Resource information
Lesotho began a structural economic
transformation in the early 1990s. The transformation has
brought higher, more secure incomes to households while the
government succeeded in dramatically improving access to
services such as education, health, water, and
transportation. Yet today, Lesotho faces a number of serious
development challenges, including a high rate of chronic
poverty, entrenched income inequality, and most troubling
one of the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the world.
This report focuses on three main areas: i) livelihood
patterns among Lesotho's households and how these
correlate with opportunity and exclusion; ii) how the
government could make access to public services and overall
social development more equitable; and iii) how the economic
and social vulnerabilities of households, including
HIV/AIDS, could be alleviated in order to reduce poverty. In
this report concludes that it is possible for Lesotho to
reduce poverty and to continue its transition to an
economically diverse middle-income country by undertaking
three key strategies: continuing to develop the investment
climate for labor-intensive production; implementing
programs to support commercial agriculture and reduce land
degradation in rural areas; and developing a strategy to
support socioeconomic and geographic mobility of workers
into higher-productivity sectors. Public funds should be
better targeted towards assisting the poor to build human
capital and manage risks. Other recommendations to improve
the plight of the people of Lesotho include creating a more
equitable and inclusive society, especially for women, and
developing a more effective campaign against HIV/AIDS.
