity. The key lesson is that breaking inter-generational poverty, reducing overall poverty, and boosting shared prosperity, will require transformational actions to spur and sustain strong economic growth and enhance human capital.

The World Bank remains committed to achieving the goal of ending extreme poverty by 2030 (defined as people living on less than $1.90 a day). The share of the world’s population living in extreme poverty fell to 10 percent in 2015, but the pace of extreme poverty reduction has slowed, a situation mirrored here in Ghan where it is projected that extreme poverty will fall to 8.6 percent in 2018.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the poorest 40 percent of the population experienced only 1.8 percent income rise per year between 2010 to 2015, which is below the global average of 1.9 percent per year. Sadly, incomes of the poorest 40 percent shrank in some countries of the region!

So today – on “End Poverty Day” – as we reflect on progress made, we also need to learn what has not worked well. This should spur us to redouble our efforts in countries – or areas within countries – where extreme poverty is entrenched and where the pace of poverty reduction is at risk of decelerating.

Thank you.