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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 2, 2001
IMF and World Bank Invite Public Participation in Review of Poverty Reduction Strategy
Program
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So much openness and transparency
Reach in and lay your thoughts on the big mens' table
What is good and bad about the PRSP?
Invite
Terms of Reference
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For an rtf file (28Kb) of this article click HERE
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The IMF and the World Bank are inviting public participation in a comprehensive review
of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSP) approach. The PRSP approach was adopted in
1999 to help poor countries and their development partners strengthen the impact of their
common efforts on poverty reduction. The review will assess progress to date and examine
ways in which the development impact of the approach might be improved.
By the end of 2001, 15-20 countries are aiming to complete their first full PRSP. The
primary focus of the review will be on the content and process of the PRSPs in these
countries. Questions to be covered in the review include:
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | Have governments effectively taken the lead on PRSPs, and to what extent have they
internalized the process? |
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | Have governments engaged in participatory consultations, and how have they affected
PRSPs content? |
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | Has the PRSP approach improved coordination between aid donors and recipients, as well
as between finance ministries and line ministries? |
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | Have countries prioritized and costed their reforms and policy actions?
|
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | Has the push for speed in the HIPC process affected quality of PRSPs?
|
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | How well have Fund and Bank staff supported the PRSP processes? |
The Bank and Fund are inviting contributions from developing countries, aid donors, and
civil society organizations. Together with analyses by Fund and Bank staff, these
submissions will serve as background to an international conference on the PRSP approach
to be held in Washington, D.C., in January 2002. Papers prepared for the review will be
publicly available. In addition to the international conference, there will also be
regional country events to ensure that voices from within PRSP countries areadequately
represented.
The PRSP review, and a companion review of the IMFs Poverty Reduction and Growth
Facility being conducted in parallel by the Fund, will be presented to the Executive
Boards of the Bank and Fund in March 2002.
Organizations or persons wishing to provide comments are encouraged to submit them to
Ms. Sharon White at the World Bank, Mr. Brian Ames at the IMF, to Bank or Fund
representatives in countries preparing PRSPs, or by e-mail to prsp@imf.org or prsp@worldbank.org
. The resulting papers will be available on both institutions websites by March 2002
and through Bank and Fund country offices worldwide. Terms of reference for the upcoming
review are attached.
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ATTACHMENT
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REVIEW OF THE PRSP APPROACH:
TERMS OF REFERENCE
In December 1999, the Bank and Fund Boards requested a review of the Poverty Reduction
Strategy Paper (PRSP) approach to be carried out by the end of 2001with external
participation, including contributions from member countries, international agencies,
other aid providers, and civil society. 1 At that time, it was expected that most or all
PRGF users and many IDA-eligible countries would have prepared at least one full PRSP by
end-2001.
In the event, only 5 full PRSPs have been presented for Board consideration to date and
an additional 10-15 full PRSPs are expected to be presented by the end of the calendar
year. With a view to ensuring that the review can be based on a sufficiently large number
of first full PRSPs, the staff proposes that the review be completed prior to the 2002
Spring Meetings. This revised timetable would also allow the review to benefit from the
various studies and evaluations of the PRSP approach which will be completed by external
partners and stakeholders by the end of the year.
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Output
The output of the envisaged exercise would be a paper for the Bank and Fund
Executive Boards and for the Spring Meetings that would take stock of the experience to
date compared to original objectives of the PRSP approach and would propose to the Boards
any desirable modifications in the guidelines and modalities of implementation based on
this early experience. As a public document, the review would also communicate to the
global community about the progress to date and ways in which the development impact of
the PRSP approach might be improved.
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Focus
The review will cover both PRSP content and process. In broad terms,
it will consider how much has been achieved in the first two years toward the long-term
goal of improving development outcomes through the application of the CDF principles on
which the PRSP approach is grounded. With respect to content, the review will examine the
quality of PRSPs in terms of the core questions set forth in the guidelines for Joint
Staff Assessments of Full PRSPs, dated April 18, 2001. These questions cover
- poverty diagnostics,
- targets, indicators, and monitoring;and
- priority public actions.
To the extent possible, the review will also consider how the strategies are different
from earlier attempts to define national strategies. With respect to process, the review
will seek to address questions such as:
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | To what extent have low-income country governments been leading the process of
articulating their own long-term development visions and poverty reduction strategies as a
basis for guiding their own policies and external assistance? |
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | Have PRSs been adequately integrated with the countries core processes for policy
making, including medium-term expenditure frameworks? |
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | To what extent have governments implemented participatory processes intended to improve
the design of, and to build understanding and broad-based ownership for, a national
strategy? |
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | How have those processes influenced the content and implementation of poverty reduction
strategies? |
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | To what extent have external development partners contributed to the PRSP process within
countries and begun to align their assistance behind PRSPs? |
![bullet](_themes/nature/nabull1.gif) | Has the PRSP approach led to improved partnerships? |
The review will also consider how well the Bank and Fund staff have been supportive of
government leadership, participatory processes, and partnerships within the PRSP context,
including in providing coherent, coordinated and timely advice to governments in PRSP
design and implementation.
The primary focus will be on full PRSPs that have been completed by end-December 2001.
Attention will also be given to the experience with Interim PRSPs, primarily with respect
to process questions (e.g., how well governments have taken the initiative to manage the
PRSP process). However, given that many I-PRSPs have been quite elaborate, attention will
also be focused on issues of content where appropriate.
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Inputs
There will be five main inputs into the review:
- reviews and evaluations conducted by external parties;
- views and contributions from governments, development partners and other stakeholders
solicited through the Bank and Fund external web sites;
- proceedings from PRSP regional country events and other country specific events;
- analyses carried out by Bank/Fund staff; and
- the proceedings of a Bank/Fund sponsored international conference on the PRSP approach.
In assessing these inputs, it is expected that primary attention will be given to the
views expressed by governments and other stakeholders from the low income countries
engaged in the PRSP process.
First, many external partners have
carried out, or plan to conduct, independent reviews of the PRSP approach. Bank and
Fund staff are presently undertaking a stocktaking exercise with a view to identifying
relevant reviews and evaluations that have been carried out by international
organizations, bilateral aid agencies, northern and southern NGOs and other civil society
organizations, and member countries. Staff are also identifying ongoing or planned reviews
and evaluations that are scheduled to be completed before the end of this calendar year.
The main findings and conclusions from each of these independent evaluations will be
summarized and appended to the review document and serve as input into the staffs
own analysis. With agreement of the concerned parties, these evaluations will also be made
available to the Board.
Second, various PRSP regional country
fora (i.e., Washington, Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Yamoussoukro, Moscow, Dakar, and
possibly Manila) have taken place or are planned to take place before the end of the
calendar year. The main findings and conclusions from these events will serve as input
into the staffs own analysis. The conclusions from other country specific PRSP
workshops and seminars will also serve as input.
Third, a general call for input from
governments, development partners and other stakeholders (including civil society groups) regarding
their views of, and experience with, the PRSP approach will be solicited through the
Bank and Fund external websites. A summary of these would be appended to the review
document and feed into the staffs analyses.
Fourth, Bank and Fund staff will also
undertake various analytical exercises. In particular, the Banks CDF Secretariat
has been tracking the application of the CDF principles in all I-PRSP/PRSP countries and
is preparing a report to the Banks Board in September that will discuss issues
facing countries, partners, and the Bank. Also, Bank/Fund staff will pull together the
main themes of the JSAs to date and examine the scope and coverage of key policy issues
and sectoral considerations in the PRSPs.
Finally, with a view to bringing together
the key actors in the PRSP approach and to draw from and build upon the various analyses
and inputs highlighted above, the staff propose holding an international conference in
late 2001 or early 2002 to which representatives from governments in PRSP countries, the
Executive Boards and staffs of the Bank and Fund, international and multilateral
organizations, bilateral aid agencies, and civil society would be invited. In addition to
providing their own contributions, the role of the Bank and the Fund would be to
facilitate a broad-based discussion among interested parties regarding the progress
achieved, the constraints faced, the lessons learned, and the challenges that remain
regarding the PRSP approach. Those groups or institutions that have carried out
independent reviews or evaluations of the PRSP approach would be invited to present their
findings. While we would not expect the conference to reach closure on recommendations, we
do anticipate that it will help frame the priority set of issues and areas for possible
change for consideration by the Bank and Fund. In preparing the Board paper, Bank and Fund
staff would draw upon the conference proceedings as well as the other contributions
highlighted above. The Board paper would present the views of the Bank and Fund staff
regarding the experience to date with the PRSP approach, including proposals for any
appropriate changes required in guidelines and modalities of implementation. The paper
would be made available to Executive Directors prior to the Spring Meetings.
The Joint Implementation Committee will oversee Bank/Fund coordination regarding the
carrying out of the review, as well as related external outreach.
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