Introduction
There are many and varied definitions of poverty, but generally people are considered poor when they are unable to satisfy their basic needs of food, clothing, shelter, healthcare and other amenities. Various quantitative measures are also used to count the number of people in a population falling under some thresholds (poverty lines) and classify them as living in poverty.

Some of these measures are presented in monetary units, others relate to people's access to resources, hence poverty is always defined in terms of access to resources that could be used to meet human basic needs for a decent and dignified way of living.

Since its inception the National Development Agency (NDA) has distributed more than R640 million to various communities located in poor areas in the following sectors: food security, sustainable livelihoods and community health projects. More than 404 773 direct households and 2 031 375 individuals have benefited from these projects. 

In 2006 the Board of the NDA approved commitment of R25 million to 20 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in partnership with universities and accredited service providers throughout the country to strengthen the institutional capacity of grassroots organisations to deliver quality service and programmes to alleviate poverty.

In January 2008 the government, through the Cabinet Lekgotla, pronounced on the importance of focusing on poverty during the current financial year. This was also emphasised by President Thabo Mbeki in his State of the Nation Address in February.

The President singled out the elaboration of an integrated and comprehensive anti-poverty strategy that  addresses sections of the population most affected by this scourge as one of the government's 24 apex priorities for the year ahead. These sections of the population include children, women, the youth, people living in rural areas and urban informal settlements, people with disabilities or chronic illnesses and the elderly.

Among the key proposed interventions he listed are expanding the public works programme and employment subsidies for direct job creation for targeted groups, enhancing employment search capability, improving education and training, improving services and assets among poor communities, instituting specific interventions in poor households and ensuring the effectiveness of institutions supporting women and other sectors.