Transcript Document
AGHD PRSP Learning Event
Africa Great Lakes and Horn Department
January 2002
PRSPs in Practice
Origins of the PRSP idea
Core principles
Phasing & key elements of a PRSP
What’s new
Links with other instruments/processes
Emerging Experience
Relevance in conflict & post-conflict countries
2
Origins of the PRSP Idea
Poor record on poverty reduction in 1990s
Findings on aid effectiveness (limits of projects,
undermining of govt. systems & capacity…)
Limits of conventional conditionality
Justification for big increase in multilateral
funding for debt relief (HIPC II)
3
Core PRSP Principles
Sept. 1999 the PRSP replaced the PFP (Policy
Framework Paper) as the governing contract between the
IMF/World Bank & client countries. Central to it are five
principles:
Country-led/owned based on participation
Outcome oriented
Comprehensive – analysis of poverty
Medium to long term perspective
Donor partnership under government leadership
4
PRSP Schedule & Key Elements
Preparation
Status
Report
I-PRSP
1st Annual
Progress
Report
PRSP (I)
9-24 months
HIPC(II)
Decision
Point
5
2nd Annual
Progress
Report etc..
PRSP (II)
3 years
HIPC(II)
Completion
Point
Preparation
Status
Report
I-PRSP
1st Annual 2nd Annual
Progress
Progress
Report
Report etc….
PRSP (I)
PRSP
elements:
9-24 months
Poverty analysis
Goals/targets
Prioritised policy actions
HIPC(II)
Med-term budget fw
Decision
Financing plan
Point
External assistance
Participatory process
3 years
PRSP (II)
What’s New?
Linking strategy to the fiscal & macro framework
Reducing the disconnect between policy & results
(structuring actions viz. impact on poverty)
Opening up strategy process to broadbasedparticipation
Opportunities for new ways of delivering
aid(pooled funding of general budget, joint
appraisal, common performance assessment)
7
Links with other instruments
PRGF
(replaces
ESAF)
I-PRSP
HIPC(II)
Decision
Point
8
PRGF perf.criteria/benchmarks (3 years)
PRSP (I)
HIPC triggers
Goals & targets (5-10 years)
HIPC(II)
Completion
Point
PRSP (II)
Sector strategies &
priorities
I-PRSP
PRSP elements:
(I)
Goals/targets
Prioritised policy actions
Med-term budget fw
HIPC(II)
Decision
Point
MTEF
Inter-sectoral priorities
Resource constraints
Expenditure monitoring
PRSP (II)
Cont...
Link with PRSC more complex. Designed to
support PRSP implementation
PRSC structured as a series of annual singletranche programmatic adjustment credits with
clear performance benchmarks linked to the
PRSP (initially a replacement for SACs)
10
Cont...
Bank has put in place 5 ‘due diligence’ tests.
Full PRSP
Social/structural diagnostic or review (SSR)
PER, CFAA
Poverty & social impact analysis
Environmental assessment
Only 3 PRSCs in place so far – Uganda, Vietnam
(DFID co-financing both) & Burkina Faso, 2 or
3 in the pipeline
11
Emerging Experience
‘Upgrading’ of poverty policy – MoFs engaged
Achieved at some cost to senitments to national
ownership but IFIs getting better at stepping back
PRSP process & document heavily influenced by
density of previous reform effort(s)
Synergy with MTEFs especially important
Value-added: clear policy vision linked to results,
increased policy space for CSOs/private sector etc.
12
Cont...
Participatory processes generally limited to
consultation, depth of understanding limited
Ambitious targets, weak prioritisation & costing
of policy actions
Disconnect/lags between related reform efforts –
civil service reform, local govt. reforms - & PRSP
M&E still the poor relative
13
Relevance in Conflict Settings
No straightforward picture
Rwanda – opportunity of the PRSP has been
seized upon as an input to wider national
reconciliation
Sierra Leone – IFIs have re-engaged and an
I-PRSP produced, but major concerns about the
Govt. ownership, capability & CSOs capacity to
respond to the PRSP timetable
14
Key Questions
How & on what basis is govt’s commitment to
poverty reduction being judged?
Are decisions about when IFIs/donors re-engage
based on an analysis of the political economy of
conflict?
What are the minimum requirements in terms of
a functioning budget/administrative system for a
PRSP process to be viable?
15
Cont...
How does any proposed consultation process
take account of the dynamics of conflict?
How do other processes of peace & reconciliation
relate to the PRSP?
To what extent are the analysis of poverty and
proposed policy actions informed by conflict/security
issues? Does this imply different assessment
criteria?
16