According to the article “BIG can benefit orphans and vulnerable children”, which was witten by Johanna Absalom and published on 8. July 2011 in the Namibian Economist, Dr Henry Platt, executive director of the Church Alliance for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CAFO), said:
BIG provides an answer to the national crisis of poverty and unemployment, which in turn, affects the daily lives of orphans and vulnerable children. We call on the government and the citizens of our country, especially to people of faith, to support this initiative, seeing that poverty and unemployment are some of the social concerns that affect the future of children. This is also because poverty is the root causes of vulnerability for many of the issues surrounding children, hence, the intervention has the potential to elevate life chances of OVCs.
It is time to seriously consider the speedy implementation of BIG as a tool to alleviate the poverty trap, though we know it is not a total solution when in isolation. It offers a spread of money into the hands of all people, bringing about a deeper sense of integrity.
The current systems in place do not sufficiently address the large scale trap of poverty. This situation disadvantages children the most. Unfortunately, the wealth is in the hands of a fortunate group, while the greater part of the community is out.
The best investment in the long run is on education. Under the new Minister, great strides towards the right direction have been made. But, there are still many areas to consider on our journey to free our children for a better future, especially the root causes. We need to reach them all, through education, psychosocial support, food and nutrition, to name but a few of core critical services to OVCs.
