Katutura’s long walk to comfort

NDAMA NAKASHOLE

The latest basic needs basket study by a research institute has revealed a combined average household income of N$4 649.00 per month in Namibia’s low income urban household.

Also, noticeable income disparities among the households and locations were observed.

In his presentation titled “The Cost of Basic Needs in Namibia’s Low Income Urban Households: Katutura Central, Okahandja Park and Shandumbala-Windhoek” and presented at the African Statistics Day and Statistics Symposium in the capital on Monday, Dr Michael Akuupa of Labuor Resource and Research Institute (LaRRI) said household expenditure in these areas averaged N$2 784.17 per month. This is seemingly below the average household income.

Most of this spending money goes to water and electricity with 29.2% and 26.2%, respectively, of the total expenditure budget.

Other funds go to transport (18.5%) as well as food and hygiene items.

Despite the low available funds to spend by Katutura homes, Namibia’s minimum basket of goods proposed had an estimate of N$10 661.91 based on an average size of 6.9 peoples in a household. This includes food, hygiene and housing, transport and utilities with an amount of N$3 094.44, N$444.59 and N$7 122.88 respectively.

“Government still has a lot to do to address the yawning inequalities and plight of the poor both in rural and urban areas,” Akuupa commented.

Long way

Since attaining independence in 1990, the government has prioritised strategies and initiative aimed at poverty reduction and inequality, Akuupa said.

He said a number of strategies, programmes and policies have been implemented as part of the efforts in the fight against poverty, which resulted in the decrease in the incidence of poverty.

However, by using the conventional measures of poverty, Namibia’s poverty levels have declined, but the average statistics masks the true nature of poverty in terms of ability of households to afford basic necessities such as nutritional food, decent shelter and other basic amenities that people need to lead a decent and dignified life, he said.

“The basic needs basket not only looks at expenditure, but rather establishes what an average household, in a given socio-economic circumstance ought to consume to both in terms of quantity and quality,” he said.

He said the basic needs basket (BNB) also goes beyond food and considers other important non-food essentials which people should ordinarily not be without, including access to clean water and energy, secure and reliable transport, toiletries, and basic household cleaning materials.

“The BNB therefore does not only quantify and analyses what people are consuming, but goes further to recommend what people ideally should be consuming if all things such as access to decent jobs and incomes were equal.”

This approach, he said, distinguishes the BNB from other welfare poverty approaches that makes it more suitable to developing countries where many households struggle to meet their basic needs.

“The fact that the BNB monitors the actual price of food and non -food items consumed by the households makes it more relevant because it reflects the actual cost of such goods and affordability levels of the households,” said Akuupa.

Way forward

Studies on poverty incorporate the BNB methods, particularly in areas with high levels of poverty as the information collected will enable the government to develop appropriate strategies to address poverty, he said.

In order to have up-to-date information on the cost of living in areas with high levels of poverty, there is a need for the government (through the NSA) to work with civil society in undertaking and monitoring poverty data using the BNB tool, said Akuupa.

The researcher said that although growing food might be a challenge due to poor rainfalls in the country, there is a need for Namibia to encourage people to grow their own food, especially vegetables. This, he said, would not only reduce the cost of the basket, but would also enhance the ability of low income household’s access to nutritional food.

“The ministry of poverty alleviation can, through its food bank project work with low income households, once identified, on such a project.

To date, unions have used inflation in negotiating for wages. “While inflation is a good indicator, it does not truly reflect the cost of living for many poverty stricken households,” he said, adding that Namibian unions must adopt the BNB approach to minimum wage negotiations. This, he said, is because it captures the prices of goods and services, which a person needs to live a decent standard of life.

The LaRRI study recommends that housing be included in the household basket as it remains a significant factor in poverty assessments.

“Decent and affordable housing is a key indicator of poverty as it measures the adequacy of shelter,” he said.