Rural development, poverty eradication
to be given greater focus in ASEAN
Rural development and poverty eradication, areas of concern for several
years, will now be addressed with greater focus under the expanding coverage
of ASEAN functional cooperation programmes, following the Inaugural Meeting
of ASEAN Ministers on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication in
Subang Jaya, Malaysia in October 1997.
The Ministers drew up a Framework of the Plan of Action with the following aims:
- Developing an ASEAN capacity for
monitoring and assessing poverty
incidence and trends;
- Facilitating regional networking among
governmental organizations, rural
development and poverty research
institutes, NGOs and people's
organizations and the private sector;
- Sharing of information and best practices,
lessons learned and research
capacity and exchange of technical
expertise;
- Developing regional training programmes on priority areas;
- Developing regional rural volunteer
programmes; and
- Promoting public awareness of the need
to accelerate rural development and
poverty eradication.
On the same occasion, the Ministers
agreed to meet formally at least once in
two years and meet informally every year
between formal meetings. They also
decided that ASEAN Senior Officials on
Rural Development and Poverty
Eradication meet once a year and that ad
hoc working groups will be convened to
assist the Senior Officials in carrying out
their functions with regard to the
Framework Plan of Action.
Following the Ministerial meeting in October, an
experts group immediately convened in December 1997,
in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to develop projects and activities
to realize the Framework Plan of Action. The UNDP and
the Centre for Integrated Rural Development for Asia and
the Pacific (CIRDAP) were represented in that meeting.
The experts identified three projects to promote rural
development and poverty eradication for implementation
in 1998:
The first, a project to build or enhance capacities for
research, assessment and monitoring of poverty in ASEAN
countries will be coordinated by Malaysia.
The second project, which will be coordinated by
Indonesia, entails training of facilitators of rural
development and poverty eradication.
The third project is a campaign for enhancing
national and regional awareness on rural development
and eradication of poverty. This will be coordinated by
the Philippines.
The three projects cover priority areas stipulated by
the Framework Plan of Action adopted by the ASEAN
Ministers on Rural Development and Poverty Eradication.