Solomon Islands - Asia & the Pacific

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Solomon Islands: Analysis of Poverty from 2005/2006 HIES136. Thus in Honiara there must be serious health concerns that in the lowest decile a significant proportion ofhouseholds have neither safe water nor safe sanitation. These are likely to be in the peripheral squatter areaswhere conditions of living are poor and consequently, the health risks are high.137. It has been noted above that there are many children living in households in the lowest deciles, and thus thesechildren are likely to be at very high risk in terms of their health.138. For the rural areas, Charts 24 and 25, the mostcommon form of sanitation is the over-water closettype, accounting for 54% of those in the poorest HHand even 41% of those in the top three expendituredeciles. This over-water system would, of course, onlybe available to those households on the coast; forinland HH it is clear that either pits or “other” formsof sanitation are used. This suggests that many ofthese types of sanitation are not improved and aretherefore a source of potential health problems.Closet over sea, 41.0Other, 11.2Chart 25Access to Sanitation: Rural HHHighest Three DecilesNone, 4.8Own flush septic tank, 10.9Shared flush, 1.0Household pit, 18.3Household bucket, 8.2Communial pit toilet, 4.6No Grade Primary Secondary Post Secondary NR139. As with the poorest HH in Honiara, poor access to safe water is frequently found alongside poor access to improvedsanitation in rural areas. The over-water closets pose serious health concerns where the surrounding reefs may bea source of shellfish or where children play at the water’s edge.140. It is also noted that 7.9% of poor households and 4.8% of the better-off recorded having no sanitation system atall.141. Details of the particular situation of female headed households in access to safe water and sanitation is provided inAppendix Tables A16 and A17 for water and sanitation. These tables show that for female headed HH in the lowestthree deciles in Honiara 19.8% had no access to piped water. The tables also show that 47.5% of female headedhouseholds in the lowest three deciles in Honiara had un-improved sanitation compared to only 20.4% of thosesimilar female headed households in the top three deciles.142. In the rural areas 92.2% of female headed households in the lowest three deciles had unimproved sanitationcompared to 68% with unimproved sanitation in the top three deciles. Access to improved water was howeverlittle different between the lowest three and highest three rural deciles with 49.8% and 51.2% of female headedhouseholds in these groups not having access to an improved water supply.143. Access to improved water and sanitation are therefore critical issues for households throughout the country, butespecially in the rural areas.8. Conclusions8.1 Poverty of Income or Opportunity?144. Poverty is a multi-dimensional issue. The national poverty lines and levels of incidence of poverty between theHoniara, provincial-urban and rural areas are the “headline” indicators. They are but the basic building blocks on38Estimation of National Poverty Lines and Poverty Incidence
Solomon Islands: Analysis of Poverty from 2005/2006 HIESwhich poverty alleviation strategiescan be founded. Far more importantfrom a policy perspective is to analysethe specific characteristics, and wherepossible, the causes of low-income/expenditure and poverty in thedisadvantaged sections of society. Weneed to know who-are-the-poor, whyare-they-poor,and specifically, what arethe characteristics of the poor and poorhouseholds so that targeted povertyalleviation measures can be initiated.145. The analysis in this paper has therefore aimed to provide a basis for this to be carried forward to the policy level.The information available from the household survey can be used to effectively guide the formulation of specifichardship and poverty alleviation policies. Additionally it provides new data for monitoring progress towards theachievement of the MDGs and other national development priorities.146. The BNPL measures the incidence of “income or expenditure” poverty but this is just one aspect of povertyor hardship. Families might have low incomes, but through good household budgeting and prioritising ofexpenditure, might still be reasonably well-fed and healthy. Nevertheless they are still likely to live in conditionswhere they experience varying degrees of hardship. The analysis suggests that relative poverty exists in all parts ofthe country, with the highest level being experienced in Honiara where one-in-four households and one-in-threepeople lives below the urban basic needs poverty line.147. In the rural areas where the poverty line, and arguably the minimum standard of living is itself lower, approximatelyone-in-seven households and one-in-five people also live below the rural poverty line. The actual level of the basicneeds poverty line is however more than three times as high for those in Honiara, SBD139.04 p.c.a.e comparedwith the rural BNPL of only SBD39.59 p.c.a.e. The rural BNPL is lower both because the cost of local food is lower,and is largely from own production for the poor at least, but also because “basic needs” are lower since there is lessaccess to services.148. As this paper indicates, the poorest households might lack access to basic services, especially water and sanitationif they are in squatter areas in the urban centre of Honiara or in the remote parts of the rural provinces. Similarlythey might lack access to health, education and transport facilities. They lack access to economic opportunitiesresulting in urban drift and growing numbers of un-and under employed youth. The weaknesses in access toservices and opportunities are especially chronic in the rural parts of the country; but they also affect thosewho have drifted or migrated into Honiara. A combination of low educational attainment, socio-cultural factorsrelating to age, gender and other personal characteristics further limit freedom of choice, or socio-economicopportunity.149. This poverty of opportunity, e.g. lack of access to basic health and education services, employment opportunities,standards of good governance and equal opportunities across gender and age, is now regarded as just asimportant in defining the extent of poverty and hardship in a society as is the lack of income/expenditure. OftenEstimation of National Poverty Lines and Poverty Incidence39
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