Mr Kofi Asante-Frimpong, Programme Manager of the National Poverty Reduction Programme (NPRP) says Ghana has a target to reduce by half the number of people living in poverty, by the year 2015.

He said already, " the level of Poverty has been reduced from over 50 per cent in 1992 to about 43 per cent in 1998." Mr Asante-Frimpong said this at the end of a quiz competition organised by the NPRP and the National AIDS Control Programme in collaboration with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation for five selected second cycle Schools in Accra. The competition, which was won by Presbyterian Boys Secondary School, was in commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP), which falls on October 17.

Meanwhile, Professor Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) of the University of Ghana, says poverty reduction efforts in Ghana have not been adequate. He added that results from the Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) indicate that the poverty head count increased from 37 per cent to 42 per cent between 1987 and 1988 and dropped to 31 per cent in 1992. "Despite the progress made, poverty remains a serious and extensive problem evidenced by the expenditure per capita in 1992 which was less than 25 dollars a month for over 30 per cent or five million of the Ghanaian populace," Prof. Asenso-Okyere said.

He was speaking at a three-day workshop organised jointly by ISSER and the Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP), a partner in the international science council based in Norway. The theme of the workshop was: "Strengthening State and Society Partnership in Poverty Reduction."

Although the extreme poverty situation between 1992 and 1998 improved, "the disturbing part of the drop is that the improvement has not been across the board," he said. "In many rural areas and the northern savannah, the situation of the poorest has worsened and there is evidence of rising inequality in the population. He said such a disappointing result may derive from the lack of understanding of poverty as seen by the poor.

Mrs Bridget Katsriku, Chief Director of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, warned that unless drastic measures are put in place to change the course of events, the majority of poor households might reproduce poverty in the next generation. She urged stakeholders to see how the state and society can speed up the rate of reducing poverty.