Global day against poverty marked with goal of ‘peaceful and inclusive societies’

AMMAN — A total of 92,033 families of around 280,000 individuals receive monthly financial assistance amounting to JD8 million from the National Aid Fund (NAF), spokesperson of NAF Najeh Sawalhah said on Monday. 

Sawalhah made the remarks to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty that is annually celebrated on October 17, with this year’s theme being: “A path towards peaceful and inclusive societies”.

Social Development Ministry Spokesperson Fawwaz Ratrout said that the ministry works on addressing poverty and enhancing productivity through several programmes, such as the productive loan projects that include two sub-programmes: productive families and local credit funds.

These two programmes offer interest-free soft loans for families to enhance their productivity, said Ratrout, noting that the ministry annually finances 500 schemes.

He also noted that the ministry’ programmes include building, purchasing and rehabilitating houses of underprivileged families, adding that so far more than 7,000 families have benefited from this initiative.

Moreover, the ministry is tasked with registering associations that are relevant to poverty eradication, the spokesperson said, noting that there are around 3,700 social protection associations in the Kingdom, according to Petra.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the declaration by the UN General Assembly… October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, in its resolution 47/196 of December 22, 1992. 

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the Call to Action by Father Joseph Wresinski — which inspired the observance of October 17 as the World Day for Overcoming Extreme Poverty — and the recognition by UN of the day as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, according to the UN website.

UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova delivered a message on the occasion saying that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development promises to leave no one behind, and calls for eradicating poverty by 2030. 

“For this, we need swift action by governments to translate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into effective policies that are supported with appropriate resources. The 2030 Agenda is ambitious — we need ambitious measures to take it forward,” Bokova was quoted as saying on the UNESCO website.

The 2030 Agenda emphasises the integration of the social, economic and environmental dimensions of poverty eradication, so “we need integrated action across different policy spheres, making the most of capabilities and resources through targeted policies designed to accelerate progress across the board,” she added.