Transcript STATUS OF PRSPs IMPLEMENTAION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

STATUS OF PRSPs IN SOUTHERN AFRICA
IMPLEMENTATION: Key Successes & Challenges
By Barbara Kalima-Phiri
Southern Africa Trust
20-21st November, 2006
1. INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND
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Origins of PRSPs
core principles
pressures from Global Jubilee Campaign
1995 – James Wolfenson
1997 - ESAF evaluation
2. Key Lessons: Successes of PRSP 1
(Formulation)
 key instruments of accountability and transparency - aid
relationship bwt donors and recipients
 become country-level operational framework for
progress towards MDGs (specific focus and attention on
county specific constraints to development)
 sharper focus on poverty reduction, more open
participatory processes and greater attention to
monitoring poverty related outcomes
 Greater ownership of PRSP process by technocratic
Ministries such as MOF - does not translate into country
ownership
 Gleneagles G-8 Summit 2005 vs poverty levels
2. Key Lessons: Challenges of PRSP 1
(Formulation)
 Time constraints
 Poor institutional arrangements
 Limited participation, consultation & involvement
 Weak poverty analysis & policy sequencing
- Eg. Data used lacked depth & comprehensiveness,
gender disaggregated data unavailable & on plight of
marginalized groups missing – eg Tanzania (10yr old
Hsehold survey Data)
* Quality data is essential for contingency planning and
trade-off analysis – crucial areas of achieving real
progress in PRSP content
Challenges of PRSP 1 ..cont..
Bruce Imboela – Zambia’s PRSPs - champions a neoliberal program
constructed on the sanctity of the market and seeks to maintain the very
structural processes that engender poverty.
- Because it fails to break, conceptually and methodologically, from past
program failures, the PRSP is likely to be just the latest installment in the
ever-changing fashionable semantics of the development community .
IMPLICATION FOR THIS - NO POVERTY REDUCTION
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Another missing element of PRSPs - was lack of support to productive
sectors, incl. small and medium sized enterprises and small farmers and
rural entrepreneurs. In the majority of cases these critical groups are
supposed to benefit from subsidies – THIS DIDN’T HAPPEN
* unless poverty reduction strategies actively integrate the poor into the
productive sectors, poverty will not be reduced, and growth will either not
transpire or will be inherently inequitable.
3. Implementation status
 2005 – 49 countries - full PRSPs
(half in sub-Saharan Africa & almost similar proportion in HIPICs)
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11 more produced IPRSPs and 10 initiated processes that could result in a
full PRS
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In southern Africa – 5 out of 14 – fully completed, eg Tanzania,
Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi & Lesotho – Tanz. and Moza – among the 1st
wave of countries that adopted and finalized PRSPs, and in both cases a
second generation PRSP completed in 2005
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Implementation timeframe - on average, for just over two and a half years.
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Several countries - in process of revising their original strategies. eg
Burkina Faso, & Uganda - already done so
Implementation status continued…
 The DR Congo - recently finalised its full PRSP, which
has to be submitted and approved by the World
Bank/IMF
 Angolan cabinet approved the country’s poverty
reduction strategy (Estratégia de Combate à Pobreza,
ECP) in early 2004 & was scheduled for a Joint
Assessment by the World Bank and the IMF during the
first quarter of 2006
 Zim. – ongoing discussions on possibility of preparing a
PRSP - but current political situation has forestalled this
from being developed. - April 2006, the government
released the National Economic Development Priority
Plan (NEDPP).
 6 Countries not eligible for PRSPs
Southern African countries finished or finalizing Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) (January
2006)
Country a
I-PRSP
Comple
tionb
PRSP
Compl
etion
Tanzania
Mar-00
Oct-00
Aug01
Mar03
Apr04
Jun-05
Yes
Mozambiq
ue
Feb-00
Apr-01
Feb03
Mar04
Jun05
Mar-05
Yes
Zambia
Jul-00
Mar-02
Mar04
Feb05
n.a
Yes
Malawi
Aug-00
Apr-02
Aug03
May05
n.a
Yes
Lesotho
Dec-00
Jul-05
n.a
n.a
n.a
n.a
No
D.R.C.
Jun-02
n.a
n.a
n.a
n.a
n.a
Yes
Angola
Feb-04
n.a
n.a
n.a
n.a
n.a
No
Source: Adapted from Roberts (2006)
First
Secon Third Second HIPC
progre
d
progre PRSP Count
ry
ss
progre
ss
Compl
report
report
etion
ss
report
Southern African countries not eligible for
PRSPs (Jan 06)
Country
Botswana
Mauritius
Classifica
tion of
economie
s 2005 a
UMC
National Poverty Reduction Strategy
UMC
National Action Plan for Poverty Alleviation (APPA 2001)
LMC
National Poverty Reduction Action Programme (NPRAP
2000);
National Development Plan (NDP2, 2001-06)
Namibia
Seychelles
UMC
UMC
Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP 1994);
Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR 1996);
Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy (ISRDS,
2000); Urban Renewal Programme (URP, 2000)
Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa
(ASGISA, 2006)
LMC
Poverty Reduction Strategy and Action Plan (PRSAP, 2005)
LIC
The PRSP process has been stalled due to the current political
situation in the country. However, in April 2006, President
Mugabe introduced National Economic Development Priority
Plan (NEDPP)
South Africa
Swaziland
Zimbabwe
Status of National Poverty Reduction Strategy
4. Keys issues in implementation
1.
2.
3.
4.
Ownership
Financing
Participation processes
Policy targeting and impact on poverty
Ownership
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PRSPs vs other develp. Plans – no harmonization,
role of govt. decision making unclear – consolidation
on plans
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Ministries of Finance not fully engaged – link bwt
plans and budget lost
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New structures/PRSP Units created on top of existing
ones – influence of funding
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Boards of IMF/WB Still endorses good/bad Prsps –
undermines ownership
Financing
 General agreement - donor hamornisation & alignment
 Effective implementation happening now in many countries eg
Tanzania, Mozambique, Ethiopia etc
 CSO Coordination and engagement – Intermediary initiatives
 Debt servicing obligations, trade losses
 Donor vs citizen accountability
Participatory processes
 PRSP 1 – clear CSO participation mechanism
 New challenge – failure to maintain participation during
implementation
 Growing sense and urgency to define roles
- NGOs (info. Disseminators, watch dog role, PEM)
- Private Sector (beneficiaries of tenders)
- Parliaments – growing role in parl. oversight
Policy Targeting and impact on
poverty
 MDG Targets vs PRSPs
 Misalignment bwt PRSP plans & MDG targets –
timeline 3-5 yrs vs 2015
 Difficulty in translating medium term goals into year by
year national budgets
 Lack of prioritization – PRSP wish list – lack of focus
 Positive trend – increasing expenditures towards
aspects (data for 27 countries)
 Caution – public spending - not better results +
poverty reduction but budget outlays indicate PRS
implementation
 40% of 230 million population in SADC – abject poverty
What policies and processes to drive
poverty reduction?
1. Right mix of rights based and sustainable livelihood
approaches
2. Adoption of responsive policies processes (Global
Monitoring Report)
3. CSO priorities – monitoring poverty trends and gaps,
institutionalization of participation, regional agenda
informed by evidence based analysis
4. Cost effective monitoring and evaluation techniques
Conclusion
 it is clear that as countries move towards
the next stage in the PRSP process
issues of ownership, financing,
participation, and policy targeting
becomes crucial to the success of the
implementation of poverty reduction
strategies.
Thank you!