Poverty reduction and public security in Lesotho

Date
2013-04-04
Authors
Likotsi, Tsotang Ernest
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Abstract
The developmental challenges confronting Lesotho range from a prevalence of poverty to a lack of safety and security. These problems directly affect in many ways the well-being of the people living in this country. The belief is strong that lack of integration in tackling the challenges of subsistence and protection needs leads to poor performance on poverty reduction and an inability to guarantee public security in the Kingdom. The principal objective of this study is to investigate factors leading to lack of integration in tackling the subsistence and protection needs in the Kingdom of Lesotho. This objective is broken down into three questions: What are the factors leading to the lack of integration in addressing subsistence and protection needs of the people of Lesotho? What are the trends in tackling subsistence and protection needs in Lesotho? What are the possible strategies in the integration of subsistence and protection needs in Lesotho? The two approaches were utilised to investigate the above questions. The first advance was based on exploring data available in the form of text books, journals and official publications. The second step was based on fieldwork carried out around Maseru, Lesotho. The results were presented, analysed and discussed in the report. The findings indicated that poverty surprisingly is no simple phenomenon. In fact, it is a deadly issue with little attention paid to it. Poverty and the issue of safety and security affect everyone as they are social issues. Secondly, some people see poverty as an excuse for people to commit crime and threaten people’s safety and security. Thirdly, while there is a clear understanding about social crime prevention, there remains a problem in developing good initiatives for poverty alleviation and crime prevention. Finally, it is vital for the country to ii integrate poverty and security sector policies in order to achieve sustainable development. The research makes recommendations which would enhance an integrated approach in dealing with issues of subsistence and protection. Efforts should include better public policies intended to shape the infrastructure, economic, social, political and institutional forms in the country. This will be a pathway to improving quality of life and security as people rank poverty and crime among the top concerns that they have in everyday life. Finally, proper policies will begin to bridge the increasing gap between the rich and the poor that remains a cause for concern
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Keywords
Poverty, Security, Economic development, Lesotho, Crime
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