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Lesotho Field Office
C/o Irish embassy, Tona Kholo Road, Maseru West, Lesotho
Tel:00 266 321 601 | Fax:00 266 321 600
Email:
Map courtesy of the FCO
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Lesotho
Overview
 Lesotho is unique in that it is completely surrounded by South Africa, the
largest economy in Africa. The population is estimated to be about 2.2 million,
about 58% of whom are very poor, with some 25% of people chronically
undernourished. HIV/AIDS prevalence in adults increased from 4% in 1993 to 23.4%
in 2004 – the third highest rate in the world. Every year about 200 000 people
don’t have enough food and from September this year 553 000 people are likely to
face acute food shortages.
DFID Mission Statement
DFID’s programme in Lesotho supports the PRS and its national priorities. The
aim over the next year is to move towards a joined-up programme of support with
other donors (including the European Union, Ireland, Germany and the World Bank
and United Nations). The longer-term vision is to move towards direct budgetary
support to Lesotho, as the Government’s financial management systems improve.
DFID In Lesotho
DFID runs a small office located in Lesotho, but the overall programme is
managed from the Southern Africa office in South Africa. DFID’s financial
commitment of £5 million per annum to Lesotho is through two overarching
programmes. The first addresses such fundamental issues such as public financial
management, revenue collection, poverty monitoring and donor coordination. The
second covers four PRS priorities: HIV/AIDS, job creation, food security and
governance. The success of the PRS depends on good management in government and
skills and resources to deliver services to the poor. DFID’s support will help:
- the Government improve its financial and general management skills;
- decrease the rate of new HIV infections amongst people between 15 and 49 years old;
- increase Lesotho’s growth rate from 3.8% to 4.0% by 2006/7; and
- reduce the percentage of very poor people from 58.9% to 52%.
Lesotho and Millennium Development Goals
Lesotho’s Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) has been in place for just under a
year. The strategy sets out Government plans for addressing cross-cutting
challenges, including HIV/AIDS and key national priorities, for example, job
creation, food security, infrastructure and good governance. Lesotho’s economy
revolves around limited options which include: revenue from SACU, which accounts
for over 50%; the sale of water to South Africa - usually referred to as ‘white
gold’ - which accounts for 14%; remittances from miners; textile exports to USA
through special trade agreements; and internal taxation, which is still very
narrow due to limited foreign direct and domestic investments. It therefore
needs to look at other opportunities for investment to make the economy grow. It
would need to achieve a growth rate of 7.5% per year to reach the Millennium
Development Goal target of halving poverty by 2015; the current growth rate is
between 2 and 3%.
Links
Last updated 20 November 2007
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