MANAMA, 17 October 2007 — Bahrain has unveiled programs aimed at fighting poverty, the official news agency of Bahrain said yesterday.
“The government also implemented a comprehensive review of poverty by looking into its causes and setting required strategies to resolve this problem. Those strategies are led by fighting unemployment, which is considered the prime factor of poverty,” it said.
Bahrain News Agency (BNA) in a statement said that the initiatives taken by the government to tackle poverty include permanent social aids program and productivity and self-reliance plans like the productive families’ project, Al-Jasra craftsmen project and the micro-start project which all aim to encourage Bahraini citizens launch small and medium projects.
“Bahrain’s dealing with poverty was based on its realization that it was a global problem and that the main challenge facing any country was recognizing it as an initial step and then working through well-studied programs launched cooperatively by the executive and legislative authorities,” report said.
“Civil society institutions also play a crucial role in this battle through social clubs and charities that ease the suffering of the poor and the needy by raising financial support that covers the schooling of poor families’ children especially in colleges and institutes,” it added.
“Poor families’ living conditions have substantially improved thanks to … the king’s generous support which beefed up aid, cut down water and electricity fees and helped needy families create a permanent source of income by enrolling their children in vocational training programs, employing and exempting them of higher education fees,” it further said.
“The presentation of the special citation of the unhabitat scroll of honor award 2006 to Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa is considered an affirmation for the government’s keenness on the improvement of living standards for citizens in all aspects.”
The government has exerted significant efforts to eradicate poverty through a series of plans and projects, aimed not only financially assisting the disadvantaged but also helping them productive elements in the society, the report said.
“This is in addition to the establishment of a bank offering microcredit for individuals of low income and the poor to help them in starting small projects, hopefully forming the foundation of bigger projects in the future.”
Bahrain has adopted a set of strategic schemes to solve this problem, including the national employment project and insurance against unemployment in addition to many training programs aimed at promoting the skills of Bahraini graduates, the report said.