?Mauritius needs to get out of its comfort zone ? as a success model ? and see how we can eradicate growing poverty.? This will be the main objective of the two-day conference at Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre (RGSC) next Monday and Tuesday on ?Poverty in Mauritius: an agenda for reflection and action ? Articulating the local with the regional?. High calibre personalities of the government, private sector, non-governmental organisations as well as the civil society will interact with 150 persons handpicked across the population to adopt an action plan to eradicate poverty.

?It is very important that the objective of the conference is to eradicate poverty and not to alleviate it. Eradication involves more commitment and follow-up,? commented Roukaya Kasenally, one of the organisers of this conference as the president of the Organisation for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) for Mauritius.

This conference is said to be unique with its?multi-stakeholder approach?, as Sheila Bunwaree, the president of the Institute of Social Development and Peace, the main organiser of this conference in collaboration with the Mauritius Council of Social Service (MACOSS). Thanks to the participation of different people from the civil society, this conference will hopefully see the various faces of poverty as well as the different means of fighting against it. ?We have heard about the implementation of an observatory of poverty for some time. But we first need to know what there is behind poverty,? she added. This is how the idea of organising such a conference emerged. Next year, the country will host an international conference on poverty through the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in mid-April. Its objective is to ?see how we can fight together against poverty in the region in a clear, and precise way so that we can stop talking but face reality and take action?.

Therefore, next week?s conference will also have a regional aspect with the participation of the Southern African Trust ? the main sponsor of the conference. Mauritius will serve as an example in other countries for similar conferences in the future. The MACOSS will start by helping Madagascar and Mozambique to coordinate their own conferences very soon.

For the organisers, civil society should have a major role in eradicating poverty. ?It is an opportunity to show that members of the civil society can make a difference,? said Roukaya Kasenally. ?The civil society has taken the bull by the horns,? Ram Nookadee of the MACOSS pointed out. He also explained: ?Recommendations that will be made will be feasible.?

Roukaya Kasenally gave the guarantee that the conference will not stop there. ?The resolutions will be sent to all stakeholders ? especially to the State,? she said. The organisers, including the Youth Network of Mauritius, expect their draft to be part of the final resolution that will be adopted in April at the international conference on poverty and development.

<B>Objectives of the conference</B>

■ Ensure the implementation of a common platform so that all stakeholders can assess poverty in Mauritius.

■ Allow all organisations of civil society to express themselves and facilitate a bottom-up approach and participative process to achieve a regional initiative.

■ Assess opportunities and constraints of poverty alleviation programmes.

■ Use the data collected in research to discuss the impact of policies for poverty alleviation.

■ Adopt a sector-based approach of poverty in Mauritius.

■ Define a research programme for other studies on poverty in accordance with existing policies.

■ Opportunities and constraints of the democratisation of the economy.