How does employment feature in this nexus of growth, poverty reduction and MDGs? As in the earlier paradigms of growth and poverty reduction, employment is not an explicit component of the MDGs. Its earlier role in development paradigm is however well established: in the developing countries efficient pursuit of growth is best based on the intensive use of labour, the relatively plentiful factor. Employment-intensive growth is the most effective method of poverty reduction because labour is easily available in most poor countries.
In his Statement at the UN General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals last Tuesday, September 21, the Head of State, President Paul Biya, re-echoed the important role employment can play in reducing poverty. “We cannot reasonably expect to achieve the MDGs without addressing the challenge of employment. Indeed, employment is more than ever before a crucial factor in alleviating poverty and fostering personal dignity, collective wellbeing, sustainable economic growth and, unquestionably, the political stability of our States.”
This statement effectively translates President Biya’s ambitious programme conceived under the established fact that the youth does not only represent the bulk of our population, but also, is the spearhead of the nation. The Growth and Employment Strategy Paper (GESP) has been prepared against this backdrop and is centred on developing productive sectors and infrastructure without which improving the living conditions of our people is unthinkable.
Hammering on an issue like employment in a forum like the United Nations tells of the importance of the subject which, in effect, features as first goal on the MDG list. In effect, the first MDG goal and objective is to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by halving between 1990 and 2015 the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day and achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people.
The Growth and Employment Strategy Paper is one of the second-generation Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers designed following a dynamic and open process, involving full participation of the population at the grassroots, civil society organisations, and the private sector and development partners. The GESP which will cover the first ten years, 2010 to 2020, is focussing on accelerating growth, creating formal employment and reducing poverty. Consequently, it aims at increasing the average annual growth rate to 5.5 per cent over the period concerned; reducing the underemployment rate from 75.8 per cent to less than 50 per cent and reducing the income poverty rate from 39.9 per cent in 2007 to 28.7 per cent in 2010.
All the lofty policies streamlined in the GESP will surely be implemented gradually within the next decade. Key considerations will be made to ensure its success. Three main sub strategies will be built: growth, employment and improvement of State governance and strategic management.
To better attain its main goal of reducing in significant manner unemployment in the country, Cameroon intends to address three major aspects: increasing decent employment opportunities, satisfying job demand and improving market efficiency. Government, in its GESP will work out a strategy that will blow up the activities of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises to boost employment and foster the migration of the informal sector towards the formal. If all these are fully implemented, and that is the ambition of the Head of state, by 2020, Cameroon would have significantly worked its way into the MDGs.
