Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers

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Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers are a basis for a program of the World Bank and the IMF .

The strategies of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund

The fight against poverty and its halving by 2015 was declared in the final declaration of the Millennium Summit of the United Nations to be the overriding task of the world community. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) developed a comprehensive approach to poverty reduction, which was presented for the first time at the joint autumn 1999 meeting. The approach is based on the development of economic and social policy, macroeconomic, structural and sectoral strategies for poverty reduction ("Poverty Reduction Strategy" = PRS) by the developing countries with the involvement of affected social groups ( parties , parliaments , trade unions , business associations , church institutions, non-governmental organizations , Cooperatives , interest groups , etc.).

The “Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers” (PRSP) are intended to serve as control instruments and form the basis for medium-term strategies in the fight against poverty in the 70 poorest countries. After the strategy papers have been approved, the World Bank and the IMF will only have a monitoring and advisory role with other actors (bilateral donors, non-governmental organizations, etc.).

Heavily Indebted Poor Countries ("Heavily Indebted Poor Countries" = HIPC) that seek debt relief, countries that want to take a loan from the IDA ( International Development Association ) or IMF funds, must have created a PRSP. Through a participatory process, the poor are supposed to have a say in which policies and strategies open up ways out of their situation for them and to seek international support.

The PRSP should be adapted to the given situation every three years in a continuous process and contain the following components:

  • Poverty analysis: definition of poverty and those affected by it
  • Objective : Elaboration of medium and long-term goals and the definition of indicators for measuring the achievement of goals.
  • Strategy development : The elaboration of an integrated strategy for reducing poverty.
  • Implementation : Determining the costs of the strategy, determining your own resources and the expected amount of external financial and technical support.
  • Participation process : The description of the participatory process of drawing up the PRSP as well as the effects of participation on the content of the PRSP.
  • Monitoring and evaluation : The presentation of the subsequent process and the planned monitoring (monitoring instrument).

Goals of participation

The PRSP have managed to increase the participation of those affected and to force a dialogue between the government and social actors. For the first time in many countries, the participation approach has led to a broader discussion of structural and poverty issues. The idea behind the condition of the World Bank and the IMF was that the poverty reduction strategies, although they are the responsibility of governments, take on the character of national strategies that are not automatically available when there is a change of government. At the same time, the public in general and those affected (i.e. the poor) in particular should be included in the discussion to the extent that they can influence the behavior of governments and administrations by participating in the political process and keep them on the agreed path. Ultimately, this should give the developing countries' internal political processes a different quality. Democratic principles and the duty of governments to be accountable to their parliaments and people should be strengthened.

A PRSP that has arisen in a participatory manner then points the way for the governments of the respective developing countries as well as for the bilateral and multilateral donors. You can therefore focus their actions on a strategy that property ( ownership ) of the country and was not influenced from outside. So it aims at the sustainable fight against poverty and socially balanced growth and is based on facts.

Criticism and problems

Problems with the timing of the implementation of poverty reduction strategies often play a role, since governments with weak institutional capacity are suddenly required to create the otherwise imposed formulations of the strategies themselves. In addition, the elaboration often takes place without involving the rural population, who are the main affected. However, for reasons of time, organization and costs, they can often not be present and not participate. A flimsy participation or a mere hearing of those affected was also not infrequently the case.

Critics also argue that the criteria used to assess the World Bank and IMF PRSPs ultimately mean the enforcement of neoliberal goals based on the Washington Consensus , and that these would ultimately lead to an increase in poverty rather than a decrease .

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