In his 29-article book, "Up and Out of Poverty", the author outlines "the hows” of transforming a poverty stricken (Ningde Prefecture) into a prosperous region through change of mindset, economic development and management, and leadership.

Having read the book, we are of the feeling that there are a lot of issues which appear to be of extreme relevance to the African context as the continent struggles to exit from poverty.

However, we are not advocating for their adoption but for adaptation to reflect the realities or characteristics of the continent.

This being the case, we have identified three critical areas which appear to be relevant to the African context, but conspicuously missing in their contemporary poverty reduction endeavor. These identified areas should be the critical ingredients for informing policymakers, at various levels, in charting-out the way to ending poverty in Africa.

The first, and foremost, is the need to change mindset on the condition of poverty.  

That is, "poverty alleviation requires a change of attitude and mentality wearing away at the poverty mentality” (P.7). In other words, this means that poverty is not a destiny; it can be confronted and ultimately overcome. This is both an inspiration and motivation to do something about it, given that all developed countries were, at one point in the past, embroiled in poverty.

The second issue is with regard to the need to use the available resources to fight poverty. In most cases, in a poverty-ridden area the most abundant resources are in agriculture, in terms of crops, forestry, livestock, and sea products. This being the case, the economics of developing resources to ensure their effective and efficient utilization is the main conduit for lifting a country from poverty. This is the "economic chorus” according to the author (P.11-12).

Likewise, industrialization of such areas should be resource-based by processing the products emanating from the agricultural sector. This aspect underscores the close linkage between the two sectors, namely agriculture and industry. In this regard, it is advised that in drafting a sound industrial policy, focus should be on "leveraging agriculture to develop industry, while also using the developing industrial sector to support agriculture” (P.135).

Mobilization of the people and effective leadership are critical ingredients for addressing poverty. The author insists that this requires "(leaders) at all levels to become deeply involved with the people in real situations, always coming from the people and going to the people” (P.17).

The author goes further to outline the qualities an effective leadership which can drive development. These are credible, discipline, diligent, non-corruptive and humble.  These attributes, according to the author, are necessary if leadership were to enjoy peoples’ trust and support.

Furthermore, leadership must be a role model by being selfless, doing practical things rationally, and promoting scientific thinking and reasoning.

The writer is the Director of the Centre for Chinese Studies (CCS)

University of Dar es Salaam

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania