The President of the Republic, Mr Danny Faure, chaired an extraordinary meeting of the National Poverty Consensus Forum this morning at State House.

The purpose of the meeting was to provide members with the preliminary results of two surveys undertaken by the Seychelles National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in collaboration with other partners. The first presentation shared the results of the Regional Poverty Profiling Survey: A Targeted Approach. It was presented by the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of NBS, Ms Helena De Letourdis.

The presentation provided a general overview of the results of regional surveys conducted during 2017-2018 which collected specific information on factors causing poverty in a targeted population of some 5910 households. The results of the profiling survey will provide information for more focused policy responses as well as better targeted social interventions.

The second presentation outlined the results of the national pilot survey of the Multi-Dimensional Poverty Index (MPI) for Seychelles, and was presented by Principal Statistician for Social Statistics, Mrs Maria Payet. This particular survey, a first for Seychelles, examined various dimensions of poverty in Seychelles other than income. The 16 indicators include health, education, employment and living standards. The results of the MPI survey will allow for more informed policy making and strategy implementation.

The National Poverty Consensus Forum is a high level forum set up in October 2017 comprising of selected stakeholders representing divergent social, financial, and political perspectives to drive decisions and actions for better targeted social interventions. The forum meets every 3 months and is geared towards the adoption of a better coordinated approach in the elimination of poverty in the country.

Following the presentations, the President thanked the members present for attending the extraordinary session and for their contributions based on the information presented. The survey results will be presented at the upcoming Cabinet of Ministers’ meeting after which a comprehensive report for the two surveys will be compiled and made available to relevant stakeholders.