/ 25 May 1999

MOLEKETI SIGNS ANTI-POVERTY PACT

WELFARE Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, resident representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) David Whaley and the director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Kenneth Andoh on Friday signed an agreement regarding a programme to aid poverty relief in South Africa. The UNDP and ILO’s Micro-Save programme targets community-based groups of poor families and households, mainly women, Fraser-Moleketi said during the signing ceremony in Johannesburg. The groups save small amounts as a collective and make loans to one another. The programme will be piloted in four of the country’s poorest provinces — the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Northern Province and KwaZulu-Natal. Specific non-governmental organisations have been identified which will support the community-based groups and build their capacity and skills in bookkeeping, savings mobilisation and administration. They are the SA Homeless People’s Federation in the Northern Cape, Africa Cooperative Action Trust in the Eastern Cape and in KwaZulu-Natal and the Small Enterprise foundation in the Northern Province.