"Investing in those who invest in themselves" First-of-its-kind asset building pilot launched in Nigeria

Shweta Banerjee — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:27:00 -0400

By Jamie Zimmerman & Shweta Banerjee

Notoriously resource-rich, poverty-stricken and conflict-prone, the Niger Delta region has always been viewed among the unlikeliest places for reform, particularly one that "spreads the wealth." But this week we are proud to announce that the Bayelsa State Government (BYSG) located in the delta region of Nigeria will launch of a policy pilot that provides matched savings accounts to children and youth throughout the state's eight districts. This initiative is not only the first government-supported anti-poverty intervention in the Niger Delta region, but the first state-wide CDA policy pilot in the developing world.

Child development accounts (CDAs) have been successfully launched as a policy in developed countries such as United Kingdom and Singapore but there is a need for adapting this approach to developing country contexts. Development practitioners in Africa are moving away from traditional aid-based models and experimenting with new bottom-up approaches that directly invest in creating assets and wealth and improving education for the poor.

Columbia University and New America's Global Assets Project, who worked together to design the pilot, received a grant from the BYSG to assist in the launch of the pilot and test the impact of the accounts. The pilot will be implemented over a period of three years and introduce CDAs for at least 1000 school children throughout the 24 constituencies of the 8 districts of the Bayelsa State. The accounts provide a means and an incentive to stay in school, save and invest for their futures and also have positive changes in their attitudes towards themselves and their choices. By opening accounts for and matching the savings of low-income children and youth, the BYSG hopes to break the cycles of poverty, conflict and distrust of government by "investing in those who invest in themselves."

Despite being, or perhaps because of being, the most resource-rich region of Nigeria, the Bayelsa State in the Niger Delta faces extreme social and economic challenges, including high poverty and militancy rates. Youth lack access to adequate skills training or employment opportunities and increasingly become disenfranchised and unsettled, with little optimism about their future.

This policy pilot, intended to address these challenges, will be the first anti-poverty intervention of its kind in the conflict-prone region. If this yields intended results, lessons could be incorporated to implement similar programs for children in need across the world, including places such as Afghanistan where there is a need to make aid reach the poor.

Columbia University is inviting applications for the position of a consultant who will be based in Yenegoa, Nigeria, for six months to start-up this project. Click here for a more information.

This project is part of an overall strategy to build assets for the poor in Africa. It has been well documented as to why traditional aid and development assistance - from both small and large actors - have fallen short in alleviating the extreme poverty that persists in the world's poorest region. A forthcoming report by Fred Ssewamala, Elizabeth Sperber and Jamie M Zimmerman examines a bottom-up, asset-based approach that draws on findings from latest development and research projects in the region. This report is slated to be published by the Global Assets Project by November 2009.

Jamie Zimmerman is the Deputy Director for the Global Assets Project.
Shweta Banerjee is a consultant with the Global Assets Project. Banerjee@newamerica.net

Last Day to Vote: Building Assets into a 21st Century Foreign Assistance Framework

Jamie Zimmerman — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:48:00 -0500

Its last day of the Better World Campaign's On Day One project and there is still time to vote for the idea you think President-Elect Barak Obama should prioritize on the first day of the next administration for improving the United State's image in the world. When blogger Mark Goldberg of the UN Foundation came to New America in the spring of 2008 soliciting ideas for policy proposals, I thought it was little more than a fun experiment in the use of new media to express opinions. I had no idea the Campaign would face the ideas off against each other in November, narrowing 81 selected ideas down to 9 for '09 (9 big ideas for the incoming president to consider upon taking office). Or that my idea to reform foreign assistance (to focus the allocation of funds more squarely on the social and economic empowerment of poor people) would win the Global Poverty category. Or that there would be a Round 2 to the contest in which the 9 for '09 would face off yet again.

I don't expect to win the contest -- my idea is up against some even more lofty and innovative competitors. On the other hand, that this idea - that funds should be more smartly allocated to providing opportunities for asset building and wealth creating empowerment for the poor, rather than wasted and corrupted on ineffectual top-down projects - has resonated with voters in this first place (and making a fair showing at that), should be utterly encouraging for those of us working to elevate asset-building microfinance and social policies around the globe.

Even in a world of economic uncertainty, there is a still a belief that given the right tools, the poor and traditionally disenfranchised can stake their own claim it the dream of a better future. The microcredit movement has helped shape this confidence in the power of individuals to lift themselves out of poverty. Yet, the tools people need to take ownership of their lives extend well beyond microcredit, including (but certainly not limited to) an identity that will allow them access to the formal economy; property rights so that they can take ownership in their land, home, or business; access to an array of financial services such as savings accounts allow them to save for future investments in education, a business or old age and insurance to further protect them from the vulnerability of any number of shocks, and; access to policies and programs that facilitate this process, such as child development accounts, conditional cash transfers, or other microfinance-plus initiatives.

Reforming the foreign assistance framework to redirect resources toward bottom-up programs is a fairly specific policy idea, yet it finds itself competing with much grander goals. In this final day of the contest, I thank voters for their encouraging show of interest in telling President Obama to break the wasteful status quo in development assistance spending and, instead, concentrate on something with potentially a much greater return on investment - the empowerment of people.

Child Development Accounts

"Investing in those who invest in themselves" First-of-its-kind asset building pilot launched in Nigeria

Last Day to Vote: Building Assets into a 21st Century Foreign Assistance Framework